Here is my weaving from my previous entry enjoying a bit of outside activity on the clothes line.I’m reasonably happy with it and it will cheer me up on days when my confidence thermometer goes below zero!

This entry is a bit of blog/web pointing and raving…or as I have just learnt ‘cooling’. I’m new as a volunteer category editor at dmoz directory. Cooling is something I can’t do there but I can here on my own space.:-)

When I go looking at great textile blogs like Sara Lamb and The Keyboard Biologist I realise just how much energy I must lack! Theresa, The Keyboard Biologist has a great archive page which allows you to view all of her topics. Have a look at Scarves – really beautiful….and so productive. Her latest entry has knitting in a stainless steel/wool yarn. Forget about sheep – we will have to own mines instead.

Textilers are the most resourceful people. Have you noticed? And interested in anything inventive, functional and beautiful. By way of a very unexpexted hyperlinking adventure I came across Brenda Paternoster’s lacemaking site. Lacemaking is affiliated with weaving in many ways and she provides a great tutorial on making Paper Bobins. I think these will be useful for braiding/kumihimo perhaps – and perhaps a good project to get young students engaged, ready to start their textiles adventures.

As my favourite dye techniqes always include some type of ikat I was particularly interested in how to tie an ikat warp on a frame. This step-by-step tutorial will ensure a great patterned ikat warp, especially if it is taken directly to a backstrap loom and woven. The idea is leave no excuses for shifting the yarn after ikat dyeing. My simple designs shift a little, as seen in this series I am working on – the Passionflower series. I designed a loom controlled supplementary warp at the edges with a false satin for the body. I needed three separately weighted warps for the job, but it was straightforward beyond that.

I’m always impressed when I come across people who pursue their interests in life with creativity and zest. We are all involved with cooking because we have to eat to live. But Cathy at My Little Kitchen puts much more into her exquisite biscuits. Working through Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Cookies Cathy takes mouthwatering artistic photos of her homebaked creations accompanied by ‘reviews’ from her tasting friends. Really lovely.

Lastly [what a long blog entry today], I’m still drawing or trying to. This is a photo of my current project – a portrait of Dave and I at Penzance in England. When I can’t weave, I can always draw. A pencil is even allowed on a plane and is not considered a tool of violence like knitting needles.