Saturday, April 28, 2018

Fluff N Stuff

LouAnn and I made it to the Museum in plenty of time to set up for the school kids, I think 2 or 3 different schools came to spend some hours running about the place.  In the winter time LouAnn and I are inside the Peters cabin, but when fair weather once again shines upon us we go our separate ways, she to the loom house and I go out on the front porch.



I put my wee great wheel up on the bench to keep Cinderella's spindle well out of reach of all those fingers.  While some of the kids raced passed me, with "exploring everything right now" on their minds, several of the kids and the teachers and parents seemed interested in what I was doing.  I was able to answer many questions and show how important a skill this would have been 200 years ago.  (Can you see my wild socks?  I always try to wear the unexpected item!)  

After the museum, I had to race home to send Dear One off on a short trip, and then I got to pick up some grandkids from school and take them home to there house, where we were joined by their Mom within 30 minutes.  I then raced home to meet Karin, who wanted to see how my fleece washing set up worked.

We managed to get a fleece from last weeks "sheep shearing day" skirted and in the wash before she left.  We also pulled out one of the clean Jacobs fleeces and I was able to show her how I used the 18 inch hackle together with my wool combs.



This bag has 3 fleeces in it, the top one being white with some lilac patches.  I quickly set to work combing some of the white locks,  then I did a lilac/gray batch and then back to white.




By using the hackle that you can see behind these beautiful bumps of hand combed top I can load 3 combs full on it and pull off a much bigger quantity of top than I could with a single comb full.







This week I was also able to finish the T shirt rug order that I had started a week or two ago, I had already finished it actually, but it was about 6 inches shorter than I had intended.  So I rewove it increasing each section by just enough to give me the ratio of colors that I was looking for, as well as the added length.

I love how the blue stripes turned out on this one,  I had decided that I would get a better looking rug by combining different blues, sometimes light combos and sometimes darker combo.  It did not disappoint!  I will deliver to the buyer, and we will discuss other things that she would like for me to make.





Life as always is busy, but I get done what I can, when I can.  Everybody has been very patient with the extended time that it is taking me to get these orders done.  I have one more rug that needs prep and weaving, and then I can weave what I want for the fall show.

Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina








2 comments:

LA said...

Sure makes me want to pull out my fleeces and start combing!!!! I think some of the Museum fleeces show promise, too.

Theresa said...

Those are lovely bumps of fiber. You've inspired me to pull my little Joy out for a spin before bed.