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Toto Woven Scarf Complete

Last week was a blur, as I spent about 20 hours in the car taking Maddie to and from camp. I did start a quilt, but before I show that off, I need to get caught up on some things.

First is the Toto Scarf which I finished a while ago. I wove this on the Ashford Knitters Loom using Dale of Norway Svale for the warp and Artfibers Toto for the weft.

The resulting fabric is incredibly soft as the Svale is cotton and silk and the toto is microfiber -- not fun to knit with, but a joy to weave. My camera doesn't care for these bright reds and oranges, but I think this second photo gives a pretty good indication of the colors.

Definitely more weaving in my future this summer. I purchased yarn a couple of years ago for a woven scarf/wrap and now I'm excited to get that project started.

Weaving the Toto Scarf

I've had some beautiful, soft Toto yarn in my stash for *years*. In fact, those of you who have been around the knitting blogs for a while will remember the box swap that happened -- maybe 5 or 6 years ago -- where you got a box, took out some things you liked, added some things you no longer wanted and sent it on to the next person. Yeah, ages ago. Anyway, I took out three balls of this Toto yarn from Artfibers which is microfiber. I tried knitting with it and hated it, but thought it would be perfect for weaving.

I also had some nice Svale yarn from Dale of Norwary -- awful to knit with since it is cotton and silk and super splitty, but it made for a nice warp.

I'm using my nifty Ashford Knitter's loom, which I'm loving. I still need to get the courage to warp up my Dorothy Leclerc loom, which I think I'll do for my next weaving project.

It's weaving up very nicely and making a lovely, soft, flow-y fabric. And I know I'll be able to wear this against my sensitive skin.

Despite the other things I need to get done today, I have a feeling this scarf may get finished up this afternoon (especially if this storm starts and I have an excuse to stay indoors!)

More Koigu Squares

I don't know what it is exactly about these little woven squares, but I cannot stop making them! These are all made with the Weavette 6 in. loom. I'd post a link to their website, but I have tried emailing them to find out if they are still making looms and have never received a reply. My advice, if you want to get addicted to these little squares, is to find a Weave-It loom on eBay. I've had some luck purchasing several in different sizes on eBay over the past year.

3 Squares -- Weaving on hand looms

During Earth Hour (Okay, we had EH on Sunday because we were at a birthday party on Saturday and it was more like Earth Half-Hour, but in my defense, the power was out earlier this week so I already had my EH and then some!) I sat out in the sun room to catch the last of the late afternoon sun and did some weaving on my three different sized hand looms -- the 6in. Weavette, the 4 in. vintage Weave-It and the 2 in. vintage Weave-It. The 2 in. Weave-It was a hoot because you can literally make a square in minutes. Of course, that square is pretty tiny, but it is loads of fun. The 4 in. is pretty quick too -- especially compared to the 6 in. which is what I've been using to make the squares for my blanket.

The more squares I make on these little looms, the better I like them. Now I just have to find more uses for the squares so that I have more reasons to make them!

Baby Weave-It

The weaving obsession continues. I've been stalking the 2 in. Weavette looms on eBay for ages and I finally broke down and got one. It came as a set, so now I have another 4 in. too! Lots of woven squares in my future.

More woven Koigu squares

I have 21 squares completed now on the Koigu blanket project. I finished 3 during the Oscar's and they are probably 3 of my favorite squares:

They are all different, but here is a close up of one. I warped the loom in one color of Koigu and then wove it with scraps of a different color. I thought these square would turn out too colorful -- I mean, Koigu is already a riot of color in ever skein, so the combo of two could be insane. However, I love how they turned out.

Now that I have so many squares, I'm starting to look ahead to joining them. Time to try about a few different techniques to see what works best.

Weavette Blanket

I'm mildly obsessed with small looms and stalk them at yard sales, thrift shops and online at eBay. This loom though, I bought at full price a few years ago at a fiber fest.  (MS&W maybe?) This is a 6in. Weavette -- modeled on the Weave-It of old. I'm not sure if they are making these any more -- perhaps someone could let me know if they are because I am interested in some of the other sizes. Their website is still up, but mentions shipping times for 2007?!?

At any rate, over the weekend I decided to get out my Koigu leftovers from the Keepsakes Shawl (which is finished, but not yet blocked) and start making some squares. I'm now thinking of making many more and joining them to make a blanket. The resulting fabric is thin since the Koigu is quite thin, but I think it's substantial enough since it's a nice warm wool. I can pretty easily make one square a night while watching TV, so in a month or two I might have enough for the blanket. More pictures as things progress.

BonHop Weaving -- Cloth #1

I finished weaving the test cloth on the BonHop Loom this weekend and I have to say that it was uniquely satisfying removing it from the loom. I may turn into a weaver after all!

This was woven with a warp of Jamieson & Smith, 2-ply, jumper-weight Shetland that was languishing in the stash, and a weft of leftover Blue Moon Socks that Rock. Fun color changes made it fun to weave and kept me interested. I haven't washed it yet, but that is sure to change the size and texture of the cloth. I'll post before and after photos.

This year's motto -- "Learn by Doing"

Weaving is fun!

I *finally* started weaving on the Bon Hop which I warped weeks ago. I swear I had some kind of fear of starting. I think I'm a bad weaver -- probably because I never practice, huh? -- so I'm always fearful of starting and making a mess of things. The Bon Hop is a little warped and is probably in need of being taken apart and reassembled, but it worked remarkably well despite that and all the practice is definitely helping me to improve on my 2 main problems with my weaving -- the tension on the edges and my tendency to beat down too tightly.

This loom is probably too small for many projects, but it's great for learning and I think I'll experiment with different patterns next. I'm sure I'll be showing off more of the Bon Hop in weeks to come!

Note my handmade bobbin.  My loom did not come with it's original bobbins, so I just made one by cutting a scrap of cardboard into a usable shape -- cheap, easy and I'm recycling at the same time  :)

Warped!

Over the weekend I prepared and attached the warp on the little BonHop loom.  There are tiny little teeth on both the front and back beam and I was able to attach each individual warp thread to its own tooth on the back beam, but after several attempts to do the same on the front, I gave up and tied it on. 

Now I just have to make some little cardboard shuttles (I don't have the originals) and I'm off!  This thing holds 60" of warp, so I have quite a bit of length to play with here.  More on this project soon!

BonHop Loom & a small loom website idea

I found this cute little BonHop (or Bon Hop) loom at a very strange estate sale last Friday.  The house had caught fire and there were literally no interior walls -- only studs.  In addition, the windows were all broken out, so it was quite chilly.  Luckily most items had been stored elsewhere and this little loom was not smokey at all. 

I'd been looking for one of these on eBay, but they don't come up often and I missed the last one I saw, so I was delighted to find this one complete with instructions -- and for only $5.  I'll have to play with it later this week and report back. 

I'm becoming quite a collector of old (and new) small looms and I would love to hear from anyone else out there who is doing the same!  It seems there isn't all that much info out there on some of these looms and I'm thinking of putting together a small website or something.  Leave me a comment with your thoughts and ideas!

Weave-It

I love little projects. This might explain why I love little looms. I stalk them on eBay but never seem to have any luck -- until this week, that is. I found this pretty catalin 4" Weave-It and hoped against hope that I would win the auction. I did and it arrived today all packaged up very nicely. I have heard that these catalin looms can be brittle, but I bought it to use it, so I'm giving it a try when I find a spare few minutes.

Yeah for fun mail!

WIP Confessional

It's time to lay it all out.  Well not all. . . I know I have more wip's than I'm showing here, but these are the ones I'll probably finish.  (Well mostly. . .)

Keepsake Shawl knit in many colors of Koigu.  I started this in 2004, I believe and I came up with a great system for knitting it so that I could just pick it up and remember exactly which yarn to use and which row I was on.  So why does is sit?  Who knows.  I really want to finish this one up, so I think I will make it my #1 knitting priority.

Ingeborg, oh Ingeborg.  I started you back when the knit-along began.  Was that 2004 also?  And every winter I pick you up and get re-invigorated . . . for about 15-20 rows.  Maybe this will be they year that you get finished!

Trekking socks started for the "Trek along with Me" knit-along.  I never did take a picture of me trekking along.  Is it still going on?  I'm *awful* with knit-alongs (see Ingeborg above) and should never, ever join them.  These socks will get finished though.  I love Trekking yarn!  It just takes me several months to finish a pair.

New felted bag design I'm playing around with.  It's a smallish bag and I'll finish it up in the next week or two.

What is this thing????  Why am I making it?  Okay, this is the Amineko and I decided to make it with Encore from the stash.  I should have gotten a different yarn.  I didn't really want a red cat and I don't really care for this yarn, so I never work on this project and the featureless head is all that has been made.  Time to rip this one out and start over with a new yarn, I think.  This was my only crochet project in the works and it's a failure.  Ugh!

Oh!  My quilt!  I love these fabrics and want to get back to work on this soon.  The last month has been so busy and I really need time when I want to quilt, so this has been neglected.  I know that cooler, quieter weekends are on the way though, so it will progress!

Mountain Colors woven scarf.  I love how the weaver's wool from Mt. Colors is sort of striping, sort of not in this scarf.  A free hour or two and some good podcasts to listen to and this will be finished!

I'm still making good progress on that lovely pink fiber from Blue Moon Fiber Arts.  The third bobbin is well on it's way to getting filled up and then it's on to plying.  I have no doubt that this will be finished up very soon.

Paradigm Lost cross-stitch sampler.  I often want to work on this but there are several impediments to my progress -- First, I don't have good lighting pretty much anywhere in the house and I really need it to work with this dark thread on linen.  Second, it's in a small basket, so I have to keep it stored off it's stretcher bars.  So I can't just pick it up and stitch a bit -- it requires set up time.  Third, my eyes get tired at night and that's usually when I find time to craft.  Hmmm. . .

Elsa Williams Jacobean Crewel Embroidery.  Not sure why this has stalled, other than the fact that I have so much going on. 

I realized that I haven't listed the Kumihimo braid I'm working on either.  And I'm sure there are other things.  Maybe posting photos of my wip's on a regular basis will get me excited about them again.  It seems to have worked.  I'm already looking forward to getting in some rows on the Keepsake Shawl!

In other news, guess what tomorrow is.  It's not my birthday, or wedding anniversary, but it is *an* anniversary for me. . .

Stitch-Cast on Introductory Weaving

Stitch-Cast Episode 8 -- Weaving is up.  I talk a bit about how to get started weaving without spending much money and I also talk about how a funeral inspired me to weave (weird, but true!)

So, go give it a listen and please let me know what you think!  I also want to know what shows you've liked in the past and what you want to hear more about in the future.

Of Books and Potholders

I haven't been feeling all that well, so I haven't done a lot of crafting lately. I did start Maddie's second sock during some traveling to and from My Mother-in-law's this past weekend, but that's not very exciting, is it? So if you want to see something interesting, pop on over to Homeschooling Maddie and check out Maddie's adventures with dyeing and weaving on a potholder loom.

And if it's books that you are interested in, pop on over to Booga Talk to hear Pete and I talk about the books we are reading (me ~ The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Pete ~ Sister Carrie), have read and want to read. We also have a book give away in the works. Check it out!

Mug mat & a little sock!

I finished up my first weaving "project" -- a wildly colorful mug mat.  Two of them actually.  I gave one to Maddie (because I thought Pete wouldn't want one since they are rather psychedelic -- but when I did he looked at me and said, "I could use a mug mat."  Looks like I have my next project lined up!)  The mohair weft made for some super fuzzy edges that hides any edge problems I may have had.  I suppose beautiful edges will come with practice.

In the past few days I also finished up the first of Maddie's socks, so I feel like there's enough progress to warrant a photo:

Maddie picked out the yarn from my stash and she chose Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the color Uptown.  I only had one skein, so she helped me weigh and wind the hank into two smaller center pull balls of the same weight.  (See Maddie, you do need to use math in the real world -- I call these opportunities "school" -- ha ha)  I was a little nervous about having enough yarn now that her feet are really starting to grow (2 sizes in the last year!)  But I had plenty left after the first sock.

Other than that, I've been busy at work getting out orders for the Dorothy Bag Pattern and putting up the new winter Hero Arts stamps at my rubber stamp store.

If you are knitting the Dorothy Bag, please leave me a comment or send me an email!  I can't wait to see everyone's bags!

Ashford Knitter's Loom

Yesterday Theresa & I went out to The Fold to check out the spinning guild meeting and enjoyed a lovely day of spinning (more on that later.)  While I was there I spotted the Ashford Knitter's Loom!

Now, I'm planning to do a podcast about weaving so I'll talk a lot more about this fun toy, but I had to show it off a bit here.  First let me tell you that I had been lusting after one of these ever since I saw that Ashford had come out with them, but it was Syne Mitchell's endorsement on her last podcast (Weavecast -- check it out!) that put me over the edge.

At any rate. . . the first picture up top shows how I created the warp using the warping peg.  Then I warped up the loom:

And after that I was good to go and started weaving!  Just look what I did in one night after a long day of traveling out to Marengo, spinning all day and getting home rather tired.  I thought I might be too worn out to give it a try, but Pete encouraged me to go for it and in under an hour I had it all set up, warped up and was weaving!

I didn't use any special kind of "weaving" yarn -- just some stuff I had in the stash.  The warp is Sirdar Salsa DK (50% Merino / 50% Acrylic) and the weft if Plymouth Outback Mohair (70% Mohair, 26% Wool, 4% Nylon).  Here's a semi-close-up:

The first project that they have you start with is supposed to be a scarf, but I think I want to make this into a little bag and maybe a couple mug mats.  We'll see.  It's a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to lots more projects on my little rigid heddle loom!

Okay. . . now for the spinning part!  Yesterday I finally finished spinning up some very pretty 70% Chocolate Alpaca/30% Tussah Silk that I bought from Shadeyside Farm while at MS&W.  I'm hoping a good soak will take out the kinks, because I want to knit it up as a single.  Take a look at it on the niddy:

It's so shiny because of the silk, that it's a bit difficult to photograph.  I'll try to take a better picture once it's soaked.

Now I'm off to play with my loom some more!  Stitch-Cast is on hiatus this weekend I'm afraid. 

Toy #1 -- the Weavette!

I was very happy to find a Weavette at MS&W this year.  Several years ago I had somehow stumbled upon the website for the company that had revived these little looms and fell in love, but for some reason never purchased one.  Then recently they popped up in MSL and then Spin off -- the desire grew.  Next Amy got one and I almost caved.  (She bought hers from here and got free shipping!.)  So, it was fate when I saw them stacked up in the Haltwhistle Fibres booth.  (She makes great dolls and super cool fish.  Theresa has had the good fortune to take a class from her, as she is up from where Theresa's Mom lives.)

So, it's no surprise that this is the first of my Maryland finds that I wanted to mess around with.  I had to work all night Monday, but Tuesday I closed up shop at 7pm and after dinner I started weaving.  I had some leftover sock yarn (thicker sock yarn -- more like a heavy sport weight) in the drawer of partial skeins and I decided to see how it would work.  Here's my first Weavette 6 in. sqaure:

I just used the little booklet that came with the loom.  It was easy to follow and had enough diagrams to get you through any tricky bits.  I also bought the book too, but haven't had a chance to play around with texture yet.

Want to see what it looks like up close?  Here, ya go. . .

I declare this purchase a total success!  It was fun, easy to use and I love my first little square.  Why did I wait so long to try it out?  I'm not sure, but maybe the timing was how it was supposed to be.  This little bit of weaving may be all it takes to get me into the spare bedroom, make me pull the Dorothy down off the dresser and get it warped up.  (I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. . . )