My first rigid heddle weaving project.

I mentioned a while ago that I was taking Weaving 1 at The Yarn Tree. It was 10 weeks of how to set up and weave on a rigid heddle loom. The store owner and weaving teacher, Linda LaBelle, uses the Kromski Harp for her classes. She loans you the loom so you don't have to purchase anything. I already had a loom because last year I had acquired a used 24" Kromski Harp Loom from Craig's List. It sat around under a pile of yarn and fiber until this year, April 2010. I finally took the plunge and signed up for the 10 week class. I can tell you that I do not regret it.

We made a sampler using acrylic yarn. She taught us weaving patterns and techniques for 4 weeks. It was a lot of fun just to practice and not worry about the finished product. After the 4 weeks, we began our final project. For the final project, it was going to be a scarf. After learning that I spin, she suggested I used my own handspun yarn.

This beautiful roving is Pigeonroof Studios Extra Fine Merino. I think it took me over 6 months to finish it. But only because I wasn't actively working on it. When I knew that I was going to be using it for my final project, I sat down and cranked it out. It was totally worth it because the finished yarn was amazingly soft and springy. And I adore that deep red color.I ended up with 2 skeins of a different gauge yarn. Totally my fault since I let too much time lapse in between working on it. I started spinning it thicker when I decided to finish spinning it because I couldn't remember how fine I was spinning it. The earlier spinning was very fine. Luckily for me, my teacher said that gauge didn't really matter with weaving and I could still use both.
She had everyone use the same yarn for the weft. It's called Tussah Fleck and it's a beautiful natural color silk. It's great to work with because it's super strong. There was no worries about it breaking. It's also amazing that all the students used the same warp, but we all ended up with different scarves. She let us bring in any yarn we wanted for the weft. The Tussah Fleck is neutral enough to go with any color. I plan on using it for future projects when I get a chance.Look at the final scarf! I love it so much. After a soak in Eucalan Wash, it bloomed beautifully.I used a combination of techniques I learned on this scarf: Leno, Warp Face, Weft Face, and added Weft Protector (aka hem stitch) for some texture. For the fringe, it’s a twisted fringe.We were encouraged to not follow a pattern. Just do what we wanted at any point of the scarf. For me, that was hard. Though I did the best that I could to free myself up from being rigid. The great thing about the yarn is that it did a lot of the work for me. I chain plied (aka navajo-plied) it so the colors would stripe like that. I love it!

It took me a week to complete this scarf. Which was 3 weeks earlier than I was suppose to . Um yeah, I think the other students wanted to throw their shuttle sticks at me when I came into class with a finished scarf. So what's a girl to do? I started and finished 2 more scarves before the last class! The last class was about fringe techniques.

I will be starting Weaving 2 this weekend and I am very excited about it. The whole 10 weeks will be dedicated to working through the book, Textures and Patterns for the Rigid Heddle Loom by Betty Davenport, from the first page to the last. There will not be a final project for this class because it's technique based. But I can only imagine the the textures and patterns I will be able to apply to my weaving when the class is done.

Stayed tune for my other woven scarves and other fun things I have planned. There will be 2 book reviews and giveaways coming up soon.

Hand dyed, Hand spun, and Hand knitted by Me.

Around January, Rebekah and I had a impromptu craft supply swap. She had admired a red blanket that I knit for Melody a while ago, so without her knowing, I sent her the rest of the yarn so she could knit her own. A few weeks later, I was surprised with a box full of goodies: Japanese felting books, felting needles, a bag full of colorful roving for felting, undyed Shetland Combed Top, and part of an embroidery kit.

She originally was going to use the undyed Shetland wool as the stuffing inside felted animals. With 4 oz of undyed fiber on my hands, my mind turned to spinning. So, one night, I pulled out the dye pot and kettle dyed the Shetland Combed Top. It was my first time dying roving and it went well. My fear was that the roving would fall apart as soon as it hit the water, but I was gentle and none of that happened.It dried by the next day, so I practiced braiding it into those pretty braids that you see when you buy roving/combed top.The spinning was a two part process. I had begun spinning half of it and then forgot about it for many months. I finally decided to finish it when I cleaned up my room and unearthed the spinning wheel. This was the thinnest yarn I have spun so far. It's a 2 ply, 395 yards of fingering weight (19 wpi). I was thrilled with how the yarn came out.I knew that I wanted to gift this yarn to a knitting friend of mine, but I thought that knitting her something with it would be even better. Ishbel by Ysolda Teague was a fun and fast knit. It's my first lace shawl project and it couldn't have been easier. I never had a problem with the stitch count like a lot of people on Ravelry. I made sure to keep my markers on the center stitch, which required moving it every so often but I think that helped.I made the Large Stockinette and Small Lace. I really wanted to show off the hand spun and felt that a larger stockinette would show more of the colors.Towards the end of the lace charts, I thought I would run out of yarn and would have to cut out part of the charts. Emily, from my knitting group, suggested I put in a life line just in case. With the life line in place, I was able to knit on with confidence and didn't care if I ran out of yarn because I could always rip back to the life line. Well, it was my lucky charm, because I finished it with plenty of yarn to spare. 395 was more than enough for a Large Stockinette, Small Lace Ishbel.I am going to give this to my friend for her birthday next year. It's at the end of February, so I am really proud of myself for being really ahead of schedule.

Pattern: Ishbel by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Hand dyed, Hand spun Shetland Wool by me. 395 yards of 2 ply fingering weight. (I had leftover yarn.)
Needles: US 6/ 4 mm
Size: Large Stockinette, Small Lace. 55 inches across, 20 inches from the top to the bottom point.

Spinning Out of Control

Just when I thought life was getting back to normal, something always goes wrong. We are having out of town guests back to back from this week until next week. As soon as one is gone, the next person will be arriving. It's family coming to spend time with Melody so I don't mind at all. I have spent the last 2 weeks cleaning and organizing, but now it feels great to have the house neat for once.

Melody came down with a fever on Thursday night, but was still acting fine. Today, she is coughing (it sounds horrible) and she still has a fever. Plus, she is extra cranky. I was a little worried because she played with a neighbor's kid on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. He had strep throat, but his mother told me he wasn't contagious anymore and was continuing taking his medicine. I called her doctor this afternoon and they told me that it sounds as though she has a upper respiratory cold and that children her age are not susceptible to getting strep throat. Well, unless one of the family members has it and none of us has it. So, the poor little thing just has to fight through this on her own. It's hard listening to her cough as she is sleeping at night. I am trying really hard not to get sick, too. It was only weeks ago when the whole family was sick and we were all really miserable.

Since I have been cleaning and organizing, I was able to unearth my spinning wheel from a pile of laundry (that just needed folding) and other junk. My craft area is in the corner of my bedroom, so lots of things end up getting piled in front of it. It has been a while since I spun anything, but it got addicting pretty fast. The above photo is a merino/bamboo roving that has been a dream to spin. That's one bobbin full and the rest will go on another bobbin for a 2 ply.

I spun this up many months ago, but I forgot to blog about it. It's the January 2009 colorway from Funky Carolina's Fiber Club. The color is called Boom and it's Superwash BFL fiber.
I spun it into a 2 ply, Worsted-Bulky weight, 108 yards.

I received this fiber as a birthday gift this year from a friend. Fiber Optic Yarns, 50% Superwash Merino & 50% Tencel. The colorway is called Limehouse Blues. This was my first successful attempt at Navajo-plying. My first skein was such a mess, I threw it away. I still need more practice, but this skein didn't come out too badly. My hand movements was much more fluid after I got the hang of it.It's Super Bulky and I only got 48 yards. Not sure what I can do with such little yardage, but it has been hanging up in my room for me to look at for the last few months.

My First Handspun Sweater (baby sized).

The fiber is from Maine Woods Yarn & Fiber. It's a soft corriedale roving in the colorway, Sonoma.I spun up 3 bobbins to make a 3 ply yarn. Since I am a newbie, 1 bobbin ran out first, so I was left with 2 bobbins. It got turned into 2 ply yarn.I also had some of Tarragon's roving left on a bobbin. It's the one that Julie gifted to me and I had used to make my first yarn with. So, I took the leftover to practice Navajo plying which was really hard at first. I practiced for 1 full evening on some other yarn and made a complete mess. The next morning I used the leftover Tarragon single and it worked like a charm.I wasn't too crazy about the final result of the Sonoma colorway. I think it may have been a little too pink for me. One night I spotted this sweater pattern while browsing on Ravelry and knew the yarn was perfect for this pattern. I may not like the color, but I thought it would look cute as a baby sweater.I used the white for the stripes and it was the perfect amount. The Tarragon yarn was amazing to knit with it. It has such spring in it. I think it's a Cormo/Romney mix. Just so some of you are not confused, Tarragon is the name of the sheep that Julie bought the fleece from.This is the back of the sweater. Look how amazing the colors are. I have to say that I am extremely proud of this sweater. I never thought that I could spin yarn and make something nice looking with it. My friend, Tomo, said that I made the sweater from scratch. That does sound pretty cool.Of course, the recipient of the sweater is Melody. I made the 18 month size and ran out of the 3 ply Sonoma yarn. Since it was at the bottom where the ribbing was, I just used the 2 ply which was a slightly smaller gauge. It's hardly noticeable.She is not crying or screaming in this photo. Lately, she is such a ham and really likes making funny faces.The sweater has a gathered yoke, so it gives it a puckered look. I blocked it, so it's not as pronounced. It's a bit big for her right now, especially the capped sleeves. They sometimes stick out when she is moving around, but I really didn't want to make it smaller because people on Ravelry have said that it runs small.


Pattern: Striped Smock Top (Ravelry link to Free PDF)
Needles: US 7 / 4.5 mm and US 5 / 3.75 mm
Yarn: My own handspun yarn (fiber from Maine Woods Yarn & Fiber). Sonoma colorway 3 Ply, 113 yards, Sonoma colorway 2 ply, 36 yards. Tarragon's roving Navajo plied, 48 yards.
Size: 18 months
Mods: Instead of M1, I used PFB(Purl Front and Back) for the increases to avoid holes. I found this YouTube Video helpful.

Birthday Presents

My Chinese New Year Dinner went well even though it was a lot of work. I don't cook Chinese Food that much and now I remember why. There is so much prep work involved before the food could be cooked. My mom gave me recipes over the phone and like most Chinese recipes past down, there is no measurents or quantities. Luckily, that is my style of cooking anyways.

Want to see what I got for my birthday? I got to open my gifts from my sister early because she was here for Melody's birthday party. She got me a set of cute Ice Cream Sandwich Makers which I will have to give it a try soon. And a Domo Kun calendar because I started collecting Domo Kun stuff when they were available at Target during Halloween. And for the knitting related part of her gifts, this book.I can't wait to make something from this book.
My good friend made me these socks! She is the one that I stay with when I go to NYS Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck. The yarn is from Shelridge Farm, called Soft Touch Heather in the color, Leaf. I picked out the yarn while we were in Rhinebeck last year and she promised to knit me some socks. I told her that she could pick the pattern and she chose Monkey by Cookie A.I love them! My first pair of hand knit socks. Sadly, I have yet to knit a pair for myself.And she also gave me FIBER! Fiber Optic Yarns, 50% Superwash Merino & 50% Tencel. The colorway is called Limehouse Blues. Which segways perfectly into my next topic.
My first spinning wheel. This is a combined Christmas and Birthday Gift from DH. I spent a lot of time researching and bothering Julie and Micki through emails. Orginally, I thought I was going to buy a Louet Victoria because DH and I saw someone spinning on one at a local fair over the Summer. I liked that is was small and can fold up. And then I entertained the idea of a Ashford Joy which is also portable, folds and is small. Ever since, I gave up the second bedroom to Melody, there isn't much space in the house for my hobbies anymore, so I thought something small would be good.In the end, I decided on the Rose by Majacraft. Small is good, but the small portable ones all had limitations. And if I know myself, I will probably out grow it. I only intend to own one wheel and I didn't want to have to upgrade late on. With the Rose, I will never have to upgrade. I am not sorry I bought it. It's beautiful and spins like a dream.Surprisingly, this is not a hobby that I thought I would try. After seeing someone at the local fair, DH, asked if I would want one and offered to buy me one. Boy, was he sorry when I checked the prices on the Internet as soon as we got home. My only attempt at spinning was with a Drop Spindle many years ago and I was horrible at it. I was really worried about making such a large purchase and not knowing if I will like it. I thought that I might take some classes, but Rhinbeck arrived before I even got to sign up. So, I got to play with the spinning wheels at Rhinebeck. I got mini lessons from the Vendors at Rhinebeck, but I still was pretty horrible at it. One of the women that I was shopping with (a friend of a friend) was good at spinning and she was very patient in explaining things to me. She said that I had the treadling part right and just needed work on the drafting and twist thing. I had a tendency to keep treadling without releasing the yarn and it would get all twisted. Spinning takes a lot of coordination with your hands and feet.The wheel came with one free pound of Louet Wool Fiber. So, as soon as I assembled it (which was really hard for me), I was able to practice on the free fiber. The brown one is the free wool and on the right, Julie generously sent me some of her wool. The fleece came from a sheep named Tarragon. Julie bought the sheep's fleece and had it processed at a mill. She also sent along some hand lotions that she makes. It's a good idea to keep your hands smooth and supple while spinning.Everyone kept telling me at Rhinebeck that if I keep practicing, I will have an "Ahah!" moment and everything will makes sense. It's true. While I did horribly at Rhinebeck (granted it was my first time ever), I got the hang out it on my own wheel at home. I had a great time spinning with the fiber that Julie gave me. I spun up two bobbins worth.Then I plied both the yarns together and I got YARN! My first handspun yarn. Lots of mistakes were made, but I am pretty proud of it.I ended up with 346 yards of handspun yarn. It is thick and thin in some areas, but I would say that it is mostly Sport weight to Worsted weight. A huge Thank You to Micki for virtually helping me spin my first yarn. I think I emailed her a thousand times while I was doing it and she patiently answered all my questions.