so, i've suffered a great deal of disruption this month, what with fate snatching me away from my cosy bed and taking me to bolton via inverness, lanark and edinburgh. so i haven't actually got very much done in terms of physical productivity or sampling.
i did do a day lesson for joan the other saturday, which was nice, and she's now got the table loom i've been using for the last three years. it's a community loom like i say, so it's there for people to use. and i'm arranging for castletown heritage centre, which is trying to develop itself as a traditional crafts place, to take on my smaller (Dryad) floor loom. i have also arranged for me to be doing a knotted pile weaving class there in july. which isn't that far away, really. and no doubt the idle (with any luck) summer will just speed on by like a fast thing, say a train. or a car on the motorway.
anyway, i have spent the week tidying the house. i spent about half a day doing the dishes and the recycling, another day doing the front room and hallway, and i finally got the loom room sparkling last night, for the first time in months. the thing is i can't make and beam a warp properly when my brain's battered, and my brain's always battered when the house is a mess. which isn't a problem when i want to sit on my arse playing Monkey Island 2 (classic) and drinking beer. but, like i say, i can't do anything complicated while my brain's battered.
so anyhow, i spent the last of last night drinking crap cider and making a new warp. this be an experimental warp. see, my mum wan'ts curtains for the kitchen, and they have to be so wide, and i can't make them so wide with the normal way i'm used to doing, co i only have so many heddles, see, which i have moaned abouit before. so i'm doing this thing where i have bands of 32epi seperating larger spacings of 16 epi. this on a 8 dent reed. so with any luck this should make nice sorta gauzy effect for the sun to shine through. we'll see. the shame is that i can't create a truly checked pattern, because of the way it is, which i can't explain properly, but it makes sense in my head. anyway, this just a sample to see how it goes. and i'm running out of clean clothes cos i don't want to go to the laundrette till i've got some weaving to wash, and at this rate i'll need to do two loads.
ho hum
and i got shade cards from JC Rennies. but silly me i forgot to specify shade cards for weaving yarn (like, singles) so i got a bunch of knitting swatches. still, the colours are the same, so i'm going to go ahead and get some samples of their yarns and make up some sample scarves. i'm not sure if they do cotton, but if they do i might do some tea towels as well.
we'll see.
anyway,l that's that. i'm stranded in reay just now, supervising my brother to make sure he doesn't go on accidental hunger strike while my parents are on holiday, so i have every good reason for doing bugger all
hooray!
i did do a day lesson for joan the other saturday, which was nice, and she's now got the table loom i've been using for the last three years. it's a community loom like i say, so it's there for people to use. and i'm arranging for castletown heritage centre, which is trying to develop itself as a traditional crafts place, to take on my smaller (Dryad) floor loom. i have also arranged for me to be doing a knotted pile weaving class there in july. which isn't that far away, really. and no doubt the idle (with any luck) summer will just speed on by like a fast thing, say a train. or a car on the motorway.
anyway, i have spent the week tidying the house. i spent about half a day doing the dishes and the recycling, another day doing the front room and hallway, and i finally got the loom room sparkling last night, for the first time in months. the thing is i can't make and beam a warp properly when my brain's battered, and my brain's always battered when the house is a mess. which isn't a problem when i want to sit on my arse playing Monkey Island 2 (classic) and drinking beer. but, like i say, i can't do anything complicated while my brain's battered.
so anyhow, i spent the last of last night drinking crap cider and making a new warp. this be an experimental warp. see, my mum wan'ts curtains for the kitchen, and they have to be so wide, and i can't make them so wide with the normal way i'm used to doing, co i only have so many heddles, see, which i have moaned abouit before. so i'm doing this thing where i have bands of 32epi seperating larger spacings of 16 epi. this on a 8 dent reed. so with any luck this should make nice sorta gauzy effect for the sun to shine through. we'll see. the shame is that i can't create a truly checked pattern, because of the way it is, which i can't explain properly, but it makes sense in my head. anyway, this just a sample to see how it goes. and i'm running out of clean clothes cos i don't want to go to the laundrette till i've got some weaving to wash, and at this rate i'll need to do two loads.
ho hum
and i got shade cards from JC Rennies. but silly me i forgot to specify shade cards for weaving yarn (like, singles) so i got a bunch of knitting swatches. still, the colours are the same, so i'm going to go ahead and get some samples of their yarns and make up some sample scarves. i'm not sure if they do cotton, but if they do i might do some tea towels as well.
we'll see.
anyway,l that's that. i'm stranded in reay just now, supervising my brother to make sure he doesn't go on accidental hunger strike while my parents are on holiday, so i have every good reason for doing bugger all
hooray!
Comments
Re. pirn winding, I use a swedish bobbin winder, as sold by Don Porritt, Fibrecrafts, Frank Herring, Handweavers Studio. As the pirns are too big to fit the shaft, I either fit them over one of the cheap cardboard bobbins for hand shuttles or else use a wedge of folded paper. I've seen a few of these bobbin winders go on ebay recently at prices which are a good saving on the new price - i.e. £30 instead of £50. If you have or are thinking of getting a spinning wheel there's a quill spindle available for the Traditional and Traveller models which is good for winding pirns. I used to use one, but sold the wheel.
i've got an ashford joy wheel as it goes. is nice. and my cousin's got another ashford model, which is also nice, but not quite as folding-tastic as mine's