I had a lazy week...

But I actually finished something - the mp3 player and doodads holder:


I wish the fabric was a bit stiffer, but I think that's a drawback of using acrylic on a really small loom - you just can't beat it very hard. But for my purposes (keeping all of the pieces together), I think it will be fine. I was very happy that I could get the speaker to fit, and still have room for extra batteries - that speaker drains the battery if you leave it in, even if you turn the speaker 'off'. :-/



I didn't touch the other looms this past week, nor did I take a closer look at the new book as I had intended.

I did have Spin Club this week though, and finally finished the bobbin that has been on the Pedal Pusher for what seems like forever. Now it needs plying. Thankfully my wrist didn't hurt after Spin Club (and I rested it a lot), so I think I can get back to limited spinning. :-D


When I wasn't spinning at Spin Club, I was playing around with my anniversary present:


It's a Norwegian cradle loom - a box or tape loom. It's bigger than the Bonhop and smaller than the Mattel - and whole lot more fun to use than the Mattel. Since I had gotten it just shortly before the meeting, it's not yet set up correctly so I'll get photos when I do that. It comes unfinished and needs a bit of light sanding and a finish (and rosemaling), so while I'm waiting on a couple of rigid heddles that will fit I'll at least get the sanding done - the finish might have to wait a few weeks. I'll probably mostly use it as a scarf loom, though I'm also going to use it as a card loom. It's a darned cute loom, and nice and small. First project on it will be a thank-you scarf for DH (he spoils me so!). :-D

The sampler scarf is finished...

Though it's lightweight and not very soft, I like it. I do still need to trim the fringe evenly:

You can see how some of the patterns draw in more than others, and, at least if using acrylic supplemental weft on a wool warp & weft, I need to pull the supplemental weft tighter as it turned out a bit loopy after washing (click to biggify both pictures):


Since I had Tuesday off, I did the planning for the next set of samples from Davenport's Textures & Patterns book, and for a rug on the Hearthside. I also put warps on these two looms.

So Saturday I threaded the heddle and tied-on the Flip

and the Harp (finally!)

and the Hearthside. Oh my aching back!!

This loom takes extra-long to warp as you can't use a heddle hook to thread the holes - they have to be done by hand, and the holes are barely big enough for the 8/4 carpet warp I'm using.

I also added another rod to the Hearthside's cloth beam stick - those wide pieces of apron make it hard to get a relatively even tie-on. I tried lashing on, but it just didn't work with those cloth bands.

Notice the rubber bands hanging off of the Hearthside's heddle? I used those to hold the tie-on rod evenly as I tied on. I did this on all three looms and it worked GREAT. Something I will be adding to my warping procedure - for both tie-ons, warp- and cloth-beams.

Another thing I tried in this week's warp-a-thon was an adaptation of Wovenflame's "door warping method". Instead of using a door, after I was done running the warp through the heddle, I put the little table that has the warping pegs on it on a piece of flat cardboard, and the weight that I use to keep the table from tipping was placed on top of the table. I was able to keep a decent tension as I wound on as the cardboard slid easily - but not too easily - over the rug. One adaptation I'll need to make is something to keep the cardboard under the table legs, as it tended to slide off every so often.

I was hoping to get started on the Flip project today, but I just never got to it. Perhaps tonight I'll try fitting the cloth from the Bonhop to the mp3 player and doodads. Or read one of the way-too-many books on my nightstand. :-)

Also, I just received Weaving Made Easy, by Liz Gipson. I haven't had a chance to look at it very closely, but first impressions are that it is definitely aimed at beginners, the photography is beautiful, and the projects do appear to be easy at first glance. She has a large section for the basics, but only uses a warping board, not a warping peg. I will try to read it closer this week so I can do a better review.

We have weaving!

I even have almost-FO's fresh off the looms!

First - the Bonhop project:


Now I need to figure out how I want to make the pouches for the mp3 player + the headphones + the speaker and (maybe) extra batteries. I hope I have enough fabric, but I may need to weave more. :-/


Next, fresh off the Flip - the sampler scarf:


Each pattern block is 6", with a 1" plainweave 'separator'. This picture is of Example #7 (supplementary weft floats), taken before I finished the rest of the scarf this afternoon. It's actually still on the loom but it just needs to be taken off - I've already done the hemstitching so all that's left is fringing and washing the finished scarf. This project was a lot of fun - watching the patterns develop and changing the pattern so often kept my interest, and it went quickly.

It will be also interesting to see if this harsh-feeling yarn feels better after washing. It might not be a scarf anyone wants to wear!


Sadly, the Harp has been neglected:


I still haven't tied on the front beam. I need to triple-check the count, and I might add an extra inch of width since I have extra warp on the loom anyway. I may start that Tuesday, since I actually have Veteran's Day off. :-)


Next up - another warp on the Flip for the next bunch of Textures & Patterns samples - these will be just samples instead of a scarf. The (current) plan is to cut these apart and put them in a booklet for reference. I might do these in carpet warp instead of wool - the gray wool is rather sticky so it might not be the best for hand-manipulation.


I also need to take some time and organize my RH weaving books/papers - they are all over the house and it's really getting out of hand! For now I might use a plastic crate, and a binder for loose papers, to keep stuff sort-of rounded up and 'mobile'. Usually I'm rather organized, but we still haven't finished the living room project so stuff is still quite scattered or almost impossible to get to. I'm open to suggestions, if anyone has them!

One picture...

Is all I have for you tonight - but this is as far as I've gotten on the sampler scarf so far.


The wool is very sticky, so I have to pay attention, but this was easy and pretty quick weaving - I think it took me about 1 1/2 hours to do that much, including pauses to watch TV. I had planned to do 2 inches of plainweave between each "experiment", as Ms. Davenport calls them, but seeing how big 2 inches is on the loom I'm going to go for 1 inch instead.

This is the first time I've tried to do a 'real' balanced weave - counting picks per inch - and boy is that tricky! As long as this is going to be I'll have lots of practice by the time I'm done, though.

GO VOTE!!

To everyone in the United States - GO VOTE TODAY!

For EVERYONE'S future!

More weaving!

(But no pictures yet.)

I received the new revised edition of Textures and Patterns for the Rigid Heddle Loom by Betty Davenport, and was so inspired I warped up the Flip for a sampler scarf of the first 10 patterns. :-D I'm using a mystery yarn that was given to me by my spinning buddy; the burn test tells me it's wool and it feels 'harsh' but I hope it softens up once washed. I've only gotten as far as tying on and doing the header rows - I may start the actual weaving tonight, if I can find my shorter pickup stick.

I haven't done a comparison of the two editions of this book yet, but at first glance it looks like the articles Ms. Davenport included in my older edition aren't included in the new version. I'll double-check that once I run across my older version, and do a proper review later.


I also warped up the Harp for a top in A Handwoven Treasury by Jane Patrick. I really screwed up the warping - I warped way too many threads, and even warped two sets in a slot TWICE.(sigh) This project isn't tied on, but the warp is wound on. I'll need a pickup stick for this project too, so tonight might be spent look for bits of my looms (I've even misplaced a couple of bolts for my Harp stand). :-/ I hope this isn't an omen for this project!


The Bonhop project is almost finished - I can see bare wood on the warp beam. :-D I think I'll be able to get a couple more inches woven, and then it will be finished.


Knitting:
I also did two more rows on the wristwarmers - my wrist had been bothering me all week so I put off doing any more knitting until yesterday. I'm not far enough along to see a pattern emerging yet, but I'm still loving the yarn.


No spinning this past week - and I think I'll be weaving this week. :-) Maybe I'll even upload pictures mid-week, for a change!