New Kromski Rigid Heddle Loom

I got a Kromski Rigid Heddle Harp Loom for Christmas - well actually, I got it a couple of weeks early, which was good because my David loom had the transparency warp on it and I wanted to weave a scarf for my grandson's girlfriend, Bri.
I wove it out of a merino/silk blend that I had spun up previously. It came out beautifully, and she is the type of person who really appreciates something that is handmade.

I thought it might be handy to have a little bag which would hold my stick shuttles, warping pegs and a scissors, etc, so I took some wool yardage that I had woven years ago, and I sewed this little bag with pockets. The Kromski stand has holes you can put the warping pegs into, which is really handy, but it seemed like they would just catch dust and dog hair in my house, so I made the bottom pocket deep enough for the pegs. It has a little bow to adjust how tight the top of the pocket is. 

The middle pocket holds the heddle hook, warp assist, and clamps. The upper pocket is a place for little scissors and I can just tuck a needle into the fabric to use when needed. I'm happy with the way it turned out. 

I twisted some of the same yarn on my fringe twister (which is really a battery operated hair braid twister!) to use to tie it onto the loom so it can be removed when folding up for travel. 

I have several days off for the holidays and am really looking forward to having time to weave, sew and get some organizing done! 

I hope you all have a peaceful, joyful holiday season!!!

Lou  -  the wolfmoonweaver

Transparency Progress

I haven't posted in a while. Time seems to go by so quickly. Now that all the preparation and cleanup from Thanksgiving is done, I am taking today to weave. Oh my gosh - yes, really weave! I'm putzing along on my first transparency and hope to make some real progress on it today. I'm winging it. I did make a pattern and print it out to use. You can see it under the warp in the picture. Since I no longer have a plotter and did not feel like driving to the other end of town to get it printed, I printed it out in tiles and then taped them together.
The only info I had to go on was what I gleaned from internet sources, so I am not an expert or even have any experience with this. My previous tapestry work has come in helpful though. To me, the inlay is much like tapestry except you can still see the warp and background weft.

I have the cartoon rolled up and held in a roll by a paperclip at each end. It's held close to the weaving area by a pin on each side at the bottom. I can just unroll it as I go.

And a little dog interest - here's my 2 dogs on a rug I wove years ago out of Pendleton selvedges. I have washed it a few times in the washer so it is nice and fulled - very thick and cushy and the older dog especially likes to lie on it.

Fall Days

This time of year can be so gloomy in this part of the country. It seems like the sun rarely shows itself and we have days at a stretch of grey, cloudy weather. All the colors of the fall leaves help to make up for it though. From my back door, I can see the burning bush in all it's glory, so I went out and took a picture of it, and a few other pictures, just to bring a little light into my day.

As you can see, we haven't raked up the leaves yet, but they make a colorful ground cover for now.
This is a maple tree down the street from us. It is always gorgeous this time of year. My phone's camera is making these lighter and pinker than they are in real life.

And this is our maple tree last week, before it dropped all of it's leaves.

I also picked one of the last roses of the year, to keep me company while I work at my desk. 

And today, the clouds are gone and the sun is coming up. It's going to be a beautiful day!

My first transparency

The linen came in yesterday, so I wove up a little sample on a piece of cardboard to get an idea of what sett to use, and what size yarn to use for the pattern weft. I've never worked with linen before and I'm going to enjoy weaving these. The weaving will be more consistent on my big loom, but this little sample gives me an idea of where to start. I taped this on a window to see how it would look.

I have a lot of 2 ply wool which I'd like to use, so I tried that first, then split it into a single ply, which works better. The single ply is at the top. Now, I just have to wind this warp and get it on the loom!

The Treasure of Friendship

I usually don't spin very much. Not because I don't enjoy it, but because there just aren't enough minutes in the day to do all of the things that I'd like to do! I started spinning up the merino/silk blend that I bought the other day and I just love it. Spinning and weaving are both very meditative, relaxing ways to spend my time.

Louanne is a dear friend of mine. I met her when I moved to Arizona and she taught me so much. I answered her ad in the local paper about spinning lessons and from there, our friendship grew.

 She was raised on a ranch in southern Arizona and she learned about all of the things that I knew nothing about, having grown up in the Chicago suburbs. She's the one that got me started with sheep. I remember bringing home a Targhee ewe and her lamb in an extra large dog crate in the back of our minivan! What a trip that was. Soon after, we traded in the minivan for a pickup. She taught me how to milk my new Nubian goat, sold me my first French Angora rabbits. Together we went on my first road trip to buy looms and yarn from someone who was selling their weaving stuff. She keeps a shotgun by the back door, bakes her own bread, makes her own soap and takes care of her extended family.

Friends are the glue that helps us to hold our lives together, the cheerleaders that inspire us, and keep us sane life takes a crazy turn!

I appreciate each and every one of you!

Something to spin . . .

I went up to "The Fold" in Marengo, IL to purchase some roving to spin.

Toni has so much stock there, yarns, wheels, roving, and more.

 I had one specific dyed roving in mind, but really liked a merino/silk blend even more. She has a huge inventory and I had fun checking out all of it! My granddaughter and DIL came too, and really enjoyed it.
This is the roving that I chose. I'm going to spin it up for warp to weave a ruana.

I've also ordered linen yarn from the Yarn Barn in Kansas to start on the transparencies. I have lots of wool to use for the inlay and will also use some specialty yarns for accents. As soon as that arrives, I can warp up the David and get started!

Ideas bursting out all over

Fall always brings the urge to spin, weave more, and knit. With the onset of cooler weather, my thoughts turn away from the garden and outside and to more "wintry" tasks. 

We are remodeling the dining room in our Craftsman style house. Bill is in the process of adding a coffered ceiling and when that is finished, he'll put new headers on the windows and refinish the oak floor. 

I wanted to do something different for window treatments for the bay window but hadn't come up with exactly what I wanted. Right now, I have temporary shades in there and I don't want to put the white lace curtains back up. When the sun shines through one of the windows, I love the shadows on the shade from the butterfly bush right outside. 

As I was admiring that shadow effect again today, it hit me. I'm going to weave transparencies for those windows. Not a top to bottom one, but a panel for the bottom half of each window and use botanical shadows as the pattern for the inlays. 

Here's the shadow inspiration:

I'll start sampling tonight, as soon as I am done with work, and research the internet for information on what fibers work best for this idea. 

We do need shades of some type, and I'm tempted to use the old fashioned roll type shade. I can hide them behind a very short matching panel at the top of the window. To hang the panel, I'm thinking that I can use a narrow diameter brass rod that stays within the interior of the window frame, so that the oak trim won't be covered at all and possibly add another thin rod in the hem of the panel, to weight it down so that it hangs straight and flat. 

I'm headed up to "The Fold" in Marengo sometime this week too, to find some merino or merino/silk roving to spin up for a ruana. I purchased Sarah Lamb's video on Spinning to Weave and watched it this past weekend, so am inspired to do some spinning!