I do not think I mentioned that my kids gave me a Cricket
loom for Christmas.  It was a delightful
surprise (although it had been on my wish list) and I was excited to get
weaving.  With all the activity
surrounding the Holidays and my out-of-town kids being home, there was not much
time to focus on a new project.  But
Sarah put the loom together and one afternoon she and I set aside time to “just
do it.”

It has been a while since I have embarked upon something
totally new!  Alien vocabulary, only the
scantiest idea of how the machinery worked, the constant fear of breaking
something or setting things up wrong or somehow totally messing it up….Thank
heaven for the Internet videos – we re-ran them several times until we got the
loom warped (we think) correctly.  Also,
a thank you to George who helped wrangle the babies and made dinner while we
ran back and forth form the loom to the computer and kept saying things like:

Does this look right? 
Do you think this is it? 
Wait.  Okay.  Does this look right?

Once the loom was warped (look at me talking like a
weaver!), we figured out how to weave on it. 
I am ridiculously proud of my three inches of fabric (the yarn Sarah
ordered for the loom is quite fine – lace-weight fine!) and am going to change colors next time I sit down to
weave. 

My other “fun stuff” is the Knit Picks “Craftsman Afghan” kit
I ordered for myself.  I rarely buy
knitting kits (in fact, I cannot remember the last time I did!), but this piece
is so lovely, so my style (I adore Arts and Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau),
so intriguing (“This creative afghan is knit modularly, with chevron and
mitered square sections…”).  And it is
made from their Suri Dream (alpaca and wool with a bit of nylon) in the most
delicious fruity colors (Mulled Wine, Hollyberry, Woodlands – with neutrals
Natural, Fedora, Sandstorm) which is not only a tactile delight, but is brilliant design since the halo will give the piece the look of stained glass.  When I saw
it on their website with “Last Chance” on it, well I swooped!

I have done no more than leaf through the directions and pat
the yarn, but someday soon….