Wayback Weaving

One of the buried treasures I found in the last round of move-my-stuff was this small-loom weaving I did in a workshop at French General in… 2014. (Here)

The original intent was to make a pincushion - it only lacked having the tails woven in - so I ironed interfacing over the side tails to hold them in place, 

glued a small piece of Soft and Stable to the backing to (hopefully) keep pins from sticking me through, sewed it up and trimmed off the yarn tails - no weaving-in required!

Turning it right-side out was tough. It’s so small - only 2x4” - and the fabric so thick, I couldn’t do it by hand. Hemostat to the rescue! It was still a chore but it worked. 

Stuffed it with walnut shells, glued and hand-stitched the last side closed and voilá! Another tiny pincushion for my collection.

It’s lumpy and bumpy and not very tidy - it was definitely prettier as a flat weaving - but I like it and it’s useful. Bonus - it brings back some truly great memories. 

Weave It

On our last day in CO, Cyrus brought out her SampleIt rigid heddle loom.

It’s been awhile(!), 

so I looked up YouTube how-to videos and we eventually got it warped.

Then while Cyrus wove,

I stuffed and sewed closed the lap stitch pillow I made for Rachel. 

Hedgehogs!

I love crafty days! 

The yarn we picked wasn’t the greatest (it was grabby and started shredding in the heddle) but it worked fine as a refresher. Can’t wait to see what she makes next! 

40 Bags Challenge

It’s that time of year again and, this time around, it’s crafting clutter that’s in my sights. I’ve done the “40 bags in 40 days” challenge a couple of times before. The idea is that one bag (you decide what size) of crap stuff gets trashed, donated or given away each day for 40 days. 

I get overwhelmed thinking about cleaning out an entire room, so nothing gets done. But I can do one bag - one small area - each day. Small steps, same end goal.

Today I cleared out the weaving yarns and books I had packed away in this cabinet. I sold my 4-harness loom earlier this year and don’t feel the need to buy another. I’m keeping my rigid heddle looms in case I get the weaving bug or the girls want to make something. I kept the books that might be useful for that - and the overshot weaving books I love - but that’s it. 

Everything else - a big trash bag of coned yarns and a box each of weaving books and magazines - is outta here! Hopefully someone at the next spinning and weaving guild meeting will want most of this. The rest gets donated or trashed. 

First Weaving

Leanne's first project is off the loom, washed, hemmed and living at her house.

 

She's pleased with her towel,

 

as well she should be.

 

Didn't she do a nice job?

 

I was surprised by how well she remembered the different steps

 

and how conscientious she was, always trying to get it right.

 

I think she's going to be a natural at weaving. 

Weekend Weaver

Taking Deborah's dish towel weaving class - plus teaching the little girls - has gotten me fired up about weaving again.    

 

I have very little interest in multi-harness weaving anymore; it's just too time consuming and too hard on my back. In fact, I've put my Baby Wolf up for sale. A tough decision but she's sat in a corner, unused for over five years. It's time.

 

Rigid heddle weaving though? Simple and quick to warp, easy on my back (when I remember to use a tall table), with lots of interesting things to try.

 

So Saturday I joined Deborah in her studio for a color blended scarf class. So fun - and done before I went to bed that night, including wet finishing, because . . .

 

 

I needed the loom for Sunday's tool bag weaving class.

 

This one used a variable dent reed (brand new toy tool) so the cloth is sturdier/thicker on the left side (tan yarn) than on the right, which will allow the finished bag to stand upright. 

 

I finished weaving the fabric at home Sunday night but haven't done the zigzag stitching and wet finishing yet.

 

I'm a little nervous to cut up my weaving but I'm also excited to have a woven-by-me tool bag to show off.

 

We'll see if excitement or dread wins out over the upcoming holiday weekend.

Edit: found this pic from Sunday's class online. Fun day!

 

Weaving Trifecta

Leia saw Leanne weaving today 

 

and decided she wanted to give it a try.

 

Of course, I said "no".

 

Riiiiiight.

 

I'd purchased another Ashford SampleIt loom after we got home from visiting Addy, just in case Leia was interested.

 

Leia picked her yarns, designed a warping plan (it involved multiplication; she was very excited to use her math skills) and we got most of the warping done before bedtime.

 

 

I plan to finish tying on in the morning and have it ready for her to start wefting when she gets out of school.

 

Crossing my fingers she likes it …

I Can Do It

Leanne decided she wanted to do a little weaving before she went home today. I asked if she needed help - nope, except to move her chair closer to the table and fix one crossed thread about halfway through her session. Be sure to watch her feet when she beats. So funny! 

Weaving Continues

Leanne and I picked up weaving where we left off on Tuesday and started threading the "holes" in the reed. 

 

Leanne is a fast learner and was soon inserting the heddle tool (her original job)

 

and placing the thread so it could be pulled through to the correct place (my original task.) We only made one mistake in the threading and it was, ahem, my fault. Oopsie.

 

Leanne also learned the proper way to load a stick shuttle. 

 

It took a couple of tries to remember the figure-8 path 

 

 but she was a pro by the time we were done. 

I tied the warp to the front beam while Leanne took a break for reading, gummies

 

and a bike ride to the park 

 

 

with Hoppy and Pop. 

 

Just before bedtime we started the fun part. I showed Leanne the process twice, then let her take over.

 

 I know I sound like a ridiculously biased Grandma, but she caught on super quick.

 From inserting the shuttle,

 

to placing the weft thread at an angle,

 

then firmly beating

 

before moving the reed up or down. She can do it all.

 

I'm so d*mn proud, I could spit.

Spring Break

It's spring break for the local grand-girls. Leanne and JacJac are with us all week (except Wednesday) and I have daily projects planned to keep Leanne entertained and happy. (And also to uphold my reputation as the "fun" grandma.😛)

 

So on Monday we tried a new recipe for cinnamon roll cake, with added chocolate chips,

 

that Leanne announced was the "bestest." She did all the measuring and mixing and licking of spoons - this girl is enthusiastic about baking. We also practiced her "sight" words - which she loves to do, especially after I offered to pay $1 for each practice session - and she read three first grade-level books to me. 

 

Today we visited the Easter Bunny - Jac wasn't sure she liked having her picture taken and flat refused to smile;

 

took a stroll around the mall 

 

for pretzels and croissants;

 

visited Mom so I could get more houseplants to kill;

 

then started warping the rigid heddle loom for Leanne's first set of dish towels.

 

Leanne picked the colors - and the color order - 

 

and was responsible for pulling the threads around the warping peg. 

 

We got the warp almost completely rolled on before it was time for Leanne to go home (and her attention span started to run out.) Thursday we'll thread the heddles and (hopefully) start weaving. Hooray!