A whole lot going on!

There has been a whole lot of shifting going on at my house this week!  Things coming and things going.  For starters, I had decided that the light weight  loom in the hallway upstairs had to go!  We were having some people over, and I really wanted to put the laundry racks up there instead of in the family room.  The loom was being way under-utilized at my house, with the 6 other looms in residence, and I just knew that there was a weaver at the center that could put her to work!

She is a sweet little loom that needs a little bit of repair, though not much, just a few things I hadn't gotten around to.  I mentioned it at lunch on Tuesday, and Miss Ila chimed up that she would take it and use it for scarves!  We settled that I would load the loom up in the pick-up that very afternoon, and meet them ( daughter Ladonna too!)  at Miss Ila's house to unload.

 About the time I got home the skies opened up, and I phoned to say that I thought it might not be a good idea to try it today.  They agreed, and we left it at that.  About an hour later, the skies were clear, and I had the loom disassembled, and even though I couldn't get anyone on the phone I took my chances.  I got to the house and nobody was there, but I put the loom on the covered back porch, and headed home just as it started to sprinkle again!  (I still haven't talked to them, I bet they think I am crazy, but I am just a girl on a mission!)

I also mentioned at the Center on Tuesday that I was thinking about selling my Ashford Traditional, with a few extra bobbins and a lazy kate.  Ladonna said that she had been wanting to purchase a wheel for plying weaving yarns together, but she just couldn't justify the expense.  So in 2 weeks I will be taking the wheel to the center for Ladonna to try out for awhile to see if it does what she wants it to.  I she likes it she will purchase it and if not it will come back home to me, and I could either post it on Craigslist or keep it as a student wheel.

I have also put my Quill wheel for sale on Craigslist and on the spinners marketplace on Ravelry  It is a sweet little wheel, but with the 2 great wheels, I don't really need it!  It is fun to spin on, and you can spin using either your right or left hand to draw out the fibers, quite versatile really!




You might be asking yourself, "Why all the wheeling and dealing?"  Well, it is quite simple really, besides the downsizing of unused items, there is also the upgrading of a certain item.  I had been scanning the spinning forums on Ravelry, looking for a wheel more suited to the kind of spinning that I do.  I spin fairly fine singles and ply 2 or 3 of them together for the thickness I need.  The Traditional is okay for this, just a little slow, and it had developed a small clunk with each rotation.  I had tried the double treadle kit, which is supposed to fix that, but that didn't really fit my model for whatever reason, and it did not fix the problem!  (I will also be selling that Ashford double treadle kit, as soon as I replace some of the parts, like the footman connectors and the pin for the axle/hub connection.)

I was also keeping an eye on Craigslist, to see what was available within driving distance.  I found an Ashford Joy near Ashville, but that was sold by the time I contacted the seller.  Then, there was a Kromski Minstrel in Ashville for an unbelievable price!  I thought about it and decided to go to the boards on Ravelry and investigate this wheel.  Lo and behold, it popped up on the boards with comments like, "I can't believe nobody has pick up this wheel!"

I thought a few minutes, and I responded to the ad by email, to see if it was still available.  "Yes" came the reply, call Caryl at ________!  I thought about it again, for a few minutes, then I called.  The wheel once belonged to Arlene Armstrong,  and she used it during reenactment activities in a local fort.  She had died and left the wheel to her best friend, who had than passed it on to Caryl.

Caryl decided to sell the wheel when a medical need arouse in her local fiber community, and I am the lucky one who gets to contribute to the cause and take the wheel home!  We set up to meet at the Cracker barrel just west of Asheville.  I told her I would arrive about 11:00am, and that I would call her when I got there.

It was a beautiful day for a drive, and I roped Lou Ann into going with me.  We pulled up at the Cracker Barrel at 11:10, and I was just getting ready to call Caryl, when Lou Ann says, "I believe that is her right there!"

Sure enough, there was a car with a spinning wheel beside it!    You don't see that very often!  We pulled up and we had the meet and greet,  I placed the wheel close to my back seat so that I could try her out.    MMMMMMM! She spins like a dream!  Whisper quiet, multiple speeds at my fingertips, I am in love!  Lena (Arlene) was coming home with me!

We quickly took care of business, cause they had to go take Luna the standard poodle for a walk, and Lou Ann and I had to go sample some Cracker Barrel Breakfast for lunch!

We had planned to go to the Earth Guild before heading home, but there was a huge fair in town, so we decided that we would just have to come back another day to visit the shop, when downtown Asheville would be quieter.  We did not feel like fighting traffic and Crowds!



When we got back in town, I dropped Lou Ann at her house and headed home.  I have set Lena up in the family room, (no laundry now to clutter up the space! )  I began by oiling everything that should be oiled regularly, since I don't really know how long it has been since she was used.  Then I started spinning, and made my way through the various speeds, putting her through her paces so to speak.  I need to make a small adjustment to the drive band so that I can use the fastest speed, but other than that she is great.  There are a couple of things missing, like the orifice hook and the scotch tension set up, but that can easily be replaced.

 She is a beautiful wheel, and I think we have a long relationship ahead of us, demonstrating, teaching, and just plain spinning miles of yarn!

I had to stop spinning to post this before chores and dinner, so I only got about 5 rolags spun, but it was quite the experience.  This wheel can spin the flyer so much faster that the Ashford Traditional, that I could almost load the yarn on as soon as I had drafted out a length!   With the traditional, I would have to hold the length out there and treadle a bunch to make enough twist to hold the yarn together.  (I am sure that with a lace flyer the Traditional would have been much faster, but with the clunk noise, I chose to not upgrade.)

It will probably be tomorrow evening before I get a chance to spin anymore, I can hardly wait!

Until next time, Happy Weaving and Spinning, Tina
                                                           

Happy Campers?

 I didn't make it to Weaving on Tuesday.  I was busy getting ready to introduce my daughter and her family to camping, and there is a lot of prep work involved!  Well truthfully, the kids have camped with us, and her husband has been camping before, but not daughter #1.

We arrived at Elkmont campground early Wednesday afternoon, and had our camp set up, just in time to help them with their's when they arrived.  I only took a couple of photos of our trip, and they really do not tell the whole story!

 We had a wonderful time, hiking, biking and playing in the water.  It is just that every night around dinner time, the sky opened up with a deluge!

The first night we had just finished dinner when it started, so we nixed the campfire, and smores and we all went to bed a little early.

The second night, the rain started just a little earlier, and was finished soon after we had eaten.  We coaxed a fire out of a soggy fire pit, and we were able to enjoy those smores, and then something called funky fire.  You put it in the flames after you have finished with the smores, and they make all sorts of unusual colored flames.  Then we pulled out the glow sticks and watched the kids dance all over the campsite!

The next morning the kids took off for home, and Dear One and I stayed one more night.  Once again, it poured during dinner, and then tapered off.  I am glad I make sure I have options for meals.  What I had planned would not have worked with all that rain, so we went with plan B.

We are now back home, and everything is almost put away.   Sure it is true, those pictures don't say it all, or do they!  They do tell you that that family is a bunch of troopers!  Settled in around a roaring campfire, in the rain!

Until next time, Happy Weaving and Spinning, Tina

Daryl and Dust Bunnies!

Last month while Carol was in Canada, she got the call that they wanted her to pick up Daryl Lancaster at the airport when she flies in for the Southeast Fiber Forum.  Of course she said yes!  She then promptly emailed all of us about having lunch together, before they hurried off to the Forum.  There were only 4 of us that could make it.

Here we are just after the plates arrived.  It is almost exactly the same photo from yesterday, just taken with a different camera.

The conversation went from one end of the spectrum to the other.  My favorite part was when Linda asked Daryl how many looms she had.  Daryl started in, " Let's see I have the 4 Tools of the Trade floor looms, and one that is a table loom.  Then there are all the table looms for the classes I do, then I have this many inkle looms,.......actually" she said finally, "I don't really know how many looms I have."  ( think she wins!)

After a wonderful lunch and a fond farewell, I had a quick trip with the other 3 girls to an antique dealer that just happened to be on the way home.  I had been there earlier in the day while I was waiting for them to come to the rondevouz.  I had seen a Great Wheel in the back room and just had to have another look.  They all agreed she was beautiful!

Back home again, I decided to tackle the 100 yd white warp that  has a real mess in the middle.  I have anchored both ends on each side of the tangle so that it won't travel any more.  One end on the rocking chair so that I can seperate them as the tangle gets worked free.   The other end is on the Glimakra. 

 

What a mess!  If I ever do get it worked out, this warp will have a big red ribbon on it to remind me to use it at my own risk.  I have considered just cutting it off, but the tangle is, of course in the middle, and I would be wasting so much yarn!  If I can figure out a way to use the the part without a cross I just might do it. 

The part that is on  the cross side is only about a 20 yds. so that means that the bulk of it is on the part that wouldn't have a cross.  Hmm, I will be thinking about that.  Any ideas?

Somehow the neat and tidy parts are so restful , almost cool to the touch.  The tangles however, are angry and resist my gentle loosening of their knots.  I work on a section in the middle of the mess, and as it loosens it goes slack, and I see the next knot easily because it rises to the top.  When the mess is almost to the floor, I scoot the chair over a bit to raise it up again.  When the chair is over as far as I can scoot it, I begin to work closer to the chained end.  As each section calms down and falls into place I will add it to the chain, and start all over again.

If I need to I can easily put it all away in the tub, chain on the bottom, mess in the middle on a piece of cardboard and the rest of the warp in it's bag sits on top.  You should have seen the dust bunnies I vacuumed up this morning from it.  It was almost bunny sized!

That is all for now, I will be up in the studio this afternoon, my goal for today is to finish the second Baby Blanket in Sage that  I started on Wednesday, using the Kings Flower pattern,  and maybe start the third blanket in the same color, but  switch over to the other loom that has the Cat Tracks and Snail Trails pattern.  Once I have done 2 of each pattern in Sage, I believe I will do it again, but use one of the yellows that I have.  I have got to get some inventory!

Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina

What is keeping me busy!

This last week has been quite busy.  I have skeined off a lot of the cotton warp to pretreat it with salt water. all of the reds, coppers and several of the blues are done.  I have them hanging to dry in the bathtub.  I had some trouble with the copper still needing extra rinsing til the water ran clear.  It makes me want to rinse the others just to make sure that I didn't miss it in my hast to get them dry.

I also finished the Tulip Baby Blanket that I had already listed on the Etsy shop, and got it ready to ship when it sells.(Whew! I won't do that again!)  I also finished the Aqua Green Baby Blanket, and the two toned expirement you can see in one of the pictures posted last Tuesday, and below.  I was telling the girls that I liked part of the blanket but not others.  I like where I used two strands of the different colors, but I don't like the color progression throughout the blanket.  The colors are not as close as they appeared to be at first.  Plus I did not do a good job getting the sections the same size.   I think you can enlarge the picture to see what I mean.

Two toned blanket left and one color Aqua green right.


The Blanket to the right is one of the items we are sending to the Foothills craft guild so that the Tuesday Weavers can jury in.  We would like to participate as a group in there show this year.  Once I get it back it will go up in my shop.

I have also been plugging away this week on my Husbands sweater.  This is my third try to make him one.   The first one was beautiful, but way too big, so we just gave it to a friend.  The second try I used my handspun, and the sweater turned out too small. (It almost fit me!)    I am hoping that the third time it will be just right.  I am trying my best to follow directions!  I have the sleeves done and I have just finished the back and have started the fronts.  I hope to finish before the weather really warms up.

Along with all of that I have been learning about how to make my online shop attractive, informative and how to get people to look at my pieces.   There is a  Sellers Handbook section, that is really informative.  I have worked thru several articles, from the how to present your items, to how to invoice and ship your item.  

My daughter, Graphic designer, made a banner for me to put up across the top.  It really looks good!  I am using it as a banner on my blog too!  My other daughter is helping with the photos.  It is coming together and it really is fun!


Next week it will be back to weaving Baby Blankets for the shop, and then a few as gifts.  I also have a few crazy ideas floating around in my brain that involves a fleece that I partially felted last year,(by accident) and cotton warp.  It may be awhile before I can have anything to show for it, but I will be working on that too.

Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina