It’s Winter?

Tomorrow it is supposed to be nearly 50 degrees. While I’m not complaining, this has to be the mildest winter I remember for a long time. At dawn recently, this was the view from our front door:

Um, yeah, driveway and basketball hoop and utility stuff. Nope, look closer….there are 7 deer in that photo!

In the center is this one:

And over to the left are these two (and a smidge of tail of a third):

The others were too far for my zoom to focus. They stayed in our ravine for a couple of hours, then moved on to wherever they roam. There are quite a few interconnected areas of cover in this area of town.

Lately, I’ve come up with an idea of a project for my lovely brown Romney (which I’m currently re-washing, as it was still tacky from the first time I washed it). I love texture, but generally solid colors for larger clothing items, so I wanted to play with some bands for the edges of the garment that would have a design on it. I wondered if I could do band weaving with different weights of yarn, and asked my friends on Ravelry who know of such things…..and yes, it can work!

I did some research, and found a fairly simple design, and warped it up on my trusty Cricket Loom. I was shooting for making a headband….I wear them all the time, mostly rolled up bandanas….and really it is criminal that I don’t own hand crafted ones.

The first time, I simply doubled the pattern threads. This was not enough contrast for the pattern to show. There were some other problems, but I worked them all out with that warp and then cut it off. I re-warped, this time using a bulky yarn for the pattern thread, and fingering weight for the ground (both in winter white). I used the fingering for the weft, also. Huzzah….it worked!

Unfortunately, I underestimated the loom waste I would need (or underestimated the size of my head!), so I will need to stitch in some fabric to tie it with, or just link it with elastic. I really enjoyed making the band….it went much more quickly than I thought it would, considering it is a pick up pattern. I plan to make a whole bunch of headbands, exploring different patterns and textures…..and yes, even colors! I may have to look into an inkle loom, however. I love the Cricket, but getting the right draw in is more difficult due to the reed spreading it so far….but on the other hand, the pattern threads were easy to see for selection.