Today I have an unexpected slice of time to myself and I am under the weather. How weird to spend and morning dozing in bed! Anyway I’m up now, with only a short time until Kindergarten pick up…. so here I am, ready to update you on some of my textile work.
Recently I reached a milestone in a long standing project. This cloth was handwoven by me, using yarn spun by me from fleeces that I washed and prepared.
The warp was a fine yarn that I spun from a beautiful dark grey fleece. There were no warp breakages at all, which is very pleasing. The weft is spun a bit fatter and was from a light brown/oatmeal coloured fleece.
I fulled the cloth in the bathtub, using my feet to stomp it – grape style! The resulting cloth is lightly and evenly fulled. When I consulted my weaving buddies about whether I should have another fulling session they all voted NO. The cloth is light and has a good amount of drape.
So, next stop…. sewing. I need to gather a bit of courage first.
Last year my partner went to Finland on business and trekked all over Helsinki looking for presents to bring home for us. He got it 100% correct for me with some hand dyed merino, a couple of weaving books and a Marimekko bag. A good fella.
The yarn wrapped at about 21 wraps per inch and I sett it at 16 – which is closely spaced for plain weave but it worked really well with the fine mill spun wool that I used for the weft.
The idea is to let the colours of the handspun take prominence and I think it worked very well.
And I have also tried my hand at inkle weaving. It is so quick and easy to warp up for a band the results can be very striking.
I borrowed two inkle looms from my guild and each one had wobbly pegs. Maybe my tension was too high? I also ended up with a sore shoulder from changing sheds so I feel my technique can’t be right. Anyway, I glued the pegs back in and returned the looms to the guild. My inkle itch has been dealt with for the time being.
I am working on other stuff too (always!):
My sock knitting has been continuing. Currently I’m working on my third pair, this time with a handspun Border Leicester.
I have a Very Big Project underway. Currently I’m in the wash, dye, prep, spin phase… with an emphasis on PREP. I’ve borrowed a drum carder from a friend and need to get it back to her as soon as I can… the carrot dangling in front of me is that I wont test out her collection of Majacraft spinning wheels until all my carding is completed… and boy o boy and I busting to test her wheels.
I will try and put together a post about this project as soon as I can.
I loved reading this blog =D It made me happy
Omg Claire! I’ve missed you. Want to know more about the angst of injustices. I thought things would be better on your side of the world :\. I often dream about moving there to escape some backwardness here…
I agree with Meg. Hope you’ll be back blogging soon. Your weaving work is amazing!! Please share about the Big Project! xxooo
Mi Mien, Argh…. I’m not sure how to even articulate the rage, my thoughts are rather tumbled up and scattered. I doubt that we are any more enlightened in Aus unless you count a few extra weeks of maternity leave. The long term, negative, effects of maternity are huge the choices we are forced to make are impossible. My children come first… and I lose a lot. Its deeper than this but I’ve got to go cook dinner.
I’m still weaving, spinning, knitting……. making. But the time to document on the blog has gone. On a different note… my daughter started kindergarten today!!!
aww Claire, i totally know what you mean about kids first, and sadly, detrimentally, our societies do not support that enough. I’m glad you do take time for yourself to make art. I loved seeing the transformation of your making and how one medium/process builds upon another. It echos how i’d like to work too. Does weaving takes a lot of commitment and dexterity? How does it compare to printmaking, if comparable at all?
Hope for more time in the day for you to share your work with us. It’s important to document our work the way we want it to be seen! and possibly little tidbits about things we want to remember. Like Ada starting kindergarten! I imagine she must had on the cutest outfit with color prints styled, if not made, by her momma. :).