My first kal!

I decided to do my first kal (knit a long).  I picked a design by the wonderful designer, Tian, Knit Designs by Tian.  It's the Endless Night Shawl she just released.  The kal starts February 1st so I think I'm ready.  The yarn I picked is some handspun I had.  I'm not sure when I did the spinning but I bought the fiber back in 2010. It was the Spunky Club Kentucky Derby Norwegian wool from March 2010.  Good thing wool doestn't go bad.  Or not easily if it's taken car eof. It kind of looks like one skein is spun a little thinner than the other, or maybe just plied more badly.  👀  Oh well, I need to use up yarn.  Much of what I've spun in the past I've given away.  Since I'm a process spinner/knitter, I'm not that attached to something after I've finished it. So it will be nice to use up some.
I'm excited for this.  Wish me luck.
Here is the yarn...

#postcardsforwomenincongress

I've been following the new congress we have in Washington DC.  Especially that we have more women in congress than ever before.  I've felt that I need to engage more, understand more about how congress works.  I also see interviews some of the women have done and I just want to encourage them somehow.  So I came up with the idea of sending postcards to every woman in congress just so they can feel encouragement to counteract criticism and complaints.  I realize that I'm probably not the only one doing this, but it's a start for me.  I am going to try and do 5-10 postcards a week.  I'll pick out Colorado postcards since that's where I am and I hope that even if they don't see them, their staffers will notice them.  I just finished the first batch to be sent this week.

I'm also trying to improve my picture taking.  I have a lightbox and I will get better light next time and a better camera as well.  So, I'm working on several goals here at the same time.  

I tend to vote democrat but I'm going to send postcards to the republican women as well.  There are only 21 republican women in congress so I think they need my support as well to try and get them support women better.

Warping the inkle loom

Did I tell you about the new loom I got for Christmas?  I think I did. We scored a deal at the local thrift store and got a Nilus Leclerc inkle loom from the early 70s.  It's in perfect shape.  Last night I got out some yarns I'd had for a long time to practice on the new loom. It came with the original instruction book and also an Inkle Weaving book.
First you have to make the heddles.

I used some big size crochet cotten I had in my stash and made 50 heddles.  You only have to do this part once unless you are needing more heddles for a bigger project.  Here's the heddles made on the loom because they need to be all the same size.  Square knots are essential or it will pull out when you put pressure on it.

Then the heddles are attached to a slit peg and you can start warping.  I'm doing the first simple project in the book.  A three color belt.

You just wind the yarn around however many pegs to get the length you want.  You alternate round, one without going through the heddle, next one through the heddle.

Then I was set to weave.  You just open the shed with your hand and use the shuttle to beat.  Here's a good source for terms you don't know (for me that's a lot). Weaving glossary

Thoughts on this weaving.
The black yarn is just slightly thinner than the other colors and so I'm getting a fatter weave down the middle and the edges are too loose.
I'm not very good with making the edges even.  Practice, practice.
The yarn itself is not as strong as I'd like so I'm being very careful with this.
The weaving goes pretty fast and that's fun.
The loom is tall enough that I'm not having to bend too much at the waist to weave.  This is an issue because my muscle core is very weak and I can't tolerate bending too much now.
I like doing this.  I tend to be a process person so I like the handling of the yarn and the process of weaving.  I'm the same with knitting and spinning.  I like the making of the yarn and the knitting process.  Once I'm done, I usually give things away and am not too attached to the finished product.  That must be why I don't have a lot of the things I've made.  Mostly socks I've knit.
Well, that's it for today.  This weekend I will have some time to work on this more.
Happy weekend!

Bullet Journaling

In the spirit of the new I'm going to talk a little about bullet journaling.  I've been sick with an autoimmune disease and it has caused me a considerable amount of brain fog.  Whether it's the disease or the drugs I'm taking I'm not sure but I stumbled across this technique and it actually seems to be working for me.  At first I used it in the middle of the night when I'd wake up and my brain would just start buzzing with all the things I needed to do or wanted to do.  So I'd finally get up and write down everything that was bouncing around and I was actually able to get back to sleep because I knew things were written down and I wouldn't forget them.
There are some great you tube videos from the guy that came up with the basic idea.
Bullet Journal

This first picture is the future log where you write down ideas or tasks that will be in future months.  When you get to that month, you can transfer things to your daily task log.

This next picture is my daily log.  Every morning I transfer items that weren't completed from the day before and any new ones I need to do.  Also, during the day I write down any thoughts or new tasks that come to mind.  At the end of the day you can transfer thoughts to project pages.

To get started I just bought a dotted journal from Walmart for $6. You can buy them on Amazon and from the Bullet journal website.
If you watch the video, he explains exactly how to set it up in very simple fashion.
I really like it because I actually continue to use it every day.  That's amazing for me because I don't follow through on a lot of things like that.    I will say that I do still keep a calendar because I need the days and weeks laid out in a normal fashion but otherwise I'm really using it.

A tip I ran across from another blog is even though you can use this as sort of a journal as well, don't get hung up on making it pretty as sort of a showpiece.  I've seen a lot of journals and planners online that are pretty much works of art.  You can make it pretty or whatever but this is a working record, not just for pretty and not to impress anyone.
I hope you check into it and find it useful.  Use whatever works for you and make it great!
Happy New Year!