the cold shoulder of the information highway: or my quest for a tatted frog

I'm beginning to suspect that the internet is not as smart as it pretends to be.

I've spent a good deal of time this week - time that could have been used to more productive ends - seeking help from the internet. Specifically I was looking for frogs.

Not frogs that go ribbit, hop, hop, but rather frogs that help keep things closed.

Weaving Saori fabric is fun, but sewing with it poses more of a challenge. Sewing button holes on my new Saori skirt was a daunting and almost impossible task. I thought maybe a tatted frog would do the trick.

With help from the good tatters over at In Tatters, I found three examples of tatted frogs (one with a pattern, but was too frilly for the project at hand). I even got some tips on how to design my own tatted frog. I didn't have much luck with that.

I almost made one I liked. See the bottom right frog? I like the idea of this, and the overall balance of the motif. I just couldn't figure out how to tat the middle chain for the way back. We argued, the thread broke, and I had to walk away from my tatting for a while.

The amount of time in fruitless search for a tatted frog (not to mention the pointless hours searching for a bloomer pattern - wearing skirts is cold business in the middle of winter - a corset sewing pattern that costs less than $20 after shipping, and the meaning of life, the universe and everything. Spending hours sifting through junk online looking for that tiny bit of information that use to be readily available in the days before computers, makes me wonder if the internet has been getting dumber lately.

It is certainly not talking to me as much as it use to.

SAORI fabric

This Christmas holiday, I treated myself to some Saori style weaving.

I have high hopes that this will become a skirt.

The weft is linen, the warp is a mixture of handspun lace weight and sock weight yarn, with some bits of fibre and thrums.

Thank you

A big thank you to everyone who bought my yarn this month, you really helped make my Christmas special.

Have a Sheepy Christmas

Super-Chicken to the Rescue!

Doesn't she look look like some sort of superhero?

Something for the Farm

Anyone want to guess what this is for? It's about 8" square.

I'll let you know in a couple of days.

Another Saori Hat

The fabric is a combination of handspun weft and bits of alpaca and wool fibre.

And the end result is another one of those gorgeous Saori Hats.

This hat is a thank you gift for a woman who comes today. I hope she likes it.

My very first Saori Hat

I'm told that it is far too formal to wear around the farm.

My reply is that it is far too comfortable not to.

To me the shape of this hat is a bit like a bonnet. There is something really familiar about the shape; like a medieval peasant's hat. I cannot quite place my finger on what it reminds me of.

I'm really surprised that everything goes well together. The warp was randomly striped, and the weft was mostly Thrums with handwoven yarn here and there. It looks so busy that it's hard to distinguish the individual elements, but as a whole, it really works. It is my Gestalt hat.

Warping the Saori way.

I was worried about loosing what I learnt at the Saori workshop. So I got out my little table loom and did my best to warp the Saori way.

I hope that if I keep doing it then it will become permanent knowledge. All those dreams I had about warping really helped.

It took me an entire day (well, with feeding the animals and catching up on all the farm chores, it was more like 4 hours) to warp my little table loom. I didn't realize just how well designed the Saori loom was until I tried to do the same thing on a little wooden loom that fought me every step of the way. But I managed it in the end.

I just made a short warp because I need more practice. I hope it rains today so I can wind another warp and try it again. But, if the weather is good, I have to go and get ready for the llama and alpacas that will arrive early next week. That and go to the doctor, and do running around, and care for the chickens and the ducks, and...well it's a long list.

I sure would like to weave a hat or scarf for the woman who is bringing the llama and alpacas.