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