My fiber Christmas
I had a very fiber arts related Christmas. TM surprised me by giving me the rigid heddle loom that I had been wanting. I was very much not expecting it. It seems I gave him a bad turn when I enlisted his help to go and collect the floor loom I bought a couple of weeks ago. Since the two looms are very different things, I see no repetition at all. I just have more and different things to play with.
Yesterday I spent getting my new loom ready to put together. They come disassembled and unfinished, so I needed to seal the wood. That was yesterday's project.
There is also a yarn swift in that pile which J. gave me. H. may be as excited about that particular item as I am since she is usually the one who ends up holding my skeins of yarn as I wind them into balls. The swift will save H.'s arms. Since I had the wood finishing wax out, I decided I would also really clean the floor loom. I cut off the old warm and took nearly everything apart and gave it a good cleaning and waxing.
I'm actually glad I decided to take off the old warp. It was exceedingly old and now having disassembled and reassembled it, I feel I have a much better handle of how it works. (This is its new home in the loft that we carved out.) I don't know if you can tell, but it looks so much better after its cleaning and conditioning.
This loom is going to have to wait just a little longer before I use it. Another of my gifts from W. and MC is a warping board (that W. is going to make) and a boat shuttle. I need both things before I can start weaving on it.
I made it through step 1 on the assembly instructions. Step 2 had me calling for J.'s assistance. This isn't actually a surprise to me but I really, really dislike putting things together which call for screwdrivers and other tools. I've decided it's just too much like a giant model and we all know how much I (don't) enjoy putting models together. I probably could have done it if I was all by myself, but I wasn't, so didn't.
Then came time to actually figure out how to warp it. (This is putting on the very long threads which run up and down.) I managed to get it done with the help of a YouTube video.
Once the warp was all tied on, it was time to start weaving. I'm happy to say I am enjoying it as much I had thought I would. Here is some of my first attempt.
Don't be too impressed at the striped. I'm using a variegated yarn, so this is just how it turns out.
I had three yarn cakes of this in my stash. I probably bought it as an impulse buy years ago sometime in February, the month where I begin to crave color and pastels sound appealing. It is about the only time of the year where I will choose pastels over richer colors. It was perfect for a weaving trial run. I'm thinking it will end up making a nice table runner for the spring and will match my Easter egg placemats pretty darn well. The weaving is going much, much faster than I anticipated, so I will probably finish it before the week is through.
This is a good thing because I have one more project for the week before real life starts again. B. gave me this beautiful unwashed fleece (it's from a CVM sheep... and rare breed with long, soft fiber).
If it looks as though it is in a plastic bag, that's because it is. It's actually sealed inside the plastic bag because it smells like sheep rather strongly. I know it's hard to tell, but look at the interesting colors and look at the crimp in those locks! I can't wait to play with it!!
Other than spinning, which I'm feeling pretty competent at, all of these other projects are definitely part of a rather steep learning curve. My ultimate goal? To be able to make something that is hand spun and hand woven from fleece that I've processed myself.
I'm not quite sure how people can be bored. There are just too many interesting things to do in the world.
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Sana