Spinning my Wheels!

There are some days and even weeks where it seems that all is conspiring to keep me from the looms,  today was one of those.  I had just finished posting on my own blog, (farmstead studio), when I got a call from Dear One, he needed me to go get a master cylinder and brake fluid for the Rav4, and have it on hand so that when our friend came to pick up the car, the parts would be ready, Oh, and can I mail that certified letter?

I was pleased to be able to lend a hand, and I planned to do my errands in a little while anyway, I would tag his errands to mine, right after I posted here.  I soon got a call from our friend who was helping us move cars around, he wanted to know if I was home and could he pick up the car right then.  I told him that I didn't have the parts, but I would take the other car and get the parts, then take them to where the car was going to be worked on, where I would  meet him and bring him back to our house to pick up his car.  Simple enough right!

The trouble is nobody had the part I needed, but O'Reilly's could have it in the store by 1:30pm.  I ordered it and paid for it just in case I was not the lucky one to pick it up.  I took the brake fluid and the receipt for the master cylinder with me and luckily enough our friend has offered to pick up the part and deliver it for me, yay!

It took me so long to track down the parts, that I wasn't able to do my errands and had to go back out to mail the certified letter and to stop by my daughter's house to check on the spinning wheel she is borrowing from me, it isn't working right.  I ended up bringing the wheel home to work on, I am hoping that it just needs oil.  (I may try to get some plying done while it is here, it has such nice big bobbins!)

After I mailed the letter, I checked my emails, and found out that my great Nephew had had his tonsils out the day before and was having a hard time.  I swung by Micky-Ds and picked up a sweet tea for me and a Sundae to take to him, he is only 3 years old, bless him.  When I got to their house however, they were taking a nap, and there I stood with a melting sundae in my hands!  What would you have done?  Yep, I had a very unusual lunch!

That is how today, (and most of the week) has gone.  I wonder why I feel that, if I can't have a whole day dedicated to the studio, then the day is shot and I may as well not even go up there!   I know that it is totally and unbelievably wrong, but I am a bit wired like that.

I am back home again, and in for the rest of the day I hope, and it is 3:30pm.  I am going to get this post up, and then look at the spinning wheel to see if I can get it going, and then either start on some finishing work or go weave.

One thing I have been able to do this week, is to make some headway on that teal shawl I have been making.  The gray one has already been delivered and loved, so I am hoping to get the teal one done and delivered by next Tuesday.

I have made it past the time consuming border and am happily speeding thru the body of the shawl.  I love this color!


Also, an unexpected, but much needed find!  My daughter's in law's were over at her house the other day and saw the e-spinner she had borrowed, they mentioned that they had an electric spinner, and would she be interested in it, she of course said yes.

They brought it over the next week, and she sent me a picture.  She said that she wasn't sure what it was.  I knew immediately that it was an electric bobbin/pirn/spool winder!

I have been looking for one of those for it seems like ages.  I have fiddled with Lou Ann's for ages trying to get it to work, then I borrowed something from the Center that did not work either!

This one is perfect, it runs like a dream, smooth as silk, and very fast!  It is totally adjustable so that I can wind all my bobbins, pirns, spools and even load extra yarn back onto the tubes it came on!    I wonder if the leclerc tensioning attatchment to their winder would work on this one too!

I will be returning Lou Ann's device, and the Centers bobbin winder this week.  Yeah, extra stuff out of the studio!

 You can see the wicked looking pieces that fit on the left side and right side of whatever I am winding, I have a pirn on there in these last 2 pictures.  This is what gives the whole thing stability, nothing can come loose and get all wobbly.

Crazy days, and that lots I should be doing and not much of it getting done, at least not the weaving part.  Maybe today I will fight against my doubting self and go do a little weaving.

Until next time, Happy Weaving, Spinning, and Knitting, Tina

It's True

Okay, true confessions, I have gotten quite a few things done this week, some of which was weaving the Swedish Lace napkins and towels that  I blogged about already on farmsteadstudio.  I also had this morning, and early afternoon full of errands, and I just got in the door.  My first thought was that I needed to get up in the studio and weave one of the bread cloths to show everyone!  I try not to do that, you know, do something to blog about, I try to be real, the real me. With that in mind, I decided to post a neat little fix I did to the electric winder I have on loan from Lou Ann.  But first a photo of the bread cloth warp ready to go!

I have been using this winder off and on for awhile, I have even posted about it.  It is truly a wild and crazy contraption, that needed to be tamed! It took a lot of thinking, researching different winders, and a few trips to the hardware stores to pick their brains, and this is what I came up with.  It is not totally finished, but you get the idea.

My little contraption tames that pirn so that I can load it evenly and very quickly, so quickly that I had to start using the tension box to guide the yarn!

Now, a close up of my high tech tensioning device.
The stick under the L bracket puts the little rubber thingy at just the right height to support the end of the pirn.  The rubber  band allows me to move the bracket slightly to load or unload a pirn.  There is a clamp holding the stick in place and firm.  The hardest part was figuring out a way to let the rubber thingy spin with the pirn.  If I used a small nut and bolt, it would tighten so much as it rotated that it would finally stop, and that is not good.  I finally found the shortest metal screw I could find, added washers and a cap nut instead of the regular nut.  That left just enough wiggle room to get the job done.

I had some carpet warp on a shuttle, and used that to spread the warp and check the threading.  It all looks good!

While I was finishing the threading, it dawned on me that I was going to be using a counterbalance loom this time instead of the jack loom I used last time.  I thought wow, you almost made a  silly mistake, then I thought, hold on, I think I used the wrong tie up on the jack loom!  Sure enough, when I check the draft, I had!  So all those lovely  napkins I gave as presents were upside down!  They were beautiful just the same!

Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina
(If I do get a bread cloth woven today, I will post a pic.)