Getting cold feet!

The closer we get to the date of the weaving weekend, the more I'm starting to panic. I have checked the warping instructions so many times that I'm sure the print is wearing out. I've counted the threads, checked the threading, tied and retied to get the perfect tension but I'm still not happy.

The yarn I've chosen is a 2/6 mercerised cotton which I've dyed with procion dyes. We are using a straight threading and for plain weave I'd probably use a sett around 20 epi. The problem is that that is the recommended setting we have been given, but all the books and information seems to be suggesting that for double weave the sett should be twice that. This allows the top and bottom warps to be woven independently as separate layers, or combined in various ways.

So it seems that to get the sett for each layer at 20 epi, you need to double everything up and yet.......

Oh dear. I've asked, but everyone seems to be so far out of their comfort zone that no one seems to be able to agree on what to do.

As I have plenty of yarn I'm going to prepare another warp using double the number of threads. If it turns out that I've not got the first one right I will have time to warp up again but it will be a late night!

In the meantime, I've ordered a book on the subject by Jennifer Moore which is called "Double Weave" and if it arrives in time it may just save my bacon!

In the meantime here's a photo of a work of art made by my DH. Can't go very far wrong with a cairn!

Ready to rock

or roll!
This is the warp for the Janet Phllips workshop coming up in September.

On the loom, threaded correctly (I hope) and with a header woven. So I'm ready to go!

The yarn is 2/6 cotton and there are four colours; dark blue, light blue, light green and gold. The light blue was purchased from Oliver Twists at the Festival of Quilts earlier this month. Jean Oliver dyes all the threads and fibre they sell and their stall is always a riot of colour. They specialise in threads for embroidery, but also have lots of other yarns and fibres which can be used for felting, spinning or weaving. Sadly they don't have a website but they do go to all the major shows.

The dark blue, green and gold I dyed myself with procion dyes. The colours turned out quite well, but not exactly as I intended. The green was supposed to be a dark green, but is a lot paler than I wanted. The gold was supposed to be a rusty brown, but somewhere along the way my mix took a different turn. Still the colours will be fine for what is after all only an experimental piece.

It's been sometime since I did any weaving and now we are settled(ish) in our new home, I'm hoping to do a lot more. The Cornwall guild has a lively weaving membership and hold four weaving days a year in addition to their usual monthly meetings. Having Janet Phillips visit to give us a talk about her work and a two day workshop is really good and will give me an opportunity to talk to her about her weaving diploma course which I'm thinking of doing.

But for now, the sun is shining and this is calling!

We are so lucky to have this lovely beach less than a mile from home so later today we will be dipping our toes in the waves!

Moving on

It's a long time since I've posted but things have been moving on gradually. We were finally able to pick up the keys to our new home at the end of January and since then we have been working hard to make it habitable. At long last with the building work nearly finished and the decorating getting done we are going to be able to move in later this month. Great sighs of relief all round!

Things are looking up for me on the Spinning and Weaving front too and I am pleased to say that my decision to join the Cornwall Guild has paid off. After a shaky start I am beginning to feel that I am part of the group and am gradually getting to know everyone. There are several meetings each month, plus additional days attending local shows etc, and there is a very active weaving group which I am now part of.

This September, Janet Phillips is coming to the Guild to hold a workshop in weaving double cloth. I was fortunate to get a place on the course and am busy getting my yarn dyed and the warp made so that I am ready to go! I will be using my Harris four shaft table loom which currently has a warp on it that I started weaving over a year ago! Where does the time go?

As with many of my weaving projects, I wound the warp without checking whether I had enough heddles for the threading I was going to use. Also, the yarn was a rather soft cotton which has not stood up to the rigours of the weaving process very well! So I have decided that what I need is to learn how to actually plan and design the cloth I am going to weave making sure that the type and colour of the yarn, the sett and the threading are right. To do this, I have decided to take Janet's two year weaving course. This will be a big commitment and will mean that I will have to concentrate on that and put some of my other skills on hold for a while.

So having been a bit at sea for the last year, trying to find quilting groups, embroidery groups etc that I could join, I have come to the conclusion that I just don't need to join anything else. When we move into our lovely new home, I will have my own studio where I can set up my loom, put on some music and let the world go by. Good friends are keeping in touch by email and of course my DH is as lovely and supportive as ever.

Plus, we are within spitting distance of the sea!!!

Who could ask for more!

New friends

So, biting the bullet and stepping out of my comfort zone I decided it was time to see if I could join the Cornwall Guild of Spinners and Weavers .The website is very informative and they looked like a lively bunch, so I contacted the secretary and invited myself along to the September meeting. The second meeting was very busy and it was a bit difficult to get a seat, but once again I persevered and as I had enjoyed the meeting, I accepted the invitation to become a member.

At the meeting last Friday, Jane Deane gave us a talk about the production of silk and told us a great deal about silk worms. Then in the afternoon, she demonstrated how to spin the different silk fibres she had supplied and spent some time with us discussing how the sinning was going. Some members had not spun silk before and were given a lot of help.

How was the meeting for me? Well, another tentative start and I was not made as welcome as I would have liked. Still, at least I've made a start and perhaps it will get easier as time passes.  There are some very talented spinners and weavers and some real characters so I am looking forward to the next meeting. Billed as a weaving day, but I'm not sure what that entails. It will be good to get back to some weaving!

What a long time

it's been since I last updated this blog and what a lot has happened.
We have moved house, and said a fond farewell to Yorkshire and a wow here we are then to Cornwall! Our move did not go as smoothly as we had hoped, but after a bit of a wait we finally moved into our temporary home and started unpacking.

My spinning, knitting and weaving activities have taken rather a back seat, but I have now started spinning again and have joined the Cornwall Guild. They have two meetings each month, one held on a Friday at Probus and one on a Saturday at Chacewater. Both meetings seem to be very well attended and some members attend both.

It was just a little nerve wracking going to the first meeting because I didn't know anyone and did feel  a bit unwelcome at first, but I'm fortunate in that I can barge my way into other people's conversations so I soon felt a bit more comfortable.

It came as a bit of a surprise to find that many of the members have their own sheep and some have goats too. The animals seem to be mostly kept as pets rather than for meat or wool and there seems to be a preference for Jacobs, although one also has Rylands.

Many of the members are also accomplished weavers and that is what I want to get to grips with next so I think I will be able to get quite a bit of help.

So here we are near the sea and able to go for lovely long walks along the coast path, see lots of birds, ships and breathe the lovely sea air! So here are a few photos to whet the appetite!

A lovely place to be and lots to look forward to!

Norwegian Purl

Until now my attempts to master the continental style of knitting have not been all that successful and even with the help of Lisa who has never knitted any other way, I was finding it impossible to keep an even tension.  Then I saw an advert for an on line class which seemed to fit the bill. Anni is originally from Norway, but is now based in Cornwall and has a business selling yarns, knitting patterns and lots of other goodies.

 So I signed up for the class and now, after a bit of trial and error and a lot of practice, hey, I can do it!!!! The link to the course details are here and although the current course has ended, Anni is planning to do another one soon. The videos are fairly short, but well done and you can download them and view them as many times as you like. There is also a message board where you can post comments and ask questions.

Anni can also be contacted through Ravelry which is a free site  for knitters, crocheters and anyone interested in textiles. It is a fantastic resource for information about all aspects of knitting and spinning and there are simply hundreds of patterns that you can access and download, many of them for free.

As I will be moving away from Yorkshire very soon, it is comforting to know that I will still be able to keep in touch with friends over the Internet and exchange views and ideas even if I can't meet up face to face.

No knitting photos I'm afraid, but here's a photo of someone special who I shall miss a great deal, but who is going to teach me how to use Skype!

Going Continental

For all the years I have been knitting, I haven't really tried to master the continental way of knitting even though I'm told it's quicker and easier. So, I watched this on You Tube 

The most difficult part is holding the yarn firmly enough to make sure of an even tension, but not too firmly to stop it moving freely. Somehow, I seem to be finding it very hard to make progress, but in the true spirit of adventure I'm persevering.

So what are the advantages? Well, the garment definitely grows faster. Because the yarn is held still and isn't wrapped around the needle, your arms and shoulders don't have to move as much. This makes it easier right? So far the jury is out.

My friend Lisa, who is German and is an accomplished continental knitter has offered to give me a tutorial and in return, she would like me to show her how to knit the English way! Nowt so queer as folk!

So next post might include a photo or two! In the meantime, I'm having another try so that the DGG has a nice thick chunky sweater in time for her next lot of lambing duties next month!

January Blues

It seems that we are no longer waiting for our buyer as we thought we were, just any buyer. It is really frustrating when people don't let you know and we are both feeling a bit down. But having said that, I haven't been idle.

So what have I been up to. Well, over Christmas, I knitted two socks, (unfortunately not the same pair, but the second one of pair one and the first one of pair two); two moebious scarves (one was too small so I had to knit a second) and a crochet curly wurly scarf! Well there wasn't anything on TV that we wanted to watch and it rained quite hard.

Then back home to a festive meal with the DD and her family when we demolished an extremely large joint of beef at one sitting followed by a very dubious sponge pudding!

I have now finished spinning the 50 grams of Camel and Silk I started back in the summer, the Merino and Silk I started in Autumn 2010 and am now setting out to spin the silk singles for my intended weaving project, unless something more interesting comes along. It just might because I have decided that spinning a very fine yarn, not only takes ages, but gets a bit boring!

The DH has a very fetching pair of fingerless gloves, just completed and the second sock is underway! Another moebious has been cast on, but I may need to find a bigger circular needle because the yarn is quite thick and I may have cast on too many stitches.

We went to London for the day to see the Leonardo exhibition at the National Gallery which was very enjoyable apart from a rather injudicious choice of footwear that caused me to have very sore feet. No photographs allowed, but we treated ourselves to a catalogue ( reduced of course!) and also a very nice cream tea. Although the lighting was very low, and it was very crowded and hot, it was possible to get quite close to the paintings and drawings and there seemed to be an innate understanding between everyone as to when to move on and let someone else get close.

My favourite exhibit was the little notebook in which Leonardo had made some drawings and had written some notes in his famous mirror writing. The book was tiny and quite tatty and you could imagine that he had just put it down even though you know that he last handled it 500 years ago.

Not much to photograph as it's been so dismal, so  here are a few shots taken in Trafalgar Square on our day out. This is "Tom" a young street artist pushing a tennis racquet over his body while riding a huge unicycle! A true artist!

 Here is a magnificent ship in a bottle which occupies the Fourth Plinth.

 Here is yours truly. Head and shoulder's only please Dave!

 And the Olympic Clock, which it seems is the tourist's choice of photographic background!

Back to the knitting!

While we wait

Having finished my scarf in record time and finding it admired despite the mistakes, and as if I haven't got enough to do, I'm planning my next project. If a buyer for the house materialises, well, they'll just have to take their turn!

Some time ago, I treated myself to a book by Elizabeth Wayland Barber, called "Women's Work". This is a book that investigates the use and develolpment of textiles from prehistoric times to the recent past and is a very good read. Among other things, she describes the use of magic numbers in various woven items and how these can be used to enhance the effect of light on the cloth. She talks about weaving with alternating groups of singles threads which are z and s spun and how this must have had some significance to the people who made them which is now lost to us. This fascinates me because I realise just how much  work is involved in planning a project and  brings home to me how much our prehistoric ancestors knew that perhaps we have forgotten.

I haven't woven with singles yarn before, let alone hand spun singles, but in my usual bull at a gate fashion, I'm going to have a go. I'm not sure whether I will be able to incorporate magic numbers as well, but we'll see.

For now, I'm starting with some lovely Tussah silk sliver from Adelaide Walker and I will need to find a way of ensuring that I spin to a consistent thickness, but also make the twist high enough to withstand the hammering it will get during the weaving process. But before I can start, I will have to work out how wide my piece will be, how many ends per inch there will be and how much yarn I will need in z spun and s spun. So in effect, I will need to plan the warp before I've even started spinning and then work out the number of wraps per inch my yarn will need to be. Having made the mistake previously of having more threads than there were heddles I'm not making that mistake again. I hope!

Should I play safe and use wool to start with? Well, wool is a wonderful fibre, but unlike my prehistoric sisters, I am much more free to choose which fibre I want to use and I love the look and feel of silk. Also, I think that it might have a more dramatic effect and that there will be more contrast between the two singles.

That's the theory anyway. Photos to follow in due course!

I'm weaving

So off I go to the Festival of Quilts and I came back with some beautiful silk yarn. This is hand dyed by Oliver Twists who sadly don't have a website, but do go to many shows. This is the yarn which is space dyed. There are two colourways, both orange, green ish, one darker than the other. the warp is the lighter colour and the weft is the darker.

I was so careful measuring and winding the warp, working out the sett, threading in the right order and sleying the reed that I was convinced I had it all done correctly. Sadly life is not that simple. I've come to the conclusion that no matter how many times you count, measure, check it all AGAIN, there's always a mistake you don't spot!

As you can see, there are threads crossing in the reed, so the shed is not opening correctly on some passes and this leads to MISTAKES. But only Allah is perfect and I had already woven too much to start again when I finally admitted that I'd got it wrong.

Anyway, I will end up with a lovely scarf that everyone will admire and say how beautifully woven and I'll bite my tongue and hope that any real weavers will discreetly sigh and not make rude comments!

So a success story instead of weaving problems. Here is my pirn winder made by my lovely DH for me from an old hand drill!

Don't you just love it!! Back to the loom!

Weaving Harris Tweed

The good news is that Harris Tweed is still being woven on the Islands and the independent weavers are flourishing after a bit of a set back. I went to visit Sheila Roderick on the island of Scalpay. both Sheila and her partner John are weavers and although they weave traditional Harris Tweed, Sheila also weaves with linen mohair and other fibres. She is also a hand spinner making beautiful art yarns for sale and for use in her weaving. She does most of her spinning in the winter months and uses a lot of Sparkle to make up for the dark days! At the moment Sheila has a linen warp on her traditional Hattersley loom which she is weaving into cloth that has been commissioned for costumes for the feature film, "The Hobbit". Sheila receives regualr commissions for films, theatre etc and also runs workshops in spinning and weaving on the islands. The couple also run a traditional droft with sheep, chickens and John catches fish fo sale! It's a hard life as the land is poor, but they love it there. I would have loved it more had the sun shone, but it rained so we didn't see it at it's best!

I did manage to find out that there is a group of spinners who meet at the Kildonan centre on the island of South Uist, but was not able to meet up with them. There seems to be a lot of interest in spinning and weaving in the islands, much more so than on the Scottish mainland and long may it continue!

So for my next project, I will be using some yarn that I bought on Harris to weave my own version of Harris Tweed. Sadly, I can't add the trade mark orb symbol to my cloth, unless I manage to take my loom etc to Harris and weave it there. Now there's an  idea!!!

Moebius Madness

You know when someone says, "I've just been on this fabulous workshop and etc...." and they show you what they did and you think, I could do that. Well, this happened to me lately when a friend showed me a lovely moebius scarf she had made at a workshop at a new(ish) yarn shop Create in Ilkely.

So I came home and found some very interesting videos on Youtube and discovered Cat Bordhi and her instructions for casting on and knitting these unusual scarves. It took me a few frustrating goes to learn the cast on and knitting the first row is a bit tricky, but then it's just like ordinary knitting in the round. Except that you end up with this....

It just like magic and it has the added advantage of keeping your neck warm! Now I can't stop knitting them and am getting more adventurous with lacy patterns and fancy yarns. Looks as if all my friends and relations will have very warm necks next Autumn and Winter! Who said that retirement is dull!!!

The importance of clearing the shed!

No, not the garden shed!!!Weaving is continuing apace on my 2/2 twill sample blanket. The photos show my first attempt and highlight the importance of getting the tension even and making sure that all the threads are behaving when you lift the shafts. You can see that there are quite a few missed threads and dodgy bits where I have gone ahead without checking the path is clear for the shuttle to pass through cleanly. So reluctantly, I decided to call it quits for this and cut it off the loom.

This gave me the opportunity to get the warp tied on correctly and even up the tension. What excellent timing because Stacey Harvey-Brown put some instructional videos on Facebook and these were so useful in helping me tie the warp so the tension was even. So now I have cracked the tension problem, clearing the shed is a doddle and my weaving is much better with fewer mistakes!

Next up is clearing Dave's wood work shed! Now there's a job!

Arithmetic as an art form!

I was given a lovely weaving book for my birthday, Designing woven fabrics by Janet Phillips and couldn't wait to get started. The designs in the book are based on  2/2 twill variations, of which there are many and are mostly  to be woven on a four shaft loom. Happening to have such a thing about me, what better I thought than to start to plan to weave Janet's multi section sample blanket in which the 2/2 twill weave structure is developed and explored.

This is where the arithmetic comes in. You can't plan a woven item with artistic ability alone because no matter how artistic you are or how much colour sense you have, you can't do it without a lot of arithmetic and I mean A LOT of arithmetic!

Janet's instructions for planning the warp for her sample blanket are very detailed and show all the threading plans, the sett, the  total number of threads and really she has done all the arithmetic. How simple it should have been. Just get the yarn, wind the warp and get it on the loom! Janet's done all the arithmetic, so I don't have to!

Well of course, like life, weaving isn't that simple! For a start, Janet's warp is 27 inches wide and my loom will only weave a width of 24 inches. Not to worry, I'll leave out one of the sections so my blanket will fit my loom. So now, the width is fine, but oh dear there are still 420 threads and I only have 400 heddles! Then, I can't find a yarn that is the right thickness and my yarn is a lot thinner than the one Janet uses, so I can't use her sett and will have to recalculate that as well!

So, I spent a merry (sic) afternoon with a pencil and a piece of paper designing my own sample blanket and doing my own arithmetic. My blanket has a sett of 32 ends per inch, has eight different threading patterns across the warp and still only uses 380 heddles! Feeling very proud of my efforts, I wound my warp carefully counting that I had the correct number of threads in each group. Double and triple checked them and got the warp ready to get onto the loom.

How is it then that threading my very last group through the heddles I find I'm four threads short! One sleepless night later, and deciding not to unwind the warp and add the additional threads in, I found another threading plan that used the number of threads available! Now to sley the reed, but again, getting 32 threads evenly through a 10 dent per inch reed defeated me as I got the division wrong. Now I have to sley the reed again!

Another book I was given for my birthday is called "Women's Work" by Elizabeth Wayland-Barber. This author is a very academic lady who has done a lot of research into the origins of textile crafts, particularly spinning and weaving and these are described in great detail. It's so humbling to think that even with all my modern equipment, I can't get my loom warped up in one go as so called "primitive" weavers could!

Anyway, I'ff off back to the loom to get the tying up done. Who knows what other mistakes will come to light! Exciting isn't it! Perhaps photos next post!

A New Shawl for a New Year

And so what have I been up to over Christmas while we have been holed up with the bad snow and with running noses and hacking coughs! Well, I decided that it would be a good idea to knit a silk shawl for Karen's 40 th birthday  which is not until 2012, but I wanted to give myself time! Having started this shawl though, I found I simply couldn't put it down and it has been finished in record time!      


Thanks go to my dear SIL for introducing me to the lifeline, without which there would have been a lot more frogging and frustration. This is so simple that I can't think why I didn't think of it myself. all you do is to thread a piece of waste yarn through the stitches after a pearl row. This means that if you drop a stitch, it can't go any further than the lifeline and is easy to pick up.

 These photos show the edging before and after blocking and now that it is blocked, I am quite pleased with it. Unfortunately, the nupps were not all as tidy as they might be. Silk yarn has no stretch and it was difficult to make the loops a consistent size and also get them large enough to ensure all the loops were caught on the peral row. In fact there were one or two which hadn't quite caught correctly and needed a bit of remedial stitching when blocking.

The question now is, do I fold it up and put it away for a year and a half, or do I claim it for myself and start wearing it and make another one for the special burthday present. Decisions so early in the new year!

                                                                                                   

New weaving

So after a cold weekend in Upper Tean with Stacey Harvey-Brown, this was what I had produced. I would not have chosen these colours, but they do show the different threadings across the sample. It may not look like much, but I am so proud of it and I really learned so much over the weekend that my confidence was boosted to an all time high!

Close up to show the threading

It was nice to get back home, but I just couldn't wait to get going and get a new warp wound and on the loom. No sooner said than done and this is the new scarf which has become a minor miracle of sorts !  I used some rayon yarn left over from a previous project to warp up my little Louet 8 shaft loom.

Not only did I manage to wind the warp, but I also got the loom warped up in less than a day all by myself and no tangles! I used the same broken twill threading across the  warp, but tried out a variety of lifting sequences, some of which turned out very nicely indeed.

However, progress was a little bit slow and although I had hoped to weave a long enough scarf to tie it in an elegant draping knot, there simply wasn't time to do that and get the scarf ready to take to Harrogate last Sunday. So, it is recognisably a scarf, and it does drape, but it doesn't make that elegant double knot I wanted! I am also a bit doubtful about the sett of 32 epi as it does appear to be a bit loose, but I have made notes for next time, but not with this yarn!

That pioneering spirit is still alive and kicking

And so to Harrogate on Sunday with Edna, Alison and Ann from Bradford Guild for the Knitting and Stitching Show. It was our turn to man the NASWD stall and also, hopefully to get another look at the show without having to pay!

We had had some snow and our lane was quite icy, but the sky was blue and although snow was forecast we didn't think there'd be a problem getting home from Harrogate. After all, it's only 12 miles! Only!

We spent some time arranging our scarves, gloves, shawls etc and by the time the show opened it was looking very good. Here we are having a quiet moment before the rush started.

There were fewer visitors on the Sunday, possibly due to the adverse weather, but maybe because it is always quieter on the last day. However, we were kept pretty busy and were pleased to see so much interest in joining the guild from some younger people. Time was when we were the youngsters, but now sadly we have become the wrinklies!

We all had a wander around the show and the day was going well until someone mentioned that it was snowing heavily. Oh dear, it wasn't just snowing , it had been snowing hard and as the roads hadn't been gritted, Harrogate town centre was gridlocked!

The DH had left home at 3.30 to pick Alison and I up at 4.15, but didn't arrive in Harrogate until 8.30! Ann couldn't get her car out of the car park, so Edna offered her a bed for the night as there was no possibility of her getting back to Brighouse. Alison and I waited at the conference centre for a while, but the regular mobile phone calls to and from the DH were not encouraging and all the while the chaos continued outside. So we decided to head for Edna's which meant walking up the hill, past Betty's and across The Stray for around a mile or so through ankle deep snow and slush, carrying our bags and the spinning wheel! We got some pretty strange looks!

Edna made us a very welcome cup of tea and also some soup and we sat in front of her lovely wood burning stove until the DH arrived! The journey home wasn't too bad and by 10. 15 we were curled up on the sofa watching the cricket highlights!

I had hoped that I could show you our stand, but Blogger won't upload the photos! Perhaps next time!

The good news is that I seem at last to have mastered the art of spindle spinning. The question is will I continue now that my back and foot have recovered enough to encourage me to try using the wheel again. We'll see!

Getting it all together

So, another dismal November day on Wednesday, but at last I made it to Armley Museum to meet up with Spinners of Aire after a very long gap! We were having a jacob's joint lunch to celebrate Gwen and Russ's golden wedding anniversary. Well done them, and they're still on speaking terms!!!!

Usually these lunches turn out very well with a nice selection of different things. This time though, everyone bought quiche! Well everyone except Alison and Betty. Betty treated us to her usual coronation chicken, which I have to say was as delicious as ever. I took the camera, but, forgot to take any photos!

As I had yet another argument with some steps resulting in a bruised bottom, I am still not spinning on the wheel. I had bought a spindle at Masham from P&M Woolcraft and have been trying to get to grips with spindle spinning. How hard can it be! Well even after twenty years experience spinning on a wheel, you have to learn how to do it all over again! It's slow progress and my spindle spinning coach from spindlers2 finally decided to come to my aid and loaned me one of the new crop they had just got from the USA. The problem it seems is that my spindle was just too light so I now have a borrowed one that is heavier and altogether more successful. Of course, the technique still leaves a lot to be desired and I'm making the fundamental mistake of letting the twist into the roving. However, I will get there!

No photos of the efforts with the spindle, but here is one taken at Masham showing me and my DGD!


Another dismal day on Saturday, but off I went to Bradford guild for a spin and chat meeting. I spent a lot of time chatting and not much time spinning, but I did get some practice with the spindle. Sadly, this was the last meeting Lucy,our webmaster, would be attending as she is off to China for at least two years to do research into Ordovician fossils! She will be missed, but is hoping that she will be able to keep in touch via Ravelry provided the powers that be don't block it! I'm not sure why they would because chatting about knitting and crochet are hardly likely to bring down the regime, however, they are a funny lot!

On the weaving front, we have some progress. A new warp is on the eight shaft Louet and a nice little sampler is underway. This warp went on without any tangles or threading mistakes and has given me confidence to start an actual project, but probably not before Christmas.

Next up is a visit to the Knitting and Stitching show. Let's hope it's not too hot!

Where has the year gone!

I'm ashamed to say that I have been very bad on the blogging front, but in my defence, there has been a lot going on. There have been a number of trips to Somerset and Cornwall to visit the aged relatives and although we haven't had an actual holiday, there have been other treats.

However, I've still not been spinning because as soon as my back got better, I fell and hurt my foot and treadling is a bit of a problem. So, I bit the bullet and bought a spindle, but soon discovered that even with twenty years spinning experience using a wheel, you have to start from scratch to learn how to spin with a spindle! That is on the back burner for now, but perhaps I'll pick it up later.

My big news though is on the weaving front. I decided that I wanted to weave an IKAT scarf and as I was booked to do an indigo dyeing workshop with Magie Relph, I thought it would be nice to use it to dye a cotton warp.  Why did I decide it would be a good idea to make a five metre warp which would use most of the 24 inch weaving width of the Harris loom? All I can say is that it seemed like a good idea at the time.

The yarn is cotton 3/14, sett at 32 epi. It is a little soft, but will drape nicely and I hope it would take the indigo dye very well. So the warp was wound, the cross securely tied and strips of plastic carrier bags tied around in what I hoped would be a pleasing pattern. It did take the dye well, but I hadn't realised just how much a bunch of yarn would resist the dye even in the gaps between the plastic bags. So there was nothing for it but to get the hands in the bucket and wiggle the yarn around to get it throroughly soaked.

If I had known beforehand how many problems I would encounter, I think I would have had second thoughts, but I don't like giving up! It is staggering how ignorant I was of simple weaving techniques. I just didn't know how much I  didn't know! So here it is, warts and all!

So, after the traumas my DH and I suffered getting the warp on the loom, we decided we needed lessons. This is how I came to be spending last weekend with Stacey Harvey-Brown learning the basics and some not so basics. Stacey is a very well known weaver and is an excellent teacher. She helped me get to grips with all the arithmetic you need in planning a project, something I confess I  didn't pay enough attention to! Never again will I take my warp to the loom, only to discover I have more threads than heddles and no idea how to prevent a horrible tangled mess!

My IKAT warp is still on the loom, but is now waiting for me to finish it, but as I have warped up my little Louet with a nice warp, that is taking priority at the moment!

It's a knitting frenzy

Not able to spin because of a bad back, I'm into a knitting frenzy! I have no less than 5 active projects on the go and am giving them each a turn every time I sink back into my chair after little forays to stop my back seizing up altogether!

It is taking me several goes to update my projects on Ravelry, but I will get there and include photos.

The camel and silk sample has been navajo plyed and despite all my efforts to make it really thin, it's not really as thin as I wanted. Still, I have only used around 20grams, so will have plenty left to experiment. Quite what I will make with the 250 grms I was given as a present from the Guild I'm not sure. I would like to make a very lacy beaded shawl, but I ask myself, "Is life too short?" I will consider!