It Was My Carrot

Last week, LouAnn and I went to Asheville to pick up a couple of spinning wheels and accelerated spinning wheel heads (for my great wheels), that I had with Alan of "Bobbin Boy", my spinning wheel fix-it guy.  Since I was going that way, I took my last 2 antique wheels that needed just a little bit of fine tuning to be in good working order.

Before I allowed myself to make that trip however, I had to finish a long standing project for the upcoming Foothills Guild Fall show.  LouAnn had placemats to hem, I had yards of kitchen towel fabric to weave, cut, serge and hem.  I settled in and I wove, pretty steadily, on that project during my studio time that week.  As I was nearing the end I noticed that one of the sections of warp was going to run out before all of the others.







Bummer, I would much rather have one section be the long one!

Even so, I had a very satisfying amount of cloth on the front beam.

I got a total of 16 towels from this warp, with another 2 or so that are still on the warp beam.  (I will see if I can work that out later after the show)

Following Marie's instructions, I hemmed the towels myself. (teach a man to fish)  I also added tabs on the hem of each towel, though I don't think I got a picture of that.

Tuesday, after our time at the Center, I went by LouAnns's house to borrow her handy steam iron press, and I was glad I did!

I meant to get a better picture of the finished towels, but I had a busy day and forgot!  I will get a better one when I get a chance.

Tomorrow I am going to SAFF in Asheville, while I am there I will be seeing Alan of "Bobbin Boy" and Milissa of  "Mountain Mama Weavers" at their booth.  Alan seemed to think that he might have my wheels ready for me to take home.  If he does, you guys are in for a treat next week.  The Irish Castle wheel is going to be ready for some glamour shots and a first spin, I already have a project in mind.

Until next week, Happy Weaving, Tina

It's All About The Heddles

  It seems that the more we weave, the more we love inserted eye heddles!  And then, sometimes we just need to add more heddles to our loom!

  Alyce has wound her warp, and she knew she'd be needing more heddles on the Pup.  It's one of those things you just have to sit down and do!

   It was also time to switch the heddles on the Leclerc that Jocelyn uses.  Sometimes you need extra help........








Remember Linda's knee knocker warp?  Well, here is the first batch of placemats from that roll! 










  Bonnie finished threading the shawl, but, now she has a decision to make.  Take a look at all those heddles on the left.  That might be a problem!  We'll have to wait until next week to see how she will solve this challenge.








  Helen's challenge is threading her second warp!  She's doing a great job.










  We are so delighted to have Anna back from her travels.  She got right to work on her scarf warp.







  Sharon, our librarian, got to add a new book to our library!  Thank you, Theresa, for this copy of The Rag Rug Handbook.
  ****You can catch up with Theresa and her terriers over on Camp RunAMuck!

Another delightful day with the Tuesday Weavers!
Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Another one in the books!

I'm just back from Asheville! Tired doesn't even start to describe me! However, it's good to be done with my show. They changed it to three days instead of the four it's been for years this year and it's kind of weird. We put our whole selves into these shows. We display the things we've made and just hope someone will like what we've done. We spend hours talking to strangers. They can quickly become friends and I love that. Sometimes, rarely really, you get some comments that make you question what you do. Inspite of being one day shorter, it's just as tiring. One day to rest and we're ready to go again, wind another warp, weave things to fill in the gap of what sold.

I took pictures of what the booth looked like Friday morning after the show opened.

I like colors. 

Winter's on its way and cotton jackets are warm enough for most of our winters in this part of the country.

My newest combination is red, light gray and royal blue in the center. It's cheerful and makes you smile.

Sometimes the accent color has bits of color that gives more texture to the fabric. A bit of yellow perks up this vest.

Bamboo and cotton, different combinations of yarns and colors.

Changing colors and seeing how well I can tempt people to try something on.

So I've done the paperwork and figured out what gets stored and what goes to shops. By tomorrow afternoon I'll be ready to wind a warp. Just before I set up for a show I wonder if it's really worth it to keep weaving. Then I talk to people and sell a few things and I know it's worth it to see happy customers again.

Until next week, keep weaving!

Carol

Floor Inkle Loom

Theresa wanted to know about my floor Inkle loom, so I thought this would be a good chance to share about it.  It is called the "Harpsichord" and it is made by Maggie at Windhaven Fiber Tools.  That is also the name of their Etsy shop.

Maggie makes all sizes of Inkle looms, and all sorts of wooden fiber tools.  Maggie gives you several choices of wood, and with your choice the very reasonable price varies.  This Inkle loom can make a band up to 18 ft.

Since the band could be really long, there are 2 tensioning pegs, and you can also slip the band off of a peg and gain a little more room.

This is the lower tensioning peg.....

Here is the upper tensioning peg......

 I have only warped a short sample for an online course I am taking, it is a free online class that is being given by Susan J. Foulkes.  The class is a 3 or 4 week study group, and Susan posts the files on the yahoo group "Braids and Bands" one week at a time.  The files are there basically forever, and you work at your own pace, which suites me just fine right now!

This is all I have been able to do so far, the first design of the first weeks class.  Life is busy just now, and I know that the class will be there when I am ready.

Until next week, Happy Weaving, Tina

Lunch Break

  I'm taking a quick break to eat some lunch and go to the post office.  I'm on a mission, you see!  If I get this batch of placemats hemmed by tonight, I get to go on a little adventure tomorrow.  (There's nothing like a carrot...right?) 
  I'm more than half way through the batch that I have pinned....just need to do the sewing so I can pin the other half!  The octopus is filling up quickly!!!
  I've got Season 1 of Rosemary & Thyme going on the telly....LOVE it! It helps to have some entertainment going when you have hemming to do.
  Enjoy your Fall day!
Happy Weaving!  (and hemming!)
LouAnn

Fall Weaving

  We knew it was just a matter of time....Linda's warp has become a real knee knocker!  But, she had a plan:  a dozen of the back/blue placemats with a table runner.  There is another dozen placemats and a runner that have an orange/red color scheme on the beam, also.  Today was the day that they came off the loom!
  Linda was thinking that she needed to get them off the loom so she could start hemming them for the Foothills sale.  It will be here before we know it!




  Remember that lovely green warp that Helen was winding last week?   Here it is going on one of the table looms.  She got it wound on, which means she'll be threading next week.



 







  How many weavers does it take to fold up a Harrisville loom? 
  Christy finished her scarf warp (and now she's down in Orlando with Cindy at a workshop!!!!  Hi, Cindy!!!!)  For right now, this little loom is going to stay out of the way!

  Meanwhile, back on the barn loom, Carl finished up one rug and started another one.
  We had a family visit the studio this afternoon.  They brought Carl three pairs of jeans to use for his rugs.  I have to wonder if the kids had heard us talking at the Museum about recycling blue jeans to make rugs.
  We'll never know.............









  Ah....The Ladies!  Bonnie is almost finished threading the shawl.  I saw her and Shirley carefully taking out more of the weft threads from the original shawl.  This is too much fun to watch!
  Ms. Ila is back to work on the warp that never ends.  (It was labeled for two shawls....she wove three already!)  I wonder how much is left!!!!!

 That reminds me.....one of the shawls ended up too long from Ms. Ila's warp.  She had some fun with it, and made a poncho.  That also resulted in a long discussion of how you pronounce "Quetzquemetyl."
     It also resulted in the pulling of several books from our library to show different ways to make a poncho/ruana/ quetzquemetyl.











  We were so happy to see Jocelyn today.  She's getting ready for her next project with her hand dyed yarn.  It just needs to be wound off the skein!



  I'm sure you'll be hearing more about this from Tina, but, here's a preview.  Look at this cool Inkle loom!!!!!    She's weaving tabs for her towels right now.  Just think of how long a warp you could get on this loom!!!!




  Sharon, our Librarian, got the books checked in after lunch.  We're always pulling one or another to look up information.
  ***Thank you! ***



   



  Another "thank you" goes to Polly.  She built this display for our Foothills show.  This will be great for the purses and tote bags and other items that can be hung with a S hook.  It will get LOTS of use!

  Fall Weaving.....just the best!

Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Yarn

You might wonder what happens to the yarn that spin while I am demonstrating the art at the "Museum of Appalachia", everybody that comes to see me does, they always ask "what is it going to be?"  The answer for the last couple of years has been that it is going to be a blanket for the shepherd.

The shepherd gives me the fleeces on "Sheep Shearing Day"  and I usually make something out of them to give back to him.  One year it was a vest, another year it was a hat, this year I made him a rug out of a couple of the fleeces.  All the while though, I have been spinning and spinning, sometimes a little, like when the schools come thru and we are only there for an hour or two.  Sometimes a lot, like during the larger celebrations like "Pioneer Days" or the "Homecoming".  It was during Pioneer days that I bought my Wee Great Wheel and began to spin with a lot more audience participation.  Over that 2 day event and the 3 day event that is the Homecoming, I had spun enough yarn to make another good sized skein.

Here are a few of the "cops" that I removed from the wheel, I was already almost finished plying the skein when I thought to take a picture.  I plied straight from these cops, and it was not as easy as I would like,  the strands tend to get tangled and it can be slow going.

When I am at home I use my clock reel to reel the singles yarn off of the spindle, into a singles skein.  I would have made a couple of skeins on the clock reel adding to the skeins when the spindle got full, and then I would transfer those skeins to the squirrel cage distaff to ply, but I have not been in the habit of taking the reel with me to the museum.  It sure makes plying the yarn easier,  and it is definitely what would have been done in the old days, so I may have to consider it.

Since I had a lot of help from the public spinning this yarn this time around, it is not nearly as even as if I had done it on my own, but I believe that I will have to make that a design element, since I am determined to use it in the blanket.

This skein is as  soft and springy as can be and I am mighty pleased with it.

Once it is dry it will join the other skeins earmarked for this blanket project.

The darker skein that you see at the top of this picture is one that I have been holding on to for a long time.  I have been hoping that another fleece like it would come to Sheep Shearing day, but I think that after so long it may not happen after all, and so I will add this skein to the project as well.

I have some darker brown Museum fleeces that I may spin at home to add interest and speed this project along.  I hope to have enough by January to get it on the loom and off of the loom before winter is over and another sheep shearing day rolls around.

I will be sure to post about it.

Until next time, Happy Spinning, Tina