Loomy Thoughts

Actual Weaving Content!

2012-02-13T18:17:00.001-06:00

I finally have the log cabin project off the loom! :-D

I didn't do so well on the edges, but I'm hoping that will look better once it's been off the loom a bit and after I wash it. It's pretty crinkly right now since it's been on the loom for almost 3 years!! I'm thinking of doing a twisted fringe; that's all that is left to do with this unless I decide to edge it, and that's unlikely. It will probably be a dust 'cover' for either a loom or a wheel.

And I've done a bit of spinning, because I bought a Russian lace spindle from The Spanish Peacock. It's cocobolo, and a really pretty piece of wood:

I don't know what this white fiber is - it was a sample from another spindle I bought awhile back, but it's nice to spin - drafts easily and is quite springy.

And I'm trying cotton spinning again, only this time on a bead spindle:

The spindle itself is pretty wobbly, as the bead's hole isn't quite in the center, but the spinning seems to be easier with this type of spindle. Though it goes sloooowly. Not sure I'll ever get through that 8 or so ounces of cotton roving I bought in a destash last Fall! But maybe all of a sudden it will start going faster. :-D

And for my sister:

This is the look you get when you have a ball in your hand. :-D

And to my anonymous commenter - yes, a lot of my photos are fuzzy to varying degrees. I don't have steady hands, and my dogs don't sit still while I'm trying to take their picture with a slow camera. Luckily I'm not a professional photographer! :-D

Holy cow!

2012-02-05T20:42:00.003-06:00

I actually got some stuff done this weekend! I don't know what got into me, and it will probably take me 3 months to get the next thing finished, but I'm feeling very accomplished. :-D

First - I *finally* finished the capelet I started knitting 2.5 years ago:

And - I got to use my 'new' skeinwinder:

This is the fastest I've ever spun and plyed a yarn. :-D This was a wonderful spin - love the colors!

And - I finally tested my e-spinner design:

and it works! The only parts that are currently secured are the maiden uprights. The bobbin travels a bit too much on the flyer shaft but I'll fix that once I put a finish on the wooden base. I'm using my original plying kit for my Babe Production, since it never fit the wheel quite right, and a sewing machine motor off of one of my olde sewing machines. :-D Now to pick a wood stain.... :-D

And I bought Boss Dog a bed like the one I got for the Lazy Girl last week. I think she likes it. :-D

These have memory foam in them, and I'm hoping they will be good for my old girls. I think I need to make the 'bumper' taller though!

My... the time goes by so fast!

2012-01-29T21:18:00.000-06:00

And as often happens I haven't accomplished much. But I have been spinning this beautiful sparkly fiber on my ReinTwindle:

And I got out the Navajo spindle and did a little on that - wow it's been a long time since I've used it!

Oh and I finished the lovely yellow singles on the Reeves. I'm letting them rest on the bobbins until I get a speed controller for the sewing machine motor I'm using for my e-spinner (fingers crossed).

And I caught my buddy sleeping on the new dog bed I bought for Lazy Dog:

Actually, it fits him better than it does her - she's bigger and doesn't quite curl up small enough to fit on it. She was on it most of today though - I think they both like it. :-D

Knitting with handspun....

2012-01-16T17:57:00.000-06:00

So I finally finished my first handspun project!

This was fun, though I was a bit short on yarn so I took a bit of confetti roving that I had in my stash and quick-spun enough to bind off. It's knit a bit loose due to having so little yarn, but I like it. :-)

Then I kinda went nuts and bought some fiber, but honestly, how can anyone pass this up?

BFL, "Marigold"

I started spinning it on the Reeves as soon as it arrived! :-D

That's a flash pic, so it looks a bit washed out. It still has the same deep colors as the roving. I bought this from Unwind Yarn Company . I'm actually on the third quarter it - it's going really fast and is a lovely spin!

I also bought a silk brick from another Etsy shop that I will have to try to get a photo of when the sun comes again, but the colors are gorgeous! My hands are really dry right now so it will be a bit before I start spinning that.

Your gratuitous puppy pic!

Happy New Year and St. Distaff's Day!

2012-01-08T19:45:00.000-06:00

Since yesterday was St. Distaff's Day, I decided to leave working in the woodshop til today and actually spin. :-)

I spun on the Polonaise,

and I spun on the Babe,

and I spun on the ReinTwindle and the Nepalese spindle. :-D

This past week I also started knitting with handspun - my first handspun project!

It's going to be a mobius - though with this art-ish yarn I couldn't see the cast-on well enough to do a mobius cast-on, so I'm knitting it flat and then will seam it. Unfortunately it looks like I'm a hair short of yarn to do a bind-off, but I have a white fuzzy yarn that I can ply with the silvery thread that hopefully won't stand out too much in the short bit that I need to fill in. Hopefully I'll finish this tonight.

I'm also going to start a Sky Scarf as a sort of knitalong on Ravelry. It's a cool idea - knit two rows a day in the color of your sky. :-) Unfortunately I had a bit of a time finding yarn to do this with - this was the best I could do:

I'm not sure the top fuzzy yarn will work as it's bigger than the sock yarn, but there may be a way to get around it. I might use it for snow, or maybe a blizzard if we get any this year. I also have the sort-of 'hairy' yarn I can use for snow, and beads I can use for snow and rain. :-) I'm also considering doing a night scarf, but haven't figured out the details yet.

And last but not least, the young boy after an exhausting morning of protecting me from the men who came to install new gutters yesterday morning:

Poor guy. :-)

Not much happening again...

2011-12-18T17:47:00.001-06:00

I've been lazy this week. I've done a bit of spinning on the reindeer Twindle, tried making another Baatara spindle in the woodshop but suffered total spindle-making fail. :-( I need a doodad for the lathe to make them come out better.

Oh I did get some wonderful fiber from Corgi Hill Farm -

(Picture from CHF's Etsy site)

It's Norwegian wool, and I can't wait to try it. Though I have a ton of other spinning projects already on the wheels/spindles. :-/

I've been trying to wrangle the dogs together for a group shot, but have been totally unsuccessful. But for now, here's this one:

Hope everyone has a Happy Holiday! :-D

Another week, and not much done...

2011-12-11T20:54:00.001-06:00

Since I had the flu the week before I've not been very busy. I finally started feeling like myself on Thursday, which was perfect timing because I had won a Bristlecone Twindle in a contest and it arrived that day!

I'm calling it Rudy. :-)

And I got a small fiber order Saturday, and decided to try it out on the new Twindle this morning:

It's from an Etsy seller - I need to look her name up again to make sure I've got it right... http://unwindyarncompany.etsy.com/. Beautiful stuff, and of course this has sparkles in it. :-) And the seller is super-nice. :-D

Other than that, not much being done. I was out in the woodshop today but it's not done yet. And DH is rearranging the woodshop, making it harder to find things, but there is already more room. :-)

Another score!!

2011-11-28T11:24:00.003-06:00

So I went to the same place I found my Reeves in January - I keep checking it out hoping to find some more Reeves stuff - and lo and behold my sister saw this:

A vintage skeinwinder! It's not in perfect shape - one of the arms had broken off and been repaired, and a lot of the thicker pieces having a lot of checking from poor storage and not being cared for, but perfectly functional and very cute. :-D I have an excessive amount of Howard's Feed & Wax on it right as it is really dry. I can't wait to use it, though I don't know what the slat that is screwed to the side is for, and also the short dowel that is under the axle.

I tried googling for photos and descriptions and though I found a (very) few photos of vintage winders like this, there weren't any descriptions as to what these parts were for. There was also a staple on the face of one of the arms.

So now I need to get some singles & plying done so I can use it! :-D

I did a tiny bit of spinning over the weekend, this is just an evening's worth which is really fast for me:

I started spinning this fiber ("Enterprise", from A Dyeing Wish) on my Tiny Tibetan, but have been distracted by other things (mostly making spindles :-D) so decided to take this project with me on my Thanksgiving trip. The spindle is a little long to be considered really portable, but I think it's my favorite spindle right now. :-D

And now, some pics for my sister:

And:

Ha!

2011-11-21T14:38:00.001-06:00

I can still weave!

I'm a little clumsy with the shuttles after being away from it for so long, but it didn't take long to get back into the groove.

I also made another Baatara spindle (named after the Baatara Falls :-D) this weekend. Here it is with the first version:

I used a different wood that wasn't so great for turning but has a beautiful grain. It wobbles a bit so I may need to work on the point area a bit more, but I'm not sure the point is the problem. But it spins just as nice as the first. :-)

The piece was a bit thicker so I could get larger whorls, but I thinned them quite a bit (perhaps too much for durability) to keep the spindle relatively light. It does weigh 10 more grams than the original, but both of them had fiber on them when I weighed them so the weight is not quite accurate.

And for your weekly puppy pic:

As you can see, he's fitting in quite well. :-D

The Girls

2011-11-15T21:20:00.000-06:00

My sister asked for the promised doggy pics, and since the girls are underrepresented I took (not very good because it's nighttime) pics of them.

First the three-toed wonder. :-D

She's healing well, her stitches came out yesterday, but she needs to wear the cone when we can't watch her.

The Lazy Girl:

In her favorite spot - right by the patio door so she can see what's what. :-D

As usual...

2011-11-13T20:21:00.001-06:00

I haven't been doing much this week. Though I did make another spindle - this one is from tamboti wood and the wood is beautiful:

Unfortunately I don't get to keep it, but I'll be ordering more of this - I didn't even put a finish on it and it feels sooo silky-smooth.

Oh I did make a bunch of bead spindles:

This one spins super-fast!

I started spinning the 'kitchen sink' fiber on the Polonaise again:

(pic from earlier in the blog)

And tonight I'm going to spin with the Nepalese spindle

and maybe the phang from my friend. :-D

I'm afraid I don't have any doggy pics tonight though - will have to take one tomorrow. :-D

Even more spindles!

2011-11-06T20:18:00.001-06:00

The spindles that I sent off to my Rav friend arrived, and she really likes them. :-) I sent her this pine Tibetan and a lignum vitae phang:

I also made a Nepalese-type spindle, a type of phang, from another piece of lignum vitae that is much browner - the other lignum vitae spindles are quite green. It's a very interesting wood, and this piece has a beautiful grain you can't see in a photo:

And a bead spindle for someone, which turned out nice:

Boy she twirls fast!

I also designed a new supported spindle with a lot of help from my Rav friend, based on a Balkan two-whorl drop spindle:

Though we had hoped it would work as a sort-of all-in-spindle - being able to ply two singles still on the spindle onto the bottom section - it didn't work out in that respect. However, you can comfortably spin two or three singles onto this spindle and keep them well-separated. I find it quite comfortable to spin on, even though it's much taller than my usual spindles! And it seems I can get more spun in the same amount of time on this spindle. Or I'm getting better at supported-spindle-spinning.

I need to not do a pyramid cop on it though, as it creates problems when you are winding off both sections onto a plying ball. :-) It's definitely one of my favorite spindles. :-D

And today I made a phang out of bloodwood - isn't the wood pretty?

It looks much better in person - I don't seem to be able to take photos at night (in that they are worse than my lousy daylight photos). :-/

As you can see, I've been spending more time making spindles than using them, but with it getting colder here I probably won't be in the woodshop quite so often.

In doggy news, the Boss Dog had surgery on Monday to remove a growth on her foot which ended up costing her a toe. But she seems to be recovering pretty well:

The only problem being she's supposed to stay off her foot since the bandage is already off. And she's feeling rather frisky, so she's pulling on the stitches. :-( So I'm sitting on the bedroom floor with her making sure she stays mostly off of it - she's less than pleased with me (especially since she is also wearing the Cone of Shame)!

More spindles!

2011-10-24T21:37:00.002-05:00

LOL I hadn't even started typing the title and that showed up, so I'm leaving it. :-)

Indeed there are more spindles to show - these are handcarved by a Rav friend. :-D I'm going to play with them as soon as I finish this post (therefore it's a really short post, as I want to play with them).

top to bottom: wax myrtle phang, huckleberry spindle with removable whorl, pine Bulgarian

Edited to add: The phang - she works! :-D

And works well. :-)

I also made a couple for her this past week, but I want her to see them first before posting. So you'll just have to wait!

Oh a fuzzy pic of the hounds enjoying the fruits of my trip to Menard's:

It's Fall!

2011-10-16T11:26:00.002-05:00

And it was lovely at my mom's last weekend:

It smelled like Fall when you stepped out the door - which I don't seem to notice here. Though my sinuses are making me extremely unhappy this week. :-(

I also found another Mouli - this time the round-barrel grater, like this one:

Though I haven't had a chance to try it out yet. Soon, though!

Yesterday was the annual spin-in, and I was planning to not buy all that much.

Really - it's not that much. Though more than I planned of course.

I picked up a little silk:

"Cornflower"

And I picked up a pound of Pima cotton (plus a couple of small baggies the seller threw in for free, like the brown) from a destash:

Yeah, it was a crazy purchase since I don't like spinning cotton, but I'm hoping spinning it on the spindles instead of a wheel will be more enjoyable. And if not, I can probably find someone to buy it from me. I'm planning to spin the silk on the spindles too.

I also picked up some undyed leicester longwool:

I've not tried this before, and it's a rare breed so I wanted to support the grower's efforts to help build up the breed. :-) I think that's 8 ounces.

I also wanted a 'quantity' of something, instead of my usual 4 ounces, though I may have gone a bit overboard with this:

"Sapphire Gems" rambouillet, romney, kid mohair, alpaca, silk, Firestar

That's 2 POUNDS. This will probably end up being a 'what was I thinking' project, but it's pretty and feels nice in the bag - though the bit of spun yarn that they used to tie the bag feels pretty rough. I'm going to have to think about how I'm going to spin this, but I do have enough to experiment with. I'll probably spin this on the Polonaise, or maybe the Penguin. This is the same vendor that I bought the batch of blue fluff Wensleydale blend that I started on the Polonaise a while back that I never got very far into (wow - I bought that 4 years ago - I really need to do something about my stash!).

I almost picked up some more cormo, but since I've spun very little of the bag from last year I decided to hold off.

Thinking about my stash - I have several spinning UFOs that I need to finish - a couple of them relatively-large quantities, like the blue fluff. So, if I can stand it, I'm going to finish my UFOs before starting anything else, except for spindle stuff. Hmm... Spin Club is this week - this might be the perfect opportunity to work on the red colonial wool that I've been spinning off-and-on for years. Luckily I haven't started plying any of it so I don't need to remember what I'm doing in that respect. If I can find it....

In more food gadget news, I returned the first donut maker I bought and picked up the Babycakes model at Bed Bath & Beyond instead:

It came with a tiny fork and cooling rack - plus better recipes in the booklet.

It has deeper wells, for better-looking donuts:

They still taste different than 'regular' donuts, because they are baked, but it doesn't seem to stop me from eating far too many than are good for me!

I'm supposed to be turning a couple of spindles for someone so I'd better take some more sinus medication for my awesome headache :-P and get out to the woodshop. So here's your obligatory puppy picture:

Dinnertime at Chez Too-Many-Dogs!

And now for something completely different....

2011-09-25T20:24:00.003-05:00

I actually did some knitting this week! I finally picked up the capelet again and started on it. I've started the neck, and I think after that is finished I only have the buttonband to do and it will finally be DONE. Though you can't see progress, so no picture yet.

And - I bought a donut maker this week. Though the plain recipe wasn't all that, I'll be trying other recipes. :-D

And even though the recipe wasn't all that, it was very hard to not eat them all. :-/

I of course did some spinning - I finished the single of the art yarn Tuesday night at Spin Club (luckily I had taken along a phang and a Russian spindle!) and plyed yesterday. It doesn't look so arty now though:

I'm thinking of doing a cowl with it - thank goodness the pattern I'm looking at uses two strands, as I don't know if I could deal with the uneveness of it. :-)

The Babe project is plyed and washed - there is a lot of wool there. :-)

It sure feels nice. :-D

And your weekly puppy pic:

Fail

2011-09-18T21:38:00.003-05:00

Sigh.

It looks good, it feels good, but boy howdy does it wobble. East Indian rosewood, too. Sigh.

WIN!

It's unfinished as of yet; thankfully no wobble. And it feels so so smoooooth. :-D This is Honduran rosewood - what a difference between the two! It will be interesting to see what the Danish oil does to it. :-)

I found something to keep them in on Friday:

Pipe stands! A little dusty, but they cleaned up well! I'm going to try a piece of felt where the bowl goes so the spindles don't slip as much.

I tried making a ring this week:

Not sure how well it will hold up, but I love the stone. That top wire isn't quite 'done' yet.

I haven't been spinning, weaving or knitting, but want to get back to all of it. Maybe I'll get in gear this week.

That's pretty much all I got, except for this:

Still spinning!

2011-09-05T21:05:00.003-05:00

Though of course not getting a lot accomplished. I did ply this:

I have no idea what type of wool this is as it was unmarked in my stash. I was aiming for laceweight on the Mazurka, but after 2-plying it it doesn't look very skinny.

I'm plying this:

This is the Babe project that has just about everything in it; also a 2-ply. I'm about 2/3s through the singles. And the merino/yak is finally dry, and I love how it feels:

The churro lamb fleece is cleaner, though there is a lot of v-m in it. I'll probably end up combing it:

Doesn't it look a mess?!!!

I'm hoping to get out to the woodshop tomorrow and make some more spindles - my other spindles are getting lonely!

I visited my mom this weekend and we went to the 'flea market' store, where I found this awesome vintage Mouli shredder in great condition:

It works so easy and so fast, and super-easy to clean! I'll probably put my food processor in storage and use this instead. I may actually start cooking! :-) And I need to find another one for my sister - she fell in love with it when using it to make apple dumplings, and I'll do a lot to encourage her to make apple dumplings. :-D

And for my other sister:

I was actually a bit surprised she put up with the Big Lug joining her on the couch, but she didn't seem to mind - they stayed up there for quite awhile. :-)

Ewww...

2011-08-28T21:48:00.000-05:00

This is a partial churro fleece that has been marinating in my stash for a couple of years. I wanted to wash all of it by the lock, but that was way too time-consuming because it was so dirty/greasy/gross. So I decided to try something different.

I put it in a bucket of water outside for almost 3 (sunny) days:

The water was so disgusting the first time that I poured it out and replaced it with fresh right away. This afternoon when I poured the dirty water off it had the most awful smell to it. ::gag::

The fleece is now soaking in what was clean water with a bit of Dawn detergent.

I was going to rinse it after a few hours, but it started raining so I'll do that tomorrow. That will give me more time to find a couple screens to put it in-between (otherwise it will disappear!).

I did wash some better-smelling stuff:

The wine-colored yarn on the right is the merino/yak from the Tour de Fleece that I finished plying this morning; the green on the left is the camel/silk from TdF. The green in the middle is merino/silk and I don't know what the gold/yellow is.

I plyed this today too:

It is some unmarked wool in my stash that I decided to experiment with lace-spinning on the Mazurka. It went surprisingly fast - both spinning and plying. It will be interesting to see how it feels after washing as I spun it pretty tight.

I also got a 'new' sewing machine this week - a gift from DH's boss' family:

Yep, it's another FashionMate 237! I love my first one, and this one also runs like a champ. It needed a thorough cleaning and a bit of oil, but is in great shape. I'll probably be taking this to my mom's for when the sewing bug bites. :-D

No playing on the lathe this weekend - I ran out of time. Maybe I can get to it this week. ::fingers crossed:: I did get an order of exotic wood to play with this week, so that will be fun!

Hahaha!

He's not always photogenic! :-D

More spindles!

2011-08-21T17:18:00.000-05:00

Besides making supported spindles, I've also purchased a few from Bristlecone . He is quite the artist, and he and his wife are lovely people. :-D Here are my two Glindles:

He makes the glass 'marbles' for the tips himself - aren't they awesome?

My Twindle:

Awesomely SPARKLY!!! I've yet to find time to actually spin on them, except for a few mintues, because I've been making spindles as well.

I made one for my sister out of zebrawood:

I was pretty pleased with how this one turned out. :-) I made some more as some Spin Clubbers were interested:

The two on the right were snapped right up, and the one farthest left has been spoken for as well to use in the French spindle manner since it's very lightweight. I'm going to try a 'bona fide' French style, but didn't get to it this weekend.

I also turned this spindle for a friend:

I was very surprised (and pleased!) how well this turned out. Practice helps, but I really think it wanted to be this shape. I think it's Maccassar ebony (it was marked 'ebony') as it's not black, and it spins wonderfully and feels awesome in the hand. She loves it! :-D

Today I turned another phang, as I've been wanting to for awhile. Surprisingly, it takes as long or longer for me to turn a phang as it does a Russian even though they look like they would be simpler!

This is lignum vitae, which has a scent. I also used the small leftover bit to make a little 'dish' - I'm not sure how well the button-dish will work since it's only about an inch across and about an inch tall, but will find out after the Danish oil dries. :-D

I've even been spinning - well, plying. I started plying the merino/yak on the Polonaise. I've not plyed on the Pol before, and I think I like plying on the Babe better, but only because it's faster to set up. Oh and spinning on the Tiny Tibetan. :-)

For my sister:

Whew!

2011-07-31T19:50:00.002-05:00

The Tour de Fleece ended last Sunday, and boy was I glad! Four teams is just too many for me, so next year I won't be on so many. I sorta met my goals - I got more comfortable on Russian/Tibetan spindles and the great wheel. I finished "Treebeard" that was on the Reeves, and finished the singles that were on the Polonaise and the Babe Production:

I made another Tibetan last weekend - I call it a "Tiny Tibetan", as it's only 8" long and I made it short to be a better traveling spindle. Since it's short, I had enough left over to turn a spinning cup too, and the two are great together!

I tested it on the drive to the woodworking store yesterday, and it's great for in-the-car spinning, though the cup could be a bit deeper for when you go over bumps:

A Dyeing Wish's Star Trek spin-along colorway "Enterprise". It's very sparkly, so I love it. :-D I layered the 3 different batts on top of each other and am pulling fauxlags from it.

The purple in front is an add-on - all purple and extra-sparkly, that I think I'll spin as a fine single and ply it with the Enterprise 2-ply. Maybe. I might like the 2-ply enough to not add anything to it.

The ubiquitous puppy pic:

As the spindle turns...

2011-07-17T21:52:00.000-05:00

Or, rather, the lathe. :-) I've been making spindles this weekend. I made another Tibetan, which looks much like the first one.

And I made a phang from paduak - interesting wood, and interesting spindle:

And today I turned a Russian from zebrawood:

Are those cool or what?!

And I spun a bit on all of them (except the newest Tibetan - the spinning point needs a little work yet).

And for my sister:

So why is it...

2011-07-13T06:37:00.005-05:00

Dogs are drawn to a freshly-made bed like cats to laundry baskets???

The first week

2011-07-10T21:48:00.000-05:00

of Tour de Fleece is under my belt, and I'm already faltering. :-/ I'm finding it difficult to do so many different things in an evening (even though it's only 3 things - spindle wheel, supported wheel, flyer wheel). But I've been spinning on the Tibetan:

(pygora)

and the Russian:

(silk hankie)

and the great wheel (except for the past two days)

(unknown fiber)

And I finished plying the camel/silk on the Bulky Pinkie:

It took me ALL WEEKEND to ply the camel/silk. :-/ I'm not sure if it was because it's fine (2-ply at ~24 wpi) or if it is due to use the BPinkie. And I overspun the singles, so I don't know how the yarn will turn out. Keep your fingers crossed!

I should have done a before picture...

2011-07-04T20:48:00.000-05:00

This weekend I went to my mom's and worked on her neglected yard (actually, I've been working on it the past couple of years but really made progress this time). Now it looks pretty nice!

I'm still not finished, but it is sooo much better!

In spinning news, the Tour de Fleece has started! :-D I had to start late due to being away at Mom's, but I made up for it today. I worked on the Reeves project and the Tibetan & Russian spindles and my great wheel For the spindles my goals are to learn how to use them (Tibetan & Russian) and improve my techniques (the great wheel), so I won't be spending quite as much time on them as on the wheel-spinning.

I'm continuing the pygora on the Tibetan:

And I started a CHF silk hankie on the Russian:

The Reeves project looks the same (though still very pretty)

as does the great wheel fiber, though this was my view while I was trying to spin on it this afternoon:

I didn't do much 'walking'!

It's been awhile!

2011-06-26T19:19:00.000-05:00

But I've been getting surprisingly little done (I did spin on the Reeves a bit last weekend). And though I'm on 4 teams for Tour de Fleece this year, I'm so not ready! I think one of my goals is going to be finishing up my wheel UFOs.

Anyway, Friday night I turned my first Tibetan spindle:

It's just pine, as I'm still practicing. Getting the 'gouge' on the inside of the whorl wasn't easy...

This is a bit small as my pine wasn't quite as big as I wanted, but it spins forever. :-) The whorl is a bit 'long' compared to what I've seen online, but it doesn't seem to hurt it's performance. Now to find out if I can actually make yarn on one....

I tried to use Handsome Boy as a spindle model, but he wasn't quite sure about it:

And New Boy doesn't hold still long enough, so we just did a 'portrait'. :-)

So...

2011-05-30T18:19:00.002-05:00

We got a new toy this past week...

but I didn't get a chance to play with it until today:

Not the shape I had in mind when I started, and it's easier to see before I put cherry Danish Oil on it.

It's just pine, so it's not so awesome, but I do like the shape I ended up with. :-) It's going to need a bit of wax to fill in some of the rough spots since you often can't get pine smooth like the hard woods.

I finished the batt bite on the Star Trek spindle:

(am I geeky or what?!) and plyed it on the Penguin (because it was the only wheel with nothing on it :-/). And I finished the merino/silk on the Mazurka too. Unfortunately the bobbins were waaay uneven:

so the little skein is a bit finer than the large skein - I may make a wrist distaff out of the little skein because this yarn is soooo soft. :-)

And finally, a nature shot.

click to biggify

Mrs. Cardinal is nesting right outside our window (see the orange beak?). :-) This is on the side of the house where we lost the trees; thankfully the cardinal and her nest weren't damaged by the storm. I peeked yesterday, and could see one egg; there may be more.

We're finding more tree damage as we get around the homestead, and one of the 'crown' panels on the machine shed came off, but all-in-all we're ok. I'm sad for my birch, but we're saving the wood for turning.

Oh - I almost forgot! This is what I came home to TWICE this week:

(The spaniel is not the guilty party)

DH is going to need a new chair sooner than he thought! Don't know why the New Puppy thinks that arm is so tasty. :-/

Well, that sucks...

2011-05-26T07:07:00.002-05:00

The view from my living room window:

And from the other side:

(The 'naked' tree behind the house is in the process of being cut down, so that is not storm damage.)

My lovely river birch! My beautiful crabapple! :-(

We had a short spate of very high wind - maybe straight-line wind as there is absolutely nothing on the news about it. Thankfully the trees managed to miss the house:

My first dog's physical therapy pool (a stock waterer :-D) ended up in the treeline - you can almost see it - it's that bit of blue:

There's a bit more tree damage around the homestead, but this is the worst. Luckily the house is fine, the roofs are still on the buildings (though the machine shed's roof needs a bit of repair). And we're all safe and I wasn't on the road when it happened - though I would have been if the power hadn't gone out!

It's a spindle weekend!

2011-05-15T20:32:00.001-05:00

DH and I finally had the time and the interest at the same time for him to show me how to use the lathe. :-) The first result is a Russian spindle:

I couldn't believe how looong it took (partially because we were using some crappy hard red oak we had laying around, and partially because the turning tools need sharpening - a *lot*, and partially because it was my first project), but I'm pleased with the result. I made it a bit too smooth so roughed it up a tiny bit before I put some Danish oil on it.

Then today I turned the shaft for a spindle lap bowl. Since DH wasn't home to show me how to do a small bowl, I improvised. :-)

Since I used hot glue the glass bowl should come off pretty easily when I want it to so I can replace it with a wooden bowl. I think this turned out ok too, and didn't take nearly as long!

And then I made a jewel-ly spindle, to please my inner magpie. :-D

Oh and this came in the mail yesterday - TOO COOL!!!!

And it spins great! I've not had good luck with top-whorls before, but I'm glad I took the chance on this one. It came from here. She's also doing some ST-themed spin-alongs. :-)

Tour de Fleece is coming up and everyone's talking about it. :-) I'm having trouble deciding what to do this year, though one of my goals will definitely be to spin on the great wheel for 15 minutes each day. Right now I'm thinking of finishing all of my spinning UFOs (if that's even possible :-/), or maybe something to do with spindles (or finish my spindle UFOs - that might not even be possible in the time allotted :-/). What are you doing for TdF this year?

We have spinning!

2011-05-01T17:20:00.002-05:00

The new boy doesn't seem to mind me spinning toooo much.

He seems to be fitting in pretty well :-) and has quieted down a *lot*.

I've finished the first (of two) bobbins on the Mazurka:

Love the color!!! I'm trying to spin it a bit thicker so the color doesn't get too washed out. Spinning seems to go rather quickly with this wheel; this 2+ ounces of merino/silk only took two spinning sessions - for me, that's really fast. The Mazurka is a good spinner, so I'm glad I got it (though I still need to do the last finishing on the drive wheel - ugh).

I leave you with the Canine Family Portrait :-D:

(Almost) Done!

2011-04-26T12:23:00.002-05:00

I still need to do some work on the drive wheel, but it is so time-consuming I decided to put the wheel back together and spin some. And I may end up getting some brown-tinted Briwax to darken it up a bit, but I'm going to wait and see how I like it.

In sad news, I sold the Pedal Pusher. :-( I missed it before it was gone! But the person that bought is thrilled with her first wheel, and spinning in general, so I feel a bit better about it. :-) Selling the PP means I really need to get around to building my electric plyer though!

And, I finally bought a smart phone! It's an LG Phoenix which is an Android phone. It's pretty easy to use (mostly), and seems to be holding a decent charge compared to what I've been told about smartphones (though I'm not using it a lot (yet)). I'm very happy with how the Kindle app looks on it - the font size is adjustable to big-enough-for-me :-) and you can select a sepia background so it's not as tiring to read on.

Most of my time has been taken with the new dog though,

and finishing the Mazurka. So I haven't done any spinning except for the Spin Club meeting last week, and no other crafty stuff either. Luckily I'm off today and the boys are mostly snoozing (though New Dog decided to take ALL the doggy toys out of the toy basket :-/) so I may be able to spin on the Mazurka and Reeves without worrying too much about the wheel being safe. Maybe.

The Dog Chronicles...

2011-04-10T18:25:00.002-05:00

I've gotten very little done because of the dog - he's still here, we've not heard anything from anyone who knows who he belongs to. He can be a bit of a sad dog,

but the more he's with us the better-behaved he is. He does seem pretty smart, and is surprisingly well-behaved (most of the time).

He's not allowed to be 'free' in the house without supervision as the house is so not puppy-proofed, particularly for one so big, and to protect the other dogs just-in-case, as he is bigger than all of them.

And he's getting along more-or-less with the rest of the pack (Boss Dog is taking her day-long nap so is not in the picture),

though he likes to pester the spaniel. Whether it's because they are both boys (and he's not fixed - yet), the spaniel is always with me while the girls are usually not, or something else I'm not sure. Some of it is definitely the dominance thing, but some of it I'm not sure. Lazy Girl mostly avoids him, and Boss Dog... bosses him. :-)

Last night he broke out of the crate and got hold of:

My specially-ordered silk hankie from Corgi Hill Farm. :-( I don't know if it's salvageable yet as my hands are super-rough right now, but I'm bummed.

I haven't been able to do hardly any craft stuff, especially as on top of everything else I am coming down with whatever is going around, though I did try staining the niddy noddy for the Mazurka. I'm not sure I like the color so much, though.

I have all the pieces sanded except the drive wheel and the base. I must say I'm a bit surprised as to the poor quality of the turning and finishing - there is a spot where the gouge slipped and dented the wood, poorly-cut threads, splintery areas around holes.... How disappointing, but probably mostly not noticeable if you're only looking at it after it's been stained and assembled.

We have a guest!

2011-04-03T18:08:00.005-05:00

First - someone got a haircut:

and a new necklace! He was not especially thrilled with either, though his fur isn't as short as the last time he got a professional 'do. :-)

Our guest:

showed up yesterday morning. We checked around the neighborhood and left flyers, so far no one has called. I'm not sure what's going to happen with him - sometimes we want his owners to find him, and other times we don't because he acts like he's been mistreated (but training an over-large puppy - he's as big as our largest dog). He cowers a lot, is totally untrained though he's at least a year old - maybe two, and a bit on the thin side (and intact - sigh). But you can tell he had a collar, his nails are short, and he's not very dirty. Very sweet and velcro-y, though a bit mouthy and he likes to jump on people (because he has never been trained ::sigh::)

This is what the other dogs think of him:

Not so keen, particularly the spaniel. So far they've been kept separate, the 'new' dog is staying outside (dog house) and doesn't seem to be interested in leaving at all. Sigh. Four dogs???? Siiigh.

I've dedicated April to decluttering the worst room in the house. So far, I've made a bit of progress, but I started in an area where I had recently done some organizing so it kind of doesn't count as much. But that's going to cut into my crafting time since it's a HUGE mess (as well the new dog's training, if he stays).

On the spinning front, I'm still working on the lovely green on the Reeves (didn't spin much this past week though) and... I have an unfinished Kromski Mazurka on its way to me! I wanted one for a long time, but I'm not crazy about the Kromski finishes, and didn't want to take on finishing a Mazurka myself. But... Kromski discontinued this wheel (????) so I figured I'd better get one now. Now, to pick a stain color - the worst part of finishing!

It looks like Spring!

2011-03-21T17:41:00.004-05:00

The lilacs are budding...

The geese have returned to our (almost underwater) island...

(click to biggify - you can just barely see the white on her head to the right of the tree)

And it's nice enough to spin on the deck again!

(with my shadow, of course!)

I had to switch to the other bench after a bit as the front on the glider is just too high to sit for long comfortably. But it sure was nice being outside for awhile - breezy, not too sunny, lots of birds singing, the Kindle was reading a Sherlock Holmes homage story to me....

While spinning away, our local fox almost caught the gander - hopefully the gander will be a bit more alert now. Wish I'd had my camera to hand to catch a picture of him!

My sister seems to like the heavy spindle I made for her; I made a couple smaller ones too, but she stuck with the larger. And she *loved* the baby alpaca. :-D I think she needs a better teacher though!

"Lazy" with a capital "L"

2011-03-13T20:54:00.001-05:00

I've been a bit lazy again this week, so not much was accomplished. Although... I did rearrange the guest/fiber room *again* - this makes 3 times since I brought the great wheel home! So far I like this iteration:

I tried spinning my friend's BL rolags on the great wheel, and I'm still doing a really bad job of it. I'm going to keep trying - but I definitely get better results with spinning longdraw from the fold.

I took the Bulky Pinkie in to work and have started the Jacob

so that's one less wheel in the house. Also the tiny Normandy wheel is off on the next leg of it's journey this week. :-)

I also started the baby camel/silk blend on the Reeves - it sure looks different after spinning, but I still love it. So far it hasn't been too challenging to spin, other than there is a lot of flyaways.

I also whipped up this spindle for my sister, who may be interested in spinning. Originally I was going to lend her my spare Spindolyn, but I think the likelihood of her really being interested is low, so we'll start her on this.

It's a bit heavy for drop-spindling, but I'm going to try to get her to use it as a supported spindle. It will be easy enough to make a lighter one (which I may do before I see her this weekend) as well - these are just toy wheels and dowels from Hobby Lobby. It spins *forever*. :-)

Oh I hate when that happens!

2011-03-06T16:34:00.002-06:00

Not sure how I did it, but wow is there a lot left on bobbin #2!

Luckily I learned a nifty winding-on-the-hand-for-plying technique from Patsy Z., so I was able to ply the 'leftover' easily. My spinning was a little less uneven than usual on this really nice undyed BFL roving. I don't usually go for white but I really like the look of this yarn. :-)

This week I picked up a bit of baby alpaca as my other sister might be interested in learning to spin. I played with a bit, spinning from from the fold which surprisingly made it 'hairy'. Wow is it soft!

I also picked up some carbonized bamboo, out of curiousity:

It feels 'squeaky', and should be an interesting spin.

Also, a couple of my spinning buddies gave me some fiber. One gave me some hand-carded BL rolags to try on the great wheel.

She does nice hand-carding!

And another gave me some lovely sproingy Jacob roving to play with. I'm thinking of taking the Bulky Pinkie to work and spinning the Jacob there. Isn't it purty?

I've spent most of my energy this weekend re-arranging the guest/fiber room to 'fit' the great wheel - yeah that's not working out so well. I even moved the exercycle to the dining room (which necessitated moving a sewing machine cabinet into the living room and more shuffling around). I managed to get 5 wheels (actually 6, counting the tiny Normandy wheel that is on its way to a new home) in there now, and I can still use the GW without moving things around. Since the BPinkie is going to work (or my mom's - not sure yet) with me and I still sort of have room for the Reeves in the living room it kind of works, but wow is it still messy.

I need to do something about that shelving unit - it looks awful! (It would help if I could stop buying Corgi Hill Farm fiber!) Some of the stash on that shelf needs to go back downstairs to the basement stash. And I need to get on the ball on spinning up some of this stuff. I still have a ton of the red colonial to spin that I started years ago, plus several bobbins that need to be plyed. Maybe while I'm recovering from moving all this heavy stuff I will design my electric plyer and get it built during the week. Having that, as long as it works, should speed some things up a bit.

Speaking of CHF - next up on the Reeves is this lovely green multi camel/silk blend, called "Treebeard":

It looks a lot lighter now that I've stripped some of it, but I haven't spun any yet. I was going to do a bump of merino/silk in a celadon color, but this grabbed my eye first and there isn't as much as the celadon so I'll get it done sooner (she said hopefully). :-)

A spinning we will go....

2011-02-21T11:37:00.001-06:00

Look what followed me home this time!

This great wheel was originally from upper New York state; we don't have any other info than that. It is *HUGE*, and I'm going to have to totally re-arrange my upstairs craft/fiber room. Luckily I can take my time doing the rest of the room after making a space for it last night.

(With the Polonaise for size contrast.)

(We're slightly out-of-focus this morning!)

I test-drove it this morning:

(The grey is mine; the brown was already there.)

I need a lot of long-draw practice, and hand-carding (:-P) practice, but I'm able to make (probably over-spun) yarn. :-D Maybe I can trade in my current hand cards for for more comfortable cards and I won't mind carding so much....

The Reeves is spinning wonderfully, and I'll be spinning on it next this morning. And I think I'll spin on the Polonaise a bit today too; I think she is feeling left out lately. :-D

Wheee...

2011-02-13T19:52:00.000-06:00

I spent most of yesterday spinning on the Reeves, off-and-on. Since I'm having a thumb/tendon issue in my hand I had to do quite a bit of predrafting. But half of the angora/silk is spun:

And I put a Babes-made Reeves bobbin on and started spinning something a little easier, for a break:

Undyed BFL. Spinning is smooooth, and the Reeves is starting to get a bit more broken in. It's getting easier to treadle, and it's more obvious when it's oiling time now. Oh and I bought a Reeves distaff from a very kind Raveler that almost matches. :-D

In non-Reeves news - lookee here!!!

Look at all that yarn! That is the merino cashmere that I have been spinning on the Penguin since forever. Though it's a bit periwinkle-ish, I loooove the yarn. It's very soft and drapey.

I was going to work on my pvc great wheel today, but time has gotten away from me *again*. :-/ Maybe this week. I hope.

Oh I even started a knitting project - a loom-knitting project, hoping it would be easier on my thumb/tendon issue(s). I've only done two rows so far, so there is nothing to see, but I'm using my cabled yarn so it's my very first handspun project. :-D

Now that's a spinning workshop!

2011-02-08T20:44:00.000-06:00

As I previously mentioned, I had a workshop with the great Patsy Z. last weekend. She is such a wonderful teacher! (And no snide comments about my Babe, either - she only had good things to say about it.)

It had originally been a silk workshop and a novelty yarn workshop, but she changed it at the last minute to all novelty with a bit of silk. Even though I have no interest in novelty yarns, I had a great time and I'm sure learned more than I realized. My best-looking yarn? Boucle, because I do not like boucle, no way no how. :-)

The slub yarn was kind of fun,

and I may actually do that - maybe. We also did a cable yarn, which I don't consider novelty but YMMV.

(Guess I should have taken a "Using your digital camera" workshop - wow those are bad!)

There were several other yarns - Lopi-like, core-spun (actually I'm still not finished with that one), knotted, and more; but they didn't photograph well.

I still need to finish the core-spun, and wash the boucle and core-spun, but I was able to keep up until the very last - carding the mohair for the boucle, which was the second-to-last yarn, really slowed me down. I need to go over my samples again, and match everything up. There was a lot in a short time!

A sewing we will go...

2011-02-08T19:47:00.000-06:00

So I took Friday off since I had a spinning workshop with the great Patsy Z. this past weekend, and spent the day sewing. The first item I made was a little wallet from this tutorial. It as so easy! And it went quickly! And it looks good!!

Except for the elastic I used to keep it closed - it's a little too old so not too stretchy.

Then I started on a pouch for my Kindle, using an old pair of jeans. Since I was winging it, it didn't quite turned out as I wanted it to, and I had a few difficulties (I could not completely catch the strap for love nor money, and it's shorter than I wanted :-/), but I like it anyway. And I still have the other half of the jeans to make another that will hopefully be better. :-D If there is interest, I will post what I did.

This one will probably end up being a bag for my tiny spindles. :-D

Reeves love

2011-01-30T20:38:00.000-06:00

The Reeves spins well, though a bit stiffly as it's still sucking up oil. :-) DH bought a threading kit and made an upright nut, making the wheel rock-steady as it spins. And I'm using 8/4 carpet warp for driveband and it's working great.

I put the angora/silk blend on it yesterday and have to be really careful not to spin it too finely. I don't use double-drive often so it takes me a bit to get the tension right.

Angora/silk:

This seems to be going faster on the Reeves than it did on the Bulky Pinkie - once I get the tension in the right place.

Cleaned-up wheel (and dogs):

I can't get over how the wood glows. :-) The Polonaise still spins easier, but it's been broken-in for awhile. I expect the Reeves to be just as easy in a short time - particularly when spinning something with a longer staple. It was very easy to spin my 'demoing' generic wool in a pretty even thread. I think I got a really good deal. :-D

Awesome...

2011-01-29T10:43:00.004-06:00

SyFy Channel is doing water monsters movies today, and USA will be having Jason Statham movies later. :-D A great day for spinning in front of the TV! I'm going to hopefully finish plying the merino/cashmere, because I'm dieing to spin on the Reeves. :-D

I'm going to take the angora/silk off the Bulky Pinkie and try it on the Reeves. DH made a replacement for the missing upright nut and I've been oiling it all week, so I should be good to go. It sure is a pretty wheel!

Also, Corgi Hill Farm is doing an Oops! Contest giveaway on Ravelry - go check it out!

Edit: The giveaway is over! Congrats to the winner! :-D

Oh. Em. Gee.

2011-01-23T20:20:00.002-06:00

I whipped up these extra-small spindles Thursday night before leaving for my Mom's - aren't they cute?

I made them for spinning the little batt bits I get from Corgi Hill Farm. I do need to work on the hook positioning a bit as they tend to wobble some when used as a drop spindle, they spin supported just fine. I really love the copper spindle - I love copper. :-)

But that wasn't the OMG - this is:

A Rick Reeves 19" oak double-drive saxony wheel in pretty much unused condition! I stopped in an antique store and almost tripped over it not 3 feet from the door. It was labeled 'ornamental', so I checked it over pretty well and everything important seems to be there except one wooden nut for the one of the wheel uprights It may have originally come with a distaff - the only info I could find on this shows that it should have come with one, which I'm hoping I can replace; and it also appears there should have been two other whorls, but I'm not sure about that either. The leather bearings don't have oil marks on them, including the leather bearings in the wheel uprights. I'm not seeing any dings or dents yet either, but I haven't started cleaning it. It's not very dirty, but use some Howard's and lots of oil.

I rigged up a drive band for it, but all Mom had was seine twine so it slipped a lot - but it works! I can't wait to give it a good spin!

It's been awhile...

2011-01-16T11:37:00.004-06:00

But I haven't been doing much crafting so there hasn't been anything to post. I'm trying to make a dent in my fiber stash but y'all know how well that works. :-/ I did straighten up the guest/craft room a bit, since I couldn't walk through it anymore:

I have been doing a bit of spinning. I'm still working on the cashmere blend on the Penguin,

though I don't do it often so it's taking awhile; I'm close to the end of the singles. I do enjoy that Penguin wheel, even though it's a bit slower than a flyer wheel.

Yesterday I got busy and washed the Tour de Fleece project:

and the silk hankie that I had spun on a drop spindle:

It's really as big as it looks - that was not what I expected to end up with! My spinning was so uneven with the hankie though I had to do a navajo-ply. It still feels silky though, and I like it. :-)

And I washed a little batt bite that Corgi Hill Farm sends along with most orders (also spun on a drop spindle):

I 'cheated' and spun both singles on the same spindle without taking the first single off - it works, though I wouldn't want to do it with a larger project. This went really fast - I don't know how much the bitts weigh but there is not a lot there (and of course I forgot to measure the finished (2-ply) yarn). I think I'm going to start carrying around a spindle and some of the bitts for those times when I have just a few minutes and a hankering to spin. :-) Hmm... maybe I'll make a couple of tiny spindles - they'd fit in anything then. Whatever I make with the bitts is going to be really colorful (I'm thinking handwarmers)!

(basket o' bitts)

I'm still working on the Spindolyn project too, and getting closer to the end for that.

I can't remember what kind of fiber this is other than wool, nor if I was meaning to do a 2-ply or a 3-ply. :-/ Better start taking notes *before* I finish the project!

We got a new internet service provider last week - I don't know if it counts as DSL but I can now watch YouTube like the big kids. And STREAM NETFLIX!!! which is incredibly awesome. I need to figure out how to set up the laptop so I can watch Netflix and spin/knit at the same time, without the dog(s) knocking the laptop around. :-D

I have some sewing projects that are temporarily on hiatus, plus some new ones I want to start. And I moved the Harp to another are of the living room so I'm looking at it almost all of the time now - maybe I'll finish that log cabin project one of these days!

Wow...

2010-11-07T20:03:00.000-06:00

I sure need a refresher course in sewing! I spent all day Saturday making this:

The pattern calls for flannel or lightweight cotton, so it turned out a bit different since I used fleece. I learned the flat fell seam, and it's now my favorite seaming technique though it takes a bit longer; and accidentally did a French seam on one side that will need to be ripped and resewn (that's why the right side in the photo looks weird). And since you sew up the side seam and the arm seam at the same time, it still needs hemming, and some kind of fastener(s) on the vee. It's pretty comfortable, and I may add a flounce on the bottom to make it a bit longer since I'll wear it as a lounger.

I was going to try to make my mother one of these out of flannel, but to make it fit her right I'd have to do way too many alterations for my skill level so I'll continue to look for a different pattern.

I've done a bit of spinning on the Spindolyn, but that's it for crafty stuff (unless you count spending a bunch of money at Hancock Fabrics :-D).

Done enough...

2010-10-24T21:07:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite phrases. :-D The Davis head and cabinet and irons are cleaned up enough to use:

It looks good from a distance, but close-up it's pretty rough. The cabinet was in worse condition than I realized, once I got all of the dirt off of it, but it is ok with a good cleaning/Restore-a-Finish/Howards Feed & Wax (I have all the drawer pulls, the other two are still soaking in cleaner). Once reassembling everything it seems to work, though I don't have a needle in it at the moment so I don't know it will sew a stitch - but it should, as it appears everything is there.

My GF gave me her older sewing machine, too - a Singer 6106. It's actually newer than my other machines (~1980-81), but it sews a nice stitch and is quiet-running. It actually fulfills many of the requirements for a machine that I had been shopping for - the only thing it doesn't 'have' is being lightweight, but it's not quite as heavy as my older machines so I give it a half-point for that. :-D

I was going to sew a quickie cover for it today, but today didn't go as I had planned so no sewing. :-( Maybe this week....

I also did some spinning on the Penguin (the merino/cashmere blend). I had had to re-do the spindle because I broke it off a month ago. Luckily it was easy to just shorten it, and I do like it better shorter. Hopefully I will get more spinning in this week as well.

I need to get motivated to do more than watch TV during the week - I have no problem with sitting without having my hands busy, and often don't think of doing something while watching TV. Maybe I need caffeine later in the day....

As usual...

2010-10-17T16:13:00.000-05:00

I didn't do much this week. I did a little bit of work on the Davis head today but wanted to watch my football team today so am back upstairs. I did pull the Davis base out, and wow is that going to be a lot of work.

The irons look a bit rusty, and the cabinet needs a lot of reconditioning (I do have the fourth drawer). But, like the head, everything seems to work ok. I'm planning to work on the irons/cabinet next weekend, if the weather holds.

I'm going to get back to spinning the yak blend I have on the Polonaise, because I really want to get working on this:

BL lamb/mohair yearling

A wonderfully-soft almost-black fiber that wants to spin quite fine which will be awesome to spin on the Pol. I picked this up at the annual spin-in yesterday from the same vendor that I bought the luscious (and yet unspun) black-ish mohair locks from last year.

I added a little bit of fiber to my stash at the spin-in, but not nearly as much as in years past as I have an incredible stash right now and hubby said something about 'hoarding', which took some of the fun out of the day. :-(

But I also picked up this nicely-soft gray raw alpaca from a new supplier:

It's pretty clean and I anticipate an easy spin.

This is a really nice merino that reminds me of the red colonial wool that I still have a ton of:

merino

(And I only bought 4 ounces, so I may get this bump finished!)
This:

"wool" and mohair blend

and some Cormo

to try. I'm told it's really nice to spin and makes a nice soft yarn, so I bought a little to play with.

While I was at Joann's last week looking for a particular book (which I didn't find *anywhere* in town), I picked up this book:

Norwegian Handknits

This is issued by the Vesterheim Museum. Though most of the projects are beyond my knitting capabilities, the vintage photos are wonderful and there are a couple of things I should be able to make.

I need to get back to sewing my apron, but right now cleaning the head is taking up all of my working room. I think I'm just about done with the cleaning though, depending on how thorough I want to be (I'm not sure I want to disassemble the bobbin winder or tension assembly), so hopefully I'll be able to get back to sewing pretty soon!

Wow - guess it's been awhile....

2010-10-10T21:22:00.001-05:00

I haven't had much to show though. I sewed the second tote bag kit, which was interesting because it needed basic quilting, plus the instructions didn't have pockets. I added pockets to make it my sewing tote, including one for my quilting ruler and a strap to hold my ironing mat. The pockets are a big reason why it took so long - had to figure out what I wanted, how I wanted it, and where. I like how it turned out; I left the handles long on purpose because tote straps are always too short IMO. Here it is with the machine I sewed it on:

(Note to self: top-stitching and a hand-cranked machine isn't necessarily a good idea for me!)

And this is my new project:

It's a Davis VF2. These are different than my usual vintage machines, in that they have a built-in walking foot. I've actually had it for several years, but had been storing it for someone to pick up. They decided they didn't want it after all so gave it to me. It's in pretty rough shape, so the cleaning is going to take awhile.

I've done a tiny bit of spinning this week, on the Penguin, but will probably pick it up more this week. :-)

I'm still sewing!

2010-09-12T21:04:00.004-05:00

Had to do a bit of troubleshooting on the Rocketeer with the help of my Ravelry sewing friends, but I think it's running ok now. Luckily the stuff from the Touch & Sew 640 fits on the Rocketeer (except for the chain stitch plate) so I didn't have to buy anything to figure out what was going wrong. :-) It's a bit more complicated than my other machines, so it will take some getting used to.

I did get the Hobo bag done - it was a lot simpler than I expected, though the polka-dotted lining made me dizzy while sewing! It's really floppy, so I stuffed some plastic bags in it to take the picture but I don't think they helped much:

I also made a scrap bag out of leftovers from my first bag, to keep my sewing area a bit neater:

I put a buttonhole on the top so it will hang off of the knob on the sewing desk. It's definitely handy, though a bit bigger than I needed (but smaller than the original pattern called for).

And I started on the apron, which is actually super-easy as well but I'm debating whether I should line it or not as it's very flimsy and I'm not keen on the seams being out in the open, as it were. I'd probably start the lining above the flounce if I do it, but I'll need to wash the pieces before I get any further I'm doing to do that since the two fabrics will probably shrink differently.

Look what I found on my ceiling this past week!

And here she is up close after I took her outside:

Best photo I've ever gotten with that camera, I think! I don't think she really appreciated my photography attempts though - she kept trying to hide her face. :-)

Now I know...

2010-09-06T20:53:00.004-05:00

why I would try sewing for awhile and quit - I'm lousy at it! But, the bag is finally done!

I ripped and re-sewed just about every seam on this (except for the handles) - some of them multiple times. The instructions weren't quite as detailed as I needed - bags look quite simple to make, and they can be easy - if you've already done one or two or have someone handy to help you. This bag is definitely not perfect, but hopefully I learned some stuff doing this.

And I'm not giving up on sewing yet - next is this hobo bag.

It's a little different than the first bag, but hopefully I learned enough from the first bag for it to go a little bit easier. And I'll be using the Rocketeer, once I get the Fashion Mate out of the Touch &Sew desk and back into it's own stand. :-D

(And as you can see, it wasn't too hard to do!)

Sigh...

2010-08-29T21:24:00.002-05:00

Sewing is so frustrating!. I'm currently making a beginner-rated project (a bag). I decided I wanted a bit of contrasting trim between the ruffle and the top, and I ended up spending probably 3 hours trying to get that to work (that includes the time spent fussing with the machine due to my own stupidity (sigh)). :-/ I decided to give up on the trim - i just want this bag DONE. I don't understand a lot of the instructions, including those for the bottom, so I spent a bit of time fiddling with that. Here it is while I was trying to figure out the bottom (which is why it looks so lopsided, and the handles aren't attached yet either):

I'm using this machine:

A Singer Fashion Mate 237. This is a great old machine - all metal inside, smooth and pretty quiet. And I fixed the bobbin winder this afternoon, so it's darned-near perfect. :-D I'm surprised at how well it's sewing through all these layers!

Unfortunately I still haven't had a chance to play with my 'new' machine (the Rocketeer), though I did get the easy-to-get-to bits cleaned up. Next up, and the Rocketeer's first project, will either be the apron kit, or one of these tote kits I found at Hancock's last week (on clearance!):

It might have to be one of these bags - I need more practice before tackling the apron. Yeah, that's the ticket!

The spinning club did a Spin-the-Park yesterday in a different town; we had a great time and I did almost a third of this merino/yak from Corgi Hill Farm on the Polonaise:

This is *very* nice to spin, and I'm looking forward to the rest of it. :-D

WOO HOO!!!!!

2010-08-26T19:31:00.002-05:00

I've been thinking about getting a modern sewing machine that was lightweight and 3/4 size (plus a couple of other requirements - like 'cheap' - cheap is good!) for occasional traveling, since my vintage machines weigh a TON. So I moseyed on down to the nsOSMG (not-so-Old Sewing Machine Guy) I've bought my s.m. parts from when I was fixing machines to check out a couple of Janomes (one he didn't have, and it turns out I don't want after all), and look what he had:

A Singer 500a Rocketeer!!!

And now it's MINE!!!

I've wanted one for a long time, and I'm thrilled even though it's dirty and may need a little maintenance (but that's half the fun!) And it's in a Touch & Sew case as he didn't have a Rocketeer case, but it fits well enough. :-D

I *really* want to go play with it, but I have a couple of other things I have to do first. (sigh) And now I need to decide which Touch & Sew goes away first. :-(

Guess I'd better get my tasks done so I can go play!

Shoot!

2010-08-16T07:02:00.002-05:00

Forgot to do this again yesterday. :-/ The older I get, the more I forget....

Not much to report as I was LAZY this past week and weekend, but I did pick this up while at WalMart the other day:

Isn't that just the cutest thing?! It *looks* easy, but I haven't read the directions yet (and forgot to buy thread - I'm pretty sure I don't have any hot pink thread) but I really want to get started on it.

I did spin on the Penguin a little bit; since Spin Club is tomorrow night I was planning to take it along and get a lot done. Unfortunately the parking situation is messed up at our meeting location and the Penguin is heavy and isn't stable on my cart so I guess I'll just have to start a new project on the Production - perhaps this (it's much lighter-colored IRL):

(freebie from Corgi Hill Farm :-D)

I also worked on the great wheel, replacing the maiden upright with bigger PVC and trying a different design on the maiden. The new maiden design didn't work, so went back to the original style. Didn't test-drive it yet - hopefully I will do that this week as there is another spin-in-the-park coming up. :-)

Saw The Expendables this weekend - LOVED IT. I love the 80's action flicks and am a huge fan of Jason Statham and Stallone. The fight scenes were awesome! I did think Jet Li was underutilized though. If you like lots of explosions and action, this is the movie for you! Definitely one I'll be adding to my DVD collection (rumor has it there may be a sequel!). :-D

Have I ever mentioned...

2010-08-08T21:58:00.001-05:00

How much I love my old sewing machines? After spending the weekend trying to excavate the craft room that most of them reside in, I used this one:

to add a strip of the fuzzy side of velcro to my purse strap to keep it from sliding off my shoulder constantly. I had tried self-adhesive velcro, but it was slowly coming off and leaving a nasty residue behind. My handy little 3/4-size Singer 128 zipped right through that vinyl strap and velcro like nothin'.

All fixed!

Time flies!

2010-08-08T14:48:00.000-05:00

Somehow I managed to not post for a couple of weeks again. :-/ Actually I don't have much to show, though I did meet my Tour de Fleece challenge. I finished the merino! Eight ounces in 3 weeks is a new record for me!

So I haven't done any crafty stuff since the end of the Tour. :-D

I do need to re-do the maiden upright on the great wheel. I was hoping to get that done this weekend, but I started cleaning out the basement craft room so I could get to one of my many sewing machines to do a small sewing job. But then I discovered water damage on one of the walls so the cleaning job has turned into a much larger job. I'm still not done, but I can see the machines now. :-) And walk in the room without tripping over anything! And I did a big de-stash of my acrylic yarn (though I'm sure I still have more than I'll use). Now I need to remember how to use the machine....

Oops!

2010-07-18T21:51:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I forgot to post last week. With all the Tour de Fleece posting on Ravelry it completely slipped my mind - but there wasn't much to see. Just a very-slooooow-filling-bobbin (darn those big Babe bobbins!).

In Tour de Fleece news, I'm mostly keeping up with my goals, and occasionally surpassing them. I'm actually almost finished with the singles, so it is possible I may get this yarn finished! This is bobbin #2:

Plans are to navajo-ply it, to see how well that works for keeping the different colors from mixing so much. I had thought I might be able to squeeze spinning this angora/Bombyx silk blend in,

on the Bulky Pinkie, until I test-spun it and discovered how finely it spins - no way that can happen as I think the Tour ends this weekend.

In great wheel news, it made its first public appearance:

It was a big hit, and I noticed some improvements that could be made, such as replacing the maiden upright with a bigger piece of PVC as the current upright is just a bit too flexible. That will be a project for when the Tour is done though. :-)

And now it's this time!

Tour de Fleece has begun!

2010-07-05T20:45:00.001-05:00

I've been doing pretty good so far - my goal is to spin up a 8-ounce merino braid and navajo-ply it before the end of the TdF.

I also want to squeeze in about 2 ounces of an angora/bombyx silk blend that is in the mail to me, but as slow as the merino is going (it's spinning rather fine :-/) I'm not sure I'll be able to.

Anyway, it started Saturday, and each day my goal was to spin for 2 hours, which I exceeded each day. I'm up to about 3/4 of a bobbin!

But I'm back to work tomorrow, so I'm going to aim for a 1/2 hour tomorrow as I need to give the great wheel a good test-drive for Thursday's Spin in the Park. And I need to handcard some wool for the SitP (yuck).

Yesterday I balanced the great wheel's drive wheel and screwed most of the base together; today I cleaned off most of the printing on the pvc and epoxied the maiden's 'adjusting screw' in. I noticed the knitting needle I'm using for a spindle was a bit more flexible than I remembered and I may end up doing a quickie replacement with a bamboo needle (thank goodness the whorls aren't glued in place!).

Oh and I finished the Tiger Eye - it is beautiful when out in the sun! The photo really doesn't show it properly - you can't see the gold Firestar at all which really sets it off. I'm thinking a shawl - I did remember to count it this time, now I just need to figure out which skeinwinder I have and do some math to see if I have enough yardarge. :-)

No crafty stuff this past week,

2010-06-20T20:46:00.005-05:00

though I did get the silk hankie single spun on the drop spindle - and it actually fit. It is so very uneven that I will have to ply it though. I was hoping to ply the Tiger Eye, and also the silk this weekend, but other stuff took up my time. I almost forgot - I dug out the merino I'm going to spin for the Tour de Fleece and unbraided it and am letting it 'decompress'. But that's it for crafty stuff.

We've been carshopping this week (and the past few weeks), and finally compromised on this:

Buick Rainier

He wanted a truck, but I needed something I would feel comfortable driving in ice and snow - and a full-sized truck wouldn't be it considering I drive a Honda Fit daily (and we have a truck), and a compact truck wouldn't have enough room. This is very comfortable (heated seats - nice!), and smooth-riding. And it's AWD, so should be good in bad weather. :-) I wish it got better mpg, but we will probably get better than advertised - I usually do. I also wish it didn't have leather seats - I much prefer fabric - but you can't have everything. I'll probably be taking it on a long trip next weekend so I'll get to play with all the fancy doo-dads.

Then today DH tells me I have blueberries to pick. I planted those blueberry bushes when we first moved here 17 years ago, and at most I've gotten a couple of handfuls of berries so I pretty much have ignored them the past few years. But this year appears to be different:

There are 3 more bushes (though they don't have as many berries on them) and many unripe berries left to pick, so I'm going to have a unusually large crop for me!

I'll probably cook most of them down in the crockpot to make a sort of blueberry spread - that way they will get put up without sitting around and spoiling.

I'm still here!

2010-06-14T19:57:00.002-05:00

I haven't really had anything to show you, plus we've been having so many storms that our internet is often out anyway (gee thanks, HughesNet!). There was one sunny day that I was able to sit out on the deck for a bit and watch the sparkles in the Tiger Eye go 'round and round. :-D (Which of course is well nigh impossible to catch with a camera.)

I have about two hours' worth of spinning left on the Tiger Eye singles, and then I'll turn them into a 2-ply. No idea what I'll do with the finished yarn, but it certainly pleases my inner magpie!

I did a spinning demo with a friend this weekend, and ended up taking several spindles though I'm not much of a drop spindler so I'm not the best for demoing spindling. :-) After spinning on the Penguin all day, I decided to try out my little cotton spindle and do a silk hankie. I don't know if it's the colors, or that it seems to be going pretty quickly, but I can't hardly put it down. I'm well over half-done (it's really hard to tell how many layers I have left) and will probably be done tomorrow since it's Spin Club - I'll have both the Tiger Eye *and* the hankie ready to ply!

(It's a little darker than that, but once I again I had the *worst* time trying to get the colors right)

This will also be a two-ply, because I'm getting quite a variation in thickness on this. :-/

edited post to add: I haven't forgotten about the great wheel, I just haven't had a chance to work on it lately. Hopefully this weekend I'll get it up and running. :-D

I started another tomato plant (actually two) in the Topsy-Turvy planter this year - they are doing quite well so far!

And a parting shot of our apparently-brain-damaged female cardinal -

She keeps flying into the window, over and over again. When she stops flying into this window, she flys into another one on the same side of the house. I haven't seen a nest in the area so I don't know why she's hanging around, but I hope she's ok.

More wheel work...

2010-05-22T20:00:00.003-05:00

I worked on the wheel some more today. FIrst I changed the knitting needle I'm using as a spindle, as the aluminum needle was too flimsy.

This acrylic needle may be a bit too flexible if the fiber isn't easy to draft, but at least it won't stay bent like the aluminum needle (and it looks really cool!). Since the new needle is a bit a larger and I had to enlarge the holes in the maiden, I decided to try the Liten Spindel-style maiden, which uses a slot in the front post:

But since the wheel isn't done yet (very little is glued or bolted together) that didn't work out too well - the spindle kept popping off. So I went back to (mostly) what I had before. Though instead of having the back maiden post drilled all the way through, I cut off the cap end of the needle and just drilled one hole, so the needle is captured. To remove the aluminum needle I had to cut the cap end off thus ruining it for re-use, and this will solve that problem.

I want to add another 'whorl' or two as well.

I also made a slot in the bottom frame so the maiden upright can swivel forward and back (and forgot to take a photo), and drilled a hole for a bolt to hold the drive wheel at 90 degrees. But you probably can't tell the difference from last week:

I'm still considering lengthening the drive wheel post - I think it might be just a little low, though I could probably get used to it. I've also discovered that the wheel seems to want to stop in one position - the same extension is always at the bottom. So I'm going to need to balance the drive wheel a bit, but that should be easy.

I think I'm going to try the Tour de Fleece on Ravelry this year. I have been buying way too much fiber this year and need to make a dent in it. I have a braid of variegated red wool of some type that is 8-ounces - much more than I usually spin in a project, so I'm planning to spin that up on one of the Babe wheels. :-)

It's ALIVE!

2010-05-18T06:26:00.000-05:00

It actually spins!

The aluminum knitting needle I used is too flimsy to do any serious spinning on it - it will be bent in no time, but DH says he has some oak and walnut dowels I can raid. :-)

Also, as I suspected, the base was too long, so I shortened it:

Much better. It's now approximately 36", and since the maiden rotates I can 'stretch out' as far as I want to. I'm debating moving the drive wheel up, but I think I need to practice on it a bit first. And the maiden moves too easily, so I need to fix that too.

A few parts still need to be glued, once I'm sure they work ok; and I'm sure I'll find other tweaks over time.

What a fun project! Except now I need to de-clutter the guest room (where the last picture was taken) so I have space to use it!

Building your own stuff

2010-05-17T06:59:00.001-05:00

This is what I did this weekend:

I'm building a great wheel (with DH's help, of course). :-) It's based in general on the photos I've seen of a Babe Great wheel; it will be interesting to see if it actually works. And I'm sure it needs a bit of tweaking (it's not complete yet as I'm waiting on some epoxy to dry). I think the base ended up a bit long, and I may need to shorten the maiden too - it looks awfully tall in this photo. Plus glue more of the base together (but not completely - it must be somewhat portable).

It has been easy to build, yet difficult. I've seen very few great wheels in person, and only one actually being spun on (watching YouTube is just not the same) - so of course I've not used one myself, making it harder to figure out how big, how wide, how tall. Plus making a wheelchair wheel bigger around was a challenge. Luckily DH is very smart. :-D

I may paint the drive wheel and extenders brown, eventually; but again I'm going to wait until I'm sure it works. :-D

If there is interest, I'll do a longer post with more details and photos (if the wheel works!).

Maybe...

2010-05-12T17:13:00.000-05:00

I ought to re-name my blog since I've been doing more spinning than anything else! :-) I haven't even touched a loom for what seems like forever! Yep, I've been doing spinning stuff again.

I washed the Lapis:
It bled quite a bit and is a tiny bit 'faded' (or less lustrous) from what it was, but I still love it. :-D

I spun a tiny bit of silk tussah on the Bulky Pinkie:

It was shinier before I washed it - I think there is something in my well water causing that though as even my hair is darker/less shiny than it used to be, before we moved here.

And I started the Tiger Eye on the Production:
And "Jungle Love" on the spindle on the Production:
We'll see how having two projects going on one wheel works. :-D

Well nuts - it looks like Blogger changed how we upload photos. :-( I'll look into it and upload the photos later. (sigh)

More spinning...

2010-05-04T06:56:00.002-05:00

I spent last week working on this beautiful BFL called "Jungle Love" from, yes you guessed it, Corgi Hill Farm. :-)

(It's not really that dark, and has more green-turquoise in it.)

I used the spindle attachment on the Production,

and stripped the roving lengthwise to try to preserve the variegation (vs. muddying the colors).

Unfortunately I cannot quite reproduce the variegation with the camera, but the color is pretty close. I love how this turned out, and the BFL was so easy to spin (at least after doing all that splitting!).

I kind of wish I had bought more!

The loom started calling to me Sunday, so hopefully I'll get back to weaving in the next couple of weeks. Hmm... maybe I could weave something with this skein (after I finish the log cabin project).

WHEW!

2010-04-18T13:57:00.007-05:00

I finally finished plying the Lapis!

The singles went faster than most of my spinning projects, mainly because this fiber was such a pleasure to spin on the Polonaise and I made time to spin it, but I spent all day yesterday plying it on the Pedal Pusher (I spun the singles on the Polonaise), plus part of this morning, and it's only just over 4 ounces of fiber! I couldn't believe it took so long, but it is finer than my usual stuff. I'm going to let it 'age' on the bobbin for a few days before winding it onto the skeinwinder; I won't have time to wash it until next weekend anyway.

I also finally tried out my Kromski upright lazy kate:

It worked really really well. I had expected it to be a bit tippy, but it seemed quite stable. I'll have to use it more often. :-)

I also bought more fiber from Corgi Hill Farm with my birthday money. :-D

Celadon (merino/silk)

Lady Slipper (BFL/silk)

Tigereye (merino/alpaca/silk/Firestar)

Aren't they awesome?! I'm trying to decide which one to start first - Celadon or Tigereye?

In Hound news, someone got a haircut:

This is what he thinks of it:

(Actually I agree with him!)

But at least his sister will still play with him!

In blog news, I had to turn on moderation on older blog posts. :-( I've been getting hit with a lot of sp*m comments, and this was the least annoying thing I could do. Apparently I need to sign into the blog to see if comments are awaiting moderation, so please be patient if you don't hear from me right away.

I've been spinning again...

2010-03-21T20:23:00.001-05:00

Still a bit under the weather with the cold/upper respiratory thing, but getting better. Took Friday off to recuperate and enjoy the one day of warm temps (though no sunshine) and it was actually nice enough to spin on the deck for a couple of hours.

But first, I plyed the mill-end roving that I had finished spinning on the Production's new delta flyer:

and wound it into a hank. There is a drawback to the delta flyer, which I have e-mailed Babe's about so we'll see what they say (the rings are so big they cut into the plying-bobbin's space by about a 1/2 inch, cutting down on needed capacity).

I can't decide - should I try cable-plying it now? Or leave it as is?

This is what I started on the deck:

I'm spinning the Lapis merino/baby camel/tussah silk blend on the Polonaise, and did about 1/3 of it Friday. I've since finished the first half and have started on the second, though I got lazy and didn't do nearly as much spinning as I planned Saturday and Sunday. Isn't it beautiful?? Easy to spin, and seems to be going unusually quickly for me! Too bad I don't have Monday off too as I'd get the singles done. :-D

Nothing much to report again...

2010-03-15T06:48:00.001-05:00

I've been down with the cold or whatever it is that is going around like wildfire here - haven't even been interested in spinning.

Though right before I came down with it, I made the 'mistake' of visiting Corgi Hill Farm's Etsy page again and a couple days later these arrived on my doorstep:

merino/baby camel/tussah silk

and:

BFL

I so wanted to get to them right away, but I still don't have any energy. :-( I did fiddle with this some yesterday:

A delta flyer attachment from Babe's (I ordered mine with a rounded wire instead of triangular). I've been debating whether I should keep the Bulky Pinkie, as I think I have too many wheels - I have a project going on every single spinning device I have (except for the drop spindles) so nothing ever gets finished. This would take the place of the BPinkie - though the BPinkie is so darned portable and I do like to spin on it. I'm going to do the last bobbin of what I've been spinning on the BPinkie on the new attachment to get a feel for it, but so far I like spinning on it. It really does make more sense than having a wheel just for a delta flyer, but it's so hard to part with a wheel!

Weaving again!

2010-02-28T21:32:00.000-06:00

If I keep this up I might actually finish this log cabin project! No picture again, as it looks the same as the last time and I still can't tell how much warp I have left. Another 6 months or so though.... :-D

I have been spinning too - I think I finally got a decent picture of the Woodland Violets cashmere/merino:

I also played with the Polonaise:

I guess that bobbin is just about full (finally!). :-D

And I've even been spinning on the Bulky Pinkie:

Isn't it interesting how different the two bobbins are? I have one more bobbin to spin; this will be a 3-ply. If it looks too weird after plying, I may try cable-plying to see what happens (usually cable-plying is 2-ply to 2-ply). It would make for a short yarn, but it would also be somewhat bulky.

That's all I have for now. I have a new doo-dad coming for the Production, so I'd better get to finishing the current bobbin. :-)

In which we actually speak of WEAVING...

2010-02-11T06:45:00.001-06:00

And there is some spinning too, of course!

Here we have a really bad photo of the Brooks Bouquet 'placemat' that came off the Flip last week, after finishing the fringe. It's wrinkled from washing, and I need to wash it again as there is a line of dirt that didn't come out the first time so I haven't ironed it yet. And the color is all wrong in this photo - it's a light gold/champagne color.

You can see the drawback of letting a project sit for months untouched - very uneven selvedges (and incorrect notes - my notes say I did hemstitching on the cloth beam side - turns out I didn't :-/). Though it should look better once ironed.

And - I've even been weaving a bit on the rigid heddle group's weave-along that I started LAST JUNE. Still not done, but I'm closer!

Here is an interesting spinning experiment. Remember the Pixie Farts batt I spun? I split half of that batt with a spinning buddy, and here are the results:

Interestingly, her skein is more green than mine - it's a bit more obvious in person than in the photo (and she didn't add the pink). I used the Penguin quill spinner though I mostly spun short-draw (you can do that on a treadled quill wheel :-) ), and she used a Babe Fiber Starter. We'll have to do another experiment one of these days. :-D

And, the merino-cashmere batt I mentioned last week:

And how it's spinning up:

(Sorry about the lousy picture - it was nighttime and the light is funny in that room - and that wheel is heavy so I don't like to move it if I don't have to.) It is 'variegating' into blue-er and more-purple-y lengths, and shorter sections of lighter lavender-ish colors (plus barber pole effects). And even when it's super-thin (which I'm trying to avoid) it's still silky. It's difficult to draft though - it's kind of stuck together a bit so I'm splitting the roving lengthwise into strips, so along with it wanting to spin thin it's a bit of a poky spin.

I've been meaning to spin on the Navajo spindle for several days now - hopefully tonight is the night. And I want do a little weaving - I really want to get back to the rug, but I'm making myself finish the log cabin project first. We'll see what happens!

Yay!

2010-02-01T07:01:00.000-06:00

I finally finished weaving the Brooks Bouquet project on the Flip! I didn't get a photo yet, as it looks kind of scraggly since it's been on the loom for... 8 months or so and I still need to tie and trim the fringe and wash it, but it felt good to weave again - it's been a long time. Now I'm eyeing the Harp project (last year's weave-along for the Yahoo rigid heddle group) - it shouldn't take too long to finish, especially since I really want to get back to work on the rug on the Hearthside loom. :-D

Spinning

I've started a new project on the Penguin. It's a merino-cashmere (YUM!) blend from Corgi Hill Farm on Etsy (I cannot resist her stuff!) in blue-purpley shades - beautiful! It's spinning pretty fine, and I'm struggling to spin a tiny bit thicker so I can at least see it. :-) It's still soft even when thread-thin - I love this stuff!

Will post photos later - probably in a new post since I might not get photos for a couple of days.

Quick update - photos are up!

2010-01-19T07:20:00.001-06:00

I've finished the first Penguin project, and I must say it looks kind of cool. :-) Plying on the Penguin took a little getting used to, I did not spin the singles very evenly either, and these aren't even my colors (I look awful in that shade of green) but I like it. :-D

Tonight is Spin Club, so I'm giving my foot a break - I was starting to notice the single treadle yesterday - and taking the Spindolyn instead. I have a just-barely-started project on the Tenor that I really need to get going on, and I bought a new cube base for it that I want to try out too. Here's what I was spinning (and I LOVE the new base!):

In weaving news, I got out the Flip yesterday, but it took me so long to find the book that had my project sheet in it I didn't do any weaving. But I've got everything I need to get going on it, except free time. :-) Hopefully this week I'll throw a few picks!

Awww...

Day 6 of the hood, poor baby.

It works!

2010-01-10T18:03:00.000-06:00

I've been spinning on the Penguin, and I'm halfway through this batt:

The wheel is very easy to control, and I can get a good length of draft. I'm not doing a true long-draw with this batt, as it doesn't seem to be drafting very well for that, but I'm liking my result. :-D I added a cardboard flange to the dowel because the paper clip I'm using to secure the dowel kept flopping forward, getting in the way of winding-on. And I've wrapped the quill with a piece of paper to act as a bobbin, so I should be able to just slide this off and start the second half on a second 'bobbin'.

I've also done a bit on the Polonaise, but my band-aid keeps getting caught in the fluff so I didn't make much progress.

And I'm going to frog this:

It's a mistake rib scarf, and it looks like it at the top, but not at the bottom. I'm going to try smaller needles and see if that helps. This is the second time I've frogged this yarn, so I'm hoping the third knitting is lucky. Hmm... maybe I should use Li's Herringbone scarf pattern again....

That's all I've gotten done this weekend, as I figured I'd better do some housework. :-( Oh and I've been captivated by my Christmas present from DH - an Amazon Kindle. :-D What a wonderful gift - I've read more in the past month or so than I did all last year! The only drawback is that it takes away some of my crafting time, but many of the books allow text-to-speech so it will even read to me! AWESOME!

I'm baaack... sort of

2010-01-07T18:58:00.001-06:00

I've been away from home a lot lately and haven't been doing much in the crafty vein so had nothing to post. Hopefully the latest addition to my spinning wheel herd will change that. I picked up a used Penguin wheel yesterday, and cleaned and cleaned and oiled and oiled it and made a quill for it tonight. Haven't had a chance to try it yet, but I think today is a spinning day so all I need to do is pick a fiber and go for it - perhaps the stuff I've been spinning on the Babe quill. :-D Isn't it cute?

It didn't have a quill (or driveband) and I couldn't tell what if anything was wrong with it and I really didn't need another wheel, but it looked like it might be a fun project to fix up. It may only have needed that quill and the oil - it seems to spin quite easily after using some Jig-a-Loo to clear out the rust in the bearings and such. Originally I thought I might paint it, but I think I'll wait - the plywood actually looks kind of nice (at least in the front).

The Harp is calling to me too - I want to finish the log cabin piece that's on it, and I really want to finish the rug that's on the Hearthside loom. Perhaps I'll have a crafty weekend - maybe I'll even get into the habit of doing a little crafty work every night - one can hope!

I hope to have an update in the next couple of days. :-)

Still spinnin'...

2009-11-22T17:32:00.002-06:00

But how can I stop when this comes in the mail?

The pink is actually paler, and the green is more vivid, and not only is it shiny but it has sparkles in it! - and these are so not my colors, but I couldn't resist when I saw the name of the batt - "Pixie Farts"! And it had been raining here for about 5 days straight and I needed something bright. I'll probably be splitting this with a spinning buddy - it's only 4 ounces but I haven't a clue as to what I'm going to do with it. :-) edited to add: Fiber comp is merino and Firestar.

The seller (Corgi Hill Farm on Etsy) also included this little gem:

I don't know what I'm going to do with this either but wow is it bright and sparkly!

I plyed the milk fiber and the black alpaca that I had been spinning on the Spindolyns; it has yet to be washed and wow you sure can tell how uneven my spinning is, but it looks kinda cool:

(plyed on the Pedal Pusher)

And yeah, it looks like I overplyed part of it again. (sigh) Hopefully washing will relax it a bit. I also got to try out my new Babe toy - a skeinwinder that sits in the top of the Production.

It worked surprisingly well, considering I left the bobbin on the Pedal Pusher. :-D I think I'll like this gadget! I have 3 bobbins to ply of the red colonial too, but those bobbins are a whole lot fuller than the Spindys were, so I'll leave that for another weekend.

I didn't get any weaving done yet this weekend - but I still have a couple of hours!

Lazy Dog says 'Hi!' :-D

It's been awhile...

2009-11-15T19:32:00.004-06:00

I haven't really been accomplishing much though. I worked on the Harp's log cabin project yesterday, and can see light at the end of the tunnel. Once I get that off the loom I'm hoping to finish the Brooks Bouquet project on the Flip, and then finish the rug. By then I will have thoroughly checked out Sara Lamb's new weaving book for a new project. :-) I'm semi-tempted to try out the floor loom too - maybe over Christmas I'll get around to that.

In spinning news, the bobbins are almost full on both the Polonaise and the Production. WHEW! And I finally fixed (I think) the annoying click from the Pol's footman having a little too much travel by stuffing some wool in-between the metal rod and the wooden dowel. But I have a lot of spinning left to do on all my projects (maybe I shouldn't have so much going at once?).

Since everything looks the same, I didn't take any photos. It rained all day so I couldn't even get a decent nature pic. Maybe next time. :-)

Even more spinning...

2009-10-25T17:34:00.002-05:00

I haven't spent as much time spinning this weekend as I thought would, but yesterday I worked on this on the Production:

colonial wool roving

because I really really really want to start this:

merino

And I worked on this:

mill-end wool roving on the Bulky Pinkie

And then today I worked a tiny bit on this:

Coopworth on the Pedal Pusher + spindle

this:

Wensleydale lamb/yearling & kid mohair/tussah silk/silk noils

and this:

Corriedale cross on the Navajo spindle

But not enough to make obvious progress. I'm hoping to do some more on the Navajo (I really need to shorten the shaft) tonight, plus some Spindolyn-spinning.

And maybe I'll do some weaving this week - anything is possible! :-)

In closing, a photo of Comfort Dog! :-D

Yet another spinning post!

2009-10-18T16:37:00.003-05:00

But first - we had a bad storm a couple of weeks ago, and I lost my favorite willow tree. :-(

It also severely damaged the cotton plant, so I picked the largest bolls and put them on my dehydrator a la Spin-Off's latest issue:

One boll pretty much popped open on it's own, but the rest needed a lot of help - I don't know if they will be any good (and I forgot to take a picture of them opened). But I'll probably plant the seeds from this year's 'crop' next year - it's a neat plant with beautiful flowers, and I have a better spot for them than where I planted this one. And if I don't want to spin the cotton, I know a couple of people who would take it off my hands. :-)

Yesterday was a fun day - I went to the not-so-local fiber fair with a couple of spinning friends, and a great time was had by all. :-D Though I was considerably lighter in the wallet by the time I got home, because I bought:

Some border leicester:

The white has that sparkly stuff already blended in ('angelique'?), and I bought a package of coppery sparkly stuff to blend with the reddish/brown BL. I've not spun BL before, but one my friends just loves it, and these were softer than I expected.

BFL:

I've not spun BFL before either, though I did buy some cloud (I think) several years ago - it's still languishing in my fiber stash. :-/ This is plain ol' (sooft) roving.

Some merino (I'm itching to get to that purple!):

I've spun a merino blend before, but not straight merino. The red isn't particularly soft, but it may be due to the dye.

Corriedale cross:

Not quite as soft (I'm noticing a theme here) as most of what I bought, but I loved the color.

These wool blends are surprisingly soft:

I'm currently thinking of spinning the non-stripey ball on the Pinkie for bulky yarn. Maybe.

My almost-favorite purchase:

Black mohair. Super soft and soo lustrous! It's in lock form, so I'm probably crazy for not buying it with more prep, but it's such a beautiful black with a bit of silver-gray I couldn't resist. :-) I have enough to try spinning it from the locks, and trying combing and carding it to see which way I like it (a friend said I could use her drum carder if I decided to go that route). I've not spun straight mohair before so I'm not sure which prep to go with. I would like to keep it 'lustrous', so it seems like that would mean combing, if not straight spinning from the locks. I might spin this on the Tenor Spindolyn once I get the milk fiber finished.

But the neatest stuff I bought:

Silk top in coppery-sunny colors. So outside my usual color choices but wow do I love how it looks. I will probably spin this on the Liten Spindel. I want to get spinning on this too (need lots of lotion on my hands first though :-/)!

This time I tried to stay away from my usual color picks, because I'm drawn to blues/blue-greens and darker browns. The silk and the various reddish colors are definitely a departure for me (though I'm doing that red colonial on the Production these reds are quite different from what I would usually pick) - it will be interesting to see what they look like spun! I really didn't need any more fiber, but what you see here is all of it, so I didn't buy pounds and pounds - I'd never get them spun if I did! And I still have those awesome batts from Corgi Hill to do - I need to get to spinning!

I need to go shorten one of the Navajo spindles a smidgen, and put some Danish oil on the shaft, and then I will start matching fiber to wheels. :-D

Your parting nature shot:.

My hometown, last weekend: :-D

My, how the time flies!

2009-10-04T17:19:00.008-05:00

I've been traveling a lot lately, and not crafting much. But...

Here is the milk fiber on the Tenor Spindolyn:

I tried spinning it on the Pinkie, but the Pinkie has just too much pull-in even though this is a long-stapled fiber - it's really slippery and I don't move my hands fast enough. I really like how soft it is, and how soft it stays once spun up. I think I'll ply this with the super-soft black alpaca I spun on the other Spindolyn (I need more Spindy spindles!). This probably isn't my favorite fiber of all time to spin, but I do like spinning it - especially on the Spindolyn! :-D

And I've done a tiny bit of knitting (last night) on the capelet:

I've almost finished the bottom edge ribbing, and then I need to pick up and knit the collar and button bands.

We've been doing a bit of woodworking - we made this for a spinning friend:

Didn't Hubby do a nice job on the walnut whorl?!

Here are our first and second Navajo spindles:

And the next two - the walnut one is for another spinning friend - but the cherry is MINE, all MINE. :-D

And I'm trying to make a knitting sheath:

I'm actually going to try using it with the Spindolyn, for those times when the Spindy base isn't quite as easy to use.

And I have a 'brilliant' idea regarding the Pedal Pusher and the spindle attachment, but I'm going to keep mum until I see if it works at all. :-)

Holy cow!

2009-09-13T21:18:00.002-05:00

I just realized how late it is and that I missed doing a blog post last week! Though I really didn't have much to show - and actually still don't.

I did spin, ply, and wash the green batt. I used the Bulky Pinkie for this, and became a more attentive and better ply-er because of it. :-)

That is a quarter instead of the usual dime to show how thick the yarn is. It's still not a very soft yarn, even after washing; but it is very squishy and it's probably soft enough for a hat. It's 4-ply and the singles were averaging about 14-16 wpi. :-D Wow is it hard to spin a thicker single but I loved how it turned out!!

I also washed some more of the churro fleece today. Since I want to spin from the locks this is a lot more labor-intensive than a usual fleece-washing.

I have maybe 4 ounces washed so far.

Last week I bought a beautiful pair of batts from Corgi Hill Farm on Etsy - now I just need to figure out how to preserve those beautiful colors while I'm spinning it. (I forgot to take a picture today - I'll try to remember for the next post).

Along with the alpaca I also bought from her, she sent along a sample of milk fiber. Interesting-looking stuff, very fine and silky. From what little I've been able to find on it so far, it's best spun from the fold so I'll be learning another new technique. :-D I want to do the milk fiber on the Pinkie since it's a slower wheel (and it's the only wheel that doesn't have a project on it right now). I think I'll finish up the bobbin of colonial on the Production and then try the new batt on that wheel - that will give me time to get a better idea of best to spin it.

I haven't done a lick of weaving, for some reason I'm really into spinning right now. Maybe next time?

Not bad...

2009-09-03T19:39:00.009-05:00

I was inspired by a comment a spinning friend made, and while straightening out my upstairs fiber stash decided to try my newest drop spindle (yes, I buy them - I don't use them but I buy them) with the small number of Perendale rolags I came across:

I didn't 'drop' it once (it did come unwound from the shaft once); and I've learned at least this Perendale is not particularly pleasant to spin - it feels surprisingly coarse. The spun yarn has a bit of a sheen to it though, so we'll see how it is once plyed and washed. I still prefer my Spindolyns, but it's nice to see that I can now (finally!) spin on a drop spindle. :-D

I have one cotton plant this year - it's kind of fun even though I don't especially like spinning cotton. I took pictures of two of the flowers and one boll:

It looks like I'll have a little bit of cotton this year!

Still spinnin' away...

2009-08-30T17:44:00.019-05:00

I've really been into spinning lately. Maybe next weekend I'll get back to weaving. :-)

Here is a picture of the Bulky Pinkie with the spindle attachment installed:

Nice-to-spin Coopworth:
Though the setup worked pretty well, I didn't like having the spindle that low so I've put it back on the Pedal Pusher. Here's a better picture of it on the PP (sorry it's a bit out-of-focus again):

I put the delta flyer back on the Pinkie and started spinning this Romney batt:
Since the batt is in layers, I thought I'd try rolling them up and trying to draft like rolags, but it didn't work well at all. I'm probably going to have to strip it instead. This batt is very harsh-feeling, and there seems to be quite a few nepps in it. :-( I'm going to do a 4-ply with it and count it as practice, unless it ends up a lot better finished than it is now.

I also finished the black super-sooooft alpaca on the Spindolyn, and started the gray to ply with it - YUCK.

The gray is 'hairy'! Though the hairs aren't stiff, there are a LOT of them and they stick out all over the spun yarn, and not in a good way. I'm hating spinning it. Not sure what I'll end up doing with it, but thankfully there is not much there so I don't feel too bad about giving it to the birds next spring (unless I think of something else to do with it).

I sat down at the Polonaise to spend an half-hour spinning on her - I was going to rotate amongst all the wheels today - and the next thing I knew "The Mummy Returns" was over and 2 hours had gone by! I was really hoping to get to the Pedal Pusher too - I really need the spindle practice. But... we just discovered DH's computer has been infected by a trojan/virus so I'm helping him with that (always always ALWAYS update your anti-virus program daily; and check that your firewall is running and run at least two trojan/virus checkers every so often - weekly is usually good enough).

The big news is - I bought my first fleece!!

It's Navajo-churro lamb. If how much I was able to get done yesterday just picking out locks (it's hard to see the locks in a lot of it), shaking out the v-m, putting them in netting to soak (no soap) is any indication, it's going to take me YEARS to get it ready to spin - if I'm only spinning from the locks (current plan). Luckily I was smart enough to split the fleece with a friend, so I don't have to do it all. But it does remind me why I buy my spinning fiber mostly-ready-to-spin. This will be a good learning experience, but not something I will do very often.

$3.62 later...

2009-08-16T08:03:00.012-05:00

But first... the painted Pinkie!

Even with my not-very-good spray-painting skills, it looks pretty cool. :-D The only problem I've run across is that after staining the treadles was the left treadle was squeaking badly. It appears that the guide screws on the frame were rubbing too much on the bottom of the treadle (oddly it doesn't bother the right treadle at all). I think I've solved the problem by screwing them all the way down, but I haven't spun on it much yet because I've been a bit distracted by....

The $3.62 project - my first Navajo spindle!

I bought the parts at Hobby Lobby - a dowel, a round-ish blank (we found it wasn't completely round when trying to center the hole :-/), and the glass beads with the flat bottoms (in the stained glass section, and in the wedding section).

Drilled a hole in the blank, super-glued the beads on the outside of the whorl, whittled rounded points on both ends, and put the whorl where I thought it should be and put a rubber band underneath it to keep it in place.

I found my favorite turned bowl (turned by DH :-D) to use to keep the tip in one spot:

And spun wool on it all day at the demo yesterday:

Even though I was spinning from around 9:30 til around 2:30-ish, I didn't get tired (from the spinning), and still have no discomfort from spinning for so long (granted, a lot of time was spent talking to passers-by). It was quite the attention-getter, which really surprised me as there were 5 spinners with wheels - one has a Kromski Minstrel which is quite lovely. But in thinking about it more, perhaps it was because with the big Navajo spindle, it's easier to follow the 'action'.

If someone has never seen spinning on a wheel before, it looks like magic (at least it did to me!) - the hands are moving quickly and the flyer is spinning and the drive wheel is spinning and the feet are treadling - everything is moving and it all goes so fast you can't tell what's happening. Even on a drop spindle it can be difficult to see what's going on if the spindler is even halfway proficient. Not so with a Navajo spindle. With the long draw they can easily see the twist go up the fiber, and there is very little distracting movement going on. I wasn't spinning in the traditional Navajo way; I used it like it's smaller supported-spindle cousins but with the long draw, as it's pretty difficult to do short-draw on the Navajo. It was fun, and my long draw is a tiny bit better now. :-)

And I've include this picture just because it turned out so cool. :-D

I have mostly nuthin'

2009-08-09T16:19:00.009-05:00

Same old, same old - always big plans and not much gets done.

I was going to do some Pinkie-spinning this weekend, but got a wild hair (and a sunburn - ow!) and decided I just had to paint it this weekend:

It needs another coat and the stain says I have to wait 48 hours, so it still looks pretty much like that. I also stained the treadles while I was at it. I'll be staining the flyer when I decide if I like the stain I used. :-) It has been quite a time suck for me, so I'm really glad I never got around to painting the Production. (And I still need to figure out how I'm going to paint the Pinkie's upright part that is behind the wheel without painting the wheel itself - wrap the wheel in newspaper strips I guess.)

I did some more spinning on the Production - I have a demo next Sunday and I want to get that bobbin filled and off so I can spin something I will actually be able to see (it won't be very bright in there). But the red stuff is spinning so fine that it is taking me a long time to spin just a little bit.

I did accomplish a little bit of weaving, but most of my time was spent trying out whip-stitching the edges while the work is in progress (a la "Weaving Made Easy"). I am a crappy whip-stitcher, I'm afraid. :-(

Oh well, since I still haven't decided what I'm going to use this for, I decided I could experiment with it some.

Oh I almost forgot - my first attempt at a orifice hook. :-D

And that's all I've got. The hanging tomato looks very scrawny, and I've caught birds pecking the cherry tomatoes. I also caught The Hound picking the cherry tomatoes off the plant - he loooves tomatoes! Strange (but lovable) dog! :-D

Another new toy!

2009-08-03T21:15:00.007-05:00

And another quickie post. :-)

When I had my Babe dealer order the Bulky Pinkie for me, I also had her order a spindle for the Production wheel. Since my Pedal Pusher has been relegated to plying, it's not my favorite wheel, it doesn't have the front support like the newer ones do, and you have to drill holes in the maiden upright - I decided to put the new spindle on the PP, just in case.

(Click on pictures to biggify.)

(And sorry about the lousy picture - I'll take a better one for the next post.)

I tried some alpaca that isn't very high quality; I think it's a carded batt:

Like BUTTAH.

Since there is very little left of this alpaca, I figured it would be good to practice on and give me time to do some stash-diving. :-) I might be able to use the spindle on the Bulky Pinkie too, but I haven't looked closely enough yet to be sure.

I posted quick instructions on how to install it on the new Babe Wheels group. :-D

And now for your almost-regular nature shot. I saw these from my bedroom window last Monday morning:

A hen turkey and her poults. :-D Boy was I surprised; and they stuck around for several pics (but then one of the dogs made a little too much noise).

A short announcement...

2009-07-23T16:57:00.011-05:00

I've started a Babe Spinning Wheels YahooGroup, and have put a link in the right side column of the blog. I'm hoping it will eventually be a place to find real-life information about Babe wheels - get advice, talk about what we spin, post photographs, likes and dislikes of particular models.

I realized there could be a need for this when I was looking for 'in the wild' pictures and information regarding the Babe Bulky Delta Production DT Delta Flyer, and then the Bulky Delta NW Flyer Double Treadle Pinkie. I've been wanting to try a delta orifice, and I thought I might want to do some bulky yarn someday. But except for contacting Nels, there wasn't very much out there on the Bulky Production, and NO information on the Bulky Pinkie (and surprisingly little on the regular Pinkie, for that matter).

So I had my Babe dealer order a Bulky Pinkie for me, and like every other Babe I love it (except for the way the treadles attach, they have a tendency to pop off if you don't have your feet just right). I chose the Pinkie instead of the big Bulky as I'm sure I won't be doing that much bulky, so the Pinkie is a better fit for me.

Though I can't get over that The Hound is bigger than the Pinkie! LOL

click to biggify

It also fits under my desk at work. :-D

It's a fully-functional wheel - I spun my usual probably-light-fingering weight (really ought to check that someday!) and what was likely a close-to-worsted weight with no problem. You should be able to spin laceweight pretty easily on it as well. I had absolutely no trouble with the delta orifice (didn't have to change my spinning style at all), and it also of course fits in the car really well.

Wow - this turned out to be longer than I meant it to be! I hope if you are interested in or have Babes you'll come join the new group! (where there is a more detailed review of the Bulky Pinkie) :-)

Another crafty weekend...

2009-07-19T13:04:00.008-05:00

And we actually have weaving content!!

I finally started weaving on the RH group's weave-along - doesn't it look great so far? I hated to stop, but I need to do a couple of things (like laundry) today.

Of course there was spinning - I got the Babe Production out and resumed working on the red colonial wool from The Fold; not much to see there that you haven't seen before.

I also washed the plied wool from last weekend - I'm pretty sure I over-plyed the gray stuff; hopefully it will be better after I re-wind it. (fingers crossed)

But my-oh-my look at this:

Looks pretty awesome in a skein! I liked it so much I started something else on the Tenor Spindolyn - black alpaca roving:

And I'm planning to spin a little bit on the Polonaise today, if I don't forget. If this keeps up, I might just make a dent in the spinning stash!

I also did a little knitting. This is the Turtleneck Capelet from SweaterBabe:

Least-helpful-photo EVER - but my cable is a bit too short to spread it out safely. I'll be switching cables soon. I'm expecting this will be done pretty quickly since I'm using super-bulky yarn, even though I may make it longer than the pattern calls for.

I made this a couple of weeks ago. It's a fast project (crocheted), but it turned out a bit large and it used far more yarn than I expected. It's a Lid Grabber Hat (found on Ravelry). I'll make it again, but I'll use sport-weight yarn instead next time.

I liked the colors (Gumdrop) of that yarn so much though (and I needed a cone of Baby Blue for the WAL above) that I ordered a cone from Elmore-Pisgah - where I also found this:

Interesting colors in the colorway (Sunflower), in a cabled sport-weight perle cotton. Neat-looking yarn, and I can't wait to try something with it (though I need to get a couple of other hundred projects done first! :-/) I also got a couple of cones of 'regular' sport-weight cotton. The colors weren't quite what I expected, but they may make an interesting combination when woven together.

I have no nature shots for you today; the hanging tomato still looks pretty sickly but it has (cherry) tomatoes on it. We're having some weird weather this summer so it will be interesting to see how the plants do.

Till next time!

Hallelujah!!!!!!!!

2009-07-12T11:27:00.015-05:00

The gray stuff is FINALLY finished!!!

(Except for washing - the weather hasn't been cooperative.) I'm getting pretty fast at Navajo-plying. :-D

And... I've also finished the Spunky Eclectic roving! Here it is on the Tenor Spindolyns ready for plying:

That is just shy of 4 oz. of roving.

And here is my Spindy plying set-up - it works great! (Sorry about the fuzzy picture, they were still swinging a bit.)

I didn't ply with them that close together - they were hanging probably 2.5 feet apart when I plied.

Here's a close-up of the swivel I used - I picked these up at WalMart (fishing section). It was the biggest size they had, since we're not anywhere close to the ocean, but they were just big enough. (Click to biggify.)

The only 'problem' I had with the setup was once the spindles were almost empty, they were no longer heavy enough to stay vertical. But it was a minor inconvenience right at the end of plying.

Plied on the Pedal Pusher, now that it's FINALLY free:

And on the niddy noddy - isn't that just the coolist yarn??

I couldn't decide which side I liked better, so I posted both! :-D

I'll have to skein it eventually, but for now I'm going to admire it on the niddy noddy. :-)

I did a bit of cotton-spinning on the Production too, but decided to experiment with it (some other time) and spin some on the Spindolyn and some on the Liten Spindel and then compare the three and see how much difference there is.

No tomato pics today; it still looks sad but has quite a few almost-ripe cherry tomatoes on it. And the Hound tried to pick one yesterday - he's very fond of tomatoes (weird dog!).

A warping we will go...

2009-06-21T15:09:00.020-05:00

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...

2009-06-16T06:51:00.005-05:00

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!!

2009-06-05T11:26:00.012-05:00

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

New toy!

2009-05-24T17:21:00.019-05:00

This is the newest model of Spindolyn - the Tenor.

I had to buy a new base, as she's changed the design a bit for both models - the spindles are now shorter and won't work in the older base. I also bought an extra spindle so I can 2-ply a lot easier.

Wow does this puppy spin for a long time! I'm really overtwisting this alpaca because of that, but I'm enjoying this new model a lot. I like the sleeve on the brass rod too - it is much easier to wind on now. I already loved how you could use a Spindy almost anywhere - I can even spin with the Hound on my lap - and I see no reason that this new model would be any different (though the short base emphasizes my need for more leg exercises :-/). You're supposed to be able to spin thicker yarn with this, but my hands aren't moving fast enough for the whorl speed so I'm still getting kind of fine yarn. Practice will help though - and I've been practicing. :-D

And - I can use the bag I bought for the older model for this one - it doesn't stick out like the other one did (in fact, I have to dig for it!).

Speaking of bags... one of my sisters found this awesome bag for the older Spindy - it's PERFECT!

Love the colors, and the space! My older Spindy is in there, plus a huge wad of fiber, PLUS my hand combs and a clamp. And that tiny pocket at the top is perfect for my diz. :-D She could be a shopping professional. I don't know how she finds stuff, but she does!

A friend and I were talking about inkle weaving, and she wanted to see my small one. I have two inkles - one DH made which kind of large for me, and a Wee Winnie from Small Looms in Action by Elizabeth Jensen (out of print; sorry!) that I made back when I used to have some spare time:

I have no idea what I started on there - it was too long ago. But I've been wanting to do some inkling (and some cardweaving) so I'll take that warp off once I decide what I'm making. Actually I need another mp3 player pouch for my second mp3 player to hang around my neck when I'm walking at work - but I need it NOW so I'll probalby dig up a bit of fleece fabric and stitch a quickie bag, assuming I can find my fleece. :-/

DH & I made a heddle holder today, but it's not prettied up yet so no pics (plus I haven't tried it yet - hopefully tonight).

Your parting yard-and-garden shot:
Wow is that tomato doing well so far! I'm pretty pleased. So is my helper - he likes tomatoes. :-/

I've also discovered some nifty gardening tools. I've had a Black & Decker cordless weedwhacker for a few years, and while it works wonderfully (and runs out of a charge before I overdo the weedwhacking), my hands are not big enough to press the buttons on either side of the battery pack to get it off the unit. B&D now has a new version with a much-easier-to-deal-with battery - plus this battery fits in several other tools. I had DH stop at Home Depot and pick up the cultivator too - it works really well if your soil is aready somewhat loose, so maybe I will be able to keep up with the weeds somewhat this year (this is not a tiller, it will not turn over compacted soil). And, I should be able to work more amendments into the soil over the summer, instead of having to deal with gas and oil and the really unwieldly monster tiller we have (which I don't, so stuff doesn't get done). The added benefit - it may get me out in the garden more. Tonight while testing it out I discovered a black snake that had gotten caught and wrapped up in some bird netting that wasn't where it was supposed to be. Between DH & I we were able to cut the poor thing free and he should be fine (though he sure wasn't happy with us while we were cutting him free!). :-D

There is also a chainsaw and a pole pruner in the collection - the pole pruner is on it's way from Amazon as we speak. :-D I need to do some light tree-trimming at my parents' house and this will be perfect! Eventually I'll get the chainsaw too, as DH got rid of my electric chainsaw some time back and I miss it. If you are interested, check your local home improvement stores for Black & Decker 18V cordless items - there are maybe 8 or more garden tools, plus the same battery fits on one of their tool lines as well.

I forgot to mention yesterday...

2009-05-11T10:27:00.006-05:00

that the rigid-heddle-weavers Yahoo group is going to be doing a weave-along soon. It will be an easy-enough-for-a-beginner pattern, and you get to choose what you make with your fabric.

There is a current poll ongoing as to the start date - so far it looks like it will start in early June. Sign up soon-ish if you're interested! :-)

I actually finished something!

2009-05-10T13:02:00.013-05:00

hough I did finally get my first broken warp thread (sorry about the lousy picture).

Lucky for me the broken warp thread was at the very end of the warp, so I didn't have to fix it. :-)

This fringe isn't going to survive the wash, so I'll have to do twisted fringe

Here it is finished, though unwashed:

I like this a lot, and will keep this pattern with my favorites. :-) This is the Tweed So Fine scarf from Weaving Made Easy.

And that's about it for crafty stuff - I'm thinking of getting the Polonaise out and spinning a bit since it appears DH isn't going to take me to "Star Trek" today like he said. :-(

This year we're trying something new - the upside-down tomato-growing 'bag'.

I just planted this yesterday, so the jury is still out. It was a bit tricky getting the plant in there though because it was already a bit big for transplanting into the bag.

And your pic o'nature for today - the view from my computer room window:

The bridal wreath shrub is really going to town this year!

A lot of spinning photos, and no weaving

2009-04-25T11:20:00.011-05:00

(Most of the photos in this post can be biggified by clicking on them.)

But first, why I love the guest/craft room in the Spring:

Both the crabapple and the viburnum are blooming like crazy, and the viburnum has the most heavenly scent. So trying to get the room cleaned up and sorted out so one can walk in there isn't such a terrible chore. :-D

That which "cannot" be spun on a Babe:

There's not much on there yet because I ran out of time, and it's not frog hair, but I don't want super fine yarn.

Here is my first skein of three different types of prepared cotton - boy is there a difference!

The outside yarn on the niddy noddy was the last spun, and it was from a puni so it's much more even. From inside to outside - ginned cotton (prepared with a bow); spun from the seed (that was fun!), and spun from self-prepared punis. Ginned and spun-from-seed cotton will be bumpy.

This was the most fun, but it had the least amount of cotton:

We blended a bit of cotton with different colors of polyester - I really like how mine came out. I've never done color-blending before.

More varieties of cotton:

(L-R: Candlelite (Spindolyn); Fox Fibre (Babe); recycled denim (Babe)(all from sliver))

The Fox Fibre was really interesting - the sliver in the middle of the 'red' is what it looks like before boiling. The green, when unboiled, didn't really look green either (though it looks more green than it does in that photo). I did learn I can't ply for nothing from a cotton center-pull ball onto a Spindolyn. :-( That yarn looked much better before I tried to ply it.

A handy thing to have for a spinning workshop is a mini niddy noddy:

(mini niddy noddy, nøstepinde, Spindolyn, lazy kate)

The samples we got at the workshop didn't make a whole lot of yarn, so the 2-yard niddy noddy wasn't very useful. So I made a 1-yard for the second day, and yesterday I made this one that is just barely longer than the width of my hand. The mini is pretty fun to use with these small skeins.

I'll leave you with a photo of one of the lilacs on the other side of the house. I tried to catch a photo of the butterflies that were feeding, but they were too quick for me.

For spinning teachers, and a loom rant...

2009-04-20T12:01:00.020-05:00

Well, ok - they are both rants.

Dear Spinning Teacher:

When I walk into a spinning workshop with a Babe spinning wheel, please wait until we've done some spinning or ask me about it - and try very hard not to be dismissive - before you dis my wheel. You don't know me or how long I've been spinning or what I've spun on which wheel. Dissing my wheel when I first walk in makes for an unhappy workshop attendee. And you basically told me that you weren't going to help me, because I have a Babe and one time someone else had a Babe and they had an awful time in your workshop. Huh?

And since you didn't ask -

YES, I can spin fine yarn on my Babe Production wheel.

NO, my Babe doesn't wobble hither and yon nor threaten to fall apart - my Babe is a sturdy, versatile spinning wheel.

No, a Babe Production wheel is not the optimum wheel for fine/super-fine spinning, but that doesn't mean it can't be done. Address difficulties with spinning this stuff using Irish tension (Babe is only one manufacturer) along with Scotch tension spinning difficulties - adjustments have to made for both types of wheels.

I've done 99% of my spinning over the years on my Production wheel, and it has always done what I've asked of it, thankyouverymuch. I noticed that the expensive wheels didn't make spinning this stuff easier for everyone; several people with more-expensive wheels had much more trouble than I did. And I ended up with yarn comparable to the other students' when the workshop was over.

Pretty is as pretty does.

If I had thought of it (and wasn't so darned stubborn), I would've asked for my money back right then and there and LEFT - because you set a negative tone for me right off. And I won't be taking a workshop from you again because of this, even though you otherwise seemed to be quite nice. And I have difficulty keeping my mouth shut when I spend good money only to be dissed before even starting.

And you know what? I also like and use plastic knitting machines (gasp!) on occasion, and even acrylic yarn. The HORROR!

Cutting down other people's choices, just because you don't like them, isn't a good business model.

And now for your sort-of Urban-Legendy Loom Rant:

Those who keep saying Kromski Harps' ratchets & pawls don't hold - I've never had a problem with mine except for when I didn't make sure they were secure first (which I also do on the Flip - so it's not a Harp problem). Some of the early Harps did have that problem, which the Kromskis fixed as soon as they were made aware of the problem (and if you are still having a problem, contact the Kromskis - they will be glad to help you!). I keep seeing this repeated and repeated, but it's been a few years since the Kromskis fixed this problem. So those who are trying to decide between a Harp and a Flip - this should NOT be a deciding factor.

/loom rant

And now, back to your regularly-scheduled broadcast. I should have a new 'normal' post for you this weekend! :-D

Whew!

2009-04-12T20:55:00.003-05:00

I did some more finishing this week:

Jane to the rescue ("Plain Jane" or Jayne from Firefly - you choose!)! The fancy sewing machine just couldn't handle the thickness even though I had used carpet warp on the hems, so I used the faithful treadle. No problem for Ja(y)ne - I love those old machines! :-D

The finished dishcloths:

These turned out much better than the blue ones I did back in June 2007 in my opinion. They are a bit larger too, but not too much so.

And I tried to take a better picture of the shirt - plus I added a bow to the front (I think you can click to biggify):

I tried fiddling with the picture to get rid of the distracting background and sharpen the texture's relief. The shirt is not quite that bright in real life, but I think the texture shows a bit more now.

I did a few more inches on the scarf; I'm using my homemade temples as the sides of the scarf keep wanting to curl under a bit making a good selvedge difficult. Because I'm using acrylic I can't tighten down the warp enough to fix it that way. And I can't tell if I need to tighten the side warp threads or loosen them - I've not had a warp behave quite like this before. The center threads are all bunched together - perhaps an effect of not using the heddle to 'beat'? I'll try doing another section with the heddle as beater instead of the shuttle and see what happens.

This weekend I spent a good part of my time looking for one of my weaving booklets - I cannot find it anywhere. :-/ I even took everything off my craft bookcase (and of course not everything would fit back on!) looking for it, but no dice. Luckily I had made a photocopy of most of it since it's an older pamphlet not in the best of shape, but I sure wish I could find the original. I did discover that I have a surprising number of weaving books/pamphets/printed stuff from the internet. And an even more surprising number of knit and crochet books - I see a major weeding-out in my future.

There may not be a blog post next weekend - I get to go to a cotton spinning workshop on Saturday and Sunday! It's quite rare to have any spinning workshops here, so even though I'm not all that interested in spinning cotton I'm going. :-D

FINISHED!

2009-04-05T15:52:00.007-05:00

It was way past time to cut the fabric for the shirt, so I finally bit the bullet and did it:

And I did the sewing after managing to avoid it for most of Saturday:

I'm not crazy about the couching down the center - I had trouble doing it evenly, but if you don't look too closely it looks ok.

I didn't add the called-for braid around the neck, though I'm thinking of adding something at the bottom of the "V" but haven't decided what yet. Since I have a few more curves than the models in the photo (A Handwoven Treasury, Interweave Press), it doesn't lay quite as nicely on me and barely fits even though I increased the warp width. I do like it though, and if I lose a little bit of weight, which is on the list of 'things to do this year', it will look nicer. It's also a great look for a serape, using a heavier yarn.

I put another warp on the Harp while I was avoiding cutting and sewing the shirt:

This is the "Tweed So Fine" scarf pattern in Weaving Made Easy by Liz Gipson, and I'm using a shiny slubby acrylic yarn (that is actually taupe in color, not charcoal sigh). The heddle is abrading the slubby spots, so I'm going to stop using the heddle to line up the fell and just use the shuttle. And since it's acrylic, the warp tension is not as high as usual. Since I want this to be drapey, I'm not beating it at all - just pushing the picks in place. This will be a really quick project, judging by how fast it's gone so far.

And I started weaving this on the Flip last weekend:

This is the Brooks Bouquet place mat from the (revised) Ashford Book of Rigid Heddle Weaving. The pattern is not difficult at all, and I love the yarn (#8 perle cotton); it has a beautiful sheen to it.

I also started weaving this on the cradle loom (forgive the mess under the weaving!):

It's a sampler strip from a 70s book called Everybody's Weaving. I'm using LusterSheen that I had in the stash - what a nice yarn to weave with! I've only done 3 different patterns so far; I like that this is a narrow project as it goes faster. :-)

Wow - it looks like I've actually been doing stuff!