learning to weave

Since my Ashford rigid heddle loom came in the mail (and I worked up the courage to put it together :o) I have been really enjoying learning how to weave. Weaving is very different from knitting.

• while knitting is super portable, weaving isn't
• knitting uses a lot more yarn than weaving to make a similarly sized item
• weaving goes faster than knitting
• some yarns seem better for knitting or better for weaving

My current project on the loom is a set of four place-mats, and uses some odds and ends of cotton yarn, in a rainbow of color for the warp and black in the weft.

My last project was a nice long scarf. I decided to use some Darn Good Yarn recycled sari silk yarn for the warp, which was probably a mistake. I had used the yarn before as a weft, which worked fine, but it was not so good on the warp. I used a variegated pink (red, fuchsia, tan) alpaca yarn with the scarf, and that I was very happy with. The scarf is a little too openly woven, but it does have a nice drape, and it is very pretty. The colors go together very well.

The project before that was another scarf, using fingering weight superwash wool that I dyed sapphire blue, silver gray, and chestnut. I dyed on the stovetop, using a dropper to add color. It is not a completely controllable method, but it gives a nice mix of solid and blended color for a really pretty yarn.

ps. I will add photos soon

woolen language

Dyed in the wool: The phrase relates to the medieval method of adding dye to raw wool rather than to spun wool or finished cloth. The final colour was much more long lasting and deeply ingrained than dyeing at later stages of manufacture. If something is dyed-in-the-wool, it's unlikely to change.

Pull the wool over your eyes: may have come from the practice of wearing woolen wigs

Spinster: originally, someone who made her living from spinning wool. So many single women had this profession that it gradually came to mean an unmarried female.

The last one has nothing to do with wool, but it was funny, so I wanted to include it. It is also surprisingly recent. Pull your chain: This North American slang originated in the 1980's. Feisty Charlotte Whitton, the former mayor of Ottowa, was introduced to the mayor of London, England. He was wearing many medals and chains of office, while she only had a flower in her lapel. The mayor of London haughtily asked, "if I smell your rose, will you blush?" and she asked in return, "If I pull your chain, will you flush?"

weaving 101

I recently got a loom for weaving- a small simple one that came in the mail in pieces. Fortunately, it was pretty easy to put together, once I got started. The holes were all predrilled, and the directions were clear.

For my first scarf, I chose a peach cotton crochet thread for the warp, and a vivid red recycled sari yarn for the weft. I thought the colors worked nicely together, and that the texture of the recycled yarn came across better, perhaps, in weaving than in knitting. The red yarn has bits of light patches, which makes a nice overall pattern in the scarf. The weave is pretty open- it might be interesting to try this combination again with a reed with more strands per inch. Still, I was happy with my first efforts, and looking forward to many more projects in the future. :o)

a rhyme explained

I found this interesting explanation of the following children's rhyme online. The explanation follows the verse,

Baa, baa, black sheep,

Have you any wool?

Yes marry, have I,

Three bags full;

One for my master,

One for my dame,

But none for the little boy

Who cries in the lane.

{ The sharing out of wool bales in this rhyme is attributed to the export tax imposed on fleece in 1275. The purpose of the tax was to protect the English textile industry from foreign competition and to increase the value of exports. Woolen cloth commanded a much higher price than fleece, and both were of great importance to England's wealth.

The colour of the sheep in the rhyme must also be of some significance. Black wool is very difficult to dye and would therefore seem to have little application in spinning and weaving. However many shepherds prized black fleece and would keep one coloured sheep in a flock of white ones. When the fibre was prepared for spinning a little of the black was mixed in with the white to produce a light-grey wool. The cloth made from 'grey' wool was believed to be warmer and more weather proof the wool made from white fleece. Unlike the pure black wool it could be dyed without difficulty. Source 2.}

going high-tech?

Yesterday I got a cell phone for my business :o) It is a little tracfone that I picked up at Target. It has voicemail, it can text (not planning on using that feature), and it takes pictures. Pretty cool, but the best part is that this phone can be used without a monthly plan. One buys cards that give a certain number of minutes, and a certain number of days of service. My phone is one that automatically doubles the number of minutes for every card purchased (another nice feature). So I bought a 120 minute, 90 day card, but with the doubling and the coupon that came with the phone, I really have 280 minutes. Well, minus the minutes I used to set up my voicemail :o)

Gift Box Blues

when you've got stuff to package
and it needs to look real nice
then you start researching boxes
and find ridiculous minimum orders
(like a thousand) ouch!
then you find some cool packaging
but it costs five dollars a box
that's when you've got...
the gift box blues

Lol- I don't know how many hours I have put into finding just the right boxes so far. The ideal solution would be boxes that I can use to store finished items in before they sell. That could help keep me organized, and if things are already packaged and ready to go, that would also speed up the shipping process. I have shelves in my workspace where I can stack gift boxes, and I have items ready to be boxed up. The challenge now is to find the boxes.

There are a lot of creative ideas that one could use for packaging. Several sites had these little reusable backpacks (that are often used as giveaways with advertising on them). One had a minimum order of 100- it went up from there. That's kind of a problem for me. And the other problem is the risk of buying 100 of these things without seeing them. Plus, if one were to use something like that for packaging, it wouldn't do anything to protect the item, it would only be like gift wrap. Now, the idea of people wearing little Penguin Feathers backpacks around is pretty cool. I may eventually look into this further. It would be good advertising.

However, I am not to the point of advertising yet. First I need to have items to list, then I need to list them... I have some cool stuff that I haven't listed yet because I don't have the packaging figured out. *sigh* so many elements to figure out!

roses in the litter

The other day I was blankly staring at the floor next to the litter box- which had some litter on it, because my cats feel the need to really dig vigorously in the box. Anyway, for a moment, this sprinkling of litter took the form of a scarf in an overall pattern of gray roses. It was elegant. It was beautiful... Then it was cat litter again :o)