Thursday, October 28, 2010

Hanspun yarn


My loom has been very empty of late, but my spinning wheel has been very full!

There are four balls of yarn in the photo, but the little one on top is a part of the ball on the far right.

On the far left is a chain plied (3-ply) bit of Coopworth. The green in the middle is a 2-ply Romney. The top and far right is more Romney 2-plied.

What am I planning for these? Most likely some weaving. The 3-ply with all its colors is probably going to be an accent yarn. The green may need to wait for a companion yarn before I can decide what to do with it. The top & right yarns will probably be a scarf or something nice and cozy.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

A bit of Sewing


Cool weather has come. My eldest daughter has been growing and requested a new fleece jacket. I hemmed and hawed, and finally gave in. It's taken a week or two to get the fabric, get a pattern (I tried making one, but it didn't quite work out), and get it finished....

But it is done now, and got worn to school today!

:)

Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Paper Bag Basket

Feast of the Hunter's Moon was this weekend in Lafayette, Indiana. I worked at the Wabash Weaver's guild's booth Saturday morning, and then shopped/browsed on my way back to my vehicle. I've been hoping to find some sort of basket to use to haul my things to and from the Feast. One of my friends laughed the year I carried things in plastic bags while still in 1730's dress!

There are arm baskets, and yarn baskets... I was drawn to the backpack baskets. When I got home (without a basket) I needed to do something to ease the desire for a basket! Out came the old Handwoven's and I started working on this little gem.

Elaine Webbeking wrote about weaving baskets from grocery bags in the March/April 1994 issue of Handwoven. Her baskets are beautiful!

I used lunch sacks instead of grocery bags and cut my strips 3.5 cm (instead of the recommended 3.5") due to the smaller size of the bags.

I had to unweave the basket once....but it went back together quickly and my top edge was much better because of the extra care the second time around! It's a small basket and won't help carry my things to the Feast, but it feels good to have woven it.