Thursday, February 20, 2020

Creating Spaces

Our big flooring project turned out beautifully. The Man did an amazing job and the downstairs glows with rustic warmth.






Ceramic tile surrounds the fireplace. Laying tile was a new experience for The Man and he said, "I hope I never have to do it again." That's too bad, he does excellent work.




The upstairs bedroom, the Swatch project - my Crafting room - well, it's everything I dreamed about. I love my beautiful space.






The view looking out the window in the morning,




and in the afternoon.




Although I'm still settling into the Crafting Room and figuring out how to arrange my things (the room changes daily), I'm currently trying out my new-to-me Swatch Maker 3-in-1 loom and weaving a little mug rug to match the room's area rug. I'm excited to be using my handspun wool for warp.




Woohoo, Navajo-Churro sheep wool makes a strong warp! That bit of cobweb yarn made me nervous but my spun singles are (so far) holding up to the weft-faced weaving.




Since I was in my Crafting Room I decided to ply the yarn I had spun the day before. It's an Alpaca Blend (60% Alpaca "Relay" and 40% Corriedale wool), grown by Teresa C.


Teresa C. with her lovely luscious Alpaca and Alpaca Blends


The fiber asked to be spun Supported Long Draw so I complied and spun ~ 0.5 oz on the wee wheel, Electric Eel Wheel Nano, my "travel wheel".

Yesterday I wound off the spun single onto my hand and - tada - an Andean Plying Bracelet.




Next both ends were held together and plied (twisted) on the Electric Eel Wheel 5.2, my "plying wheel". The two singles (usually) wind off of the wrist easily and smoothly.










I'm very happy with my 2-ply yarn sample. Less than half an ounce of fiber resulted in 14+ yards of soft, squishy, lofty yarn. I'm looking forward to spinning the rest of the 9 ounce bump of fiber.




Yes, I know I am very fortunate to have a special creative space as well as a (mostly) patient Handy Man to help me create my dreams.