Nothing much was accomplished today...

I do plan to continue knotting the placemats' fringe, but will probaby only do one or two edges. I really need to knit on that garter stitch shawl tonight, as I have been totally ignoring it.

I did try warping up the Tissanova loom - I'm quite disappointed. Perhaps it is the yarn - a worsted weight wool blend; but I can't get the second shed to open enough to pass even the super-thin shuttle that came with the loom through. It sure was nice warping though - just wind around the frame and lay in the heddle, then snap the the 'yarn-keeper thing' in place on top of the threaded heddle. I'll try it later with carpet warp and see if that helps - the heddle is wood and might need sanding a bit. But for now, I'm done messing with it.

I found a couple of projects in my books last night - one a mohair wrap. I have a ball of mohair I was wondering what to use for since I absolutely hated knitting with it, but I will need to buy more yarn for this project. First I need to figure out what I did with the original ball so I can match it. :-) This project is in "Hands On Rigid Heddle Weaving". I will do this on the Harp.

Also, the bag I mentioned previously, done in either fine twine or or 'thicker' linen - I can't tell for sure what exactly that stuff is. This is in "Everybody's Weaving". I need to look at the instructions a bit closer.

In the same book are several sampler strips, and they look very interesting. This book is written for mostly two-harness looms, so there shouldn't be much difference between two-harness and RH weaving techniques. I may do those next, so I can see what the different patterns look like in real life. I will probably do at least one of these strips before trying the bag, as the bag has 3 different lace patterns in it. Now to figure out which loom to use. By the time I'm ready for the bag I will have probably built my first handmade RH loom, but the strips could be started now. Perhaps the Bonhop loom is big enough, though if I remember correctly the heddle is around a 5-dent.

I still have one more book to look at, and then I'll re-check the strip pattern(s) and check out the Bonhop. I won't be able to get to the LYS til Tuesday anyway, so I have time. And the wrap may go quickly enough that I will still be able to do the strips on the Harp.

Knitting Lifelines

RJ asked in the comments about lifelines used in knitting; though I answered in the comments, it's a page or two back so I thought I'd also post it here.

RJ asked: "...dental floss for lifelines??- am very new at knitting and wondered what are lifelines & why would you use dental floss..."

To which I answer:

Lifelines make it easy to frog back to a known 'good point', such as when you start a new row pattern repeat, without having to rip the whole project out. On the stole pattern there are too many rows in each pattern repeat for just one lifeline per repeat, but I have my pattern marked where I insert the lifelines - I insert lifelines in 3 seperate spots within the pattern repeat.

I thread a yarn needle with dental floss and just run it underneath the stitches on the needle. They truly are lifesavers if you are knitting lace! You need to use something thin and preferably slippery; dental floss works really well for this. Make sure you don't knit the lifeline into the next row though - otherwise you will need to cut it out instead of just pulling on one end. Also use a contrasting color to make it easier to see.

If you find a mistake past your lifeline, just frog back to the lifeline, re-insert your needle, and start the section or repeat over again. This way you don't have to start the entire project over!

DOH!!

A major lesson was learned today. Never ever EVER use just cardboard as filler on the end of the web as you take it off the loom - or you may get this:Notice how the last pick has come away from the rest of the web? Sigh. Why yes - this is placemat #5 - how could you tell? I believe this particular mat is cursed. ;-) Next time I will use some kind of yarn to hold the web intact.

Luckily, I was able to tighten it back up with the overhand knots you use for the fringe. I normally don't do fringe - I don't like fringe - but figured it would make the finishing-off process for my first weaving project easier. So far so good!I put the cardboard under the edge of the mat to make it easier to see what I was doing. Hmm... those knots looked more even while I was making them. Oh well, as my father-in-law says: "You can't see it from the Statehouse!". I decided to stop for today after knotting that side - I don't want to tempt Fate.

To make the knots I used a crochet hook to carefully disentangle the 2 strands I wanted to knot together and put my hand over the end of the mat to keep the web intact in case something snagged. I also used a hook to pull the threads through. This particular hook has a bit of a point on its head, making it quite useful for this sort of thing. For the rest of the mats I will be putting the web on a table and hold down the web edge with something very heavy to keep the web intact. After I get all the edges knotted, I'll trim the fringe to either an inch or a half-inch long. Hopefully I'll be better at knotting by the time I'm done!

I decided to stop after these 5 mats; I have some time before I will need a sixth. Every way I came up with to add on additional warp involved re-threading the heddle, and if I'm going to do that I might as well just do a 'regular' warp. I did finally find a method of adding onto a warp in one my books. But I am going to try to do better in planning my project next time!


I'm going to curl up with my weaving books and look for my next project(s). I found an interesting-looking bag in one of my general weaving books, but I'm not sure if I need more harnesses to make it or not, as it involves 3 different laces. And it might be beyond my attention span just yet. I bought a Tissanova loom recently (a variation on the rigid heddle), so I'll be puzzling over that for awhile as well. It is like Good Woods' Magic Heddle looms, but older and with no instructions! LOL It might be a better loom to try the bag on, as it is smaller than the Harp.

Almost!

I was within an inch of finishing placemat #5 last night before I quit for the day. I have got to find something more comfortable to sit on - ouch! I did finish #5 this morning. :-D

I sure could tell I was on the last mat - I had more trouble last night than I've had the entire project - starting with mis-cutting the cardboard for the spacer.:-( I gave up when I needed to add yarn to the shuttle and the yarn was so tangled I couldn't make heads or tails of it and just cut off the tangled part.

If I was planning to do 5 placemats, I couldn't have planned the warp length any better, as you can see. Unfortunately, I wanted 6. I'm debating stopping now, or adding onto the warp (or, I could just do a new (short) warp). So far, however, I have not been able to find instructions in my various weaving books for adding length onto the warp after the fact. I don't think any knots will fit through the heddle. I have two more books to check, and then a decision to make (yes, I could wing it as I could make the join in the spacer area, but I would like to see how it is supposed to be done).

I'm also typing the project record sheet from Betty Davenport's "Hands On Rigid Heddle Weaving" into an Excel spreadsheet. I need something to gather this project's info in one spot, and as I develop a method I'll be able to edit my spreadsheet to fit how I do things (I'm a HUGE fan of spreadsheets), so that is taking some time as well. Using a spreadsheet (or Word doc), I'll also be able to save pictures of the project with the project data. Then I'll just need to remember to print everything out. :-D

Thursday

I didn't do anything last night because I was too tired, and I'm even more tired tonight and have a headache that won't quit. But perhaps I'll get a few rows done on the garter stitch shawl - I've avoided it for several days again. Even better, I should be perusing my weaving books looking for my next Harp project. I think I'll start with the books; then if it's not bedtime yet I'll do a row or two on the shawl. :-)

I did, however, re-take the spinning picture with a much better result:

And here's a gratuitous puppy pic to make up for no new weaving content:


Isn't he handsome?




Back to weaving tomorrow - in fact, I'm setting myself a goal to do an entire placemat in one evening. Can I do it? Tune in Saturday to find out! :-)

As promised...

A picture of the spun Icelandic on the wheel (a Babe Production double-treadle wheel). Sorry for the lousy picture. I'll try again tomorrow and move the wheel out of the sunshine. :-) I LOVE my Babe wheel - lightweight, needs little care, easy to use, relatively inexpensive, and I get satisfactory results. I can not spin for months, and then just sit down and start treadling. And you can get doo-dads for it. :-D I have the plying flyer and bobbins, though I have yet to ply - plying scares me more than warping!


I was chuffed to accomplish my goal of finishing off the 4th placemat tonight - I don't do well with deadlines (except for at work), so it is a real achievement for me.:-D The warp is looking mighty short now - I think there are only about two or three 'wraps' around the beam now, so number 5 might be the last one. I really didn't expect it to go this quickly, since even the shortest projects take me forever, so I really need to think about what to do next!

One thing I learned tonight - which is probably obvious to everyone else - is that the stick shuttle makes an excellent beater if you need a bit more pressure on your web. Every once in a while I get a pick that just does not want to lay right for some reason, and the shuttle seems to work very well on those. I love the Kromski shuttle - very substantial in the hand, yet not heavy.

Spinning Night!

Even though it was Monday yesterday, and I don't usually do anything crafty on Mondays, I had a hankerin' for some spinning. So I hauled my wheel & Icelandic roving & spinning chair upstairs and watched Basil Rathbone in "Sherlock Holmes and the Woman in Green" (love the old Holmes movies) and spun away. As with all my other crafty hobbies (well, actually, pretty much everything!), I am a slooow spinner so not much obvious progress was made, but it was nice to get back into it a bit. It is spinning up thinner than I prefer - at the current diameter I am definitely going to have to ply it.

I need to get that roving done so I can start on the alpaca/silk/merino blend I have. It will be a bit trickier to spin as it's in a 'wad' instead of roving, but I'm looking forward to trying it. The Icelandic, though an easy spin, is pretty rough. I had been thinking of doing my Reader's Wrap with the Icelandic on the Harp, and I still might depending on how hard the blend is to spin, but I hope the blend spins easy so I can use that instead. On a weaving note - I have another ball of this roving in white (8 oz. if I remember correctly) that I just might try weaving from; with carpet warp as warp and the roving as weft.

I'll post a picture of the spinning tonight, though there is not much to see. Perhaps tonight I'll get enough weaving time in to finish placemat #4. Isn't it grand to have too many hobbies? LOL

No title comes to me at the moment...

I tried out the cardboard spacer, and though it is just a tiny bit narrow, it seems to be wide enough for this warp, especially once the web draws in. It is flexible enough to easily wrap around the cloth beam, and appears sturdy enough to beat against - at least as hard as one is going to beat on a rigid heddle loom. I wove 9" this afternoon, and would've done more but I think I overdid the hoeing this morning in the garden, and my shoulders are starting to complain a bit (plus I'm feeling a bit lazy today). I think I will get out the garter stitch shawl that I've managed to ignore all weekend and do some rows.


I also have, for your perusal, a picture of the popsicle stick shuttle after a tiny bit of sanding. I'm finding it quite handy for tucking tails in, even though it is rather flimsy. When I was cutting the notch I accidentally split it further down, but I usually have a finger or thumb on the spot so it's not a problem. And it could easily be glued too, though I have an entire package of these so I could make quite a few shuttles. Hmm... perhaps a popsicle-stick shuttle (doubled for strength) might be just the thing for the rug being tied - working with 8 yards of carpet warp on a needle is kind of messy and I seem to attract yarn tangles as much as I attract biting insects - and that's not good!

We have a mat!

As promised, a picture of the third placemat. Cool, no? And it didn't take long to finish off the last 5 or 6 inches this morning either, as I was listening to the radio again instead of watching TV. I do wish I had used a different color of yarn for the front spacer, as it's kind of hard to see where the placemat starts.

I find I prefer to weave in the bedroom, so I can put my 'weaving stool' against the foot of the bed and lean back against the bed while I weave. I definitely need something with a back on it to sit on. I guess I will have to suck it up and check out some yard sales for orphan chairs. (I do not like going to yard sales. I like finding cool stuff for cheap, but that is rarely found at the yard sales around here - and there is almost never any crafty stuff.) The chair will be too tall, so the legs will have be shortened, but that's not a big deal. I still can't get over how low that loom stand is. I do have an office chair in the basement that might go low enough, but I'm not going to carry it up and down the stairs all the time, especially since I weave almost daily; so for now that stays in the basement craft room.

I made a mini-shuttle today out of a popsicle stick this morning. I was trying to tuck the ends in and just couldn't get them right with my short fingers, so I cut a notch in the end of the stick with a box cutter and voilà, a midget shuttle. Works pretty well though I do need to smooth the notch a bit, and perhaps shape the front sides.

For mat number 4 I'm using a spacer made from the flimsy cardboard that Pepsi puts in their cases of pop, in-between the top & bottom cans. It's just barely wide enough - and actually isn't wide enough up by the heddle blocks. It will be flimsy enough to easily bend around the beam, but will it be too flimsy to beat against? Tune in tomorrow! :-)

Wow...

I get a lot more done if I don't watch TV while weaving! LOL I wove at least 8 inches on the Harp last night - probably closer to 10 inches - in less than 45 minutes last night. I had a nice rhythm going too, since I wasn't looking up from the loom much; things really clicked.

Once I finish this placemat, I'll see if I can 'unroll' the beams enough to have the entire mat unrolled for a picture. No pics this morning, but I should have some tomorrow.

I can't tell how much warp I have left, so I don't know how many more mats I'll get on this warp, but I probably should start thinking about the next project. I did buy some 8/2 cotton for towels, but I might want to do a smaller project next. I will have to look at my books again for ideas.

I'm also 'designing' a reader's wrap/scarf in my head, but I need to spin the yarn first. But should I use the Icelandic I'm currently spinning (a nice light brown, plus I have some already spun that is darker brown - one color warp and one color weft?), or should I spin the alpaca/silk/merino blend? It feels very soft while unspun, but it's white and I don't dye. Hmmm.... (One drawback - it takes me forever to get anything spun. Sigh.)

TGIF!

Knit Night for me

Since I've been avoiding working on the garter stitch shawl, I've decided to work on that tonight instead of weaving.:-( But, I'll put one of my favorite Old Time Radio shows in the stereo ("Journey Into Space", a BBC radio serial from the 60s), and knit until I'm sleepy.


I see some people have left comments - thank you all very much for your very kind comments! :-D I really appreciate them!

More progress...

I've done 6 inches or so on the third placemat - if I just sat and weaved instead of stopping so often I probably could have an entire placemat done in a couple of hours. That's what I get for watching tv while weaving. :-) My edges are getting a bit more even as I refine my technique, and it seems like it is starting to go a bit faster. I think I am also getting better at keeping the 'draw in' at a minimum.

I marked up some slats of oak for cutting into shorter shuttles - now I just need it to cool down enough to be able to stand to be out in the woodshop - I'm in the heatwave area. No pictures tonight as there is nothing new to see; just more of the same.

I haven't worked on the garter stitch scarf for a couple of days (Monday is my 'crafty night off'), so need to get a couple of rows done on it tomorrow. The Addi circs have made a huge difference - smooth knitting now. Most of my problems must've been the needles I was using.

Good night!

Picture of the experiment

Well here it is - the 20" loom that I really don't like to weave on anymore. In poking around the 'net I wasn't seeing much for smaller looms - for cheap anyway. I'm not going to spend another $150 or more on a smaller loom. Maybe I could make one myself - I have Ms. Jensen's Small Looms in Action book to give me ideas (and me getting ideas is usually a bad thing! LOL).

Time sure gets away from me....

I meant to blog last night, with pictures. But, as usual, what I planned and what happened were two different things.

The way things were going yesterday (bit by a deer fly which I have bad reactions to; the freezer unthawed; I was knocking things off of tables and such right and left), I debated whether I wanted to try warping the other rigid heddle loom. When I was comparing how many ends I was going to need, I discovered that the 'original' loom has a much larger sett than I realized - I thought it was a 10-dent heddle, but I obviously hadn't actually checked it since I came up with 5-dent. I sucked it up and warped the 'new' loom by myself, in every-other slot & hole, and it appears to have come out ok. I started weaving the same scarf that I'm doing on the smaller RH, and have about three inches done. I asked DH's opinion this morning, since the scarf is for him, and he preferred the originial version, so that ends that experiment. :-)

The things I've learned from doing this:

1) I can do shorter warps (this was 7') by myself;

2) warping every-other slot & hole works really well - I had wondered if it would be a problem but it doesn't appear to be;

2) I absolutely HATE weaving with this loom - the Kromski Harp has spoiled me! (this might explain why I've had the same project untouched on this loom for YEARS);

3) Using #10 cotton for warp makes a huge difference in the feel of the web - the scarf is much thinner, more flexible, and I like it better. The thinness is probably due to two things - I don't have to beat it as hard to cover up the warp (for some reason I warped with white on the original (I think it was the only color I could find) and I'm using dark blue on the new one); and #10 cotton is a LOT thinner than sport-weight acrylic.

So now I'm debating taking the warp off the original project and restarting with a blue yarn instead of white. It certainly won't hurt me to practice warping, but I sure hate to lose the progress I've made so far. Weaving on the scarf does seem to go pretty quickly though, so I ought to be able to catch back up pretty quickly. And it would probably be a good idea to be using wool with wool instead of acrylic with wool. I'll think about it for a bit, as I have a lot of time before it's going to be cold again. My only concern with a wool warp is that the original loom's heddle is made of wood and rather rough - I'm afraid it would fuzz it up quite a bit. I've tried sanding it and it helped, but it still isn't very smooth. If I do change the warp I'll be sanding the heddle holes some more. Then again, I might have a better smaller loom by the time I decide. :-D

As to what to do about the other loom, I'm not sure. I don't have any other projects in mind with that narrow of a warp in that color (I thought about doing a scarf for a GF, but that would be in an off-white yarn and I sure don't want to use navy blue for that! - but I could use the warp on the original loom since they would both be acrylic... hmmm...), so I'll probably just take that warp off. I'll keep it as a warp, and mark it with the length, fiber, and ball band info. The loom itself has a huge 'working area', and it might be ok for tapestry, but it feels a bit flimsy so I'm thinking about selling it and getting a better smaller loom (both this one and the original loom are toys). It's funny - I had originally really liked this loom, but not after weaving with the Harp! I even like the original loom better, though it's design leaves a lot to be desired.

I only did two other crafty things yesterday - a few rows on the garter stitch shawl (I really want to get that DONE!) and some rows on the waffle-weave rug. Since we're going to the movies today, I might not get any weaving done on the Harp, but I do want to start the third placemat. It looks like I also need to give the dogs pedicures, which we all look forward to (not!), so that will suck up some free time as well.

I'll take a picture of the 'new' loom warped, before I take the warp off, and then look around the 'net for smaller RHs. :-D

It's FRIDAY!

We had thunderstorms last night, so no computer time for me. I also didn't feel like crafting, though I did do a few rows on the garter stitch shawl. I just might get this done by October!


I took this afternoon off work, so I might do a 'rotating craft afternoon' - or I might clean the house and do crafts tomorrow. Decisions, decisions...

Pictures!

I finally have some pictures. At the rate I'm going tonight, I'm not going to get any weaving done, so that will have to wait til tomorrow.



Here is the Harp with the spacer for placemats #2 & #3 - you can just see the bump on the right side. I've got it rolled around the cloth beam already or I would've gotten a better picture (doh!).




This is the garter stitch shawl. I did pick up a pair of Addis at the LYS today. I didn't really want to spend that much for a size I almost never use, but it will be worth the reduced aggravation. I'll probably work on this a bit tonight - at least get it on the Addis.





And here is the Baltic Sea Stole (pattern from FiberTrends). Cool, no? The tint isn't quite right, but it's pretty close. I'm using dental floss for lifelines, and what a lifesaver they are!! I think I'm on the 4th pattern repeat - have a ways to go. It is not pinned out, so it will be more lacey (or a scarf! LOL).

I need to go find some beads for a special project - I don't 'do' beading so this could be interesting! :-)

Also...

Monday I stopped by Hobby Lobby and picked up some size 10 crochet cotton. I'm going to take the warp off the 20" RH (since it is a several-years-old project that no longer interests me) and try warping with the crochet cotton and and use the scarf yarn (from the 11" RH project) for weft. I think the carpet warp might have been a bit too thick for what I wanted when I sampled previously. So I'll probably warp that loom Friday or Saturday and try again. And with using a different loom, I won't lose any progress if I don't like it, other than time lost.

It's handy having more than one loom!

Wednesday already?

I had a day away from the computer yesterday. I did work on the garter stitch shawl a bit more Monday, and a bit yesterday when I had some spare time during the day - so far I'm not impressed with the Boye circs. For some reason Boye adds a 'sharp' bump to the cable just before you get to the needle - the darn yarn catches every single time. If it wasn't for that, I'd like these a lot. Perhaps I should hunt down some Aeros - I will probably have to order those on-line though, I don't remember ever seeing them here. I could just bite the bullet and get some Addis at the LYS. It's been a good test of circs so far though - I've used Clover bamboos (not slick enough), Denise (ditto), Silvalume (not pointy enough, and would like them to be a bit slicker), and now Boyes.

On the weaving front, I did get the spacer done last night - barely. My weaving mentor suggested using scrap yarn instead of cardboard, so I found some bulky cotton that will probably be scrap, and used that instead. (I will probably still use cardboard the next time though). Using a white yarn against the dark colors of the placemat really showed the lump where the tails were woven in - I think I will try to balance it a bit by starting from the opposite side for the next placemat. It felt like that entire placemat was 'crooked', but if I looked closely I couldn't tell.

I was going to post pictures yesterday, but my brain was too fried from the day. I should be able to get some pictures tonight though. On the schedule for tonight - weaving and knitting on the garter stitch shawl (I really want to get that shawl done! LOL).

Knitting Day

Yesterday turned out to be a knitting day, instead of weaving. Since I need to get the garter stitch shawl done for a friend and in a certain time frame, I figured I'd better work on that. I finally finished off the first skein - boy that sure seemed slow-going. I also picked up a different pair of knitting needles (Boye) today at Hobby Lobby, hoping these will be a bit slicker (and they are pointier than the Silvalumes). (I've never knit with Boyes before, so I don't know how well they will work.)

I also was able to figure out where I was on the Baltic Sea Stole pattern - the laceweight yarn is so small that I have a lot of trouble reading my knitting - and do a few rows on that as well. I hadn't worked on this project since early last fall some time, so it was good to work on it some more! This is my first 'big' lace project - previously all I had done in lace was the Branching Out scarf at Knitty.com.

www.knitty.com/issuespring05/PATTbranchingout.html


Since it's Monday, it's kind of a night off of crafty stuff, but I'm thinking about doing some more on the garter stitch shawl. The sooner I get it finished, the more time I'll have for WEAVING! :-D Perhaps I'll have pictures tomorrow as well.

A good day for weaving

Though I only did about an hour's worth - I'm not finding the weaving position comfortable for very long; I am getting used to weavng at a flatter angle than I prefer, however. I did get to the end of the second placemat (yay!). I think this time I'll use cardboard or something similarly stiff for the spacer between the placemats, along with a few picks of single carpet warp. I think part of my drawing in 'problem' on the second placemat may be due to not paying much attention to drawing-in on the spacer I wove between #1 and #2.

This weaving is going rather quickly - much quicker than knitting does for me, so it's keeping me motivated to work on it. Here's a bad picture of the 'Davenport join' - it really looks pretty good in real life. It's hard to tell there is a join there once I clip the tails. I'm hoping to spend a couple of hours weaving tomorrow as well, but as we've seen, my plans and what actually happens are often two very different things.

I am also about a quarter-done on tying the waffle-weave rug - that seems to be going rather quickly as well. I tend to not stick with a project if it takes me too long, so it's a good thing these are going so quickly. I'm planning on doing a few rows on the prayer shawl tonight as well, and I need to spend more time on it tomorrow. I also want to do a row or two on the Baltic Sea Stole, as I really need to get back to working on that. My first 'big' lace project, and it has been languishing since last summer. It just takes me too long just to do a repeat (about 8 hours, uninterrupted).

I was reminded this morning that I was going to do a review of the "Weaving on a Cardboard Loom" booklet I bought off eBay. It's authored by Brook Dickerhoff, and it is very dated pattern-wise (published 1976). However, the technique information is good, there are excellent drawings, and though I might only do one of the projects it was well-worth the money for me. She tells you how to make a cardboard loom, and is really good at explaining the basic stuff. Oh and there is a neat doll pattern pattern in the book as well - I would've never thought of doing that on a loom! So I'm finding it good for inspiration and basic technique for tapestry weaving. I'm glad I bought it!

That's it for tonight; we'll see what I get done tomorrow. :-D

Whew!

I did about another 4" of weaving last night; I would have taken a picture but it looks pretty much the same as it did before. :-)

I took my time trying Betty Davenport's yarn join, as both shuttles ran out of yarn (at different times - highly recommend that as it's much easier to do one at a time). She says for cotton and what I think she called 'firm yarns' to untwist some of the end, and take half the plys (is it 'plys' or 'plies'?) out of the web and overlap the remaining plys (does that make sense?). It seemed to work pretty well, though I haven't snipped the non-web plys yet so I could be missing something. It will be close to the middle of the placemat, so it should be a good test of how it holds up over time.

I have been noticing that at least on this placemat, that the 'just-beat' pick isn't very even, but once I throw another pair of picks (since I'm doing 2 picks per shed) it looks really good. Hadn't noticed that on the first placemat.

No other crafty stuff last night; I did take some time to gather some of my weaving supplies and put them in the new tote I bought. It's kind of like this one:

http://tinyurl.com/qdfhz

though I think the one I bought is a different brand and the lid organizer doesn't cover the entire lid. I'm able to keep my sleying hooks in the top so I don't have to dig though the tub looking for them, plus a couple of short lengths of carpet warp which now won't get tangled. I've got my basic books in the main part of the tote, along with my carpet warp spools and the smaller bits of the loom (the warping peg, the clamps). Now I just need to figure out how to store the longer bits, such as the pick-up stick, and the extra heddle. Hmm....

Ditto...

Unfortunately no weaving last night - the new Rockstar was on TV (CBS) last night. This is the only reality show I watch (although this INXS fan still hasn't forgiven them for not picking Mig Ayesa and for picking J.D. in the first season), and I was really looking forward to the new season. It appears the new season will be... um... "interesting". Also I was searching for something on the 'Net, and the 'Net is a time-black-hole, so there went the evening.

I did do a bit of knitting on the prayer shawl though, and got it on a set of Susan Bates Silvalume needles I picked up yesterday, and off the Denise. We'll see if these work better, though I noticed they are not as pointy and that may be a problem.

I will definitely be weaving tonight, though!

Best laid plans...

and all that -

I woke up with a headache yesterday, and no amount or type of medication would make it go away, so no weaving yesterday. I did work on the prayer shawl off-and-on, so all was not lost.

Hopefully I'll get back to the loom this evening.

Happy Fourth of July!

I believe I will be celebrating by weaving and knitting, and watching the "Dangerous Assignment" dvd I got from Netflix (I love Brian Donlevy!). :-D

I wove on the Kromski yesterday - I'm up to about 6.5" now on the second placemat after about an hour of weaving. I've run out of yarn on one shuttle so will be learning how to properly join a new cotton yarn - it's different than when you are using wool (according the Ashford book, IIRC). And then I'll get to practice as the second shuttle is almost out as well. The weft on this placemat doesn't seem to be quite as even as it was on the first one, though that could be my imagination.

I also did another row of tying on the rug frame. I think that took me about a half-hour. I've developed quite a sore spot on my finger from tying the carpet warp though, which is slowing me down. (Although I like the process part of crafting, I also want to finish the projects so I can make something else). I tried using a bandaid yesterday, but it didn't help. DH suggested a finger cot like I use at the office, which is a very good idea. I think I probably won't many waffle-weave rugs, but I do want to try twining on the frame next, probably with cloth/rags. That project will probably take me a long time.

Hmmm... need to break out the spinning wheel and work on that Icelandic roving as well, so I can get back to the Polwarth I had been spinning. Just not enough hours (or energy) in the day!

No pics today, as the two projects don't really look any different. Maybe I'll take a pic of the prayer shawl for the next post; which reminds me - I need to find my Addi needles!

Nuts...

I didn't do any crafts at all yesterday, though I had the best of intentions. But the deck is looking pretty good, and it is a bit cooler with the addition of shade cloth (it really does make it cooler - who would've thought?), making it another area that I can (and want to) do my crafty things in. :-D Of course that assumes it won't be hot as Hades today, like it has been the last couple of days.

Today I'm taking the afternoon off at my day job, and hope to make some progress on both the Kromski and the prayer shawl. More as it happens... :-)

We're making progress!

Today I did a 'rotating crafts day', where I pick 4 or 5 of my favorite projects and do about an hour on each. Surprisingly, I did manage to work on 4 of them. I did a little bit of organizing while I was at it as well, so the day went pretty quickly.

I wove the spacer on the Kromski, as you can see - I spent most of the alloted Kromski time untangling yarn -sigh- or I would've gotten a lot further. I didn't see it mentioned in my beginner books, but I cut the working yarn and weaved in the ends before starting the spacer. Since I'm going to use fringe on the edges of these I didn't weave in the spacer-filler ends. I ended up only doing 4 inches of spacer (single picks of carpet warp), and that still looks like quite a lot!

I also worked on the 11" RH scarf. I did a quick sample on a cardboard loom I threw together this afternoon. I didn't like the results at all, so continued weaving the scarf as I had been.

I did several rows on the prayer shawl - wow that seems to be taking forever. I need to look for my Addis in that size and see if those will make it move along quicker than the Denise needles I'm using now. And I worked on a project that I haven't mentioned here yet.

This probably isn't considered 'real' weaving, but DH bought a waffle weave rug frame at an auction, thinking it was something else. I didn't know what it was either, but had a lot of fun investigating it. I never did find anyone who actually has one, but found the ad for this "Sears Hearthside Adjustable Rug Frame" in the 1941 Sears catalog at the library (luckily, the book "Twined Rag Rugs" by Bobbie Irwin - a very cool book btw - has a picture of one with the model name). I had warped it like a potholder loom before finding the ad, and used spool-knitted 'ropes' for weft (it has a very large gauge), and ended up with a small but very cushy rug. Once I discovered how it was meant to be used, I 'warped' it up properly, and I started tying the intersections today. I'm not sure I'm going to do very many rugs this way, unless I use heavier stuff to fill in the holes, so to speak, but it's an interesting experiment. It will be very interesting to see what it ends up looking like once off the frame and washed - IIRC the bulky cotton I'm using (S&C Crafters Cotton) shrinks a good bit - it definitely pills so is good for experimenting (I'm tying with carpet warp). So far I consider this a 'fun project' - but I only did the first row plus a couple of intersections so far, and it's a 48- by 27-inch frame. ;-)

That's all I have for tonight; I'm hoping to do a rotating crafts afternoon tomorrow - mostly the Kromski and the prayer shawl, but I'd like to get a few rows done on the Baltic Sea Stole as well. We'll just have to see what happens!