small luxuries

 it's a rule of sewing: no matter how good you are at sewing, if your scissors are blunt you end up with a less than acceptable garment.

i've always been a fiskgar's girl ever since i took a weaving course in finland in the first ice age and came across them. actually i've had those same scissors up to now. since i live in a quaint town, there's a sharpener that passes by every two weeks and i've been sharpening my knives and scissors with him. but there comes a time when no matter how much i sharpen- actually he sharpens- it's no go.

time for new ones and a great excuse to go downtown to the old city where cuchilleria roca is located.

the place is a  delightful old fashioned store which  sells knives scissors, cutlery and impressive badger shaving brushes.the salespeople are also old fashioned in their service,very helpful and what i like the most, they do not rush customers; they make you feel as if they have all day just for you.

the lady who waited on me showed me the usual fiskgars and suggested kai scissors as well. she showed me the pro range,totally out of my budget, but goodness what scissors! i settled for the 9 inch mid range and the sales pitch was totally out of her control. she said that  they were japanese and that japanese steel was very good. as if i had to be cajoled into anything japanese!!

the scissors are heaven to work with. the handle is soft and  supple, the inclination is just right helping  to cut  without the need to pick up the fabric, yet another sewing no-no.

the blades are made of katana grade steel. i am convinced of that because of  japanese  reputation for excelling in craftsmanship, even in an industrial scenario. 

and they are nice to look at.

another small luxury: re-fashioning  defectuous shibori silk scarves for facings.

i'm cutting the pockets for a skirt from an ai dyed silk scarf which didn't make the grade.

more about the skirt tomorrow.

neki desu
 

menacing

all those teeth!they prevent the knitting from jumping off the needles and ending like a big mess on the floor.i am learning how to make eyelets on the diagonal.
i have discovered the alice schlein of knitting too! she seems to enjoy geekery and gadgets and use them for designing ,as alice does. her blog.



neki desu
 

now, don't tell me mom isn't cute

 wonderful recipe from my favorite cook. if you don't eat pork, you can use the sauce recipe and roasting  for chicken or beef.

have a great weekend!


neki desu
 

spoiled beyond repair

the warp is behaving so incredibly well that i can get used to that, especially after the last warp from hell. the added problem with warps from hell is that they take so long to weave i get bored. 3 meters of fabric woven at a pace of a couple of centimeters per session and just to think of it i'm already bored.this new baby progresses at a very nice pace.

spoiler nº 2. my garter bar.i adore it.

look how easy it is to crochet the edging,  beats having 12 fingers i can tell you that.

i am sampling  a linen yarn on the knitting machine  a very apt excuse to get practice.

using punch cards nº 5 in a skip stitch,

nº 2 in a tuck stitch 

 nº 16 in a lace pattern



all with my brother kh 890.
too bad brother stopped production because they are good sturdy numbers.if you happen to see a second hand one in good condition grab it without second thoughts.

and there's no 3 without 4. have been trying to get rid of those awful share icons in my photoblog.
blogger dynamic views incorporate them and they are a pain to delete. yesterday i found the only tutorial that worked for me. if you are using a dynamic view template go here .
you're welcome ;-)

neki desu
 

intermezzo

fumata turchese....

the weaving is going beautifully, as expected from the known behavior of organzine. side tracking to make a b'day card for a friend. she saved the mesh from a bouquet and gave it to me saying that i would find use for it. indeed. it's going back to her as a card.  needle felted merino serves as  background to the distressed mesh and a bit of sequin waste.some hand stitching, maybe some machine embroidery. 

hadn't stitched since summer when i was working on the lodz piece.

 it is still halfway, but it's proving to be soothing.stressed out people should be given stitching therapy.

outside is raining the proverbial cats and dogs.

neki desu


 

cooking

must be mercury retrograde. like noma, the world's best restaurant. but their mistake was a lot bigger actaully 16 times bigger.
 anyhow, can you spot my mistake?
and while on the food subject drop by my photo blog  batteries not included for the new food photo.



neki desu

clever people

cleverness has always cut it for me. i admire all its manifestations, even smart ass cleverness.

here you can see the placement of the louet raddle; yarns go over the shafts (properly covered with paper) lease sticks in between the raddle and back beam. notice the knobs and the piece of wood underneath locking the raddle.

 

second option:the raddle is placed  behind the 
heddles supported on the sides.
the  clever wood piece now
 lies parallel to the sides locking the reed.

my excitement lies in the fact that i discovered placement nº1  and think i like it more than the regular one. will have to fine tune the system, but so far i like it.

i have two working stations- back and front- with chairs and lights.every so often threaded heddles i walk around to the front and thread the reed thus minimizing errors.what i like about it is that it is a lot gentler with my cervicals and back.and i also add steps to my daily tally. did i say win-win?

neki desu