Exciting news.. for me anyway.

Remember this post?

Well, that was all about this:

My mother received a nice sum of money that she didn't even know was owed her and was generous enough to share with several members of the family. After pondering long and hard I decided to use it like this.

Kaydessa Wool picker
Fancy Kitty drum carder
Card Weaver's Surf Board.

Can you see me doing The Dance Of Joy now?

The Kaydessa Wool picker is pretty neat in theory.

You put your compacted fiber in one end, drag the lid (containing multiple sharp nails) across the bottom (also containing multiple sharp nails), and as you do this you catch the fiber which opens it up to become nice fluffy mounds on the other end while all the vegetable matter (VM)is left in the bottom.

That's how it works in theory. The top picture is staged. You can't draw that much fiber through at one time. Also, that mohair was so compacted with tight curls that I had to pick it open with my fingers before sending it through so the picker didn't tear the fiber. The nice fluffy mound of fiber on the right hand side of the picker was hand picked once and sent through the picker twice after that. While it did help remove a lot of VM, there is so much of it in this fleece that I had to hand pick it once, send it through the picker twice, hand pick it again before drum carding it and still there was a pile of VM under the carder when I was done while the new bat contains too much VM for my liking. This is not the fault of the picker though. This fleece is terrible in it's amount of VM. So much so that I'm not buying from this local "award winning" shepherdess again.
Anyway, with a long fiber like mohair, the picker tends to pull and rip the fiber too much. I tried it with a small amount of merino/targhee x and it pilled terribly. I'm going to have to play around with this thing more to see what it likes to work with. I don't mind hand picking smaller amounts of fiber but, even with it's flaws, the Kaydessa wool picker will come in handy with 5 VM filled mohair fleeces to work with.

The Fancy Kitty 90/120 drum carder

This is what I thought I'd never be able to afford. It's taking some getting used to, and there's certainly more of a learning curve than when using combs, but it sure plows through large amounts of fiber in short order. In this picture I've carded some professional top, dyed by me, and some more of that mohair, also dyed by me. Orange and blue are not my usual colors but there's something about a drum carder that begs you to play outside your usual field.

I've carded two bats of this same blend and hope to knit some sock/slipper things with it.

My favorite purchase, by far, was the Card Weaver's Surf Board.

Please excuse the messy picture. It's sitting on top of my floor loom which was piled high with clothes sorted for an emergency trip out of state for a family funeral.
Anyway, I love this little thing. No more having to strap my work to my waist, or try to find a table or other surface that won't be needed for as long as it takes to finish a project. I LOVE this thing. There are a few things I would change about it but just the fact that it's light weight and oh-so portable makes it's well worth the money. There will be a lot more tablet woven bands around here now.

Fiber play & Autumn fun

The "Enjoying the Weekend Blues Scarf" is finished!

It ended up being just over 7 feet long! I was going to knit until I ran out of yarn but it was getting ridiculously long so I cast off. It's nice and soft and warm though. I hope my sister likes it.

The only thing left I have to make for Christmas is the Plums and Olives scarf, which I'm spinning now. I'll block both scarves at the same time and make life a little easier on myself.

Fuggly is almost finished. He's the perfect size for sleeping on the couch so I'm keeping him long and narrow. He's about two and a half times the width of that picture but he's just more of the same ugly acrylic yarn so I'll wait to take a final/final picture. All I have left to do is crochet a boarder but I'm happy leaving him as is for now. What I really need to work on is my son's afghan in black, grey, and red. Not colors I'm looking forward to knitting, and I'm using Red Heart Super Save yarn (ick) but he needs some winter warmth. I've started knitting it in the same pattern I used for the Enjoying the Weekend Blues Scarf. It breaks up the monotony a little bit without making it so hard that I can't concentrate on it while I'm watching tv.

The weaving bug has bitten again and I've been weaving little squares with leftovers.

I'm really not happy with my little handmade looms though. I'm thinking I may just have to take all the junk that's accumulated on my floor loom (it's an automatic coat rack & table for taking pictures of my projects) and get someone to help me move my huge warping board to a place where I can use it and have a go at a larger weaving project.

Something totally unrelated:

Halloween.
Some of my kids still love the holiday. My daughter looks forward to it all month. This year she made adorable little cupcakes.
This one's my favorite.

She carved an awesome pumpkin

I just realized we didn't get a picture of my youngest son's pumpkin. I'll have to get one before it gets icky.

And, along with her sister-in-law became a Silent Hill nurse. That link will take you to a creepy/violent video. Be forewarned.

They both love the movie and games (as does my oldest son). I just find it very disturbing.

Last but not least, our walk in the park yesterday.

Credit: Cara took the last two pictures.

I wasn't happy at all with the way my son's afghan was turning out, so I scrapped it for another design. This time I'm weaving it on my little 4 inch loom.



I'm not really wild about the colors he chose (red, black, and gray), but it's his afghan and he's the one who has to live with it.

I guess "Herald" is good for something while we try to find the parts to get him working. Here he is modeling a card woven strap I made last night. I was bored so I really didn't have anything in mind when I measured the warp. It ended up being to short to use on the table loom, so I tied it onto the front beam and roller of Herald. This left me little room to manipulate the cards, so it's not the best weaving job I've ever done, but it did keep me occupied for an evening.

I'm still getting the loom set up. What started as a "Hey let's move this piece of furniture over here..." has turned into a house that's turned upside down. The kids and I have almost gotten things where we want them, and then I can get my hands back at the loom and see how well she/he works. It's a Herald loom, but I just can't bring myself to call it that. I'll have to come up with a name after I've used her/him a little bit.

I've also been thinking again about making things for an etsy shop. I have a few ideas, but it's scary thinking about starting something like that.

I own a what?!

How do I show extreme excitement without sounding like I'm 10 years old?

OMG!!!!!XXX27!!!!!!!!!!!

Nope, I can't do it. I have become a little kid and it's all thanks to my new 45" 8 shaft - 10 treadle floor loom.

Found on Craig's list, it was a deal I couldn't pass up. This loom came with 7 reeds (some have a little rust but should clean up), lease sticks, 2 cone holders, 4 boat shuttles (1 is a double), 2 ski shuttles, 2 net shuttles, a 14 1/2 yard warping board, a sectional warp beam (needs the mounting bars) extra heddles, and 53 cones of yarn. If I had bought all the extras through normal means (and it was all stuff I needed anyway except maybe the net shuttles and the sectional warp apparatus which is nice but not necessary), it would have come to a hell of a lot more than what I actually paid. It's kind of like getting the loom for free! As an added bonus she threw in 31 Handwoven magazines and 16 Weavers Craft magazines. The Weavers Craft are old editions that I was wishing I could afford months ago.



This picture came out too small to really see but, the cones are two deep in almost all the cubbies.

The yarn is all 1 to 31/2 pound cones of linen, chenille, wool, oodles of cotton, and 7 cones of perle cotton which I can't wait to start card weaving with. Please excuse the painting that needs done in this picture. Anyone want to lug a 7'x 4' solid hardwood bookcase outside so that I can paint it and the wall? No I didn't think so. My husband won't either.

The only problem with the loom so far, is that I'm missing one 3/8"x9" hex bolt, and 4 hex nuts. No one around here has ever heard of a 9" hex bolt it seems, so I had to order one online. It comes tomorrow, and then I can start weaving my little heart out. There is plenty of yarn to play with, so I won't feel guilty 'wasting' expensive yarn while I learn.


OMG!!! I own a floor loom!

WIPS

... or at least on the list of 'to get started'.

SPIN
- Dad's birthday scarf.
*Needs to be finished before 3-20-10.*
Progress – choose fiber, Make swatches, comb, card, spin yarn, ply yarn, knit scarf
.... update: There was no way I could get this all spun and knitted up in time. Instead I spun/knit a swatch (finished the morning before we left to visit him) and my daughter sewed it onto the back of a little stuffed lamb as we were driving to the hotel. It turned out kind of like a saddle blanket. It was a weird gift but kind of cute. I promissed him I'd have a real scarf ready for his 80th birthday. I should probably get started on that now. I only have 10 years to finish it.

- yarn for rugs
Progress - choose fiber, comb, card, spin.

CARDWEAVE

- 6- card woven dog leashes for mom.
*Needs to be finished by 12-25-11.*
Progress – make patterns, choose colors, buy yarn, weave leashes : Alfie, Pippin, Casey, Maggie, Bridget, Bailey, buy clasps, sew clasps and handles.

- swatches for notebook
Progress - buy yarn, weave, attach to patterns.

Fix loom
- make raddle
Progress - cut wood, sand wood, hammer nails.
- Add heddles
Progress - buy heddles, add heddles

Weave
- waffle weave dish towels for myself.
Progress - buy yarn, warp loom, weave, full.

- dishcloths for mom
Progress - buy yarn, warp loom, weave, full.

- start on weaving book projects.
Progress - choose yarn, choose colors, buy yarn, warp loom, weave, full.

Knit
- 2 1 more dishcloths for mom.
Progress - choose patterns, buy yarn, knit, block

- A's afghan
Progress - choose colors, choose pattern, buy yarn, knit, block.

- C's afghan
Progress - chose colors, choose yarn, choose pattern, knit, block.

SEW

- Purple quilt
Progress - cut material, wash blocks after cats peed on them GRR!, layout and re-cut what was damaged, piece, sew, quilt.

- Brown quilt
Progress - finish cutting, piece, sew quilt.

- C's skirt
Progress - choose pattern, buy material, sew.

- Sewing machine cover
Progress – make pattern, choose material, cut, sew.

- Printer cover
Progress - choose material, make pattern, cut, sew, embroider.

- Rag doll
Progress - make pattern, cut, sew, make pattern for clothes, choose clothes material, cut clothes, sew clothes, embroider face, sew hair.

Learn to clone myself so I can get all of this done.

progress - *************

They are calling to me

looming just around the corner

Last week we received an unexpected envelope. In it was a check for our corrected tax return. Yaho boy!

I:
1- Paid down credit cards.
2- Restocked the pantry/fridge/both freezers. Oh Sams club how I love you!
3- Bought myself this little baby for only $200.00 (glee)
4- Got taken to dinner and a movie (Mongolian BBQ is excellent. Ninja Assassins could have been better if they had relied on the story line and special affects instead of blood and gore.)
5- And bought a few more Christmas presents.

Today is my birthday. I am *cough hack weeze* years old. My aunt just sent me an email letting me know that, if I can find a way to pick it up, I have been gifted with a treasured family air loom. My grandmother's LeClerc floor loom.

My grandmother was an artist. She painted, carved wood, and wove. I was 9 years old when my favorite person in the world died, but if I close my eyes I can still remember the sounds of her weaving as I daydreamed out the window of that big old farm house. I am honored and humbled to be given such a gift.