Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Summer projects

I love the summer because I have time. I don't feel like I have deadlines to meet, standards to achieve, parents/school expecting things of me. This summer, I really took a break from teaching. Yes, I taught for 1 week at a math institute (my way of giving back to the profession) and I attended a Writer's Workshop in Olympia to work on a piece for publication.

Some of the things I am working on this summer...
So I tried planting potatoes in a black garbage bag. I am not a gardener and I thought this could be the simplest way. Now it talks of watering the plants every day. I didn't. They talk of adding more 'starts' as the plants grow. I did once and then forgot about it. This weekend, I noticed the plants dead and it looks like my dog, Bonnie, had been rooting around. I was actually quite surprised that I had potatoes. Will probably roast them with some fresh zucchini.


So the guild is sending around pre-warped looms to work on a color gamp. This is the front.

This is the back.
And here I am almost done. Pretty. Now of course I have to wait until the other weavers are done before I get my section back.

Having time and a loom in the craft room means that I can then do my own. Still working on towels. I figure they can always be great Christmas gifts (especially the surprise gifts that always seem to be needed).
These are towels 4 & 5. There is something very soothing about doing twills & tabbies (not shown). Of course when all done, I will post my towels.
I even learned to tie a string heddle because somehow I missed a # 3 shaft (had done it on #4 and tried the cutting and bending the heddle back on-would not recommend to anyone).

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Slow Wool

Fleece-I seem to have it everywhere. I find that it is easier to clean the white fleece just because you know when it is clean. The brown fleece is a challenge. I'm not sure but I think that a brown fleece just has more lanolin in it. I really try not to over wash the fleece but I have a feeling that I am not washing the brown enough. My hands do feel good after working with it.

So I thought I would try spinning the brown. Well-too much lanolin and it is looking like an arty yarn. That is okay but it wasn't what I was looking for. I tried felting it and haven't seen it felt. Maybe too much lanolin. So now I am experimenting with mixing white with the brown.
The white doesn't seem to have as much lanolin so maybe mixing the 2 will do the trick.
So the white wants its' spot on the batt and the brown wants to stay separate.
Interesting mix. What I am finding is that even after carding the wool, I need to then use the hand carders to really mix the 2 fleeces. Maybe I am starting a new trend-instead of slow food, I am making Slow Wool. Off to spinning now.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Letting Go

There are things to be learned if you  just open your mind to it. I have learned about tension from my loom. Now I am learning about when to let go. People hear that I am enjoying my fiber crafts so things get donated my way. Some of it is good, some bad, and some just outright ugly. Now the fleece in mind isn't necessarily ugly. It has sat in a bag for a good 5 months. Lovely shade of light brown. Not sure what the animal was-definitely not sheep. Couldn't feel that lovely lanolin. This weekend, I decided it was time to try to clean it. Every time I had looked in the bag, I saw leaves and little bits of dry grass & weed. I thought I could handle it. I sat on the rocks in the front yard and tried to clean it. It just wasn't worth it. It gave me no pleasure, like when I had cleaned the wool fleeces. None of the dried grass, weeds, or leaves seem to want to leave the fiber. It just wasn't worth it to me. So I let the fiber dry on the racks (and got some strange looks from the dog walkers) and will be throwing away a large outdoor garbage bag of this mysterious fleece. In a way, I feel much lighter already.