Meanderings of a Mermaid

This week has seen a lot of fibre equipment shifting around throughout the Hill Country. Just my part in this was considerable. First of all I facilitated the selling of a spinning wheel with a large amount of associated gear. Plus the same buyer took a motorized drum carder, with three drums! And there were nice Russian paddle combs in the kit too. I had the pleasure of delivering this full truck load from my home town to San Angelo. She maintains a spinner's flock of fibre animals and it was really fun to see the variety. And great to visit with three spinner friends in that city. A great day was had. And just today I returned from a double header. I purchased a used Rio Grande Kit Loom, which is a type of walking loom. It is a loom that was designed by Rachel Brown and Ron Moore in New Mexico. The original owner may have bought it in 1991. And the second owner bought it in '96. Here is what it looked like in the seller's home. In this photo the back warp beam...

Both sides of this completed rug are displayed here. And both sides can be used. It is about 6 feet long with a linen warp and wool weft. The linen is only visible at the ends where I tied fringe. We drove to the San Saba River where I took these pictures. Normally by now the land is greening up, but due to drought conditions all is still grey and beige, I think you can see where I got my inspiration for the colours of this winter rug. I am not sure yet where I will use this rug. Maybe it will travel to Canada. I made it on my Harrisville Rug Loom with the shaft switching device.

 The mohair locks are being flicked open at the cut end. I try to have them arranged close to my Lendrum wheel, with the flicked end to the left.  On the floor between the treadles I have a cone of commercially spun mohair yarn. This is the core for the new yarn I am making. It is working out very well, because it is a grippy yarn. I hold the flared base of the lock against the spinning core and it attaches quickly. Soon the tip of the lock flips itself away from me, toward the orifice, which is good. I stop the spinning, or slow down significantly, and grab the next lock and repeat. Each one overlaps a little bit with the previous one. They are attached snuggly.  This large ball is about 6 yards of completed tail spun yarn. This is a very labour intensive yarn to make. If I ever plan to sell anything made from this yarn, I guarantee it will not be cheap.  On the bobbin, the yarn appears very unruly. But it is not very difficult to deal with. I do hav...

Well we actually had a little bit of winter here in central Texas. It's over and we survived. Ha ha. The Bluebonnet Special has been initiated with coatings of ice, but we are back from the car wash and the days are sunny now. So what have I been up to, now that the days are getting longer? A fair bit. I think all the same projects as before, plus a couple of new things have arisen.  This deliciously dyed pile is a bunch of mohair locks. It has been patiently waiting in my spinning hutch for a very long time.  Yesterday it made friends with some carbonized bamboo that I was playing with, The colour is a very dark charcoal grey. Much too dull for this mermaid.  The result of their union is "Hot Mess". This is a tailspun yarn, with an invisible binder of very thin monofilament. It was a cheerful spin on a cheerful sunny day.  When I weave with this yarn the loose ends of the locks will hang provocatively from the fabric. I am not sure yet of the pro...

 My time is being pulled in every direction right now and I feel like there is insufficient time left for crafting. Even though I do not get too involved in holiday activities, there is still a bunch that goes on and eats up time. So here is the Lithuanian Sash Rug, underway on my Harrisville Rug Loom. I am weaving it with wool weft. I am about two thirds of the way through the first repeat of the charted design. The reverse side of this boundweave rug has the inverted colours.  This is the chart I graphed out with paper and pencil. I worked on this at camp last summer. The traditional sash design is the dense portion bordered by some faint vertical lines. I added a little bit of geometrics along the sides. It should wind up looking like open Vs along the sides. I hope it looks nice when done. I suspect I will do two repeats of this chart. And the rug will likely be around six feet long. E.H. is my 94 year old buddy who just moved into an assisted living centre. There...

As happens all too often there is a large gap between my posts. Things are busy and sometimes there is nothing to share. But I have been busy and am feeling fine.  In fact I am feeling really fine when I drive this new Colorado. We have called it the Bluebonnet Special! BS for short. Mr says he bought it for me, which is a sweet thing to say, but it is a vehicle for both of us. He will be selling our old truck and this will be the only one for use at Home South. I am looking for any excuse to go for a drive now. I adore the colour and the handling is perfect! I am having trouble entering a space after the gas range photo, so here we go ahead of the photo. This purchase was a necessity. The old range was already when I moved into this house many years ago. And a couple of important things were not working anymore. So I found an early holiday sale and this lovely range came to live with us. I just love the variable burners. For someone like me who loves to cook, this was a ...

 This cloth will become a table runner.  It is 2/10 pearl cotton.  The warp is maroon and the weft is medium purple.  So the colours in the last two images are closer to real.   I threaded the loom with a point twill. It was a suggestion and a mighty good one.  It was easy to see which shaft I was in while threading the 16 shafts.  I really love this  draft I found online at handweaving.net.   I apologize for these two dark photos. I had already turned off the generator so no lights were available. This draft is also from the same archive. I need to weave some more length and then I will try to get better shots.  Same warp and weft as above. I have added these two final photos now that I have woven a few more centimetres of this pattern draft.