3.14.08 What Blog?

Do I still have a blog? Yes I do. I think basically the exciting trip to the UK, the long flights to and fro, a couple of time changes, then the Christmas holidays, then the dizzy/ear/sinus/RA/fatigue thing has kicked my middle aged butt. But I am still here.

I have been sleeping. And napping. I am all about the nap. DO NOT DISTURB. SOME babies have the right idea. (I had two of those, only one of them napped.) Guess which one did not.

I have been spinning some of the coopworth/cotswold blend that I bought at Stony Mountain Fibers the other day as well as some of my merino fleece for the North Sea Shawl. There could not be more of a difference in fibers. Merino vs. The Blend. Sounds like a horror movie. Here is the blend. About 20 wpi.

I have been knitting the North Sea Shawl

and finishing the final clue on the Midwinter’s Eve goddessknits shawl.

Goddess is on to another shawl for spring but I am totally not doing that one. I am also making another handspun project, this time a bag using some very old and scratchy romney that has been mouldering in the stash for years, years I tell you. I overdyed the grey romney fleece with lime KoolAid back in the day. The brown is some merino type fiber that I spun on the great wheel and it is very irregular.

I have been weaving, but only a little. I have found that I am thinking about weaving and reading about weaving.

Time spent at the loom requires lots of energy. I wind only one bobbin at a time for this reason. I like getting up to wind another one rather than sit there and weave bobbin after bobbin.

This is the last of the handtowel warp. There is not much left so I though some washcloths were in order. I got the idea from Susan!

I recently acquired a couple of new-to-me old looms from the Visual Arts Center of Richmond (Hi Cherri!) and M has been working on renovating them. Remember, if you want to learn to weave, do it. Cherri can teach you!

The one on the left is an 8 harness Dorothy loom and the other is a Hammett loom. I think the Hammett could survive an exploding furnace event but I hope it doesn’t have to! Projects are in the planning stages once the cleaning and minor repairs are complete. Think sampler for the 8 harness and placemats for the 4.

And I have started this book for the millionth time.

12.13.07 Thrums Project with Hats

On Saturday last I went to the Visual Arts Center of Richmond for the post renovation open house. Every crafty discipline had its own studio area and some had neat projects for visitors to acquaint themselves with the craft.

I found my weaving teacher Cherri in the Fiber Arts studio helping visitors with a project using thrums and other yarns and fibers! This project is designed to use up thrums, the loom waste threads that are left after one cuts a woven project off the loom. There can be quite a lot of those ends and if you save them you can make interesting things. I am told by quilters that this technique will also make a beautiful wall decoration or quilt using fabric instead of thrums.

The process is this:
Lay down a layer of water soluble stabilizer and pile on the thrums/yarns in layers according to your own whim. Make it thick.

Top with another layer of interfacing to make a sandwich.

With a sewing machine, sew madly in your chosen pattern, design or free motion as I did. Be careful to keep the “sandwich” intact. This is only partially stitched.

Wet the whole thing for the interfacing to dissolve.

Let dry or felt in the washing machine as you would any other felting project.

Wear or display as desired!

On the knitting front I have completed a few hats for people who want hats this year.
A plain green wool/mohair beanie from a discontinued ancient (20 years?) Tahki yarn.

Another Koolhaas hat using Queensland Kathmandu Aran Tweed.

And the Ringwood Hat from Spin Off using a discontinued color of Rowan Felted Tweed.