New (to me) loom.

That pile of loom parts is now a loom.  It's a 1987 AVL 60" 16H Production Dobby.  What a great birthday.

There were just a few small parts, nuts & bolts missing that we were able to find or fabricate.  Dobby and all seem to be functioning correctly though I haven't put a warp on it yet.  It has a double-box flyshuttle but I haven't mounted that.

Most importantly, it's kitty-approved.

Happy Towels

That first set of towels, hemmed and laundered.

The before- and after-wet-finishing is pretty dramatic with this structure.

Morning After

Oh, my.  What have I got myself into?










And I would have to pick one of the hotter days of the year to bring it home.

Another Old Friend

Ha, ha - I just realized this is my first-ever post about spinning.  Oh, have I missed spinning - and I didn't even realize it.  I dusted off my spinning wheel the other day.  Literally dusted it off.  The poor thing was pretty filthy.

I had this "art batt" in a pretty green-based palette of mixed fibers (wool, bits of silk and viscose) that spins up into a textured yarn.  I'd spun a bit of it some years back.  I oiled up the wheel and finished up the batt.

I noticed that the batt had become matted in places.  Not too badly; I was able to coax it by opening it up sideways and then predrafting it lengthwise before spinning.  But that matting that occurred just from it being in the plastic bag and moved from one basket or box to another over the years gave me the idea it might felt well also.  So with some of it I made a piece of matching felt.

Long Warp Continued

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions of uses for a really long narrow warp.  Many people said ribbons and trims, and I had the same idea, so I did try weaving a bit of various narrow warp-faced trims.  But that got old after about six yards.  Plus I kept thinking, the shipment of yarn for sampling for the Very Large Project is on its way; I have to get this off the loom.

So the answer was to pull it off the beam a few yards at a time and make it into cords.  Lots and lots of cords, for hours of ply-splitting fun.

Another UFO Bites the Dust

A non-weaving post...

It took over 20 years but I finally got around to finishing this quilt.  It's a 9-patch, mostly machine-pieced, but I hand-quilted it.

Back when the internet was young and more innocent, I was in a quilt block exchange with strangers from all over the US, Canada and Australia.  We did a block every month. with a theme for each month according to holidays or the season.


 

It just covers the top and a few inches down the side of a queen-size bed.  Around the unbleached muslin strip I quilted the names of the months.

It seems to have met with feline approval.

Sea Shore Warp

Mmmm... fresh warp!  More 22/2 cottolin for another run of towels for the upcoming holiday sales.

I realized as I was winding this one that it reminds me of the sea shore: ocean, sky, seaweed, kelp.

That's A Lotta Warp

In contemplating an upcoming Very Large Project, I wondered how much warp can I put on my Macomber's sectional beam?  I've never had it anywhere near full.

And the answer, for 5/2 cotton at 10 ends per inch, is...

...we may never know, because I stopped at 80 turns.  On my 3/4-yard beam that means 60 yards.  More, I guess, since the circumference grows as the yarn piles up.

Now, it didn't really occur to me when I got the bright idea to do this little experiment, but what on earth am I to do with a 1-inch wide, 60-plus-yard long warp?