The rains returned in force, and the valleys have flooded again. Spring break was a washout in the northwest.
The sheep are reasonably comfortable in the barn, and we don’t prevent them from going out regardless of the weather. They seem to enjoy watching the ducks paddle around in what should be the pasture. This morning I saw a bald eagle at the water’s edge, with a bright white head and intensely yellow beak.
Speaking of eagles, John’s eagle weaving is off the loom and he has completed his plan for his next piece, which will be 20 wide by 10 high [landscape rather than portrait]. He will use some Peruvian highlands single ply yarn found in the shop at Cannon Beach. After a few false starts we determined the best source of the edge cord he needs would be to use some of the weft yarn after it has been plied. So Marilyn got busy at the spinning wheel to ply the needed fiber, then washed by dipping alternately in hot and cold water to cause it to pull together, then hung it to dry with a little weight to set the twist. The warp has been wound and today John began to add the twining with the edge cord. After that, it will be time to transfer the warp to his loom.
Meanwhile, I finished the two Saori-inspired pieces I had been working on. It was a very nice warp, easy to weave because of the wide sett, meaning the warp yarns were set about 1/4 inch apart by skipping every other slot in the reed. The hook joint, allowing you to change color within a single pass of the shuttle, was a lot of fun to try. I have much to learn about the possibilities of this technique. I also tried a section of free color, using unspun dyed fiber alternating with gray weft yarn to stablilize it. The size of the finished weaving after washing is about 80% of its size on the loom. That is a good thing to know!
