I'm Back!

  It has been an interesting learning curve.  There's nothing quite like getting up one morning and finding that your computer no longer wants to load Windows or go online.  Thank heavens for my Tech guy who now works out of his home, and could take my computer right away.  But, it was Saturday before I got my little red baby back, and other than my bookmarks, I didn't lose any data.

  I went on to the Museum of Appalachia on Friday.  Although it was gray and damp, a school group of fifth graders were making their way around the grounds.  Since it is getting too cold to weave in the Loom House, and I was getting near the end of that rug warp, I decided it was a good time to get the loom ready for the season.  They watched me finish off the rug that was on the loom, and I wove in two sticks to tie back to the front bar.  (You can just imagine their questions when they saw me lay in the sticks!!!)  But, I didn't want to have a nekkid loom on display for the winter!  I had some scrap material to weave back on the loom.  So, she is standing on display for the winter.

  I have warped the Inkle loom to weave on in the Peter's Cabin (next to the fireplace) for the next few visits.  Tina is going with me tomorrow--there will be 150 third graders visiting.  Tina will be spinning and I'll be weaving....could life be any better?
  I want to get my little slotted rigid heddle set up for this winter.  I need to rig up a backstrap belt and thread the warp through the hand tag.  I haven't done any pick up weaving before, so this will be a new experience for me.

  I will also be weaving in the Peter's Cabin this Sunday.  The Museum is having a full day of fun, along with a "bountiful Southern Feast."  I hope there are some musicians in the cabin with me!  There should be some interesting visitors, don't you think?

  For today, I need to finish getting the boxes for my brothers ready to mail.  Besides their treats from the Apple Barn that I picked up last week, I have a few homemade goodies to pack.  I would really like to get those in the mail soon!

I hope your holiday list is getting shorter...I'm working on mine.  Maybe I'll even get to one of my looms soon!

Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

 

 

Where's That Wing Nut????

Hey Marie......do you know what happened to the wing nut from Betsy's loom?

Inquiring minds want to know.

It's not in Christy's tote bag.......


(Just to be honest, this picture was taken first thing this morning....before the wing nut mystery.)

Hey look!  Christy matches Ms. Ila's warp!

Christy was trying to decide how she was going to weave this scarf....I believe she decided that a twill would work nicely.

 

 



  Meanwhile, Carl got busy cutting his panel of joined blue jean legs into strips for his next rug.  Pat is on the other end--her job is to keep the panel moving.

Then it's time to tag team Ann's rocker loom!

Julia, Marie and Pat got on one side to hold the warp threads, and Ann winds on the warp and place the sticks between the layers.


  But, they weren't through just yet........

......it's time to wind on the warp for Tina's loom.




*****It was about this time that Betsy found a bolt on the floor by her loom.  But, where does that bolt belong????

  Karin and Teresa were weaving away on their projects.  They weren't worried about any bolts...or wing nuts.

This is the view from the front of Karin's loom.  Don't you just love this!!!










Linda was back with us today, and got right to work on the placemat warp. 

And, Linda stayed busy with her blue jean rug.....or, at least until she had some problem with her treadles.  (No, it wasn't a bolt OR a wing nut.)     
  YES, she did get under her loom....and, YES, I got a picture.  But I get a lot of flack when I post those pictures.

But, I DID get this shot of Tina fixing Linda's treadle!!!!
   Just not from the other side!



Is there a wing nut under there????
Is she missing a bolt?

   Finally, the mystery was solved. 
Marie had found a wing nut on the floor, and not finding where it had come from, used it on her beater bar.  When Betsy found the bolt on the floor this week, we found where it had come from the side of her loom.....it just needed a wing nut......the one that Marie had found a couple of weeks ago and put to good use.

  And, with all this great drama going on, our new student, Bonnie was just weaving away.  In fact, she cut off her first warp today!  Congratulations!!!!!

It's always a great time........
Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

2 out of 3 ain't bad!!

 

I've been weaving placemats this past week. Somehow I don't have as much time to weave as I'd like but I have woven 19 of them and hope to finish the warp in the next day or two. I think there are about 4 more left on the warp. These placemats are so simple. The interest is in the way it's threaded through the reed. Otherwise, it's just plain weave with hemstitching at each end. They make great wedding gifts. I know we're going to be invited to a couple of wedding this next year and I need to get the placemats done before I'm in a huge rush so this time of year is great for that. They are kind of boring to do but fairly quick so fairly easy to do!

 I'd also planned to begin weaving the handtowel warp I put on the loom months ago, probably in spring! It's been sitting there, silently waiting, patiently, while I wove production. So yesterday a friend was talking about the Christmas party we're going to later this month. We do this white elephant gift exchange. You know, there are funky gifts, but once in awhile you need something good so when I can, I give away a handtowel. She was really hoping I'd have one this year...kind of hinted loudly that it would be nice. In a white elephant exchange, it's ok to "steal" a gift someone else got that you like. I think it can be "stolen" 3 times and then whoever gets it that last time gets to keep it. I know she's hoping I"ll get these off the loom, washed, finished and one gift wrapped for the party.

 I like weaving waffle weave. You can tie up the treadles so that you just walk up and down the row, watching the pattern develop as you go. Of course, washing them makes them nice and fluffy.

The colors are kind of muted but would look nice in a kitchen!

 

So, the third project? That other placemat warp on the other Nilus. It's wound on but not threaded. That'll be the next project once I get the handtowels off the loom. By next week it needs to be threaded so I can just sit down and weave some of them when I have time. I'm not doing production for awhile so weaving things like placemats and handtowels hit the spot!

 

Today, here in Knoxville, it's a rainy, yucky kind of day. We're thrilled that we're below the snow and ice line so it's just an inconvenience to be sure to drive carefully on the wet roads. Otherwise, it's a great day to stay in and get some weaving time in. Or, maybe I need a break soon and spend some time with a cup of hot chocolate and a book?? nap anyone?

Until next week, keep weaving!!

Carol

Antiquing

(I am posting for Lou Ann today, cause her computer is sick, so she will probably post tomorrow.)

I recently got back into the country from a long assignment overseas.  It was a mentally and physically taxing assignment, and I am really thankful to have made it home before Thanksgiving.  :)
Since I have been home, and recovering from it all, I have been doing little things that make me happy.  Like sleeping, and eating my favorite foods, and taking more showers and baths than I thought possible!  I haven't made it upstairs to the weaving studio yet, but I have done a little spinning on my Kromski Minstrel.

Lou Ann and I decided that since she needed to go up to the Apple Barn in Pigeon Forge to make purchases for an upcoming holiday, we would make a day of it!  We thought that we could fit in a trip to the Smoky Mountain Spinnery (more about that in future posts) and several antique stores in the area.

On one of our stops, we found several spinning wheels of a particular type, that I has long been on my short list of the wheels I one day want to have in my herd.  the Canadian Production Wheel, or CPW for short.  I even got to try spinning on a couple of the wheels, and before you know it, one of them came home with me!

 

I am so pleased with her, she is a stamped Frederic Bordua, made sometime between 1880 and the early 1900's.  These wheels were made to produce yarn for weavers.  They to it thin and they do it fast!  Last night I was able to do a small sample skein of some shetland I had close by. I am envisioning some lacy woven shawls made with miles of this yarn!  This wheel is really fun to spin on once she warms up, she has after all, been sitting idle for a very long time!

One of her quirks it that her maidens that hold the flyer, are not the same!  Finally, here is a shot of her nestled in at home, before I even dusted her off.  That drive wheel dwarfs the Kromski Minstrel beside it! 

My short list of the wheels I would like to own is getting very short indeed!  I am in negotiations with a fellow spinner to purchase her antique double flyer wheel, it might make it here before that upcoming Holiday.  So, all that leaves on my short list it an itty bitty antique wheel that I can take apart and fit in a bag to take to the Museum of Appalachia this Spring.   I will have to keep my eyes open!

Until next time, Happy Spinning and Weaving, Tina

Happy Birthday, Carl!!!

  It was our great pleasure today to wish a very happy birthday to one of our favorite people:  Carl!!!! 
  We would be lost without his calm presence, sage weaving advice and wonderful sense of humor.

And, in his honor, we decided that a potluck lunch was in order!




Maggie and Ms. Ila baked cakes.

And, needless to say, there were other desserts, too!









You can see the counter was crowded with many other yummy dishes.  (And this was before everything was put out!)

  Tina made Shepard's Pie and I had a pot of chili to make bowls of chili-chips and cheese.  (Shirley had turkey chili in the red crock pot.....some folks mixed the two!)

It was quite a spread....and no one went away hungry!!!!

  After lunch, Lanny shared his Lady Vol scarf that he finished weaving.  The orange wool was dyed at Maggie's house last July.
   We needed to cheer him up since his team lost on Saturday. The Tide zigged when they should have zagged.  ;-(

  Just in case you thought we did nothing but eat today, take a look at Margi's estate sale find:  a warping mill.  Putting that bad boy together was just what Allan wanted to do!

 
Then it was time to cut blue jeans into strips for Linda's rug.  You can still see some of Carol fabric she brought from the donation.....some of it was snapped up by the weavers!!!!











Tina got busy on the little Cambridge loom.  It helps if you remember to bring your reading glasses, though.

  We had visitors after lunch.  They walked around the studio and visited with the weavers.   We have such a variety of projects on the looms....it's a weaving wonderland!

  Who knows.....maybe we have some new weavers.








Betsy decided to try some stripes on her walker bags.  You don't know until you try, right?














  Yes, technology is still part of our TW experience.  Marie keeps lots of information on her iPad, and Tina had pictures from her trip on her laptop.

  How lucky we were to spend this day together with our very own Birthday Boy!
Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Anatomy of a Donation

I know someone who sews drapery for others. She ends up with the bits of fabric that are left over after sewing the items for people. In an attempt to find some space in her studio, she gave me some boxes of things she wasn't needing anymore.

 

 Like fabric samples for drapery from about 1995. Remember those gorgeous flowers? So, just imagine the samples sewn together to make a duvet cover for someone? Or, sewn together and made into cushions? I guess you could make curtains with them, just sew together to the right size, line and hang up. Possibilities.....

 That was the first box. The second box had some pieces of heavy upholstery velvet. Too thick to cut for rugs but perfect for backs of cushions...and the bottom piece would cover the seat of a chair, right?

 Oooh, a box of flannel. Yeah, could cut and weave that into placemats or rugs. But, how about make some into receiving blankets, embroider the corner to personalize them or cut into squares like you sometimes do denim and sew together and fringe cut the raw edges to make a throw for a teenager's bed? Again, possibilities...

 Just a sample from another box. That bright shrimp fabric? The white on it is embroidered, not printed on.

 The piece on top is so calm. Much too cool to put in a rug. It's awesome for a chair seat cover, in my humble opinion.

 Just a peek into another box.

There are about 5 boxes in my van that will go to the center tomorrow. I don't think all the fabric will end up in rugs. I think some of it is going to find its way into tote bags and other things that someone will think of doing.
We get donations off and on and love to go through it. This one was a treasure mine of interesting things. Our job is to make sure that the fabrics go to someone who will use and enjoy it. Nothing like opening a box, not knowing what's in it, and then just being totally inspired to try something new or figure out a way to show off a piece of fabric that isn't wanted for  its original purpose but still has so much potential. The fun is trying to figure out how to make it all work out, especially if the piece of fabric isn't quite big enough or wide enough for what you had thought of using it for. Might have to add a bit or change something to make it work.
Now, too, it's crunch time for making gifts for Christmas. I have a loom with a warp on it for handtowels. That warp's been on there for a long time. My goal is to weave on it this week so I can post some pictures of it next Monday. Those handtowels are slated to be gifts for friends and family for Christmas!! Two looms have placemats on them right now. The other goal for me is to have the warps at least partly woven on by next week so I can take pictures to post of them as well!!
Guess I'll be busy!!
Until next week, keep weaving.
Carol

Here we are in the Holidays!

This time of year, the song, "Christmas Time is Here," by Vince Guiradli, from the Peanuts' Christmas special runs constantly through my head.  I play it on my ipod, "like" it on Spotify, and I play it on the piano. 
  On so-called Black Friday, I decorated my house for Christmas.  I bought the tree, got it covered with tiny garden implements and candy canes.  I got a wreath and poinsettias.  I had carols playing all day, and had a fabulous time. After 13 years in retail, I know exactly why it's called that, but I choose not to participate in it.  I'm having too much fun making gifts for people who mean more to me than an ugly acrylic sweater I got before I was trampled by 124 other people trying to get that sweater.
  We weavers, and knitters, spinners, sewers, quilters, and all who make things with our hands, are lucky.  We can give gifts from our hearts and hands and heads.  We think fondly of the recipients while our fingers move.  We can solve the world's problems while we craft that perfect gift, and listen to stories on our ipods or t.v.s. 
  I'm taking some time off from Tuesday Weavers, but I'll be weaving and knitting at home, getting my gifts ready--I hope!--in time to be mailed to some far off places.  And while I make them, I'll imagine their cries of delight, the warm feeling they'll get, knowing that I love them, and that I made something just for them.

So, while the raucous bunch in Norris is meeting and weaving and visiting, I'll be in the peaceful Loominaria, weaving and singing and looking out the window.  Have a wonderful holiday season, making whatever it is you love to make!
Maggie