Spinning Progress

Thank goodness my spinning is improving - I finished two skeins this weekend and am feeling pretty good about my progress.

Weaving Woes

This is the bamboo scarf that I was so excited to start on my table loom in August. I put it aside because the tension just wasn't right and I became frustrated.

I finally picked it up again last night and tried to save the project - I have over a foot of weaving completed at this point.

After a few minutes of looking at my work I realized the tension could not be corrected without rewinding the warp so I wound the warp completely to one side - in the front of the loom. After it was completely wound I took the warp off of the back and retied with a consistent tension.

After winding back I found that the tension was even worse than before!

I don't want to give up on this project because the bamboo in the black and gray pattern is really soft and pretty. After thinking about it for awhile I came up with the idea of putting tension on the warp in groups by twisting pencils - like this:

This seems to be working but it's a pain and it feels like I'm cheating - if I can't get through this weaving I'm going to be very discouraged. Hopefully it will work but I've put it aside again for another day. ...

Spinning Class

Well, I found a spinning class at my local Parks and Recreation and went to the first class last night. My instructor helped me to figure out that my recent problems have been because my spool was turned around wrong! So we had a really nice time and I'm looking forward to going again.

Right not I'm still working on the white corriedale but hope to have it finished soon. The instructor is going to help me learn to spin cotton, silk, and linen too. Can't wait.

My Ravelry invite finally came and I've been busily adding my knitting projects there. There's even a weaver's and several spinning groups there so hope to find some more people in my area soon.

First Felting Project

Found this little hat pattern at Knit Picks and decided to try felting. Isn't it cute? I made it for my niece's baby. It felted up nicely but I'm thinking of washing it again. I expected it to be a little more solid.

Oh my Gosh, Look what my sister bought me

It's almost 2 pounds of Merino from Village Spinning and Weaving in Solvang, CA. Beautiful colors (Sandalwood) - can't wait to try it. Thanks Sue-

Won a contast and got some cool yarn -

Wow, I guessed in a contest at swankyhanks and won some yarn.

Isn't pretty? I'm told this is sock yarn but don't have a pattern for it. But I'm going to see what I can find on Ravelry or Knitting Daily.

Back to Double Drive

I tried the Scotch tension and failed miserably. We went camping at the beach this week and I took the wheel along. Gave up and moved the tension back to double drive and did very well with the Corriedale. Maybe I need to be more relaxed to spin because I really didn't encounter any problems this time. We're going again for Labor Day so I'll take it along to the mountains. Camping and spinning are kind of fun together. Mostly I just sit and enjoy the scenery and fire - this way I get in some good spinning time too.

Scotch Tension? Help!

Ok, I changed my wheel to scotch tension because I was getting frustrated with my spinning. Can someone help me with an opinion as to which is easier for a new spinner? It seems to be even more difficult this way. Should I switch it back to the other method - don't know what it's called. I really want to get back to this - maybe I need to put it down for a while.....

Spinning, again

I sat down at my wheel again this week and feel that I've totally forgotten everything I learned. Rats! I was working on some Merino and I just can't seem to pick it up again. I keep breaking my thread and having to start over again. Very frustrating.

I haven't tried switching to Scotch tension because I didn't know how to do it, so I went to my fiber shop today for some instruction. I also bought some new fiber, Corriedale and Blue Faced Leicester which should be easier to spin.

There's a 6-week spinning class offered through our Parks & Rec. that I'll sign up for in the fall. I think I need to actually spin with someone watching over me to really get it. I tend to over spin and some of my yarn comes out in little kinks.

Guess I shouldn't have stopped for the weaving - don't know if it's something that you need to do for a while before it sticks with you - or if I'm just having a difficult week. Maybe it's the heat....

Oh No, I have a stash!

I've recently heard people talking about their yarn stash - I decided to go through mine to see what I've got. Not sure of the best way to store the yarn. I like having it out where I can see it but I'm afraid it will get dusty and dirty.

I'm also wondering, do we need to worry about things like Moths with all this wool around? I have some in baskets and some on shelves next to my loom. But I want to do what ever is necessary to protect the yarn. An article in the recent Handwoven magazine showed various stashes stored on open shelves but these might be people who will be using their yarn much more often than I will. Any thoughts?





I also made up some fiber cards with a small sample and information about each yarn. Couldn't find an existing system for doing this at my local Michael's so I used the plastic sheets that I think are used for needlepoint. Anyway, I cut them in to strips of various widths and it seemed to work well.

Wool & Soy Sweater

My niece recently had a baby boy - here's Samuel. He's about three months old now but he'll be a year old at Christmas. The family is traveling to my area for the holidays so it's time to knit, knit, knit.

I'm making this sweater for him from the
Debbie Bliss book Family Knits.





Things are going well, I have the back done and most of the front which has a sailboat pattern on the chest. I chose to use the wool/soy yarn that I had used for my first pair of socks because it's so soft and feels like it will be very warm. Unfortunately I've just learned from Christine that this yarn has a problem with felting up - I'm going to go ahead and finish it. Hopefully it will work - otherwise I'll skip this yarn in the future.


Here's the sweater so far -

Knitting - Socks

There seems to be a buzz on the internet and in the podcasts about knitting socks. I found this Patons varigated yarn that is 70% Wool and 30% Soy. The colors were beautiful and it feels very soft and warm so I decided to knit socks on the plane while traveling to Cancun.

Now I understand. Knitting socks are satisfying because they are portable, and relatively quick to complete. I finished this pair on the trip and started another which has led to a budding Knit Picks obsession....Oh no!

Bamboo Yarn

Here's the beginning of my bamboo scarf -

I've been reading a lot about Bamboo Yarn and couldn't resist trying it out. I decided to make a Bamboo scarf because the yarn is supposed to be very soft and have a beautiful drape when finished.

Now for my excuse to buy more weaving equipment {grin}. I really wanted to use the floor loom to make some rag rugs and have been cutting old cotton jeans and tee shirts into strips. I also read about making rag rugs by recycling plastic bags from the grocery store. Since I wanted to put a long warp on the floor loom and leave it to make a few rugs over time - I REALLY needed a table loom to weave my Bamboo scarf. Don't you agree?

Well, I purchased a small Ashford table loom that weaves to 24" and calculated the warp for a Bamboo scarf in Black with Grey stripes. The string Ashford provided for the apron rod broke almost immediately from the pressure of tightening the warp but it was fairly easily fixed and the weaving has begun.

I like the portability of this new loom but obviously prefer the treadles on the floor loom. I might order the stand w/treadles for this loom before my next project.

If you look closely at the photo there's a small error in the upper left. I've made a few of these and had to revise my style of throwing the shuttle. Hopefully that will prevent these in the future. I've unwoven back to correct the errors as I find them. After doing that a few times it makes me much more careful about checking my work as I weave.

First Project

Honeycomb Dish Towels

So - time to start my first project. After speaking with my Navajo weaving instructor at Stick and Stone Fiberarts, I decided to weave dish towels using this pattern: http://www.leclerclooms.com/pattern/9706.htm

These towels were woven using 5/2 cotton yarn in white and blue. This was a very good pattern to start with because the pattern was very easy to follow but it provided a pleasing honeycomb design.

I learned some lessons about following warping directions exactly - and ended up wasting some yarn through mis-counting and tangling. Since I later ran out of white, I switched the pattern to blue/blue which turned out nice also.

I don't know if warping correctly comes with practice or if I just need to be more careful - I threaded the heddles carefully and sleyed the reed slowly and carefully. Part way into my weaving I discovered a couple of mistakes in threading the heddles that was messing up my pattern. At that point the weaving had begun and the yarn was completely wound on the back of the loom. I didn't really know what to do to correct it so I just kept weaving. Luckily it doesn't really show in this pattern but it was disappointing. If anyone has suggestions on how to avoid this - or how to correct this after weaving has begun, I'd really apprecicate your help.

Other than the threading problem the weaving went smoothly and I'm happy with the result. What do you think?

The Floor Loom

Well I was doing my usual manic search of the Internet for weaving information when I came across this used floor loom for sale. This took some doing because most ads I found were for the East side of the country. Anyway, this one was close by and I grabbed it. It's a 46" Schacht, 4 shaft loom.




This was a good find - all the pieces were there including the bench and the loom was in good working order. I had to use some Navel Jelly & a scrub brush on some of the parts but it really was in great shape.



I used two colors of sock weight wool for my first test warp and weaving. Also purchased
Learning to Weave, Chandler. This book is really excellent as it took me through the whole process step-by-step. I managed to weave a few feetof this:





It's really not very pretty but I practiced some twill and plain weave alternating between loosely and tightly packed weft.

It was actually a good way to begin because I was able to play with the loom, treadles, etc. without worrying about the particulars of a project. I saved it in two pieces, one washed and one left as it came off the loom.

I placed this in my weaving journal and started looking for a good first project - cotton kitchen towels.

Cancun

Just returned from a trip to Cancun. I live in Southern California but this was a whole new ocean experience. Have you ever seen anything so blue - and not just one color but many -

This got me thinking about a project that incorporates the sand and blues of the water. More on this after I've worked it out...

I also visited a Mayan archaeological site - Tulum which was fascinating

I think if I really give it some thought I could come up with something to symbolize this experience also. It's interesting to look at the world in terms of visual experiences and to see the ways colors and textures combine to create beautiful landscapes. Experience with fiber has opened up a new range of possibilities for creative expression that I was completely missing before.

Weaving 101

My weaving began when I found a Navajo weaving class at my local weaving shop (http://www.stick-and-stone.com/) This was a very interesting class which included an extensive slide presentation on the history of Navajo weaving presented by the instructor, Randall Hayden. The class project is shown here -



Unfortunately I haven't progressed much further yet but have high hopes that it will be finished soon.

You may detect an error in the top square of my cross symbols. Yes, an error in counting and I'm too much of a coward to take out my work to make it right. My instructor told me that the Navajo women usually made one mistake in their work (on purpose). Sounds good to me - I'm going with that.

This style of weaving is time consuming but there's also a real sense of involvement with each row as it is woven. This class sparked an interest in tapestry weaving which I plan to try soon. Unfortunately, I jumped right in to weaving on a floor loom shortly after taking this class due to a good opportunity to obtain a used floor loom.

It's interesting to consider the difference between these two styles. I really enjoy weaving on the floor loom - the speed and almost meditative quality to working the treadles and throwing the shuttle. With Navajo-style weaving there is consideration as each thread is placed, in creating the patterns and pounding the warp with comb.

Learning to Spin

Hello friends -

I'm a new fiber person who started with spinning on a spindle -

and later a Kromski wheel.

I really enjoy spinning, mostly on the spindle. I find the spindle to be much more relaxing and satisfying than the wheel which is still causing me some anxiety. Perhaps after I've had a chance to take a spinning workshop things will be different.

My family now has slippers made from handspun wool, one cap and a small shawl for Jessica.

Unfortunately I've now moved on to weaving - arrgh! This new interest is slowly taking over my house. I may resort to putting bells on the children so I can find them...