V Rebozo Tide Pool

I've started on thisV Rebozo after some years of dithering.

Big wad of tide pool

With the exception of two partial skeins of leftover yarn, all of the yarn for this project was dyed in late 2014 at Anzula, a dye house in Fresno; the nice folks at Nine Rubies (a now closed yarn shop that was in San Mateo) organized a small group class giving us access to all of their dye colors. I've used other bits from that trip in a metallic colored scarf I made for DH and the hip length ruana in fall colors that I made for myself in 2018 and failed to photo for this blog.

I picked the yarn for this project based with the idea that it reminded me of a tide pool, yet could not bring myself to start it because I was unsure of the colors together. Recently, I dug the yarns out of deep storage and was still unsure until I would off about 18" of each yarn and threw them together in a clump that does in fact remind me of a tide pool!

Having the intention (looks like a tide pool) helps me keep the colorway focused; an additional color that I want to add must pass the test of "does this make it look more like a tide pool? Or less?"

It's easier for me to see that they'll go together
in a clump than like this

Right now I'm winding a 5 yard warp, and following design instructions in the November '07 Handwoven Magazine for a V Rebozo; this will give me about 18" for sampling and 16" between the pieces.. I'll go 25 or 26 inches wide on the loom. I need two pieces, 46” and 67” long (added 5 inches from the pattern cause I'm tall); I'll sett at 10 ends per inch.

Based on those calculations, I need about 1250 yds of warp. I'm using the following:

• 2 skeins of Nantuket silk/mohair about 240 yds per skien - every third thread, so about 84 threads
• 2 skeins light blue/grey/green alpaca blend, 400 yds 
• 1/2 skein some random stash green? It's a commercial yarn, use all of this
• 1/3 skein DK weight yarn. I used the rest of it for socks, use all of this in the rebozo. I didn't dye this yarn either.
• 2 skeins chartreuse and grey Cascade 220, about 440 yards; fill in whatever is left.

This will leave me with one skein of the bright green/grey wool and one of the blue/green/grey alpaca blend.  I've also dug out a bunch of other skeins from the dye day and put them in a pile; they'll go nicely together in another project!

Food wise, I cooked the January cookbook challenge meal tonight. I made chitternee, a sweet and sour chicken and onion dish from India. The charm of this month's cookbook, The Book of Jewish Food is not only it's recipes, but it's history and stories of Jews all over the world. Apparently there are 3 major Jewish groups in India; this recipe is from the Baghdadi group, who emmigrated to India from Baghdad in the 1800's. So this dish is an Iraqi dish with influences of Indian spices.  Very tasty, but like many stew like dishes, it would not make a great photo. I served it with Basmati rice, roasted squash and broccilli.

Priorities for the first quarter of 2020

I'm going to start 2020 with an aggressive list of goals for the first quarter. They are, with status if there is one:

• Finish the 2nd table top to match the first one (Border and edging are already on).
• Start and finish a mosaic piece from the Esalen class. (This will happen as long as I make it to the class!)
• Finish the eye mosaic. (it's fairly small, and some of the pieces are already cut)
• Finish the Festivus quilt (nearly done with the 3rd of 12 blocks)
• Finish the Lake Breeze green sweater (body done, started sleeves, will learn to do a zipper at Stitches at the end of Feb)
• Weave a shadow weave piece of my own design for the study group (design is ready to go)
• Weave a ruana from the yarn I dyed in Fresno (design is nearly ready to go)
• Finish the woven jacket with the knitted sleeves (I need some courage)
• I need to do some other sewing thing (I have a top pattern I want to trial)
• Spin yarn for the CNCH Return to Sender competition (no status, no plan, no ideas)

On the food front, since this isn't just about fiber and broken glass, I'm starting a cookbook challenge again; Scott picks the cookbook, I make a meal from it. January is The Book of Jewish Food; hoping to cook something from that this weekend!

Mosaic critique!

Now that the table top is done, so I'm going to think about how I did on it. I talked with a friend last night about why I do this. It's not that I don't like my results; I love this table! But thinking about what would make this better will help me make stronger and better designs in the future. So that's why I do this.

The design parameters I set out for myself were to use round motifs, nearly all different, occasionally overlapping, using one color per motif with lights on the inside and darks on the outside. I also wanted the table to blend with the deck and the flower garden below it, and evoke a festive or fun mood. For the most part, I think I did an excellent job of this.  But I'll still list all the things I need to do better for the next one!

Ut oh, now comes the critique

First of all the whole thing is not exactly round but I will blame that on DH who did not cut it round for me. This, incidentally is not noticeable when you look at it as a table top instead of from a birds eye view.

I need to work on setting the tiles at an even depth so that the table top is flatter.

Round things need to be round. The yellow one is the worst; I had darker yellow at the outer edge which accentuated the out of roundness; when I pried the off I was damaging the substrate or I would likely have removed the whole thing. I think I could have made it look round despite the square center had I cut the light yellow glass better... I ended up putting some highly reflective squares around it which I think saves the shape, but I think the contrast could be better.

Yellow is also hard to use because it draws the eye. I wish I'd done simpler motifs in yellow.

After the yellow one, I tried to use clear contact paper and the double indirect method to  create and place a whole motif; this method seems to work well for a whole mosaic but the pieces didn't stick well enough for this to work with partial pieces. I may try it with tile tape but it may be too sticky. I ended up  drawing templates on paper, fitting the tiles there, then transferring piece by piece to the substrate. This worked better, but I'm not sure if it was due to the method or because the subsequent designs were simpler.

I made the first 4 motifs fussy, then went simpler because I ran out of ideas; I don't think it harms the composition but I'm acknowledging the difference in styles.

For the background, I echoed the shapes in a couple of places and did not in others. I think this needs to be consistent.

I used a grout color called Truffle; I'd debated using Charcoal as black really pops any mosaic, but I wanted it to be a little softer. It's a gray brown, there was a redder brown available but I thought the grey brown was a better choice with with the background tan. It's also the color I used on my poppy piece so if I ever colocate the tables, they'll look like the go together.

Despite the issues I see with the piece, when it's horizontal and acting like a table in the sunlight it's glorious.  Too bad it's going to live in the garage for a month or so while the house gets painted but I don't want to risk it outside with all that work going on!

For the companion table, I had planned on making it slightly different, but have been slowly converging on a plan. I think I'll be looking a 3 or 4 fussy motifs, and the rest plainer. I'll mix colors in each motif, with light insides and dark outsides. The colors will not be at the same location as the first table. I'd like to do a few of the motifs with petal shapes like the purple motif on the first table. I'll echo the shapes in the background instead of having them random.

I've already started the 2nd table; the horizontal edge and the outer edge of dark brown are complete. I'll be hoping to start the round motifs later this week! I'd like to finish the table in time to use this spring.