Well, only a few days now and I'll be off!

The idea of a solo flight with a connection intimidates me a little, but hopefully I'll get through it all ok.

I'll likely make it up to Inverness, so to be certain I saw Nessie there, I'd decided I'd better take my own:

The blue blind flipperless Nessie is mine, waiting for flippers and eyes. I ran out of yarn, so I'll have to find a 'similar' blue and finish it real quick.

The green one will be for the older of the two little girls my friend is the nanny for. He has some sort of neck disorder... apparently not many chiropractors deal with Loch Ness monsters, so he'll just have to live that way. Something funny happened when I picked up and/or grafted the stitches there. I was a little disappointed, but there wasn't much I could do by time I discovered it, and it wasn't bad enough to make me frog/pick out the kitchener for that whole area. The blue one's head still lists a little in that direction, but not quite so bad.

I just finished washing all my hostess gifts and my 'accessory' scarves to go with my mix & match brown/tan clothes. All of them are hand woven. Everything is rayon.

The green dogwood flower lace pieces are small table runners/mats. I did 2 17" square pieces and 2 17" x 25" pieces. I LOVE working with the 8/2 rayon and I really enjoyed the dogwood pattern. I did a slightly larger one about 37" long as belated thank-you-gift to my great aunt and uncle for giving me my great-great-grandmothers wool cards. It always feels so good to have something that you've been needing/meaning to make DONE. Now I just have to write a note and send it!

Here's a closeup of the pattern. A slightly lacey pattern with plain-weave flowers...
 

 
Also in 8/2 rayon are 2 tan scarves with a pink novelty yarn, Bernat Matrix, and 2 blue scarves with purple/tan/off-white novelty - also Matrix.

While weaving the scarves, there's just enough interest to keep you going, but not so many 'rows' in the pattern that it slows you down. They're a nice quick project.

If you look close at the group photo, you'll notice that the ribbon doesn't show on the back. Pretty nifty, eh?

 

The 2 chenille scarves were deliberately done in a more masculine design...

The rayon chenille makes such a wonderful finished project, but it's not quite as enjoyable to weave. It softens up a TON after washing into a beautiful slinky soft fabric, but before the wash it feels like a hard stiff canvas. I originally set it at 20 threads to the inch, panicked when I felt the pre-wash fabric and reset to 16 threads before the 20set has completely dried... It's fine at 16, but I could have left it at 20! :-P

I also did up a long runner in the dogwood pattern for my grandmother's buffet with a gray-green weft (the horizontal threads) and the light green warp (the vertical threads) it has two slightly different sides and is a slightly more subdued color.
 

In all I wove over 15 yards, worked 68 braids and made 856 twists for fringe!

I invested in the Leclerc Fringe Twister Quad. A little gadget that consists of 4 alligator clips, some 'bent' metal rods, and two pieces of wood. It cut my time spent fringe twisting down by about half! It also kept my fingers from getting sore. Though after awhile my index finger felt a little bruised from opening and closing the clips... but not nearly as sore as when I twisted the strands between my finger and thumb.

And last but most certainly not least -- I found these cute little gals. They're a pig-tail set of hair-bands I picked up at the natural food store while I was finishing up my 'trip shopping'. They were too cute to pass up, and will be saved to give to my long-haired-pink-loving-niece (who's just too cute for words in pigtails...) at some opportune moment when something really cute - and pink - is called for...