have i mentioned the second loom?

way back in 2010, before we even moved over to this falling down farmhouse, i acquired a loom. it's never been set up, but i've had it all this time. so once we decided that the brewery needed to be a weaving studio, i knew i had to set it up. along the way, i had acquired a third one and several smaller table-top looms as well, but there's not room for all of them. i still have dreams of having a loom upstairs in what will be the living room as well. 

a couple of months ago, husband and i spent the day putting the loom together. the two smaller ones i have are of similar size and we had to bring all the bits out here in order to figure out which belonged to which loom. we did eventually figure it out. it was rather like putting together a puzzle.

here are all the bits of the 3rd one. i cleaned them up and then the went back into storage until i can set it up upstairs. 

husband put up some hooks so that the extra bits that i'm not using on the big loom could be hung up. it can have 16 pedals, but i'm not nearly that ambitious as of yet. i'm only using six at the moment. 

we finally managed to get it put together. i knew i would need to call my weaving mentor to help me straighten everything out with all those "søller" (again, no idea what they're called in english since i've learned this entirely in danish). 

the view of the second loom through the first one. now it's really, truly a weaving studio. i'm going to set up a warp for weaving some more rag rugs. after i broke that bottle of olive oil on the first one that i wove and the second one had some issues with the yarn quality, i really need to weave a new one for the kitchen. 

it was rather fun getting out all the things that came with the looms along the way and figuring out exactly what all i have. and as you might imagine, i have a lot. it seems like every loom comes with a box or two of accessories. 

a week or so after this, emmy did help me get everything all set up and ready for the rag rug warp. i have to order the yarn and then we will get it set up. 

see the difference? i took this photo today - those strings are in much better order, just waiting for the warp.

we enjoy sitting at this little table and doing projects, even if it is right by the door. we sat here and made our friendship bracelets for the taylor swift concert (did i mention that my sister and i went to taylor swift in hamburg?). it's really become our favorite room.

and the view from the other side. i've got a second round of rainbow tea towels on the go on the big loom. when they're finished, i'll make us some bath towels for the upstairs bathroom. i'm pondering the colors and setup for those as i weave the rainbow tea towels.

somehow the color of the wood and color of the floor just complement one another perfectly. i love this room so much.

even when i'm working at home, i sit in a lounge chair over in this corner, just so i can be in the room. 

we can still do other projects out here, for example, husband is painting a cupboard over in the far corner. he just put down a drop cloth to protect the floor. i've had the sewing machine set up on the round table a couple of times as well. and i had a zine project going on there over the past week or so. 

people are always asking me how i have time for creative projects. i think it's mostly because i would rather come out and be in this room, making something, than sit and watch t.v. and even when i'm working on the computer, it tends to be here. so i guess my answer is that if you quite literally make the space for it, you have all the time for creative projects that you need.

even more moments of perfect clarity

it seems like everyone is on substack these days...and you know me, i can't resist trying to belong, so come visit me over there. i'm not abandoning here, just expanding my horizons. hope you'll stop by!

first batch of rainbow tea towels!

my first batch of tea towels is complete! they're so pretty and i was not at all done playing with color, so we made a new warp in the same color palette. 

i say we, because i am very fortunate to have my own personal weaving mentor, who gave me her loom and who is helping me every step of the way. 

to start off with, i played with some yarn i had in my stash - love the tweed effect of the nubbly yarn. i did enough to be able to make a little bag and now i've begun on the next set of tea towels. 

 

the prodigal molly returns

i hadn't seen molly dolly since before we went to arizona back in may. she wasn't here when we came home and she seriously didn't show up again until two days ago - july 10 to be exact. my last photo of her before that was april 6, though i am certain that i saw her on may 3, the day we left for arizona. at first, i wasn't worried - she can easily disappear for a few days and maybe a week, but i'll admit that eventually i thought something had happened to her. 

i was just sick about it, but couldn't even bring myself to speak it out loud. i would go out in the garden and talk to her, both out loud and just in my head. i was so sad to think that i might not know what ever happened to her. but now she's back, like nothing happened. i wonder where she was? billy, her grandson, does this all the time - he clearly has another home and lives there most of the year, only coming home for a few weeks every summer. but molly's never disappeared for more than a few days before this. she must have been angry that we left for 10 days. 

she's 12 years old now - yes, it was 12 years ago that we brought that tiny grey kitten back from our trip to minnesota and south dakota. 

at long last

after going all this time without ever having covid, it has finally caught up with me. so much for my theory that i hadn't gotten it because of my b-negative blood type.  i think it was last week's travels and i think husband also had it last week. thanks to 4 vaccinations, it's like a bad cold/flu. i have a fever, a headache, a very sore throat, aches all over my body and a weird revulsion to fish. husband was eating torskerøgn for lunch and i couldn't even look at it. i had some avocado toast. it must be the new flirt variant - they try to make it sound fun, naming it that, but it's not fun at all. 

an abandoned house in belgium

do you ever just want to give it all up, buy a falling down house to fix up and move to belgium? me neither. though this house near gosselies was rather tempting. tucked in the undergrowth along a cobblestone street, windows open, quietly falling into disrepair, yet strangely appealing. i peeked in a window. it was like the people left it from one day to the next, taking nothing with them. i so found myself wanting to know the story. what happened? was it elderly family members who died and the family didn't want the house? was there a murder? have i been listening to too many true crime podcasts? could i learn to speak french?

i don't really know what to make of belgium. i've been in brussels a few times and also to ghent. this was my first trip to the french-speaking part. it felt like entering a pocket in time. quiet, slow, and maybe a bit abandoned and forgotten, like this house.

scenes from a quick trip to stavanger

had a quick work trip to stavanger this week. it's such a lovely, charming, creative, artsy town. and the light was amazing. i had a chance to stroll around a bit, spotting street art at every turn. and there was even time for a get-together with miss buckle from the old bloggy days! we ate a great burger and had a few laughs!