Taking it Outside

Nice day to be outdoors.

 

11:45 am

 

T-shirt loops for the second mat.

 

 

How to make t-shirt yarn:

Take one loop,

 

stretch it,

 

then join the stretched loops -tada - t-shirt yarn.

 

Easy weaving and it is so relaxing.

 

2:08 pm

Weaving a Mat

You can always tell when The Man is not home: Crafty stuff happens.

I started the t-shirt project yesterday and worked through the evening and into the night.

The weaving went fairly quickly even though each pick of weft yarn (aka t-shirt loop) was beat into place with a Tapestry Beater.

 

 

End of Warp, a few picks of edge border before going to bed.

 

 

Finished up today:

Edge border hemstitched, packed down, and knotted.

 

 

 

Size of mat off the loom ~ 14.5 x 23 inches (before wet-finishing). Not too floppy it stands up by itself.

 

 

I am very pleased with the results.

 

 

This afternoon I warped the 20" Schacht Flip again with a 72" length of warp. The first warp - a sample - was only 42" long.

 

 

 I am planning to make a second duplicate mat and have leftover warp to sample another idea.

 

 

Something New from Something Old

Started a new project today with old t-shirts.

 

 

I cut across the "body" of the t-shirt to create t-shirt loops, about one-inch wide. It was easier to use the scissors (brand new) vs the rotary cutter (old blade).

 

 

Seven of my old t-shirts.

 

 

 

 

Mostly On Repeat

 Today I roasted Butternut and Delicata squash to make a salad. Same same.

 

 

Finished another sock toe. Same same.

Then I watched half of Liz Gipson's video, "Twice as Nice: Weaving with Two Heddles on a Rigid-Heddle Loom". Not same same.

 

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.

Swatch

swatch: (1) a sample of cloth or other material, (2) a sample, patch, or characteristic specimen of anything.

The decision was made before Thanksgiving. The downstairs carpet needed cleaning before our Holiday guests arrived. And, you know, since the cleaners were going to be here anyway they might as well clean a few areas upstairs as well. The quoted price was over $300. Big bucks.

The downstairs carpet was looking pretty shabby so instead of cleaning we opted to replace the carpet with "Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring". It looks like wood but better - scratch, stain, and waterproof, i.e. dog-proof. We got 32 boxes of "Trail Oak", nearly a full pallet. Bigger bucks.

It was going to be a big project so we decided to work on a smaller project first. Off and on for the past year I had been yammering suggesting that I needed a larger workspace. My "creativity" had grown beyond the bounds of my craft room and as my enthusiasm for hand spinning grew so did my bins of fiber supply.

The Man encouraged me to take over one of the two guest bedrooms. I grappled with the idea because I did like my overnight guests to be comfortable. In the end, I liked the idea of having a "studio" better.  I bought a Queen-sized Aerobed and The Man started work on the larger guest bedroom.

New lighting.

My new room is finished and it's a beautiful space. Right now it's housing some furniture as work gets underway downstairs. But I did manage to move a few of my things in.

Like I said, it's a beautiful space, thanks to The (Handy) Man.