Finally!

I finished weaving DH's scarf and took it off the Mattel loom - WHEW! Now I just need to figure out how to add weft-yarn fringe to the edges, as I used thin linen for the warp and it doesn't look right as fringe. The weft yarn will unravel if tied like regular fringe, so I have to do something a little more involved, so I'll be looking through my books to see how it's done.

I like how drapey it turned out, and I hope it keeps him warm this winter. He had either forgotten (not surprising, since it's taken me about 2 years to weave it :-P) or not realized it was for him, so he is very pleased. :-D


This is probably the only project I'll be doing on that loom - the Harp and the Flip are just so much easier to weave on.


As it turned out, with a couple more holes drilled in my DIY tensioned lazy kate I can fit three bobbins, and the plying went surprisingly well (except for my uneven singles *sigh*).


It took me about an hour to actually ply the yarn - a new world's record for me! It didn't turn out like I planned - I was hoping to match the colors together - but I think I like it:


Of course, the color isn't quite right in the picture, the colors aren't that bright. I've already washed it so it's ready to be knit or woven.


I didn't work on the Harp's towels this weekend as I got the wild idea I ought to do some housework. I just have the sewing to do on the towels, which is my least favorite part - so I'm avoiding it. :-)


Your parting nature shot:


Why that silly butterfly is on a DEAD butterfly-bush blossom, since there are several live blossoms nearby, I have no idea.

Quick update...

I finished weaving the hem for the last towel on the Harp Saturday, and removed the warp from the loom. I didn't get the hems sewn though - I might get to that tomorrow (Wednesday) night.

I also spun the last bobbin of the green stuff, so I'm ready to make it into a 3-ply. I don't think all three bobbins will fit in my homemade lazy kate, so I'll need to pick up another basket before I start plying. Still loving that Pedal Pusher!

I've also been wondering if I can use the plying bobbins, which would make for a larger ratio, for spinning thicker yarn. I'll be experimenting with that soon, as the yarn I'm spinning is a bit thin if I'm going to be knitting with it - for now I'm having to ply everything. The flyer orifice isn't big enough for bulky yarn, but for worsted-weight singles there is plenty of room.

Saturday!

It's a beautiful day here today - my Rose of Sharon is looking particularly lovely today:(I would have moved in for a close-up, but the grass is really wet this morning.)


This week the new spinning club met again, and a good time seemed to be had by all - I know I really enjoyed it. While there, I spun the second bobbin of the green stuff (I didn't get much spinning done Monday... or Tuesday... or Wednesday....). Two down, one to go:


I spent Wednesday adding some decoration to the Pedal Pusher - I think I like it. These are rub-on transfers, and seem to stick really well (it probably helped that the PP baked in my car all day Thursday before the club meeting). I'll probably add just a few more small ones:



I also added a tiny bit of bling - it looks neater in person but I think I need a little bit more, especially on the wheel (I looove sparkly things):

:

Nice head shot of BossDog included free!

I'm planning on painting the Production wheel, but I'm going to experiment on some scrap PVC first.

I'll be starting the third bobbin today - it's natural-disaster day on the SciFi Channel (YAY!) so I'll be glued to the tube for most of this lovely day (though I'll be doing some crafting on the deck).


I'm starting with this today:


and am going to finish this and get it off the Harp today. If everything goes well, I'll be able to sew the hems tomorrow. Then I'll need to start the planning for the next batch of dishcloths on the Flip and towels on the Harp. And start thinking of the next projects for them.

I've been thinking of transfering the scarf project on the Mattel loom onto the Flip - maybe I'd be more enthused about doing it on a better-designed loom - plus I'm thinking of making it more of a balanced weave than weft-faced. That would make it the fourth or fifth time I'd restarted that project, but if I do it on the Flip I might actually finish it before it gets cold here. I probably ought to see how much warp I have left first - if it's almost done, I should probably just finish it on the Mattel.

I'd better get started!

Monday will be for spinning...

I tried to get a better picture of the red yarn, but the color just won't come out right. But here it is in a skein (pre-washing):

The color is darker or duller - maybe a bit more orangey - than it appears in the picture. I must admit to being a little impressed how it turned out (mostly due to the dye-job though - the spinner gets little credit in this!). I ended up with 172 yards by my calculations, so whatever I make from it will be a small project. I remember seeing a scarf pattern that might work for it; hopefully I'll run across the pattern again soon.

Since that turned out so well I decided to start spinning this (plus my sister gave it to me, and I was going to help her with her spinning this weekend (the blind leading the blind comes to mind!), so I thought it was an appropriate choice):

I'm thinking of doing this in a 3-ply - I've already separated the original bump (?) into three strips, and think it will be cool to see if I can match up the colors somewhat. Of course with my uneven spinning who knows what will happen, but it will be interesting!

I did the first bobbin this weekend, and hope to do a second today:

This time I'm planning ahead - doing each third on a separate bobbin so I won't be trying to ply from a center-pull ball this time.


I visited the family this weekend so I didn't do any weaving, but I tried to help my sister spin on her new beautiful Kromski Sonata. I was surprised to find that trying the Sonata made me glad I have Babes - Babes are so much easier to set up and use, and I thought the Sonata was hard to treadle (for me - it's all personal preference). She tried out the Pedal Pusher as well, and liked it - especially being able to sit back and spin. That's one of my favorite 'features' of the Pedal Pusher as well. My other (non-spinning) sister had a go on the Pedal Pusher too - she did quite well for not having spun before. I might get her hooked yet!

Not much to report Saturday

Though I have finished plying the red stuff.
Looks good from a distance, doesn't it?

This is more like the correct color; I couldn't get a clear picture in the right color:
Who knew red would be so hard to photograph? The yarn really does look good on the niddy noddy - just don't look too closely. ;-)

I had said I wouldn't use a niddy noddy again, and I still might not wash on the NN, but I realized when my sister got hers that mine was way too long - no wonder it was such a hassle to wind. I have shortened it now (and looked up instructions on how to wind a NN), and it works much better. I do need to get some Synthrapol (sp?) before I wash it though, to keep the dye from messing up. I also want to sand the flyer on the Pedal Pusher a bit - I kept catching on something while plying the thicker sections (this yarn will qualify as 'novelty' - overspun and underspun, thick-and-thin, and overplied - sigh).


I'm also up to the last hem on the last towel on the Harp - I actually had enough warp left to make this towel the same size as the rest of the towels. :-) I didn't take any pictures, though, as it looks much the same as the last picture.


I overdid working in the garden this morning so I probably won't be doing much for crafting the rest of the day. DH & I went to see "Live Free or Die Harder" this afternoon - it was EXCELLENT. Die Hard 1 is my FAVORITE Christmas movie, and I might have to do a Die Hard marathon tonight. :-) They are not good movies to knit to, but I might give it a try.

Happy Fourth of July!

I have a little bit of lousy plying to show you. First, here is my 'invention':

Two clamps, a dowel rod, and some leftover carpet warp to loosely tie the dowel to the uprights, and voilà - a bobbin-holder so I can unreel the yarn. It worked really well for winding off onto the ball winder that is across the room:
I wanted to make the red stuff into a center-pull ball so I would have two ends to ply from. Those clamps are quite handy to have; I have several stashed here-and-there (mostly where DH won't see them and abscond with them).

I'm discovering that this is not my favorite way to ply - the two strands get twisted below my hands and I have to stop and untwist them every so often - usually on the rare occasion when things are going well. :-( There must be a better way - I'll have to research it. This plying isn't going so well - or at least it's more obvious than the alpaca I was I plying due to the differing colors of the strands. This particular piece looks good though:


And how much I've done so far:

It's going quite slowly - I thought I'd be done already. Unfortunately I decided to do it on the Pedal Pusher, so now I'm kind of stuck with doing it until I finish. I tried transferring it to the Production wheel, but it has the same problem the plying flyer I bought for the Pro did - the arms of the flyer hit the maiden so it can't rotate. I do have the Polwarth to spin on the Pro though.


I plan to do some weaving today; perhaps I'll get the last towel finished. DH is working on the raddles so I should have them ready to test on my next warp. :-) They are long enough that they will work on all the RH looms; and I plan to be able to hook them together to use on the floor loom.


I've re-started Li's (Life's a Stitch blog) scarf again, but have to take it slow due to my CTS flare-up that is taking forever to get better. So far I've done one repeat, so I can't tell how well the larger needles are working, but it sure is easier knitting!

It's a Lazy Tuesday!

I took today off, and so far I haven't done a thing. :-) I do plan to do some crafting stuff shortly though - particularly winding the red stuff into a center-pull ball so I can ply it.

First - ta-da!

The guest room is now a usable room. The exercycle as well as both spinning wheels fit easily. I'm debating getting rid of the rocking chair, as I never sit in it, it takes up an excessive amount of space, & attracts junk. Everything is lightweight (except the antique dresser that you can't see; the bike has wheels) so it will be easy to move things around as needed. And with the center of the room open, I can use my interlocking foam blocks to block lace (if I ever finish knitting the lace!).


I've done some weaving - the second towel is done:

and I'm about halfway through the third (doesn't that look like a bow in the middle? Or are my eyes deceiving me?). Which reminds me of something else I want to do today - make raddles. The closer I get to the end of the warp, the nastier the warp looks - it is tangled and twisted and a mess, and I do not know how it ended up like that - it looked ok when I was winding on. Several of the warp threads are suddenly loose as well. My NSI loom had 'teeth' that you tied on to, and I was able to wind-on a warp quite nicely on that; so I'm hoping raddles will help the same way the teeth might have (and instead of putting just one raddle on, on the cloth beam, I will probably use two - front-and-back). I'm also going to try lashing-on on my next Flip warp.

Here is my hem experiment - on the bottom we have carpet warp; on the top, crochet thread.

Both require extra-hard beating with a hair pick, but especially the crochet thread. As hard as it is, I think the dent might be too small. I have yet to wash the dishcloths woven with an 8-dent heddle to see how the hand changes once washed - I'd better get that done as well (the towels are being woven with a 10-dent heddle).


I've also been spinning on the Pedal Pusher - it stands a good chance of becoming my favorite wheel. I was able to sit in my La-z-boy last night and lean back and spin comfortably, just like in the picture on Nels' site; and I'm getting the feel of the easy treadling action. I've been able to slow down (whew! my hands couldn't keep up) and usually can start in the direction I want to go. I think I'll try plying the red stuff on the Pedal Pusher, and see how that goes.


Looks like I'd better get started - the day's a-wastin'!