So much fiber, so little time

Because I have a

Because I have a new foster dog, I haven't had a lot of time to work on fiber, but I did manage to dye 200 grams of purple/pink fuzzy balls of Clun Forest fleece. They're not quite as smooth as Claudia's fuzzy balls because they're carded and blended from a hackle rather than combed, but my niece will like the colors. Also, this is my dyeing setup. It's a MagnaRange induction burner with a thermostat, which heats any pot made of steel (stainless, enameled steel, whatever). Usually, I dye in the basement, but on Saturday, I did it outside the front windows so I could keep an eye and ear on the newly-introduced canines.

Favorite middle-management saying: "There's no

Favorite middle-management saying: "There's no I in team". Tain't any IQ in it either.

This weekend was my

This weekend was my niece Emma's birthday party. I didn't get too much fibrous stuff done, what with eight hours on the road, but I did take this picture of shadow weave pillows I made years ago for my sister. They're made of 8/4 carpet warp and show almost no signs of wear. Emma wanted to learn to knit, so I tried to show her. She watched with much concentration and attempted it, but, hey, she's only four. We'll try again some other time. I did knit her a Barbie scarf out of a scrap of sparkly yarn - what the naked Barbie accessorizes with :)

Warped at last! I've

Warped at last! I've done the preliminary tensioning, and now it's sitting with the tension cranked up a notch or two. I've found that I can make the final adjustment more quickly if I give the warp time to settle. I don't expect a problem, though, because it beamed on smoothly. The sett wound up at 24 epi instead of the 20 I had planned. Oops! While I was measuring the warp, I suddenly realized I'd been adding four more ends than I had planned to each wide stripe, but sleying at 24 kept the width where it should be.

A productive day - the

A productive day - the warp-dominant rugs are sleyed and threaded. I'll beam them tomorrow when I'm less tired (the poor pup was restless last night, and I didn't quite get enough sleep). My musical accompaniment was Da Vinci's Notebook. Check them out - they're both funny and talented. Their web site has some MP3 samples.

It was a rough

It was a rough day for the dog. Sometime in the last 24 hours, she managed to lick all the hair off two of her toes, leaving the skin on the point of bleeding. So off we went to the vet. Now we have drugs :) This is, of course, throwing all my fiber stuff off, but I'm still aiming to warp the rugs this weekend. If I can get them woven during the week, then I can deliver them to my mother next weekend at my niece's birthday party. Apparently both my niece and nephew want to learn to knit, so I'll also try to get some bulky yarn and needles to get them started. My handspun frog hair ain't gonna do it!

This is a remnant

This is a remnant I picked up at the fabric store, just to analyze the weave structure. It's mostly blocks of straight twill, woven as 3/1 twills or as alternating false damask and basket weave, but it uses a few more shafts for the floats. More than I have, I fear, but it's still interesting..

Voila! The infinite fleece

Voila! The infinite fleece is carded. I still need to use the hackle and diz to draft it into balls, but getting this far, mostly yesterday and today, is very satisfying.

The best laid plans have

The best laid plans have completely tanked. I did get the rug warp measured, but I a) decided to make a few more rugs, which doubled the warp length; b) needed a new vacuum to attack the dust hefalumps under the loom; c) had to find a place for the bins of fleece living between the cloth beam and the beater; and d) had to install computer hardware and software for the alleged DSL connection. So I'm not weaving, but I am making great progress on carding the Clun Forest fleece. The new vacuum will at least be handy for picking up the bits of debris accumulating under the drum carder. A note on tools: a hoof pick makes a nifty batt doffer (at a cost of about $1), and inexpensive folding workbenches (mine cost about $25 unassembled) are great for carders, pickers, and anything requiring clamps.

Free at last, free at

Free at last, free at last! My weekend starts tonight, and I'm about to start measuring the rug warp. I'll warp tomorrow, once I (ahem) clear off the loom - when not warped, looms tend to acquire stuff, not to mention dust elephants underneath.

V�vmagasinet came this week with

V�vmagasinet came this week with an interesting boundweave rug. The warp was 12/6 cotton, and the weft was dyed jute, both from Borgs V�vgarner. It looked nice, although I'm not sure I'd want a jute rug under bare feet. But I will play with the draft to get a better understanding of the structure.

At left is the

At left is the final wrap sample for two smallish rugs (2 ft by 3 ft) for my mother's kitchen. She used to have this rug in the bathroom, but it doesn't match the new carpet. Turns out it fits in the kitchen by the stove, so I'm going to use some of the same 8/4 carpet warp for rugs under the other two working spaces in the room. The new rugs will be warp-dominant instead of warp-faced and should warp and weave quickly. That's next weekend's project

Otherwise, I'm knitting away on the Pasque Flower shawl while watching Rumpole of the Bailey. RIP, Leo McKern.