This last week has been busy, I had to go to the Vet unexpectedly to get the cat named "Mouse" stitched up. I couldn't remember how old she was so I had to search old blog posts to find out! Turns out I got her late June of 2012, and she was a tiny thing, which is why I named her "Mouse". Right now she is up in the Studio living the good life while her wounds heal. That trip to the Vet cut into my Wednesday weaving time, but I did manage to get some work done this week anyway.
I spent Monday shearing the goats, and I again this year lost some fleece to felting while I was waiting on the weather to stabilize and the fleeces to be ready to pluck or pull from the goats, and I have decided that from now one I am going to start shearing in late February or early March depending on temps and weather, and leave the goats 1 inch of fleece to keep them warm. Either way I lose a little bit of the fiber, but I think I will lose less if I shear.
On Tuesday afternoon, after weaving at the Center, I finished loading the back beam on the loom that I posted about two weeks ago, and I have put in the lease sticks and have everything ready to thread, once I decide what pattern I am going to use.
I have an old article by Nellie Sargent Johnson that discusses this unusual 6 harness/6 treadle loom, the "Sears Hearthside". Mrs. Johnson was a Champion of this particular loom, and recommended this floor loom and it's companion table loom back around the time that this article was written which is dated November 1945. The article show several twill threadings, and 2 different tie ups for the loom, I used some weaving soft ware that I recently purchased, "Iweaveit", to get an idea what the fabric would look like.
I plugged in all the possibilities that Mrs. Johnson recommended, and then I started playing with the tie up and treadling possibilities. Oh, what fun! Many of the suggested configurations had floats that I considered too long for kitchen towels, so I added some treadles to the tie ups. For example:
Instead of treadle #1 being only harness 1 & 2, I also added harness 4. For treadle #2, I added harness 5 to the original harnesses 2 &3, and so on across all 6 treadles.
#1 - 1, 2 & 4
#2 - 2, 3 & 5
#3 - 3, 4 & 6
#4 - 4, 5 & 1
#5 - 5, 6 & 2
#6 - 6, 1 & 3
The addition of just one more harness per treadle has given me a much better fabric for kitchen towels than I had originally been getting with the original tie up suggested by Mrs. Johnson. Anyway I have a little more playing to do on the software before I finally make up my mind what I want to do, but the loom is ready and waiting for me when I am ready to start.
Wednesday was a really warm and sunny day, and I was able to do something I had been wanting to do for a long time, but I wasn't sure how I was going to do it! A couple of years ago we had to take down the old clothesline because the posts had given way. Since then I had really wanted to put one back up but I didn't want to run into the same problem a couple of years down the road.
I remembered Tuesday night while I was going to sleep that we have a couple of telephone type poles in the yard for various things, and maybe just maybe I could use a couple of eye bolts and some clothesline and come up with something that would work for a clothesline. ( You can bet I had a hard time going to sleep then!) The next day I reviewed the situation, made a quick trip to the Hardware store, then once home a few minutes with a drill and screwdriver, and this is what I got! (This was a great way to spend the time while I was waiting to hear from the Vet about "Mouse.")
The coolest part is I can take the clothesline down when it is not needed! It takes about 5 minutes to put it up or take it down. In the past I would often forgot to wipe down the old clothesline before use and I ended up with "stuff "on the clean clothes if I did. This way, I won't need to wipe it down, because it isn't out in the weather getting nasty! Yay!
Yesterday, (Friday) after LouAnn and I had finished demonstrating at the Museum of Appalachia for a group of 2nd graders, I went to pick up a small Leclerc loom that had been on loan for a year or so. I got the loom put back together in the Studio and I think I am going to make some twill tape for a bag project I have in mind.
I am going to try a tie up that Peggy Osterkamp is so happy with to see what I think about it. Ms. Osterkamp likes to use a direct tie up method, 1 harness to one treadle, and in this order, 1, 3, 4 and then 2. I don't quite see the point, but maybe I will after several yards of twill tape. If I don't like it I can always change back to my usual!
That is about it for this week, I am hoping to see the sun come out today, cause I already have 2 loads of clothes on the line!
Until next week, Happy Weaving, Tina
I spent Monday shearing the goats, and I again this year lost some fleece to felting while I was waiting on the weather to stabilize and the fleeces to be ready to pluck or pull from the goats, and I have decided that from now one I am going to start shearing in late February or early March depending on temps and weather, and leave the goats 1 inch of fleece to keep them warm. Either way I lose a little bit of the fiber, but I think I will lose less if I shear.
On Tuesday afternoon, after weaving at the Center, I finished loading the back beam on the loom that I posted about two weeks ago, and I have put in the lease sticks and have everything ready to thread, once I decide what pattern I am going to use.
I have an old article by Nellie Sargent Johnson that discusses this unusual 6 harness/6 treadle loom, the "Sears Hearthside". Mrs. Johnson was a Champion of this particular loom, and recommended this floor loom and it's companion table loom back around the time that this article was written which is dated November 1945. The article show several twill threadings, and 2 different tie ups for the loom, I used some weaving soft ware that I recently purchased, "Iweaveit", to get an idea what the fabric would look like.
 |
| Sears Hearthside loom ready to thread |
I plugged in all the possibilities that Mrs. Johnson recommended, and then I started playing with the tie up and treadling possibilities. Oh, what fun! Many of the suggested configurations had floats that I considered too long for kitchen towels, so I added some treadles to the tie ups. For example:
Instead of treadle #1 being only harness 1 & 2, I also added harness 4. For treadle #2, I added harness 5 to the original harnesses 2 &3, and so on across all 6 treadles.
#1 - 1, 2 & 4
#2 - 2, 3 & 5
#3 - 3, 4 & 6
#4 - 4, 5 & 1
#5 - 5, 6 & 2
#6 - 6, 1 & 3
The addition of just one more harness per treadle has given me a much better fabric for kitchen towels than I had originally been getting with the original tie up suggested by Mrs. Johnson. Anyway I have a little more playing to do on the software before I finally make up my mind what I want to do, but the loom is ready and waiting for me when I am ready to start.
Wednesday was a really warm and sunny day, and I was able to do something I had been wanting to do for a long time, but I wasn't sure how I was going to do it! A couple of years ago we had to take down the old clothesline because the posts had given way. Since then I had really wanted to put one back up but I didn't want to run into the same problem a couple of years down the road.
I remembered Tuesday night while I was going to sleep that we have a couple of telephone type poles in the yard for various things, and maybe just maybe I could use a couple of eye bolts and some clothesline and come up with something that would work for a clothesline. ( You can bet I had a hard time going to sleep then!) The next day I reviewed the situation, made a quick trip to the Hardware store, then once home a few minutes with a drill and screwdriver, and this is what I got! (This was a great way to spend the time while I was waiting to hear from the Vet about "Mouse.")
 |
| Clothes on the line on a sunny Saturday |
The coolest part is I can take the clothesline down when it is not needed! It takes about 5 minutes to put it up or take it down. In the past I would often forgot to wipe down the old clothesline before use and I ended up with "stuff "on the clean clothes if I did. This way, I won't need to wipe it down, because it isn't out in the weather getting nasty! Yay!
 |
| Welcome back miss Alice! |
Yesterday, (Friday) after LouAnn and I had finished demonstrating at the Museum of Appalachia for a group of 2nd graders, I went to pick up a small Leclerc loom that had been on loan for a year or so. I got the loom put back together in the Studio and I think I am going to make some twill tape for a bag project I have in mind.
I am going to try a tie up that Peggy Osterkamp is so happy with to see what I think about it. Ms. Osterkamp likes to use a direct tie up method, 1 harness to one treadle, and in this order, 1, 3, 4 and then 2. I don't quite see the point, but maybe I will after several yards of twill tape. If I don't like it I can always change back to my usual!
That is about it for this week, I am hoping to see the sun come out today, cause I already have 2 loads of clothes on the line!
Until next week, Happy Weaving, Tina
1 comment:
There's nothing quite like sheets that have been line dried!!! I'm glad you got it rigged up! Enjoy playing with your 6H.
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