Lots of Weaving

This past week has been about weaving.

I finished my first card weaving piece. This was really easy, and enjoyable to weave.

I ended up with about 1.5m of braid. It is made from 8/2 unmercerized cotton in 4 colours.

The design is created by turning all the cards at a time. The top design is turning the cards 4 times one way and then 4 times the other way while weaving. The bottom design is 8 times each way. I believe this type of design is called a threaded in design. There are many other ways to card weave, and I look forward to trying out some other designs. The braid is quite thick and strong, because it is 4 layers of thread. The reverse side of the braid is a different pattern (it's visible in other the photo).

I also finished weaving the boucle towels (before washing).

Since some of the towels needed a loop, I wove a small band. This is the first time I have woven boucle cotton on the inkle loom - I was surprised it worked, but it was a bit hard to weave.

This is the fabric, and braid after washing. The white line on the fabric is a thicker cotton, where I cut the towels apart.

Nine towels - all hemmed, and ready to use (each one is different).

Nice and bright, spring time towels (although it is very chilly outside, -33ºC this morning).

I also finished spinning another skein of yarn. This one is a merino/tencel blend that I dyed. It is chain plied, so the colours wouldn't be too blended.

Photos from around -

Molly's frosty face from digging her ball in and out of the snow.

The little white house was moved to a new location this week.

All the best!♥︎

Spin the Bin 2017 Challenge

This year I decided to participate in something 'new-to-me' through the 'Completely Twisted and Arbitrary' group on Ravelry. It is a Spin the Bin Challenge.

This is the fibre I chose for the year. I picked out an assortment of fibre - some that I have had for a while, others that I thought would be a challenge and some that I just love to spin. There are a few rules, but basically you pick out at least twelve fibre bundles of at least 2oz to spin during the year. I also joined the 'Use It or Lose It' club, so that if fibre doesn't get spun it becomes a prize for someone that spun their whole bin (a good motivator to get everything spun).

This is all my fibre in it's bin (having a photo of the fibre in a bin gets me a free pass to exchange one of the fibres, otherwise if I take a fibre out I have to replace it with two bundles).

Here is what I have spun so far -

Tussah silk. This is the first time I have spun pure silk (it was much easier than I thought it would be, I think because it is Tussah silk it is easier than other silks to spin).

The finished skein - about 55g of fingering weight yarn.

I dyed it after spinning because I didn't know how it would be to spin if I dyed it first.

50/50 Merino and Silk. This is one that I had previously dyed.

Finished skein - about 50g of fingering weight yarn.

35/65 Silk and Superwash Merino that I had previously dyed (twice because it was too pale the first time).

The finished skeins - about 225g of sport weight yarn, enough for a short sleeve sweater.

This is an assortment of two types of silk and merino that I put together when I was getting the bin together, but I decided to add to it to spin enough for another sweater.

I also added this white flax that was already in the bin,

and added some more fibre to make a 'kitchen sink spin' (another spin along happening on Ravelry).

I dyed about half of the fibre,

divided it into two and drum carded it to make rolags (two different colours for each of the plies) - something 'new-to-me' too).

This is the yellow/green/blue fibre on the drum carder - I 'painted' the fibre on the main drum (again something 'new-to-me'). When I was dyeing I chose the colours to compliment the already dyed fibre (blue wool, black silk and blue Tencel).

The finished skeins - 429g, about 820yds of DK weight yarn,

plus a small skein made by plying with a rayon sewing thread (something else that I tried for the first time).

All the finished skeins together. I am half way through the bin, and hope to have it finished before the start of Tour de Fleece in the summer. Here is a link to my Spin the Bin on Ravelry where I go into more details.

I have been sewing too -

A few new mug rugs (more on these later in the year).

I added to my Welcome Home Mystery quilt - from Kathleen Tracy.

I have also started quilting my Westering Women quilt. I have done all the stitching in the ditch and FMQ'ed the border, now I have to decide what to quilt on the blocks.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!♥︎