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Seems I have not blogged in a long time. Not only have I been AWOL from blogging, I also went AWOL immediately post Bill’s neck surgery. So, now what would induce me to leave my husband the day after he came home from the hospital (but never fear, my stepmother came down to sit with him for a week) and brave the 1 digit temperatures in North Carolina? 
(You can see the cold, can’t you?)
Well, only one thing could have done that. Lest you think I was being mean, let me remind you that I had this event planned for 6 months, and Bill’s surgery only came up for discussion within the last month or so. He definitely did not want me to miss my class at Folk School.
The class was “Spinning Colorful Yarns” and was taught by fiber/spinning/weaving expert extraordinaire, Judith MacKenzie McCuin. If you look closely, you can spot her in the classroom.
I just knew, knew, knew she was the best ever teacher, but I was also delighted to discover just what a wonderful lady she is as well. And, oh, the stories she regaled us with!!
Here are the goodies she brought along for us to play with:
Color wheel of 80s merino for us to experiment with. We learned how to spin the perfect sock yarn.
This is really the first time I have actually enjoyed spinning merino.
Then, she brought all this other wonderful stuff to play with. A lot of it came from our friend Jennifer from Spirit Trail Fiberworks. Yum!!!
She also brought a mixture of Cotswold wool and wolf fur, which I enjoyed experimenting with immensely. Well, who would have thought I would enjoy spinning wolf? Who would have thought you could even spin with wolf? And who was brave enough to gather its fiber?
Another goodie was some of Judith’s hand dyed singles, with which I learned to make boucle yarn.
Those who know me well know I have always been stumped by novelty yarns.
Here are some practice yarns:
Boucles and knot yarns.
Novelty mohair slub yarns.
4 ply cabled yarn. 
As well as 6 ply cabled yarn, which I love, love, love.
We carded crazy batts:
And spun crazy batts:
Dyed wool:
We also learned yarn control. Yay!!!
Judith was extremely generous with her time and quite patient with us. What a lovely time we all had.
I also had the very amazing opportunity to watch Lyle Wheeler make a chair, using only hand tools. No glue, no nails, no power tools. This is the man who made my great wheel and my spinning stool. I now have a greater appreciation for these treasures after seeing him work.
I ate well and met some awesome ladies in class!!
It all made up for the cold weather, as I left with a warm heart.
So, that’s my January in a nutshell. I hope you have had an interesting month as well.
I wove this little number using bulky handspun Jacob wool as the warp and a thick and thin single from space dyed roving. Little did I know I would resemble Kureyon to the extent it did. This is a gift that will be wrapped within an hour and delivered to a friend tomorrow.
And, because I’m loving the selvedges:
And “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” at the new “Old Homestead!!
Yesterday, I finished 2 small projects. First, the scarf:
All washed, fulled and brushed and ready to go!! It is nice and fuzzy and soft. This was my first weaving project where I had to fix a broken warp. Worked out fine, and I am glad to have learned a new skill.
Here’s a closeup of the weaving:
Then, I used my Elsbeth Lavold Baby Llama to knit myself a cowl.
Mmmm… it is soft!!
This morning, after having been inspired by the Spin-Off I got yesterday, I decided to start a woven scarf. Yikes, not only did I start it, it is more than 2/3 woven!! How did that happen? I tried something I heard Judith MacKenzie McCuin mention on WeaveCast. She said she always does her “color stuff” in the warp, so I thought I would give it a try. The colors are quite muted, however, since this was gray Border Leicester fiber that had been overdyed and then spun by me. The weft is handspun Jacob. The picture does not quite show how pretty it is, but the colored warp really punches up the brown Jacob.
It will be fulled somewhat when finished, and I think this time I will brush it some. If it turns out well, it just may end up being a gift for someone.
This is my first finished project of woven cotton. It was really knitting yarn and has quite a sheen to it.
You may be surprised what I am using it for. See, we have some nice walk in closets with wood shelving in our master suite area, so this is a shelf protector. I quite like it, so likely will do a couple more at some point.
Okay, so maybe you didn’t want to look in my closet… but its my blog, and what you see is what you get.
In other news, here’s what I did today:
Be sure to go forth and do likewise!!
We live in an area that is not that keen on fairs. Of course, most of the living around here is coastal rather than rural/agrarian. Not that there is not a fair handy nearby. There is a fair in Brunswick, but we went once and were not impressed. It definitely is ALL about the midway and nothing else. The home arts displays/contests leave much to be supplied. So, when I found out there was a small, regional fair around 1 hour away, I decided we should give it a look-see. We went last night. Admittedly, it was very small, but we got to see goats, sheep, bunnies, chickens (included one who looked like Tina Turner, I kid you not!!), cows and horses. We weren’t expecting much else, but they had a “farm” display section with representatives of all of the above, PLUS, a donkey and a very, very cute little male llama. They didn’t have too many home arts (only 3 knitted items that I could see, which ALL won blue ribbons – eh, how could they not if they were different items… one was a pair of socks, another a sampler afghan and the last a cotton dishcloth-in the youth division). All else was crocheted items. However, I spotted 2 very impressive items – one a very detailed, very small gauge counted cross stitch of a small town scene, which took the sweepstakes and the other, some sort of woven rag rug – I couldn’t quite figure the technique, but it had tapestry like detailing in it. Small though this fair was, it was enough to satisfy our urge to “go to the fair”. We had a very nice time all in all.
We are getting a nice, soaking rain today which should be great for the additional sod we added to the sides and back of our house.
I’ve ordered a beginner primitive hooked rug kit and hope it will come today. It will be a nice thing to tackle on a dark rainy day, don’t you think?
Things are happening at the llama farm at an accelerated pace these days.
Yesterday we got CONCRETE!!! What a blessing in the midst of all our dirt and mud. Sally will especially appreciate this addition, since she had the adventure of mucking through my backyard in the pouring rain.
Front sidewalk:
Concrete pad and turnaround in front of our garage:
Back sidewalk:
Which meanders over to this!!
Yipee!!! No more dirt and mud in the studio.
Then also yesterday, we got our Certificate of Occupancy. Yipee!!! We are all cleared to move in now.
We still have several things (of a cosmetic nature) that need tending to, but all the essentials are now in place.
And last, but not least, my studio now has a name. It is The Room of Requirement!!!
Now, so named, because every time I need to put something else in, it “magically” accomodates it.
Pretty cool, huh? See how well my loom fit in? Oh, and now I have cold and HOT running water with plenty of water pressure. Mmmm … feels really good.
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I almost cried when I took this off the loom. Not because it was a disaster, but rather because I finally had my “aha” moment and realized why weavers go through all the aggravation of warping a loom. You see, I resisted weaving for a long time thinking it would be way too much hassle, etc.
For this reason, I won’t talk anyone into weaving. It took me some time to decide it was “for me”. I did find out that once you have the procedure worked out, it really isn’t that much work.
When I released this supple shawl from the loom, I felt as if I were plucking golden apples. It far exceeded my expectations. The colors are lovely, the technical aspects please even me, and when I draped it around my shoulders, it warmed my soul as well as my body.
The nuances of the different colors of hanspsun are washed out in this photograph. This one still isn’t perfect, but maybe you can get an idea, especially if you click on the link and go to the bigger photos.
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This is the shawl I am working on now. I am feeling especially pleased with myself for learning to wind a warp on a warping board. This time, I went all out – this shawl is 24″ wide and will be around 72″ long. I decided to go easy and not weave any type of pattern this time, though.
This picture was taken near the beginning. I am more than half way through now.
It turned out “O.K.” I think its being an acrylic/wool blend made it not be very forgiving of my mistakes. I do really like how the patterning shaped up.
A better idea of how it is being used is in this picture.
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Tags: weaving, handweaving, studio
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