Posts

Posted on

Pandemic Projects

This time at home with fewer distractions has actually been good for me! I’ve been working on several different projects, rotating around so I don’t get bored. Although lots of yarn shops are open for mail order, I’ve taken the isolation as a challenge to finish some projects that have been hanging around too long and to use up some of my stash yarns.

Woolen basket

Status: Completed

Basket made from fulled wool fabric with a cotton lining

This was made from a small piece of wool fabric woven from the left over warp for the Plimouth Plantation blanket. I sewed it into the rectangular basket shape, finished the top edge, and fulled it in a sink full of hot water and peppermint soap. I shocked it in cold water a couple times as well. The finished size is 10″ x 7.5″ at the top and 4″ tall.

Then I built a “basket block” exactly the right size out of Lego blocks that live in my attic. With the basket upside down on the Legos, I used my steam iron on the wool setting to further shape and full it. (Yes, I had pre-tested the Legos to make sure they could withstand steaming.)

Like a hat block, only for a basket, and made from Legos!

It was good and thick, but I was worried that it might start to sag over time. So I lined it with some cotton fabric lined with a medium weight Pellon. Not sure what I’m going to use it for yet. Maybe some Legos.

Bouclé shawl

Status: Completed

Boucle shawl with beaded braided fringe

I wove this shawl last fall. It has an Icelandic wool warp that I hand dyed with my favorite colors and a purple mohair bouclé weft. The pandemic project part of it was the fringe braiding. I threaded 3 beads on one strand of each braid and spaced them randomly on the braids. It was washed afterward, and then I trimmed the braids. This project was part of this year’s challenge for the Nashoba Valley Weavers Guild. It’s still TBD whether we’ll be able to get together in person at the end of June to show off our products.

Triangle shawl

Status: Completed

Tidying my studio one day, I ran across some silk/cotton yarn that was waiting for inspiration. I realized it was similar to some yarn I had used for a project last year, which I had some leftovers from. So I took the skeins of stash yarn and combined them with the smaller amounts of more colorful leftovers to make this shawl on my triangle loom.

Shawl made on a triangle loom out of different silk and silk/cotton yarns

The thing about weaving on a triangle loom is that the warp and weft build as you weave. There’s no loom waste, so you can predict exactly how much yarn you’ll need. It takes about 10 hours to weave a fullsize shawl like this one, depending on the complexity of the color pattern and the texture of the yarns. However, I came up with a sample sized loom that has the same sett as the fullsize one, but it takes me only 20 minutes to weave up a sample. (I teach a 2-hour class on this for those who are interested.)

Tablecloth

Status: In progress

Here’s a project that has been sitting around for too long! Years ago I wove some yardage on an 8-shaft Macomber loom that I no longer own. It was about 20′ of material, a striped warp of primary and secondary brights, with black weft. After washing, the yardage was just over 16″ wide. My thought had always been to somehow sew it into a tablecloth, but it had somehow never materialized.

The brown paper pattern pieces laid out for a 60″ x 60″ tablecloth

After measuring my tables and playing around with some panel ideas on paper, I wasn’t inspired. Wandering out of the box, I started playing with some diagonal panel ideas. Calling on some high school math, I determined that there was enough material for a 60″ x 60″ tablecloth and worked up a pattern for laying out the pieces.

Clara helping to lay out the pattern pieces on the cloth

Coincidentally that night, a package arrived from Chewy.com that was padded with a very long length of 30″ wide brown paper. Perfect for making a fullsize pattern. That was the confidence I needed to cut into my precious handwoven cloth!

The project is still in progress, but I’ve sewn about half of the 237 inches of seams so far. I’m using a fagoting stitch to butt the selvedges against each other and avoid lumpy seams on my table. Once the seams are done, I’ll hand sew a rolled hem all around.

The fagoting makes the seam flat and nearly invisible.

Sprang sample

Status: Complete

Last summer at the New England Weavers’ Seminar, I took a class with Carol James on Sprang. She’s an excellent teacher, and my fascination with historic textiles and textile techniques made this a great match for me!

Sprang samples using two different double stitch patterns

Sprang is an ancient method of producing cloth. It uses threads stretched parallel to each other on a frame or a backstrap. The threads are twisted methodically to produce various patterns, often resembling lace. Two rows of cloth are produced simultaneously, mirroring each other. Carol’s website can give you lots of visuals if you’re interested.

I circled back to this technique over the past couple weeks and reconnected with Carol by email. She sent me a couple new patterns for a Double Stitch, which I had to try out. Here’s my sample still on the sprang loom. I tied some cords on the sides to pull it out so the pattern can be seen. It’s not perfect, but I did manage to learn the new stitch.

Fiber friends rug hooking

Status: In progress

A cute rug hooking picture, perfect for fiber fanatics

Yet another years old project recovered from the depths of a closet. I had purchased it from Windfall Farm, a vendor at a NH Sheep &Wool Festival. When it saw the light of day a couple weeks ago, 3 of the animals and some grass were hooked. I’ve been working on it gradually in the evenings when we settle on the couch. It’s showing promise!

Chevron scarf

Status: Fiber spun into 3-ply yarn; scarf >2/3 knit

Chevron-shaped scarf with handspun yarn

This project was partially completed when we landed in this pandemic. It’s knit from handspun yarn. The fiber had been dyed with 3 colors by Spunky Eclectic before I came into possession of it through the Boston Area Spinners & Dyers annual challenge. It’s 80/20 merino/silk in a colorway called “Mahogany”. I separated the fiber into 3 piles, roughly corresponding to the 3 dye colors. After some sampling, I decided to chain ply the singles into a 3 ply yarn, which would result in less color blending than a 2-ply.

The pattern is inspired by a shawl pattern by Andrea Rangel in Taproot magazine, issue 35. It was easy to memorize after a couple repeats, so I don’t have to concentrate too much while I’m knitting it. The overall pattern is K2 P2, and one stitch is added in center every 4 rows. The spinning is all done now, so just the remaining knitting is left to finish.

I used the colors in sequence, so the grays at the bottom, browns in the middle and purples at the top add another dimension to the piece.

Unfortunately, BASD probably won’t get to meet again before the summer, so I probably have extra time to finish it. Actually, I have a little time now!

What’s next?

A new sprang project with baby alpaca

I’ve got plenty of other fiber projects both in progress and formulating in my mind. However, with inspiration from the sprang sample, I decided to use another hand dyed warp to make a scarf. The yarn is 100% baby alpaca from Hampden Hills Alpacas. This is absolutely amazing yarn, but I’m learning that soft, airy yarns like this are not easy to weave with sprang! It took me hours to get the 2 1/2 yard warp on the sprang loom, and the stickiness of the yarn makes each row take extra long, but I think the lace pattern is going to be beautiful when it’s done!

Depending on how long the pandemic restrictions last here in Massachusetts, hopefully these projects will be completed and I’ll be on to more! Stay well, everyone!

Posted on

Plimouth Plantation Blanket

A small black cat sitting on a big wool blanket. The blanket is off-white with 5 colored stripes on each end.

As a member of the Weavers’ Guild of Boston, I volunteered to make a blanket for one of the houses at Plimouth Plantation. The idea is to have blankets that resemble what would have been in the houses originally, but that are touchable to the visiting public. This was almost a year ago, and I had just gotten a new-to-me Glimakra counterbalance loom.

The pattern was simple, a 4-shaft 2/2 twill sett at 8 epi. It was to have 5 color stripes at each end of the blanket. The tricky part is that due to the width, it had to be woven in two panels and then sewn together. In order for the stripes to match up, the beat and measurements needed to be precisely the same on both panels.

Not wanting to test run my new loom on such an important project (and with someone else’s yarn,) I made a prototype with some Harrisville yarn I had purchased. The loom has a sectional warp beam, so I decided to try that out in the process. That had a steep learning curve, but worked out well in the end!

Prototype blanket

Using a 10 dent reed, I sleyed 1-1-1-1-0. (My instinct regarding the forgiveness of the Harrisville yarn proved correct, and after fulling, the reed pattern can’t be seen.) To ensure even panels, I marked the stripe pattern on two long lengths of adding machine tape and pinned it to the blanket panels as I wove. As soon as I started weaving, it was obvious that sett at 8 epi, a square beat of 8 ppi was unrealistic. With only the epi specified, the picks per inch were up to me, and the prototype ended up at about 15 ppi, which made a very thick blanket after fulling. True confession: I actually ran out of one of the stripe colors with about a half dozen picks remaining to weave. I called Harrisville and talked with a very nice person, who found the same color in stock and sent me the 30 or so yards I needed to complete the project. Thank you, kind person at Harrisville, for coming to the rescue! The slight variation in dye lot, which can’t even be seen in the photo, makes the actual blanket look just a little more authentic!

Once I was comfortable with the loom and had convinced myself that the design was viable, I was ready to weave the real thing. Again, I wound a sectional warp. This time, however, I relaxed my beat, pulling the beater just enough to set the weft into place, which resulted in 10 ppi. This was not as easy as beating it in with a good pull like on the prototype, but with some care and constant measuring, I was able to make 2 *exactly* equal panels. I used a temple on both blankets to keep the cloth from drawing in excessively.

First section of the woven blanket on my Glimakra loom

Once the weaving was done, it had to be seamed and bound. The seam was made by sewing a continuous end, alternately catching one weft on each side, consistent with the 2/2 twill pattern. The result looks like an additional warp end. The ends are folded and bound with a decorative blanket stitch.

Closeup showing the center seam and the blanket stitching along the edge

Fulling was accomplished in my shower, which has pebbles on the bottom, but was inspired by a waulking I participated in with Norman Kennedy at Marshfield School of Weaving last summer. At a waulking, a small amount of water saturates the cloth, which is bunched up lengthwise and passed along in a circle, each person squishing and pushing the fabric along. By myself in the shower, the motion was somewhat limited, but after over 45 minutes of pushing the cloth around with my feet, I had a nicely fulled cloth. I draped it on a clothes rack to dry, first in the shower and then outside.

Shrinkage was 17% in the weft but only 11% in the warp, which was surprising due to the relatively loose beat. The finished blanket size is 58″ x 87″. As of this writing, Plimouth Plantation has a delayed opening due to COVID-19 restrictions, but hopefully sometime this summer the blanket will be in use in one of the houses there! (In the mean time, Clara is enjoying it.)

A small black cat sitting on a big wool blanket. The blanket is off-white with 5 colored stripes on each end.
Clara enjoys the finished blanket
Posted on

Baby Blankets

A friend recently asked me about baby blankets. They are one of my favorite things to weave! Whenever I warp my loom for a baby blanket gift, I put on extra warp so I can make one or two extras while I’m at it. Each one, even from the same warp, is unique, a different weave structure or color pattern, and different finishing. All of them are 100% cotton.

white blanket with primary color windowpane checks
Cotton windowpane check blanket – This is one of the first baby blankets I made. It was for my friend Audrey’s baby Hannah.
bright color warp stripes on the loom
Warp for tartan blankets

Here’s a example of a warp for 2 special blankets. The warp was designed using a name draft for “Mikkelsen”, one baby’s family name. I know it’s hard to see the name in the warp stripes, but weavers have to start someplace when they are designing! The first blanket was woven for Maren’s (my first AFS “daughter”) baby, Anne, and was a balanced tartan plaid. The second blanket was for my cousin Casey’s baby Emil. It was a more stripey pattern, but Casey picked up on the Scottish roots of the pattern, which reflect some of our family heritage.

a balanced plaid weave in bright colors
Mikkelsen plaid blanket with yellow satin binding
a baby wrapped in a plaid blanket with the word "bairn"
Baby bairn Emil in his blanket with a flannel binding

There were 3 pastel blankets off this warp – a plain weave, a birdseye and a waffle weave. One of them was given to my friend’s grandson Carter. The other two were sold.

two pastel baby blankets draped together
Two blankets off the same warp

If you’re looking for an extra special baby gift for someone, let me know what you’d like. I’ll work with you for the perfect custom creation!

Posted on

New classes are posted!

The summer classes at The Fiber Loft have been posted! I’ve got some spinning and weaving classes scheduled.

In addition, if there’s a class you’d like to take but don’t see it scheduled, call the shop and give them your name. When we have enough people interested , well schedule it at everyone’s convenience. We have a couple people already interested in a great wheel class.

Here’s a little video from my last beginning weaving class, when Kendra pulled her sampler off the loom – a happy moment!

Posted on

A delightful spinning class!

Last Sunday I taught a spinning class at The Fiber Loft. Usually I have a 3- person minimum, but I had made an exception, and I’m so glad I did! Chris and Meredith and I had a delightful afternoon. Chris is a fiber artist, focusing on knitting, dyeing and quilting, and was looking to expand his repertoire to spinning. Meredith was looking to learn about the meditative benefits of spinning. With just 2 students, I was able to tailor the class to their interests. We used an Ashford wheel and a Schacht, and tried out the new Majacraft wheel at the shop. The Ashford and Majacraft were ones I had tried out on my January trip to New Zealand, and I was eager to have students use them. It was enriching afternoon for all of us!

Posted on

Parker Tavern Textile Tools

A couple weeks ago, I gave a talk for the Reading Antiquarian Society, which owns and manages the Parker Tavern in Reading, Mass. Thanks to my good friend Eric Workman for taking the pictures!

In preparation for the talk, I researched various textile tools in their collections and put together a presentation that would be interesting to the general public and helpful to volunteers at the historic house when they are giving tours.

Explaining how a niddy-noddy is used. Photo by Eric Workman

The talk covered a great wheel, a flax wheel, niddy-noddies, wool cards, a hetchel and a couple of textiles as well. I was able to find information on the origins of some of the tools and some of the people involved. In addition, I was able to show them how many of the tools are used, to give volunteer docents a better idea of how to interpret the objects for visitors.

This is one of the textiles in the collection. It’s a needlepoint sampler made by Sarah Ewer Burleigh. The words read, “Surviveing friends when this you see; Mourn for your sins and not for me.” And, “In the midst of mirth, Remember death.” Through some online research, I was able to find out that despite Sarah’s dark view of the world, she grew up, married, had 6 children, and lived to the age of 78. Was it simply customs of the period that compelled her to use these sayings?

Sarah Burleigh sampler

The 12-15 hours I spent preparing for this talk were well spent and very interesting to me. Attendees were engaged and asked some excellent questions. The room at the Reading senior center was well-equipped, with a TV with an HDMI port that we could connect to a computer with my presentation. I hope to be able to more presentations like this in the future!

Posted on

Upcoming classes

Tomorrow (Sunday 3/3) is the drop spindle workshop at the Wayland Farmers Market Fiber Day. It runs 1-3. Details and signup are here.

Next Sunday 3/10, we’re adding a drop spindle class at the Fiber Loft, 12-3. Call the shop at 978-456-8669 to sign up.

Also, we’re adding another Beginning Weaving class at the Fiber Loft the first 2 Wednesdays of April. Details are here. This is a “being-a- friend” class! The first person plays full price and can bring a friend along for $20 more. You work together to make a sampler.

Posted on

Mittens in progress

Colorwork mittens from handspun yarn

Here’s what I worked on this weekend, relaxing in an armchair at a friend’s house in Maine. (There was also some snow shoeing!) I spun the yarn from the BASD (Boston Area Spinners & Dyers) challenge fiber. The pattern is Strikeleik by Marianne Nesse on Ravelry. They are supposed to be knit in the round, but not having the right needles on hand, I adapted it to flat knitting. It’s a challenge to keep the tension even on the 2 yarns when knitting and purling.