Today's warp

Today I wound another placemat warp. This time I am using Christmas colors. I am hoping the weft I have chosen for this warp works well with it. In the past I have woven placemats using various colors but this year I am warping with seasons in mind. The pile of woven items, waiting to be hemmed, on my sewing machine is growing. That is a good thing! I should be at the studio warping up the loom but I am thinking I will take a nap instead. I have had a head cold for days and I haven't been sleeping well at night.

My area is under a tornado watch. The weather man says we are under a moderate risk for severe storms. It is breezy but not too bad at the moment. Unfortunately the storms are supposed to come just as children are getting off the buses. I pray they all get home safely.


Linda

A new member of the farm family

A few years ago I decided I wanted to get some goats again. I had had goats in the past but this time I wanted small ones. I decided on Nigerian Dwarfs. They are so sweet and have wonderful personalities but recently I have decided to change the focus of the farm. I want to have fiber animals. A couple of years ago I bought a Nigora goat. Kami is a cross between a Nigerian Dwarf and an Angora goat. This is an old picture of her. Her wool isn't very long in this photo. Her wool is very soft. She is the same size as my two Nigerians.

 

Back in December I decided a Jacob sheep would be nice to have. Jacob wool is my favorite wool to spin. Yesterday I brought home Philippe. Thank you Cynthia!

He is a bit larger than the others. His wool is really nice. I can't wait to spin it! Those horns look a bit intimidating, don't they? He is kind of shy so I don't think his horns will be a problem. I was worried how everyone would get along. The goats were afraid of him at first but all is going well this morning. Last night I went out there to check and Max, Kami and Philippe were all resting together. The other goats had gone to the barn for the night. This morning all is still well so I think this will work out just fine.

I hope to post some better pictures soon. Most of what I took this morning were blurred. They wouldn't stay still!

Linda

Gadget

A while ago my husband was helping to clear some things out of my father in law's basement when he came across a skein winder! I wonder why he had it and what he had planned on using it for?

 This fits in a very small box. It has three arms that screw into a round piece. Then all that fits on the clamp. If you look closely you can see the price. Twenty-five cents!

This will be handy when I am spinning. It is a very nice size to travel with and will fit nicely into the Majacraft Little Gem travel bag.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                                                      

                                                        

A few years ago I had a banner made for my booth at craft shows. Back then I called myself The Barefoot Weaver. You can not imagine how many people would look at my feet and proclaim that I wasn't barefoot! I was getting very tired of hearing that so I had my banner reworked. I picked it up today. What do you think?   I think I would have done it differently but       this is what they came up with.   They were able to peel off the old lettering and add the new                                                        ones .                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                                 

                           Linda                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

place mats

Today was spent threading the loom and deciding what I wanted to use as weft. The yarn that I thought would look good with this warp didn't look good at all! Yesterday while I was at the arts center I saw some yarn that also might work. It is a four ply yarn in fall colors. I threw a few shots of it and decided this was what I was going to use. This yarn was donated to us last year and we are allowed to buy some. I was able to weave two place mats before I had to leave the studio for the day. This yarn has a slight sheen to it and it also makes for an interesting texture.

I wish you could see it in person. It looks better than what you can see here.

We have had several severe thunderstorm warnings this evening. So far no storm damage but tomorrow night we will have more storms come through and the possibility of tornados. The temperature is supposed to be around 70 degrees! Where in the world is winter?

Linda

Fall?

Recently several weavers and I got together to put together a large carpet warp order. I still have a lot of warp in several colors but some fall colors caught my eye. Today I started winding a warp for placemats. It is going to be stripes. Here is what I have so far. This seems like an odd time of year to be thinking about fall colors but I really wanted to see how these colors would work together.

The stripes will be symetrical from side to side. I still have two more sections to wind. They will go on the right. I am not sure I like the order of the colors. Maybe I shouldn't use the brown? We will see.

Linda

Happy Valentine's Day

This is what I woke up to this morning! Isn't it wonderful? My husband must have arranged this while I was asleep! Later in the day I received a text asking for a dinner date. My husband is such a romantic. I am so fortunate to be married to him!

Happy Valentine's Day to you all! I hope your day is filled with love and romance!

Linda

Do we all suffer from loom lust?

My fellow Tuesday Weaver, Maggie, was talking about loom lust on the blog. Do all weavers have that at some point in our weaving lives? Isn't it strange how that works? We see a loom and then can't get it out of our minds. We can't even sleep! Several years ago I saw an ad for the prettiest loom I have ever seen. I contacted the seller and found out it only had a 24" weaving width. I told the seller it was too narrow for my needs. Then that night I couldn't sleep! I couldn't get that loom out of my mind. How often does a loom that looks like that come my way? I contacted her the next day and told her I would buy it. Then my son and I drove to middle Tennessee to pick it up. This loom was made by Anders Lervad. I was never able to find out what year it was made. Some of these were made with carving on the castle but this one is plain. It has become my scarf loom.  So what do you think? Isn't it pretty. This picture was taken when my studio was in the basement. Things were so cramped then.

Yesterday I rethreaded this loom. This meant I had to get down on the floor and retie the treadles, too. I was hesitant to do it just in case I couldn't get back up. My family wasn't home to rescue me if I got into trouble. I have to say.....not only did I get down on the floor but I was able to get back up without any problems! This is no small feat when you have had your knees replaced. When I had both replaced in June of 2010 people kept asking me if I was glad I had it done. I told them no. Even after a year and a half I could never say that about my right knee. Then I found out that the doctor had missed something when he did the surgery that made my knee unstable. Now, just a little over 8 weeks after having my knee replaced again ( different doctor ) I can honestly say I AM glad I had it done. This knee is doing very well! Whew, it has been a long time coming but now I can get back to weaving and doing the things I want to do.

Linda

This week.......dish towels

Just popping in to let you know what I have been doing this week. Yesterday was a beautiful day. It looks like today will be, too, but tomorrow rain moves back in. It was so nice yesterday that I opened the windows at the studio! We sure haven't had much of a winter here.

I just came in from hanging out the laundry.  I wonder if may people do that anymore? I like the smell of laundry that has been hung outside. When Carol ( Tuesday Weavers blog) and I came home from the Midwest Weaver's Conference we passed through Mennonite country. It seemed like every home had laundry hanging out. I think we were in Michigan at the time.

I was able to get six dish towels woven this week! I haven't woven this much since November. The May and June craft shows will be here before I know it!

I know I will have to take a break from weaving in May to get the house and studio cleaned and ready for company. Our youngest child will be graduating from high school. I could cry just thinking about it! Wasn't I just holding him in my arms a couple of years ago? These days I have to look up just to talk to him. The last time we measured he was six one. He could be taller now! Gee, I feel so short! He will be starting college this summer. Does this mean I am old now??? Yikes!

Time to go. My wonderful husband of almost 38 years wants to take me out to lunch. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Linda