Two days before Christmas, my brother in law and his fiancee brought all their gifts to the parent's house so they wouldn't have to deal with them on Christmas day. When I saw an oblong box, about 32" long, leaning against the wall behind the tree, I checked the tag - it was for me! Could it be? Could it really be? Well, regardless, from then on, every time I passed the tree I whispered, "hello, loom" because I was pretty sure.
On Christmas night, after dinner was consumed and the children had torn through their gifts, all the adults sat their with their respective piles and someone said, "who wants to go first?" Well, by this point, I couldn't stand it anymore and I said:
"I can't stand it anymore! I have to open this one!" So off the paper came.
And even though I had a pretty darn good idea of what the gift was, as soon as I saw the Kromski label on the front, I LOST IT. I mean, really, really lost it. I was screaming and literally jumping up and down hugging the box. The whole party didn't even know what hit them! Most of them didn't even know what it was. Here are some pictures so you can see for yourself just how truly elated I was:
Yeow. And that is basically the aftermath, because not even my husband could have predicted that reaction, so he wasn't ready with the camera.
But I got lots of other delightful fibery gifts too. From my mom, I got two super fabulous buttons that she managed to sneakily buy while we were at a yarn shop together, a subscription to Spin Off, and Spinning In The Old Way (the book). My brother, prompted my mother, got me sweater blocking wires which I am eager to use.
More importantly still, everyone who received a knitted gift loved it. Mom's sweater looks gorgeous on her and she loves it. Claudia was so totally surprised by her tote bag and loved it right away. My husband's aunt from Israel received the Jaywalkers and loved them way more than I would have predicted, and the monkeys went to my good friend Linda for her upcoming birthday.
And now, I am a weaver. Ahhhhhh. I didn't put the loom together til we got back to NY. I warped it New Years Day. The warping went well. It is definitely a long process (my first project is about 19" wide and the warp is 4 yards long so I can do multiple pillows) but not an unpleasant one and once you start to weave, it goes so fast that it more than makes up for the time you invest in warping.
My first project is throw pillows for our couch. I am using Jason Collingwood rug wool in brick, olive, and oatmeal for both warp and weft. Its not actually ideally suited to warp on a 10 dent heddle, but its not too bad once you get used to it. And so far, my weaving looks not too far from fabulous (if I do say so myself! Okay, the selvedges aren't perfect. But I love the colors and the look so, fabulous it is). I'll post a photo soon, but its not easy to get because there actually isn't all that much room to weave before you have to wind the finished work on, and then you don't get a good idea of my design and color changes. Excuses, excuses. Photo coming soon. I promise.
No comments:
Post a Comment