One Mug Rug is Not a Set.

I gave up looking for the blue to go with the pink yarn. I rather like the way the tan looks. Now I can't find the rest of the tan yarn. I know I put it in a clear container to keep it clean, but where did it go?

OK Where's the Yarn?

I decided to do a couple of small projects on my little loom. I managed to find the loom and the heddle and some warp thread and got it warped. I found a shuttle with yarn on it that I could use. But needed another couple of shuttles so I can do stripes.

In the meantime, I took a ball of yarn that was the right color for a stripe. Put it on my desk.

It took several days to find the small shuttles that had fallen behind the desk. I was thrilled to find several the right size for the little loom. Now I can't find that ball of yarn.

I won't mention what my desk looks like....

Make Your Own Niddy Noddy

I wrote an article on Wizzley about making a niddy noddy and how to use one. Read it HERE.

Fustic and Copper

I saved the dye bath from the last post waiting for my little package of copper, or blue vitriol, to arrive. I knew it might make the wool more green so I added about a tablespoon full to the dye bath. This was the second batch of dyeing for the bath and it already had some alum in it. I didn't know what would come out. It turned out to be more of the khaki green I had read about. It's really an interesting color. I'm spinning some up to see it in a yarn.
I'll be doing another batch with fresh ingredients so I'll report back on that soon.

Dyeing with Fustic

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               I had just about had my fill of dyeing brown. I haven't had much luck dyeing a nice dark brown or black. I decided to use up some of the fustic wood chips I've had in a bag for a while. I heard it did a really clear yellow from one source and khaki from another. I read that there is an "old" fustic from south America and a "new" fustic from somewhere else. This is the Old Fustic. Well, nothing to do but give it a go.

I soaked  the chips for a couple of days, simmered them for about an hour and let them sit overnight. I added a pinch of alum and wet yarn. I simmered again for almost an hour and let sit overnight. I was using my stainless steel pot to keep things neutral since other metals can affect the outcome.

It came out a brighter yellow and much more intense than the picture even shows. I was really pleased with the color. I got these chips from a woodworker acquantance of mine. I've read that Osage Orange is a similar dye and that tree grows everywhere down here.

I'm waiting now for my blue vitriol to arrive and I'm going to try that with the dye bath I saved. I'm hoping for an interesting green. I'll keep you posted.                                  

Beginning with Natural Dyes - How to Dye with Tea

Natural dyeing of wool and fiber has become popular as a hobby and an art. Since two batches of the same dyestuffs can vary, each dyeing adventure produces a truly ..read more

A Fantasy

I had a fantasy about how some crafts were discovered. I wrote an article about it on my Wizzley page. You can read it HERE.

Loom SOLD

 Some pictures of a little 4 harness floor loom I have for sale. It folds up and doesn't take up much room. Weaves about 30 inches wide if I remember correctly. I'll double check that as soon as the mud allows me to make it up to the studio. It doesn't have a maker stamped on it. It might actually be homemade, but it is a sturdy little loom. I've woven rugs on it.

Woven billfolds and hats

I've been using my table loom to experiment with new (to me) patterns. The billfold was done in plain weave patterns and opposites. I loved it until I started working on the new one. Now I love the new one....It has some issues with the lining. A friend did that for me and I have to keep a rubber band around it so my pitifully few bills don't fall out, but that will be fixed in the newer model.
The hat was woven using twill patterns from a book by Leclerc that I can't remember the name of at the moment. It was fun to try some new stuff!

AGGGGHHHH.

 I finished a little project on my table loom and started a second one on the same warp. I happily wove a couple of inches before work. When I came home and started to weave again, I noticed a rough spot - the WEFT was broken. I pulled it out and started again, but noticed another rough spot a few rows back. I had to unweave a bit to get to that broken weft. Then I noticed a broken warp. It wasn't at the fell, but back further - more unweaving. Then ANOTHER broken warp. As I was about to fix that, I found ANOTHER broken warp!##@! I gave up and cut it off. I sort of expected the warps to break since I'm using a homemade reed, but the wefts!!!!!??????And 3 breaks in on spot? When they were fine when I left?

When I'm out at an outdoor market or craft fair with my spinning wheel, people often ask me, "What are you making?" I try not to sound sarcastic, but the answer is, as a matter of fact, "YARN." The truth is, I'm not always spinning to knit or weave something in particular.. Sometimes I spin yarn to sell, sometimes just to use up some bunny fur, dog hair or sheep wool that has been accumulating. Sometimes I have something new like raw llama that I just want to see spun up. Sometimes I spin just to relax or to keep my hands busy.
It takes 3-4 times as long to prepare and spin yarn as it does to weave with it. I rarely have the time to do that. I get to spin here and there, in odd chunks of time. I do it just because I like it and want to keep my shelves full of yarn. Weaving takes up great quantities of yarn and when I'm weaving it's full steam ahead.  It has been said that in the days of homespun clothing, it took 7 spinners to keep one weaver busy! No way I can keep up with that!