Spinning Round
 
  Ann got to be with us today, and she brought the lovely mohair bocule she brought while on vacation.  The ball winder and swift are handy tools to have....right, Margi????
  (Charlotte:  look, listen & learn!)

Helping Hands

  It's always nice to have an extra set of hands!  Carol helped Pat wind the shuttle of wool yarn.








Great Minds

  Marie took home the pieces of the Mason Reel to see if she cold figure it out.....of course she did!!!!  Between Tina and Marie, it looks like we might be using it soon!

How Many Were There?

  When the beater bar starts hitting the mats on the cloth beam, it must be time to cut off some mats!  Sharon learned the "stick trick" and  took off  ten placemats and two table runners.











Tying One On

  Yes, that's what we kept hearing from the ladies on the back row.  We'll have to fine out more about that later.  I'm sure there's a story..............

Colors

 Betsy is winding this warp....don't you just love these colors?  We'll have to wait to find out what this will be.


Carl got the new warp sleyed, threaded and tied on to the back bar.  Next week we'll wind that onto the warp beam.

Is that your tuffet?

Tina needed to sit just a wee bit higher on the bench....this cushion should just fit the bill.




And, take a look at this beautiful poncho Tina wove using her handspun wool! 

WOW!









  Ms. Ila has been busy at home, too.  She tried her hand at crammed and spaced scarves.  These are hand dyed warps using rayon crinkle.

Everywhere you look in the studio, there's always activity (of one kind or another!) 
Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Such Excitement!!

I know, I'm supposed to blog on Monday. Well, we're almost at midnight! Actually, I wanted to post this picture and it was in an email. I can download pictures from my camera chip pretty nicely but I had no clue how to do it from an email so DH helped me. Hopefully, now I'll know how to do it next time when such an occasion arises!

So what's all the excitement about? Well, my niece up in Canada was due on Monday, August 4. However, she was a bit late. All along, once she'd said when her due date was, I kept telling her she should just wait til Friday, August 8. That's my birthday. We have alot of birthdays and anniversaries in August. It's a full month. In fact, there are 3 birthdays on August 18. Yeah, my nephew was not happy about her not waiting til then. The mother of this baby's birthday is the 18th as well.....so all week I'd call home and find out there was no news on the baby watch. However, I woke on Friday, my birthday, to a note from my niece that's getting married next month. She told me that her sister had gone to the hospital and it looked like my wish was coming true. 

Sure enough, shortly afterward I got a few pictures. This little one is barely a couple of hours old in this picture. My Mom is holding her, her first great grandchild!! 

 She's waited a long time for this moment, when she could hold her great grandchild. At 90, she's so thrilled to be a part of her life!
I'm so excited about sharing my birthday with someone. It's a good date for one. This way you never have to worry about whether someone wants the day or the month first when filling out forms. It's just 8/8! I love it! Anna will as well once she is old enough to have to deal with things like this!

On the weaving front, after weaving one chocolate warp, how about another one? This one was so much more cheerful. The other one had rusts and cranberry mixed with the brown. It was warm and soothing. This one has natural and jade. It's so cheerful and was actually more fun to weave than the other one. Maybe it's because of the brighter colors but it seemed to go more quickly than the other one.

 I'm in the process of washing and then cutting and sewing the pieces from the two warps.

I just put another warp on the loom. It's black, my least favorite color to weave but I know these pieces will sell so I'm spending the first part of the week weaving it off. I've got season 4 of NCIS on the DVD player and it'll run in the background while I throw my shuttle and watch the fabric roll onto the cloth beam!!

Later this week I have to pack my van. Normally I go to Canada toward the end of July to visit my family. However my niece is getting married in Sept and I've been informed that I need to help. So I have been getting ready to go, rounding up a few items that they needed to help make the day special for her. I plan to leave early next Sunday morning so that I can arrive in Moose Jaw on Wednesday afternoon. Because of the travel, I'm not sure how it'll work to write next week. I may try to write on Sunday again or skip a week. I'll do my best to find a signal. It's 2000 miles one way and I do it with a day off to visit family in Winnipeg.
I hope I don't forget to pack something!
Until then, keep weaving!
Carol

Shawl in a Day

I have been nursing a head cold for the last couple of weeks, and it has not gone away yet!  Lou Ann wanted me to go to the Museum today, but I decided that I needed to finally take a day at home, to see if I could shake it.

I wanted to wash a little bit of fleece, which I have already written about on my Farmsteadstudio blog, and I also wanted to try something.  A different project, something I have been putting off.  I wanted to see if I could weave a shawl out of my handspun, on the rigid heddle loom, in just one day!

I opened up my tubs of handspun wool, and started to look through it all.  I immediately began to worry about ruining some  of my precious yarn by using it.  What if I made a mistake!  All those hours at the wheel wasted, I seriously thought about closing up the tub and not doing the project after all!  That is when I spotted a couple of skeins of yarn that had been a blending experiment that I had tried, that had gone well enough, but the colors just were not what I would have normally used.  I had enough of this so so yarn to do a shawl.  My math skills are not the greatest, but I figured out that I could easily do a shawl 22inches in width, and a 4 yard warp, which was the length that some of the other weavers use for shawls.

 I used the 6 dent reed, though I think I should have used the 8, and the warping went smoothly

 Once I had the warp wound onto the back beam, I took the loom downstairs where it is a little cooler.  I cut the yarn and threaded through the holes.

By lunch time, I had woven a little over 1 yard, and I decided to have a bite to eat before I proceeded.

 About that time I looked out to see that one of the hens had gotten out.  All the other ones were in the pen!  I don't know how she managed it!

Right after lunch, I kept on weaving, and about half way through I realized, the way that I often do, that I had mismeasured for the length of the warp, and that it was going to be shorter than I wanted it to be!   Never mind, it is a sample warp anyway, I am still learning a lot on this project!  I can wear it as a really wide scarf!

By 4:40pm, I had the shawl/scarf off of the loom, and I began to twist the fringes.  I did a very soft twist this time, cause that's how I wanted it to be.

I did a long soak, and a couple of good thwacks later, I am really pleased with the hand of this scarf/shawl.  I think next time, I will use the 8 dent reed for yarn this fine, but all in all, it has been a top notch learning experience.

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

Tidbits

  First of all, thank you to Marie, Theresa and Laurie for their kind words about Tuesday's blog.  I am humbled.  It is a little difficult to keep Tuesday's activities fresh....after all, we just keep on keeping on!  But, everyone in the Studio is there because they WANT to be there; none of us HAVE to be there!  Each week, it is the same....but different.  Different because of the interactions that occur during the day.  I don't get a snap of every little thing, that's for sure!

  Here at home, I have several projects that are going on.  I moved Sarah Catherine's bed into the middle bedroom, and it is becoming my Country Sampler photo spread....only I don't need to go shopping to furnish it!  (I did find these large baskets that fit exactly under the bed for storage!  YEAH!)
  You can see the ladder by the window...I'm taking down the horrible roman shades and the brackets.  I used my 50% off coupon from JoAnn's to buy a bolt of medium weight muslin to make curtains for the room.  The rug by the bed was woven by Grace Foster, who was a founding member of the Appalachian Arts Craft Center.  I was blessed to get to weave with her before she passed.  I don't have a lot of quilts:  they were well used in my family.  The blue one at the foot of the bed was a wedding present to me in 1974 from my Great Aunt Grace.  It was the last quilt she pieced.  I'm going to display it on a wall rack.  Of course, sometimes it will get used on the bed!  I'm having fun working in the bedroom putting out some of the things that have been in my family a long time!  It's a work in progress.

  Carol reminded us of the upcoming Fall sales on Tuesday:  "Is anyone weaving mug rugs?" 
  Oh, yeah.....I wound a black warp for snail trail mug rugs last year.  It might be time to get that on a loom and get busy.  
  Just add that to my list.

****And, I have that rigid heddle loom project I wanted to take for a test run!!!!  That's TWO projects to get on looms!
(Can you hear the Count:  "That's TWO...two weaving projects!)

What is it?????
  This is my squirrel proof bird feeder that my cousin gave me for my birthday!!!  And, it's working!!!!
  The squirrels can empty a feeder in no time flat, and this has a little ledge that closes when anything heavier than a bird is on it.  And, it's metal, so they can't chew through it!!!!!
  It's not like the squirrels will starve....the birds knock out enough seeds to feed the chipmunks and squirrels on the ground!!!








  And, just in case you don't know, this Saturday is the premier of the Outlander series on Starz.  (I have to admit that I've already watched it 3 times!  They are showing the first episode free On Demand or online as a gift to all the fans.)  But, I'm going to watch the premier with my hard cider and shortbread cookies on the tea tray.  Who knows, I may even have my Scottish wool blanket beside me!
***Update:  I'm on Chapter 118 in the newest book.

  That's about it for now.  I have to shut down my computers to install the new router that Comcast insist that I need.  (I hate doing techie things!)  But, if it makes Outlander even more beautiful, that's a win-win! 
  Keep your fingers crossed for me!
Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Many Hands......

......Make Short Work.
Take a look at our hands at work.

Charlotte is joining our group, and will begin "lessons" after Carol returns in September.  For right now, she's weaving some mug rugs on one of the Kid's Camp looms.  What a great way to start weaving!

  Both Marie and Caylie cut off their warps today.  Marie is already planning the next warp for that loom, and Caylie will start back to school next week.

   Of course, some of us are very tech savvy, so you'll see this, too, from time to time!!!!



Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Back at It

I am using my iPad again to write this morning. So, of course, as I write the letters are red and underlined. I have no idea how to change it. Plus, the pictures came all mixed up so I will just pretend that the letters are black and normal! 

What's on the loom? It's chocolate, rust and cranberry. It's been fun to weave and I have just a couple of hours worth to weave yet. Hopefully I'll have time to begin putting a new one on late today.

So, I like to have a project on hand to sew if I have a few minutes to sew. Last summer my sister and I got going on a project we'd been thinking about for months. We'd seen a picture of a quilt on Facebook and kind of drew  it out. Then, figuring out the size to cut strips, how big to make everything, took awhile. The top picture is the pattern we figured out to use. We had a bunch of fat quarters from a Black Friday purchase from Connecting Threads so I used my portion to cut strips while I was at my sister's place last summer. So the other day I pulled them out and put strips in groups of three. When I have a few minutes, I sew strips.

Once they are all sewn, I'll iron them, then cut them into sections. The fun part will be regrouping them in sets of four to make big squares.That will be awhile from now. I'm just relaxing and sewing strips. 

On another note, a friend from the Art Market came and cut the persimmon tree into sections and took them home. He hopes to turn some pieces using the wood. I'll be interested to see how they turn out. The window had been replaced in the jeep and other than some dings to both vehicles, we are back to normal here. 

Here's hoping the weather stays calm and the wind doesn't kick up again for a long time. We're not used to the winds that blow across the prairies!

The letters have suddenly all turned black on the blog. Hopefully the underlining on the top part will go away once I post this! Computers are so confusing at times.

I have a couple of weeks of weaving time left here before I head north so I am trying to get as much done as I can.

Until next week, keep weaving!

Carol

View from the Front Porch

I was sitting on the front porch this morning, and a couple of things caught my eye.

 The spring lambs are growing up, in fact you can barely tell them apart from the adults!

 The loom house was peaceful looking before the start of the busy work day,

And there was a peacock in the garden!

 If you haven't guessed by now, I will tell you.  This is not my front porch at all, but the front porch of the Peter's Cabin in the Museum of Appalachia!  Lou Ann and I were there for the day, demonstrating and yaking it up with the tourists.




Before too much longer Lou Ann was setting up shop at the Loom House.

I know this is a terrible picture, and I was sure it was better than this, but at least you can see Lou Ann in action, on the Rocker Beater loom!

Remember those blue jean strips Lou Ann was winding on yesterday's post?  Here they are in the latest rug.

Today, I brought a selection of fiber to spin, from the sheep that live here year round.  I had come home with several fleeces last April, and I had them cleaned fairly quickly, but it is taking some time to get them combed and ready to spin.

Dark brown combed top in the background and white, light grey and a brown mixed with gray in the foreground.

After lunch as I was spinning away at my wheel, I looked up and saw a couple of the lambs right beside the loom house.  (They had squeezed passed the barriers!)  A few minutes later they were quietly munching on the iris!

 Then as I continues to look around, who should come up the walk, but one of the peacocks!  (Perhaps he saw me take his picture, while he was in the garden!)  He walked past, but before too long he made it plain that I was on his front porch!  I told him politely that he was welcome to join me, and join me he did.  As he was walking past me I was fumbling for my camera, and I said something to the effect of don't go so fast!  He stopped immediately and posed for this parting shot!

As soon as I snapped the picture, he started walking again!  Too funny for words!

At home, I have been working on a baby blanket for grand baby #9, and I have done a little bit of weaving on that floor inkle loom, adjusting the width, and I am much happier with what I have been able to do, but those photos will wait until next week. ( I came home from vacation with a bit of a cold so I really don't have a ton of fun stuff to show for this week.)

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