Pick-up Ikle - Tedious but impressive

 The banjolele strap is all fixed up, reassembled and re-attached to the uke.    I ended up shortening it after washing it up because it really was too long in the first place.  It seemed sensible, since I'd already had it taken apart.   I decided that I could live with the small amount of width shrinkage from the washing as once assembled, it didn't slip in the hardware. It works fine, and there are no ill effects from Kevin's mistreatment of the strap.   I know you're supposed to hold a regular uke in your arms while you play, but the hooks on the head of the banjo-uke press into my arm making it uncomfortable, plus it's a little heavier.  The strap makes a huge difference in comfort.

 We had a weavers guild challenge to bring a greeting card or Christmas card to a meeting and then decide on a project using some of the colours in the card.  The Christmas card I had was black, red and white.  I didn't have any black thread in the cupboard, and wasn't going to order anything in the near future, so I decided to spin instead of weave.  These are some of the rolags that I've carded from black, red and white merino.   It's spinning up into a rather nice, subtle, tweedy yarn.

I warped up the inkle loom to play with pick-up.   I'm using 2/8 cotton for the ground threads and 4/8 for the pattern threads.   Right now I'm managing about 3 to 3 1/2 inches an hour.  My loom weaves a band about 108 in long, so it's going to take a while if I decide to finish the entire band.    It's not difficult though, but definitely fussy.  It requires much counting, so it's not like a plain weave band where you can chat, or watch a video or something, while weaving.  This band requires concentration and about 35-40 hours.  

We have a guild with a bunch of super-enthusiastic beginners this year.  I know if I use it for show and tell, someone will say I should sell stuff like this.   But really, if it takes 35 hours, how much would I have to sell it for to make it worth my while?  and Who in their right mind would pay that much?  LOL!!!

In other news, the blanket I was working on is stitched up,

hemmed, wet finished and how in use.   It is cozy to cuddle up under and when there is a nice day outside, I'll drag it out and hang it on the line so I can photograph it.  Right now though, there are 3 cats curled up on it, which is the best seal of approval.  However it also means I can't access it to take a photo, without getting those same 3 cats ticked off at me.  I figure while they're sleeping, they aren't getting into any mischief and that's a win in my opinion.

  This is Phil looking out the window at something moving about outside.  He enjoys looking out, but he doesn't really want to actually go outside anymore.   He seems to be happy in his warm, safe environment, with lots of food, water and cuddles.