I've been a busy bee....

Yesterday I re-warped the Harp (isn't that a pretty chain for my first try?):

and I warped the Flip (isn't that quite the messy chain for my second try?):
using the cut-off warp from Friday's Harp-warping attempt. (I don't know why that first pic has a green-ish tinge to it.) I still have quite a few pieces of that first warping attempt left over, and I'll be able to use the Sugar & Cream part for the weft - probably on the Flip project since it's narrower - less joining that way. I really like the colors together, which ought to keep me motivated on these two projects. I need to remember when I start weaving that I want to do hems on these, instead of fringe.

I wound on this afternoon, but I haven't sleyed the heddles yet as my back needs a break (and I did some aerobic gardening this morning), but I'm planning to sley the Flip after I soak in the shower. I did chance on a tiny improvement on Kimberly's warp-a-RH-by-yourself method. Instead of using pop cans (that kept slipping off for me), I remembered these wrist weights and just pulled a handful of warp through the hole and secured it with a dowel through the loop. It's easier to slide these down too, compared to the pop cans. The grey ones are one pound, and the red ones are a half-pound.
Hopefully I'll get started weaving tomorrow or Tuesday.

Oh - I almost forgot. My plan o' the day actually worked pretty well, but I decided not to continue plying yesterday. I'll save that for later this week or next weekend, I think.

I'm also thinking of having DH make me a different warping peg. This one will be horizontal, instead of vertical, with longer clamping pieces for a better grip. I'm not sure if it will work, but I'm going to run it by him and see what he thinks.

Warning: Disaster Ahead...

We'll start with the good and sorta good first though. The Flip is here! This is how it was packed:So it took maybe two minutes to assemble, unlike the Harp that came in several pieces. All I had to do was unwrap the plastic, unfold it, and attach the dowels:


Originally I was going to do mug rugs on it for a quickie project to test it out, but now I'm thinking of trying dishcloths that will match the towels on the Harp, even though I'll end up using different-sized heddles. I'm using a 10 on the Harp, and I ordered an 8 with the Flip. More on the reasons for that idea later.

Speaking of heddles - the really good news is that I ordered a 16" Ashford heddle with the 15" Flip - and IT FITS in the heddle blocks. Since the bottom of the heddle is rounded and the Flip block slots are flat-bottomed, I may end up 'flattening' the bottom of the heddle so it sits better. It's a tad bit wobbily in the slots as well, but it fits well enough to use. :-D


On to spinning. I put the plying flyer on the Babe Thursday night and oiled in the appropriate places and thought I was pretty much ready to go. I even assembled my tensioned lazy kate:I found these instructions quite awhile ago on the Crafty Canines' blog:

DIY Tensioned Lazy Kate

and added a couple of modifications from the Keyboard Biologist's version.

Building a Homemade Lazy Kate

It works, too. :-D

Then I tried treadling the wheel. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the plying flyer hit the bottom bar. :-/ So I sanded off the shoulders carefully, which took quite awhile, watched the plying video on my Joy of Spinning cd again, and sat down to ply. Again the flyer was hitting the bar - there is a lot of 'slop' in how the flyer shaft runs, and it kept moving toward me and the thicker part of the bar. Off I went to find something to use as a spacer to keep it back against the wheel post (I tried yarn, but it got wound up under the brake and the bobbin). Luckily I found a bit of tubing that fit, and finally I'm plying:
It seems like the plys aren't very 'close' together, but if I do it much tighter then the ply becomes unbalanced. I probably shouldn't have started with alpaca. :-) Oh well, it will work regardless - perhaps after I wrap it on the niddy noddy it will even out some, as I'm sure I've got some of it too tight. I thought the plying would go a lot faster, but it looks like I've barely made a dent in the bobbins.


I took a break from plying to warp the Harp for the towels. Since I couldn't wrap my teeny brain around how I should do this on the warping board, I decided to use the warping peg instead. So here is my warping setup:Notice the full basket of dog toys, and yet the favorite toy is that piece of cardboard under the loom. Sigh.

This is a complicated warp for me, and I kept making mistakes early on but finally got the hang of it and it started going quicker:


Here is where the disaster comes in - if you have small children, you may want to avert their eyes. Here is where the process was 5 hours later:
The warping peg popped off the table when I was almost done, causing a rat's nest of yarn. It was 99% my fault, and 1% the design of the peg. I noticed that the peg's table was leaning forward, so I put a weight on the back causing the loom to lean forward. So dummy me added a weight to loom, and off came the peg. I do wish the peg had longer clamps - so many tables have rounded edges and with such short clamps you can't get much grip. I put the Flip's warping peg on the table when I was trying to sort out the warp, and it is better designed - much more robust, the peg is thicker and not quite as smooth - I think that's a good thing, and the threaded bolt is 'captured' so it isn't always falling out like the Harp's; although the clamp isn't any bigger so it's not optimum. But I'll be using it for the next warping attempt.

I tried to put the warp back on the peg and straighten it up, but the more I worked with it the more messed up it got, so I finally gave up and cut it all off. What a waste of yarn and time. I did learn a few things though.

1) Weight down both the table and the loom before starting, especially when using a portable table.

2) Use warp ties even when using the warping peg, just in case.

3) The dowels on the bottom of the Harp stand are excellent for holding the little cones of carpet warp while warping - they don't go dancing across the floor this way. I'm going to have to add that feature to the smaller stand.

Since I have all those 'short' pieces of yarn leftover from the Harp now, it gave me the idea of using them on the Flip for dishcloths. Since the dishcloths will be narrower the warping shouldn't be as much of a problem (famous last words). We'll see how I feel about it after warping the Harp again though.

I'm going to try another plan o' the day again - we'll see what happens.

This morning, warping the Harp.

This afternoon, a few hours of plying to rest my back (warping kills my back).

After plying, I'll see if I can figure out a way to attach the Flip on the smaller loom stand, and do the figures for the dishcloths (which shouldn't take long at all).

Anyone taking odds on how much if any I get done?

And if I'm very very good, perhaps I can warp the Flip tomorrow.

So much for plans...

I really should know better by now - my plans o' anything never seem to work out. The most I got done this past weekend was about an hour and a half of spinning. I got another hour in last night (on the alpaca) - now I can see light at the end of the tunnel I should be able to stay motivated to finish up the alpaca, and when my hands get tired I can do the math for the towels on the Harp.

Yesterday the merino I ordered with the Flip came - wow is it SOFT! I can't wait to spin that (still need to ply that alpaca though). I also need to get the alpaca spun as the Flip will probably be here today or tomorrow, and you know what I'll want to be doing (though I still haven't picked a first project on it - maybe mug rugs?).

Wednesday...

and the weather is so nice here I wish I had taken the day off. The new computer came a day early (Monday), so I'm still in the process of setting it up - wow did I have a lot of software on the old one! - but last night I was distracted by the spinning wheel. :-D I've done about half of the alpaca now, so pretty soon I'm going to have to figure out how to ply as my singles aren't sturdy enough to hold up on their own.

Besides spinning alpaca, I've been thinking more about the new smaller loom. I keep going back and forth between the Schacht Flip and the Kromski Harp. It would be nice to get a Flip since I already have a Harp, but the Harp has advantages and I'm starting to lean towards another Kromski. Number one - the less-expensive Ashford rigid heddles will fit the Harps, per The Woolery (the Ashford heddle might require a slight trimming on the edge, but otherwise will fit). There are more 'sizes' available in Ashford heddles as well, such as a 5-dent that I would like to have. Number two - I really like my 24" Harp. :-) Number three - the Schacht costs more (and the heddles cost more too) and so far I haven't found it availabe with free shipping, unlike the Harp (adding more expense).

Then again - I like that the Flip has a different design. I've heard it is sturdier, but for a 15" loom I'm not sure how important that really is. Sigh - I guess I need to flip a coin (ha!)! I could look at it as a service to my blog readers to get a different brand of RH so I could properly compare them... :-D

And maybe I could 'make' an Ashford heddle fit a Flip....

Update: I just found free shipping for the Flip at Paradise Fibers. I haven't figured out how you order the particular heddle size you want yet, but I'll be spending some time poking around their site. :-D

Monday!

Comes way toooo early in the morning. :-)

I had a bit of fibery fun this weekend - I spun some more alpaca and it's going quite well - but I was sidetracked by the laptop I borrowed from work. I must admit it was pretty cool being able to have the laptop in whatever room I was in and able to check my mail and such, but it certainly put a damper on doing anything else. I think a laptop would be counter-productive for me - at least until the novelty wore off (which would probably take awhile ).

But my new desktop is supposed to arrive tomorrow, and my Spindolyn is supposed to ship today (YAY!), so this should be a good week. I have some pink mixed-wool fiber (batt?) that I bought at the spin-in I attended in October. I had meant to use the pink in my mom's roving-rug, but ended up not needing it after all as I had enough of Grandma's quilt batting. I haven't figured out if I need to prep the fiber at all though, or if I can just 'tear off' strips and count that as roving. Guess I'll be experimenting!

Disappointing news - the tiny local 'fiber fair' apparently won't be held this year. :-( Then again, I haven't spun the stuff I bought over the past few years yet, so between that and what I bought at the spin-in I'll be busy enough until the next spin-in in October!

If it hadn't been for that laptop, I would have started winding the warp for the towel(s) on the Harp this weekend. I've been avoiding it because I 'want' to try using the warping board again, as it is something I think I need to learn how to do properly, but my first attempt was pretty much a disaster. Oh and I need to figure out how long the towel should be. I need to see if I can figure out length from the towel instructions in the Ashford RH book I have. Perhaps I'll do that today - I really need to get that loom warped up!

Sigh...

I've given up on getting the new computer set up properly, so I boxed it up and will be taking it back to the store this afternoon. I ordered a new Dell last night - I should've done that in the first place (my previous computer was a Dell, and lasted 8 YEARS). It won't be here until probably late next week, so I won't be having much computer time this weekend again - maybe I'll actually get something done!

To make up for lack of content, I have some pictures for you. This was my first weaving attempt on the Hearthside Rug Frame. Warp is 2 strands of bulky cotton, and weft is spool-knitted bulky cotton (recycled from failed chair pads). I warped the frame as if it were a potholder loom, and voilà:
I used the 'adjuster' bar to make a smaller rug. As you can see, it is very popular with the 4-legged residents :



even though they are bigger than the rug. He wouldn't even let me finish the edge. At least BossDog waited until I hooked the edges. :-) I like it a lot too, it was a fun project and I plan to make another (larger) one once I get some spool-knit 'cords' finished.

I'm still here...

though I'm having a bit of trouble setting up the new computer. All should be well by the weekend though.


I didn't get much knitting done this weekend - this pattern requires most of my attention. I think it's a 'problem' with the yarn, not the pattern (the pattern is pretty easy for me to memorize, which is saying something with my bad memory!) - the yarn is so dark that when I make a mistake it is incredibly difficult to see what I've done wrong and how to fix it. So I don't get much done on it at a sitting - but I still love how it's turning out (except for that little hole that I can't figure out how to fix!). I probably should have used larger needles though, it's kind of twisting and I don't think you can really block Woolese because of the acrylic content. I guess I could switch needles now - it's not *that* long that it would be really obvious (maybe). If I do that, I'll put a lifeline in when I change just in case it looks really weird.

I ended up not taking my weaving along on the trip, but plan to work on it tonight. I'm still planning on buying a smaller RH, but I'm waiting on some information from The Woolery before I determine what I buy (the Kromski Fiddle, perhaps?).

In honor of my spinning friend who had surgery yesterday (get well soon and hurry back, S!), I've been spinning. :-D I finally got back to the lovely alpaca, and it seems to be going pretty well. I've decided against buying another Babe wheel for now (though I'd really really really like to try that new Spinnrock), but since I hadn't bought any spinning stuff since I don't remember when, when I chanced on this I couldn't resist:

Spindolyn

Isn't this cool? I've never tried a supported spindle, and I think this might solve my dropping-the-drop spindle problem. And perhaps I'll spin more often when I'm just vegetating in my chair some nights. :-D

I'm still around...

trying to get the new computer up and running. This is taking longer than I expected! I'll be out of town for the holiday, but hopefully when I get back I'll be back to 'normal'.

Since I was somewhat computerless over the weekend, I did get some crafty stuff done. I worked on the knitted scarf a bit, and I worked on the woven scarf too (bet you thought I had forgotten about that, didn't you?! LOL). I also dived into the stash for cotton for the towel I want to try on the Harp - sure hope those colors go together!

Before the computer died, I was planning to buy another (smaller) RH loom. My small RHs were meant as children's toys, and the Harp is so much better-built and easier to use that I avoid working on the other looms (notice how long it's taking me to weave that scarf on the Mattel!). I was torn between the small Harp and the small Schacht Flip. If I do end up getting another, it will probably be the Harp as I'm told Ashford heddles will work with it so I'll be able to get a larger-dent heddle without making it myself. I also was seriously considering buying another Babe wheel, but the budget won't support it anymore. :-( Oh well, then I'd have two wheels sitting here collecting dust instead of one! LOL

I'm planning on taking both scarf projects with me on my trip, but no guarantees on if I'll get much done on them. :-D

Have a good holiday!