Finished Chenille Scarves

I managed to get all 3 scarves woven, off the loom, fringes twisted, wet finished, dried, in the mail and TO the recipients in time!  Hurray!  I didn't even begin to make a dent in my stash of chenille (how I love this stuff), alas.  Or maybe that's okay, because really - what's WRONG with surrounding yourself with stuff you love?  I like just moving the cones around looking at different colors together and thinking of all the possibilities. 

Here is the greeney one that was but a blob of warp yarns in the last post. 

 I used the outside stripes color (a rather marled yarn) for the weft.  I thought I'd like the pale green for weft, but I didn't...  This one turned out the softest once it was finished - like butter!  (why do we say that?  I don't think I'd want to be wearing butter...  maybe soft like a kitten!  not so easy to wear either, but I'd rather pet a kitten than butter...).
  Next up was a scarf in red tones...  I used two shades of red wound at the same time for the red stripes.  The other stripes are another marled yarn that turned out to be quite green in the light of day.  In my basement when I was choosing it it looked like something else.  I don't know what, but not so ...  green!  Oh well, covered in red weft it's a whole lot less green.  I outlined each stripe with 1 strand of blue. 

 This scarf started out 11" wide in the reed, because I can't count.  Well, more that I wanted the red stripes to be 2" and the green 1", and I wanted 3 stripes of green, and to surround them with red makes for 11"...  Surprise! 

Now my upstairs loom is naked.  I have 2 looms in the basement that have been in a state of partial warp for waaaay too long.  I need to finish warping both of them and get them woven.  Resolution!  Weave off both these projects!!  One is a shadow weave chenille throw, and the other is 8/2 cotton for dish towels to try out 12 harness weaving....   I'm entirely too tempted to toss a mixed warp I measured and dyed a long time ago onto the upstairs loom...  it's a gradation of greens from light to dark, intended for a vest.  I'd love to wear it to Madrona.  But should it be light to dark across the width once, or narrower flows of color back & forth (light dark light or dark light dark or light dark light dark light.....  sigh)  Sometimes the decisions are paralyzing.  It's a good problem to have. 

We're going to Madrona!

We get to have a booth at Madrona in Tacoma this February!  I'm VERY excited about this show.  I attended a couple years ago as a participant & class-taker, but this year we get to have a booth.  More formally known as the Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat, this is an amazing event with many of the top names in knitting, spinning & weaving.  Take a look at that class schedule - some of the classes are still available (many of them fill within nano-seconds of registration opening), and the wait list is actively maintained as well. 

Let us know if you want us to bring something specific (save shipping, we'll bring your order there!  and if you pay for it ahead of time, the Oregon tax rate applies (zero!)). 

Very very excited!  It's going to be a BLAST!   Will you be there?

Socks (the cat)

Socks is our newly adopted shop cat. Or, I should say, we're her newly adopted laps. Once we moved in to our new location, she decided to come on in the backdoor and welcome us to the neighborhood. Ever since, she's been coming by every morning, meeting us at the back with a few hello meows. She comes in, decides on who's lap she plans on sitting in today and makes herself at home. As you can see in the picture above, she really likes to help out with the work being done around here.

Socks actually lives across the street, but it seems like she's made the whole neighborhood hers. Her real owners are gone during the day, so she comes and visits us. We do our best to keep her out of the actual shop part and only in the office, but she does her best to do otherwise. Anytime she sees the opportunity she makes a bee-line for the showroom. Must be all those balls of yarns in there and visions of batting them around.

It's come to the point now, that if Socks doesn't show up we get worried about her. Some days she strolls in a little later than others, but so far she keeps coming by, so I guess she's our shop mascot now. And who are we to say no?

Handwoven chenille scarves

I have a lot of chenille in my stash, so I'm trying to weave a few scarves for Christmas for some extended family members.  I want to get 3 of them done.  At this point, I'm on #3 so it's looking pretty good. 

First up, and completely finished, is one in shades of purple.

 I sett it at 20 epi for plain weave.  Chenille likes to worm (send out squiggly bits from the surface) if it isn't sett nice and snug.  Some of these yarns could have been sett further apart, at say 16 epi, but some of the colors were finer, so I just went with 20 over all.

 Off the loom, the scarf has all of the drape of cardboard.  It's really stiff!!  But I've since twisted the fringes, and washed and dried it - I hand washed, but threw it in the dryer.  Now it's soft and plush and lovely!  But I don't have a picture of that...

 Next up I used 3 shades - one is a marl-ey green, then 2 solids. 

 The blob of yarn (warp chains!), ready to go on the loom.

 This scarf is also off the loom now, but I haven't twisted the fringes yet, or wet finished it...  The 3rd scarf is wound and sleyed, and I've only just started threading it.  I'm a pretty slow warper, but I actually enjoy the process.  I just turn on my iPod and listen to some podcasts, and make my way through it.  I do need to get a hustle on this though so I can finish these other 2 scarves and get them in the mail in time! 

Tick tick tick tick...  hope your holiday projects are coming along nicely!!

Decisions, decisions

I've been admiring and drooling after most of the designs in the book A Fine Fleece ever since it came out.  How I adore cables! 

This book shows every project in both a commercially available yarn, and in handspun. I recently started spinning some fiber from my stash that I'd had processed by Fantasy Fibers into roving, ready to spin.  A few years ago I gathered up a LOT of fibers - fleeces from all over in wools, mohairs, angora, silk - you name it.  I'd dyed lots of things without any projects in mind, just because it's fun.  Stupidly though, I didn't mark what I took in and had blended, so I don't know what sort of fleece or blend I've got in any of the colors I took her that day.  Sigh.  So Janell blended up the blues in one batch, the reds in another, etc.  I recently started spinning up the blue and I have a bit over 2 pounds I think.  Enough for an interesting project!  Now, I don't typically spin for a project.  I spin for the love of the process, just like I dye for the love of the process.  BUT, looking at this book, I keep thinking hmmmm, maybe I should spin for one of these sweaters.  And then I back away - way too ambitious a thought!  But I keep coming back to it. 
This week I committed to buying the book, and now I'm trying to decide which of these sweaters to make: (I apologize for my crummy photos, they looks sooo much nicer in the book!)

I have an abundance of wonderful choices!  I don't know how I'm going to decide.  They're all worsted weight, so I can probably spin a bunch of yarn before I have to decide.  And that's another thing, I'll have to spin some and ply it and SWATCH like crazy!  I tend to do swatches anyway, although I'm not as rigorous about it as I should be.  But this will be really critical - this will tell me if I'm making the right yarn to begin with!! 
There's a lady in Salem named Helen who is making EVERY project in the book.  I am so impressed with that goal!  Here I am barely able to commit to one of them. Helen, you're my inspiration! 
Maybe this will be my New Year's Resolution.  It will definitely be a stretch goal for me. What goals are you stretching for? 

A Handwoven Scarf in Tofutsies

I recently tried weaving some Tofutsies sock yarn, and REALLY like the way it turned out!  I used it as warp, sett at 16 ends per inch in a 2/2 twill, and used 8/2 cotton as weft.  It has a nice cozy hand and was super easy to warp and weave.  I'll be doing this again! 

 I put 2 ends per dent in an 8 dent reed, and used a floating selvedge.  Because a twill doesn't catch the side warp with each pick, using a floating selvedge keeps the edges tidier for me.  Some people don't like them, but I do!  A floating selvedge is a strand on each edge that goes through the reed, but not through a heddle, so it "floats".  When passing the shuttle through, you go over one side and under the other - it doesn't matter which side is over and which is under as long as you are consistent.  I go over at the starting side, and under at the far side - this wraps the edge thread every time.

 I really like a fairly long twisted fringe...  I use a double pronged fringe twister and twist 2 bunches together in the same direction - I count how many twists so I can be consistent across the whole warp.  On this scarf, I put 4 threads in each bundle, twisted a while until it was over twisted, and then put the 2 bundles together and let them ply together and tie an overhead knot at the end.  I like somewhat finer fringe bundles, but you get to choose the look you like.

I really like the way this fabric feels, so I'm toying with the idea of weaving some fabric to make a blouse...  It would feel yummy!  But first I need to finish up my Christmas weaving...  working on it!  Tick tick tick...  Hope your holiday weaving/spinning/knitting/felting is going well and that the recipients love what you make them!

Happy Thanksgiving!

On behalf of all of us here at Woodland Woolworks, we'd like to wish you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving!  Safe travels to anyone traveling!! 

Thanksgiving Wine Weekend

There are dozens and dozens of wineries and tasting rooms in the Yamhill/Carlton area, and there are 2 weekends of the year that are especially big for wine tasters.  One of those is the Thanksgiving weekend.  According to the website Willamette Valley Wineries there will be more than 160 wineries and tasting rooms open with special events for the weekend!   I wonder how many people have been to all 160?  That would be quite a goal - NOT all in one weekend, of course! 

Stop on in for some yarn & fiber fondling on Friday & Saturday, we're right on the way!

Small cones of perle cotton

We've had the small cones of 5/2 and 3/2 perle cotton available for years.  The company we get these from also started offering the 10/2 and 20/2 sizes on small cones as well, but I kept hesitating about offering them because we kept being told by the company that their winding machine was old and cranky and hard to repair and one of these days it was going to die and they just weren't going to replace it.  I just knew that as soon as I made the commitment to all those colors (well over 100!) in both those sizes, that machine would croak.  Well, this has been going on for some years now, and so far it's still winding away.  So, we're going to offer the 10/2 and 20/2 on small cones.  If you order it, we'll order it.  I'm not going to push my luck by trying to invest in all that yarn at one time, but will bring it in as we get requests for colors.  Since they come in boxes of 6, if somebody orders 1 cone of a color, inventory will be built over time.

I'm sure their machine is laughing now, and about to keel over.  But maybe not!  Fans of finer weaving will be happy to get smaller amounts of lots of colors instead of being limited to 1 pound (plus!) cones.  A bit much when you want 5 colors for a scarf! 

Pioner Loom by Northwest Looms

We recently got a very interesting loom in as a trade-in.  I'd never seen anything like it, so thought I'd write a little bit about it.  This very innovative loom is built by Northwest Looms in Wyoming.  It has "open heddles" and an open reed.  The threading is from the top of the heddle, just slide your warp in from the top. In the picture below, the reed/beater is resting on the front beam.  The wooden levers on the right side raise the harnesses.  The levers are graduated in length to make it easy to find the harness you want.

The front beam will slide forward so you can put the warping peg segments in, and then warp directly from there.  I think it's a fascinating little loom!  And with 8 harnesses, your patterning possibilities are huge!  This would be a great loom to tote to workshops.

  

Art Harvest Studio Tour

This coming weekend (Oct 1-3) and the following (Oct 8-10) is the Art Harvest Studio Tour. This event is a self-guided trip through Yamhill County to visit 40 different artist's studios in the area. It's a great event, especially with this warm early Fall weather taking place. You get to drive through the scenic hills of fields, wineries, and orchards on a lovely Saturday or Sunday and stop in to see fantastic local art along the way. If you add in a winery stop (or two) and a visit to a wonderful little knitting store called Woodland Woolworks- you've got a perfectly relaxing and entertaining afternoon. ; )

Although most of these artists use paint as their mediums, instead of fiber like ourselves, we feel a connection to the creative spirit and use of hands to create something stunning. This tour is especially interesting because you get to see where the actual creative process takes place, not just the artwork hung in a gallery. It's a kind of behind-the-scenes look at art being made which can be as interesting as the pieces themselves.

You can learn more about buying tickets and find a map of the locations at the Art Harvest website.

Oregon Flock and Fiber Recap

Before the mad rush

Well another year and another OFFF is in the books. It was a lot of fun as usual. A big thanks to all the volunteers that make it happen. We loved seeing and meeting everyone there (lots of hugs!) and were glad for at least one sunny afternoon on Saturday. Sunday, not so much, but we're thankful to all who braved the downpour in the morning to make it out. You just can't keep good fiber fans down! It's always a shame that we're so busy holding down the fort we don't get to do as much exploring as we'd like - there's so much good stuff! We were able to catch a quick glimpse of the duck herding demonstration though, and that was fun to watch. We're already looking forward to next year.

Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival

The Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival is coming up on the weekend of September 25th through the 26th (with workshops also on the 24th). It takes place at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds in Canby, Oregon and is a weekend full of fun for the fiber arts enthusiast.

We really look forward to the OFFF because of all the great events and people we get to meet. There's competitions for livestock, spinning skills, fiber, yarns, fiber creations, and even a cook off (Entry forms). There's also lots of workshops on dyeing, weaving, knitting, beading, and almost anything you can think of when it comes to fiber. There's also live music, crafts for sale, fiber for sale, and activities to keep you busy all weekend long. It really is quite an event! We'll be there on The Porch with a booth, so be sure to stop on by and say hello. We'll have all kinds of fiber-y goodness with us, ready for you to take away and create with.

Carol Hummel Artwork

 Carol Hummel is an artist that often uses knitting, crocheting, and yarn for her outdoor sculptures. We thought we'd share some of our favorite pictures of her unique work today.We love how the brightly colored yarns contrast with the concrete and rock. Just another example of how far you can take knitting, crochet, and the fiber arts - there are no limits.

L.A. County Fair

If you're in the L.A. area this month, then you should try and make a stop at the L.A. County Fair, taking place September 4th through October 4th at the Fair Plex in Pomona.Our good friend Patricia Woods will be on hand at the California Heritage Square, demonstrating and teaching people how to spin fiber on Wednesdays and on the weekends. The Heritage Square also has other fun historical experiences to partake in, like panning for gold, grinding corn, and quilting. Patricia will be by the Big Red Barn; through the tunnel, veer to the left where you'll see Texas Donuts. It will be right next door.

There's also a Spinning Contest taking place on Saturday, September 18th at 5:30pm. The contest is put on by the California Rabbit Society and entry is only $5 (and we think a free ticket to the fair). You can email Hilary Godfrey for more details: hilarygodfrey@therancheslol@sbeglobal.net or click on the link above for an entry form. There's 3 different divisions: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. We'd love one of the winner's to be a Woodland Woolworks fan!

If you're looking for some fun, fair entertainment and want to see some spinning in action or are looking to show off your skills, the California Heritage Center and the Spinning Contest is the spot. 


(Might want to stay away from the cheese fries though- yowza! And we're not sure we want to know how big a Texas Donut is.)

Lantern Moon

We just got in a shipment of new products from Lantern Moon the other day, and it reminded us that we should do a blog on this company, as many who buy or see their products might not know much about them, and they're an interesting company that's worth writing about.

Lantern Moon supports socially and globally conscious living. They work directly with producers to provide income, education, and self-reliance to Vietnamese women and their families. In 2004, they established an educational trust fund to benefit the children of these families.

With your purchases you provide a market for these wonderful products and contribute to the economic and social well being of the areas where they are produced, providing income and self-reliance to women and their families. 

The women create all these products by hand, so most are one-of-a-kind and highlight their artistic skills that are often unique to the regions with which they live in. They create really beautiful items, and it's good to know that they're getting paid a fair wage and have their well-being watched out for while doing it.

Lantern Moon's environmental policy is also something worth cheering about, as they check to make sure how viable the resources are long-term, and how much impact using those resources will have in the regions they come from. They have begun shifting the balance from using local and regional woods to woods that can be certified sustainable through independent third party verification, making sure their footprint on the environment is even a smaller one.

Because of these policies and philosophies in running their business, we thought it'd be good to call attention to it. It feels that much better purchasing a product that not only is gorgeous to look at, but also good in it's core values. Take a look at the Lantern Moon products we carry here (just click on the category links).

We also have their bags currently on sale here.


And the newest items from them can be seen here.

eCatalog and web findings

Well, we just finished our Fall "eCatalog" and got it up on the site. Trying something different to see how well it works. The cost of printing and especially mailing has risen so much - plus the environmental impact of printing all those catalogs up, takes a toll. We thought/think that we can still satisfy those who look forward to our catalogs, plus make it quick and easy to access on the internet, as well as easy to order by adding links to all the products. You just click the picture and voila! you're taken to the webpage of the clicked product. Technology is pretty cool. It's fun to get a chance at pushing forward with technology and web capability to make a more interesting and entertaining catalog. Who knows, maybe we'll even get video clips in future issues. This format will also allow us to create catalogs more frequently, keeping y'all better up-to-date with all the new products we add and events that are up-coming, so that'll be great.

Surfing around the web, I found a couple fun blog articles I thought I'd share:

First off is a really simple and fun pattern for Woven Square Slippers. It comes to us from the Knitting Interrupted blog. Basically, you weave up a square (or possibly knit/crochet), sew up the sides, felt, and just like that, you've got a new pair of slippers. If knitting socks looks too daunting, this might be the way to cheat and get yourself some warm slippers on the easy. I won't tell, I promise. 

I thought the Kool-Aid dye color recipes at Tried & True were pretty clever. Who knew you need 2 lemons, 1 grape, and 1 orange to make brown? Nice color chart. Not sure how well it carries over to wool though...

Speaking of wool and felt - this site has a lot of great information on learning how to felt. Lots of videos. Maybe it can inspire you to do some felting.... we've got fun little felting wool packs on sale right now too. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge. 

-Tim

Interesting definitions

I found these interesting snippets when I searched for "yarn retail" on the magicyellow.com site...  (a sort of yellow pages type place)

When shopping for knitting string, otherwise known as yarn, spend some time fingering the different weights in order to find a variety that suits your purposes. If you are planning on creating a baby item, or a piece of delicate lace, you do not want to choose a bulky yarn of heavy weight, since that will make your item too thick. Heavier yarn is a good choice, however, if you are knitting throws or cold weather item, such as hats or scarves. While you are shopping for yarn, visualize the item you will be knitting and consider how close to the skin the item will be. You do not want to choose a bulky, heavy weight if it will be in direct skin item for long periods of time, because it may turn out to be scratchy and uncomfortable. 

And this one:

Yarn is a bulky, thick string-like fabric used in knitting socks, baby sweaters, throws, slippers, shawls, lace, wraps, hats, mittens, oven mitts, scarves, skirts, tops, bags and it comes in many different colors. The string can be thick and weight heavier than other strings, sometimes has a lace texture but it can still be bulky for fingering work. Similar to crocheting, knitting is a favorite past time of many, providing a relaxing outlet. Yarn retailers sell yarn and knitting supplies to customers. Large craft or fabric stores typically have yarn or knitting sections where customers can purchase their supplies. Yarn comes in all sorts of colors, sizes, fingering weights and textures. Be on the lookout for sales and cheap discounted prices. Many stores offer weekly sales and promotions, as well as yarn or knitting clubs. Check out your local yarn retail store for more information about knitters' clubs. You can find retail yarn stores or craft stores in your local phone book or in online directories. Consider what type of yarn you need for your project, and how much of it. Keep your budget in mind before heading out to shop at the store. Many yarn retail stores and online stores sell knitting kits, which can feature anything from shawl kits and poncho kits to sweater kits and sock kits. Such kits come with all the yarn and instructions you will need to make that particular item. This is ideal for the amateur or beginner knitter. Remember that Yarn is a weighted string, so you may need to use new specialized tools that you may easily find at a local shopping center.

I wonder who writes these things?   Bulky string-like fabric?  huh...  Course, that makes me wonder how the dictionary defines yarn.  So I wandered over to dictionary.com and found this:

–noun

1. thread made of natural or synthetic fibers and used for knitting and weaving.

2. a continuous strand or thread made from glass, metal, plastic, etc.

3. the thread, in the form of a loosely twisted aggregate of fibers, as of hemp, of which rope is made (rope yarn).

4. a tale, esp. a long story of adventure or incredible happenings: He spun a yarn that outdid any I had ever heard.

–verb (used without object)

5. Informal . to spin a yarn; tell stories.

---

Origin:

bef. 1000;  ME; OE gearn;  c. G Garn;  akin to ON gǫrn  gut, Gk chordḗ  intestine, chord¹ ,  Lith žarnà  entrails, L hernia  a rupture, Skt hirā  vein

Urgh, had no idea about the origins.  Okay, time to back away from Google and get back to my weighted string.

Moving Update

It's time!  We will be open in the Carlton location through Saturday July 3rd, and then we'll be closed July 4th, 5th and 6th, and will re-open in the new Yamhill location on July 7th! 

We've started moving some stuff already and holy cow, there's a lot of stuff in here. 

The new location is 262 S. Maple Street, Yamhill Oregon.  The 800 number remains the same, and the local phone number will be 503 662-4849.  The mailing address is PO Box 543  Yamhill, OR  97148   Maple street is route 47, so we're right on the main drag through town, in the big blue building on the west side of the street at the south end of town.  It's going to be great!

If you come in between now and Saturday there are some special deals, even more than is available through the website...  Help us not have to move it!!  Books, take the books!  :) 

We're Moving!!

I can't believe I'm saying this out loud, it kind of makes me panic a bit to think of what lies ahead, but it's true!  We're moving!!  It'll probably be in June, not sure of dates yet because a lot has to happen between now and then....  We'll be moving to Yamhill, it's going to be great! (once it's all done)

So we're having a BIG sale in the Stash Room, where nearly every yarn is $3  (three buck chuck!)  You can take advantage of it online too in the Closeouts section.  We're adding more yarns to it as we speak, and some of the new additions will appear in the Sale Yarns area of the website. 

I'll let you know when we know the dates we're moving.  

Upcoming handwoven show & sale

The Portland Handweavers Guild is having their big show and sale next weekend - April 30-May 2nd, at the Oregon Convention Center.  Admission is free, and so is the inspiration!

Their advertising post card says:

• Showcasing the creative work of outstanding regional artists in Oregon & Washington, featuring one-of-a-kind hand-crafted items including towels, jackets, scarves, baskets, rugs, wraps, handspun/dyed yarns and wall hangings
• Daily demonstrations of weaving, spinning, basketry, and Ravenstail weaving, an ancient NW Coastal Indian technique with John Bead
• Fashion shows at 2 pm Friday and Saturday
• Children's hands-on activities

 A fabulous place for inspiration and supporting local fiber artists!

Melda's Inspirational Weaving

Melda brought in some wonderful weaving she's been working on.  She weaves on a 24 harness AVL, which is a monster loom.  She wove some curtains to hang in her weaving area.  Wouldn't these be wonderful to stare at while you weave?  This is 24 harness uneven tied overshot using 20/2 perle cotton in approximately a zillion colors.

She used many colors in a shaded wash across the warp.  I couldn't get the entire width in the photo, but you can see how the color changes across the width.  Lovely! 

Here is what the reverse side looks like:

Here are a couple of the leaves a little closer:

 

  

  

 

Melda did some sampling of colors to get just what she wanted.  Here's one of the versions:

I'm just so impressed with this, I thought you'd like to see it too.  Lovely lovely weaving!

Some new spring yarns

Spring must be coming, because the spring yarns are starting to show up!  It's always such fun to see the new yarns.  I love meeting with the yarn reps twice a year to see what the various companies are bringing out.  Course, it's really hard not to want to buy ALL of them, so restraint must be shown.  Rats. 

Rowan is bringing out a recycled yarn in their Purelife group, called Revive.  It's tweedy and wonderful! 
There are 8 colors - some rather earth-tone ones:

 

And some brighter shades:

And here's a close-up of the purple shade: 

 

I think this will be on my needles before too long!  

And the other yarn is a sock yarn from Regia, called Hand-dye Effects.  

 

Pretty fun stuff!  

An Incredibly Gorgeous Loom

We got a used loom consigned recently that is just amazing.  It's a J-Made 16 harness walnut beauty.

 

It's tough to get a decent picture of it in the warehouse...  but it's WALNUT! 

There is a bench too, with a laminated top:

If this loom weren't computerized it would be going home with me - what can I say, I'm a Luddite.  But at least I get to walk by it and pet it every day while it's here.

J-Made looms are made right here in Oregon City, and his looms are wonderful. Furniture quality.

Goal settings & resolutions

I haven't set any resolutions in a few years, although I always like the idea of them.  So I decided maybe I'd try setting some monthly goals for my fiber stuff - knitting, spinning, weaving, whatever else might wander in.  Usually my resolutions would run along the lines of "spin more" - more than what?  When I participated in the Tour de Fleece my goal was "spin as much as I can"....  really - so any amount could in theory be "as much as I can", since if I spun it, I could and if I didn't spin it, evidently I couldn't.  Too wishy washy. 

So, my January goal is to finish weaving the scarf that's been on there for entirely too long.  I've debated cutting it off, I've let it sit for months on end, we moved the loom into the living room so I'd have no excuse, but still, there it sits.  Lately I have spent more time on it - after spending a frustrating 20 minutes searching high and low for the weft material when I needed to fill a bobbin.  Oh great, finally decide to do it and now the weft is gone.  Naturally.  It turned up, right where I left it - in the side storage of the loom bench.  Sheesh. 

For Christmas I got an iPod - my very 1st mp3 player!  I know, I'm rather late to the party.  I've loaded it up with probably more podcasts than I can possibly listen to, and have been happily weaving and spinning along to the voices in my head.  It helps keep me in place instead of weaving one little repeat and deciding I should be doing something else - I'll weave for the duration of the podcast instead!  yay! 

What helps keep you focused on working on a project when the 1st blush of starting a project has worn off?

Oh, other goals - finish knitting that pretty Fresco cowl I started a few entries ago, and finish spinning up some raspberry colored roving I started who knows when and then abandoned in favor of another fiber (I have a number of those - I'm a little scattered for spinning pounds of the same stuff). 

I've only got another week to go on this, so I'm gonna need some luck - and days off in the middle of the week!  My only reliable day off is Sunday, and sometimes I take a day off mid-week, which is wonderful. 

What are your goals for January?