A warping we will go...

I was going to do an entire post on how I warp - but since this warp has been on and off and on and off and the pattern changed a couple of times it wouldn't have worked out very well. So, instead I'll show you a few of the (probably unusual) things I do. (Clicking on the photos will biggify them.)


# 1
This is my usual warping setup:

I'm using a coat rack to loop my warp around, clamped to a portable table. I usually need to weigh down either the loom or the table (or both!) with weights - I use our handweights. You can also see that I've replaced my wooden dowels with aluminum dowels, as the wooden dowels warped with the high tension I usually use. And the dowel you see sticking out on the right in the first photo - is item number 2. :-)


# 2

This is pretty new to me - I'm using part of Betty Davenport's method of warping she shows on her DVD - using a 'loose' dowel instead of using the tied-on warp beam dowel. It is soooo much easier to just slide the loops on instead of dealing with the ties!

After all your loops are on, rubber-band the dowel to the attached dowel, and then you're ready to wind on. :-D


# 3
I use long rubber bands to hold my cloth beam dowel to the heddle block (or in this case, to the clamps holding the heddle in the upshed position) - it just makes it easier to tie on without fiddling with holding the dowel and trying to tie on at the same time.

# 4
And last, but definitely not least - I need my mp3 player and my cool new speaker case-thing to play my Old Time Radio shows. :-)

I just found this at Bed Bath & Beyond this week - only $10! and the pocket holds your mp3 player secure. The case zippers closed, and has a hook on the outside of the case that you can snap on to something. :-D


And here's my log cabin warp, temporarily tied-on.




Spinning

This is all I have left of the gray stuff!!!!!!!!!!

The Pedal Pusher had developed a really annoying squeak during Spin Club, so I actually brought the wheel upstairs (first time in a long time!) and tried to remedy the squeak. I think I have it now - at least it stopped squeaking for awhile. I think it was where the footman goes into the pedal - it's covered with a clear rubbery-plastic sleeve, and I think that rubbing on the pedal finally caused it to start squeaking. Thank goodness this wheel is going to be relegated to just a plying wheel after I finish this gray wool!


The Tomato - the ongoing saga

The tomato is looking a little sad...

The terrible thunderstorms we've been having day after day after day have been hard on the poor thing, and it looked a bit wilted Friday afternoon during one of our bigger storms. But one of the tomatoes is actually a bit orange this morning, so all hope isn't lost. :-) It would help if there were some kind of stake or cage or something that you could protect some of the stem to to keep it from being whipped around by high winds, as mine just seems to want to dangle instead of growing up around the plastic bag.

Now here's something you don't see every day...

I was working next to the room that DH had left the TV on in, and kept hearing it cut out. Though it was cloudy, the clouds were not thick enough to block the satellite signal, so I went out to check the satellite dish. This is what I saw:

Birds like to nest in there, but I never thought a SNAKE would get in there! Ahhh... the joys of living in the country.... :-D (No worries, these are not venomous - though I'm not sure what kind of snake it is - is it a bull snake? DH calls it a black snake, but I thought those were always black.)

No fibery pics today - I'm still spinning on the Spindolyn, and still working on the warp for the RH group weave-along. I'm re-using a warp that I had intended to make something else with, plus I threaded the wrong heddle the first time (sigh) so this may turn out 'interesting'. :-)

I hope to have pictures this weekend (other than snake pictures!).

Weave-along starts tomorrow!!

In the RH Yahoogroup. :-) It will be easy enough for beginners yet interesting for non-beginners as well, so if you're interested, go sign up!


Other than that, I don't have much to report. I did some more spinning on the new Tenor Spindolyn:

I wasn't enjoying the alpaca I was spinning so I stopped that and decided to finally spin this Blueberry Sundae from Spunky Eclectic that I've had forever, waiting for my spinning skills to improve. I'm still not spinning as evenly as I'd like on both Spindys and wheels, but I'm not overspinning on the Tenor like I had been.

Here are the older-style Soprano and the new Tenor side-by-side, so you can see the difference:

The base is taller on the older one, as well as the spindle being longer. I think I like 'taller' a bit better than 'shorter', but I love how the Tenor spins.


And now, the tomato update:

Still spindly, especially compared to the potted tomato of the same variety you can see in the background, but the tomatoes are still on it and there are more flowers on the opposite side of the plant. :-D


And now I think I'll join the Spaniel on the deck on this beautiful day and do some more Spindolyn-spinning. Maybe I'll even drag Freya the Polonaise out there later and make it a Spinning Day ('Freya', 'Friday'... perhaps it's karma!). :-D

New toy!

This is the newest model of Spindolyn - the Tenor.

I had to buy a new base, as she's changed the design a bit for both models - the spindles are now shorter and won't work in the older base. I also bought an extra spindle so I can 2-ply a lot easier.

Wow does this puppy spin for a long time! I'm really overtwisting this alpaca because of that, but I'm enjoying this new model a lot. I like the sleeve on the brass rod too - it is much easier to wind on now. I already loved how you could use a Spindy almost anywhere - I can even spin with the Hound on my lap - and I see no reason that this new model would be any different (though the short base emphasizes my need for more leg exercises :-/). You're supposed to be able to spin thicker yarn with this, but my hands aren't moving fast enough for the whorl speed so I'm still getting kind of fine yarn. Practice will help though - and I've been practicing. :-D

And - I can use the bag I bought for the older model for this one - it doesn't stick out like the other one did (in fact, I have to dig for it!).

Speaking of bags... one of my sisters found this awesome bag for the older Spindy - it's PERFECT!

Love the colors, and the space! My older Spindy is in there, plus a huge wad of fiber, PLUS my hand combs and a clamp. And that tiny pocket at the top is perfect for my diz. :-D She could be a shopping professional. I don't know how she finds stuff, but she does!


A friend and I were talking about inkle weaving, and she wanted to see my small one. I have two inkles - one DH made which kind of large for me, and a Wee Winnie from Small Looms in Action by Elizabeth Jensen (out of print; sorry!) that I made back when I used to have some spare time:

I have no idea what I started on there - it was too long ago. But I've been wanting to do some inkling (and some cardweaving) so I'll take that warp off once I decide what I'm making. Actually I need another mp3 player pouch for my second mp3 player to hang around my neck when I'm walking at work - but I need it NOW so I'll probalby dig up a bit of fleece fabric and stitch a quickie bag, assuming I can find my fleece. :-/

DH & I made a heddle holder today, but it's not prettied up yet so no pics (plus I haven't tried it yet - hopefully tonight).


Your parting yard-and-garden shot:
Wow is that tomato doing well so far! I'm pretty pleased. So is my helper - he likes tomatoes. :-/

I've also discovered some nifty gardening tools. I've had a Black & Decker cordless weedwhacker for a few years, and while it works wonderfully (and runs out of a charge before I overdo the weedwhacking), my hands are not big enough to press the buttons on either side of the battery pack to get it off the unit. B&D now has a new version with a much-easier-to-deal-with battery - plus this battery fits in several other tools. I had DH stop at Home Depot and pick up the cultivator too - it works really well if your soil is aready somewhat loose, so maybe I will be able to keep up with the weeds somewhat this year (this is not a tiller, it will not turn over compacted soil). And, I should be able to work more amendments into the soil over the summer, instead of having to deal with gas and oil and the really unwieldly monster tiller we have (which I don't, so stuff doesn't get done). The added benefit - it may get me out in the garden more. Tonight while testing it out I discovered a black snake that had gotten caught and wrapped up in some bird netting that wasn't where it was supposed to be. Between DH & I we were able to cut the poor thing free and he should be fine (though he sure wasn't happy with us while we were cutting him free!). :-D

There is also a chainsaw and a pole pruner in the collection - the pole pruner is on it's way from Amazon as we speak. :-D I need to do some light tree-trimming at my parents' house and this will be perfect! Eventually I'll get the chainsaw too, as DH got rid of my electric chainsaw some time back and I miss it. If you are interested, check your local home improvement stores for Black & Decker 18V cordless items - there are maybe 8 or more garden tools, plus the same battery fits on one of their tool lines as well.

I forgot to mention yesterday...

that the rigid-heddle-weavers Yahoo group is going to be doing a weave-along soon. It will be an easy-enough-for-a-beginner pattern, and you get to choose what you make with your fabric.

There is a current poll ongoing as to the start date - so far it looks like it will start in early June. Sign up soon-ish if you're interested! :-)

I actually finished something!

hough I did finally get my first broken warp thread (sorry about the lousy picture).

Lucky for me the broken warp thread was at the very end of the warp, so I didn't have to fix it. :-)


This fringe isn't going to survive the wash, so I'll have to do twisted fringe


Here it is finished, though unwashed:


I like this a lot, and will keep this pattern with my favorites. :-) This is the Tweed So Fine scarf from Weaving Made Easy.

And that's about it for crafty stuff - I'm thinking of getting the Polonaise out and spinning a bit since it appears DH isn't going to take me to "Star Trek" today like he said. :-(


This year we're trying something new - the upside-down tomato-growing 'bag'.

I just planted this yesterday, so the jury is still out. It was a bit tricky getting the plant in there though because it was already a bit big for transplanting into the bag.

And your pic o'nature for today - the view from my computer room window:

The bridal wreath shrub is really going to town this year!

A lot of spinning photos, and no weaving

(Most of the photos in this post can be biggified by clicking on them.)

But first, why I love the guest/craft room in the Spring:

Both the crabapple and the viburnum are blooming like crazy, and the viburnum has the most heavenly scent. So trying to get the room cleaned up and sorted out so one can walk in there isn't such a terrible chore. :-D


That which "cannot" be spun on a Babe:

There's not much on there yet because I ran out of time, and it's not frog hair, but I don't want super fine yarn.

Here is my first skein of three different types of prepared cotton - boy is there a difference!

The outside yarn on the niddy noddy was the last spun, and it was from a puni so it's much more even. From inside to outside - ginned cotton (prepared with a bow); spun from the seed (that was fun!), and spun from self-prepared punis. Ginned and spun-from-seed cotton will be bumpy.

This was the most fun, but it had the least amount of cotton:

We blended a bit of cotton with different colors of polyester - I really like how mine came out. I've never done color-blending before.

More varieties of cotton:

(L-R: Candlelite (Spindolyn); Fox Fibre (Babe); recycled denim (Babe)(all from sliver))

The Fox Fibre was really interesting - the sliver in the middle of the 'red' is what it looks like before boiling. The green, when unboiled, didn't really look green either (though it looks more green than it does in that photo). I did learn I can't ply for nothing from a cotton center-pull ball onto a Spindolyn. :-( That yarn looked much better before I tried to ply it.

A handy thing to have for a spinning workshop is a mini niddy noddy:

(mini niddy noddy, nøstepinde, Spindolyn, lazy kate)

The samples we got at the workshop didn't make a whole lot of yarn, so the 2-yard niddy noddy wasn't very useful. So I made a 1-yard for the second day, and yesterday I made this one that is just barely longer than the width of my hand. The mini is pretty fun to use with these small skeins.


I'll leave you with a photo of one of the lilacs on the other side of the house. I tried to catch a photo of the butterflies that were feeding, but they were too quick for me.