Sum Sum Summer Time

My main focus this summer has been advertising and promoting work for this year. It may be only July but one can never start planning too early. Basically it's just a matter of finding the market and then finding how much time to spend promoting in that market or, of course, to pay someone else to do it, in some cases. With that said, production should be back in full gear in a couple of weeks........we've definatly been part time during the summer for product production but full time in promotion.

Right now my main focus is two knitting projects, one of which is an order, the other is a gift. The entire time I work on them, I think of how much I miss my loom and wheel. :( It's not that I don't like knitting, it's just that I LOVE spinning and weaving. The gift is for my darling Mother-in-law, a knit in one piece sweater and the order is a vest in all hand spun alpaca. I'm pleased with the progress of both of them but, have yet to take pictures:P.

Since there is more rayon yarn here then I will ever know what to do with (ha, I'm sure I could come up with something), I have decided to hand dye and sell some of it. I have been very pleased with the results of the scarf line for this fall and am hoping to share some of the color combinations with others. The newest is listed on Etsy with free shipping. 720 yards of yellow and purple for $18. I purchase yarn in bulk so, I'm able to drop the price to make some of it back. Here is the latest.

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Damask....Ah Ha Moment....Now Taquete?

Ok . So since the weather has been changing, I now have some more obvious time to 'play' with some designs that I have stored in my head:) Damask, in particular, has been a favorite of mine to look at and I really feel the urge to use my loom to create tapestry like scarves and shawls. I don't want anything too heavy as I really like the feel of tencel , bamboo, and I would eventually like to switch to silk for my finer works. I am still in the learning stage though and I hope to always remain in the learning stage. The damask pattern that I have been toying with, I like but, I lose a lot of detail the more I stretched it out. I was a little frustrated but, certain that there was something that I could do. The picture above is a little small but, the piece all the way to the right is a 4 point twill threading, the middle is a 5 point twill threading, and the one on the far left is a 6 point twill threading. To get a true satin/sateen I would have to use the one on the far

A New Loom!

I’ve been weaving on a Glimakra 8 harness countermarche loom for almost 10 years now. I love it! It weaves like a dream, it’s super heavy, I get an excellent shed when all is going well, and I have a bit of an emotional attachment to it. The only thing that I don’t love about this loom is that I have to climb on the floor to tie up the treadles. Depending on the pattern, I could be under there for quite some time. I’m pretty limber and in pretty good shape but climbing under the loom is back breaking work. So much so that I’m sometimes out of commission for the remainder of the day after. Look how pretty this loom is though! I cleaned out the area that this loom has been designating as it’s home and prepped for the replacement. I got an amazing deal on a Louet Spring and couldn’t pass it up! I’ve been doing a lot of research on looms (well, really when am I not looking at looms!) and know that I love Louet. My Megado has served me well for many years and th

You know when you make something and the entire process just seems seamless? Well, that’s how this project played out. I have some 10/2 tencel that is natural and I dyed a bunch of it over the summer. I wound off bouts of around 1700 yards each and now know that I would like to make larger skeins so that I can get a couple of scarves using this pattern again...just a bit longer. This picture was taken in natural sunlight of the braid after counting the ends on the warping board. Let’s get this thing on the loom! I learned a new trick for spreading the warp in the raddle. Since this is an A B color pattern, it’s important to not separate the colors in the raddle. To never “separate the twins” makes beaming the warp a piece of cake! Another cool trick I learned was to put the warp under tension while beaming. With a stack of my son’s graphic novels, I had the full six yards beamed in seven minutes! SEVEN!!! My absolute favorite part, threading

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