Still Weaving!

My solution for the moth eaten warp was to just take about an inch off the side, so I lost 10~ ends, but it was worth it to still be able to use the warp.  My mother joked that it had upset me so much, she was just going to go down there and cut the warp off, I did not find that funny x_x

I finished up the last weaving that had some broken ends in it and started a new one!  This one I'm just using a variegated yarn so the weaving goes super fast when I don't have to switch colors.  I really like how it looks! 

Hopefully I'll have it finished early next week, I want to try a rainbow warp next!

Oh no!

I went to weave some today and found this :(

It looks like a moth took a big bite out of my warp in the time it took me to get my basement work room back in order.  I'm guessing this only looks really bad to people that weave, but it's really bad.  It goes through several layers of the warp, so a few of my ends are essentially chopped into pieces which really sucks!

I can finish the scarf that I have on the loom now at around 60" without having to mess around adding new ends, but I don't know quite what to do with what will be left.

Augh, it's so frustrating to have broken ends, I just hate having to deal with it T_T

Pattern Making

Part of the reason that I was so attracted to bobbin lace is that there are ways to work it into shapes, in a way that tatting isn't nearly as forgiving with.  Tatting is a single line that you have to work with, but the line has rules, it needs to touch itself every so often, it can be misshapen and just in general it is not as flexible in shape as other forms of fiber work.

Bobbin lace can be whatever two dimensional shape it wants!  You just have to make a pattern in the shape that you want.  I'm not going to pretend to know what I'm doing though so... This project may end up like crap!

Cashmere and silk yarn

Some more of the spinning fiber that I got for my birthday.  Again this was one that I was uncertain how much I was going to like it as a yarn, but was blown away when I finished! 

I guess I'm a little used to clay.  Sometimes in ceramics, a piece will never look any better than it does when it's still wet clay.  As soon as you see it fired it's turned into something else entirely, and it's not always good.

This yarn is by far the most soft that I've made so far, cashmere is so good x)

Bobbin Lace

I found this thing on the internet called bobbin lace and looked it up, and found it just fascinating!  It's a way of creating lace, which is why I learned to tat, and is a pretty antiquated technique these days.  So much so that I had trouble finding much instruction on the internet.

I got a book called 'Beginners Guide to Bobbin Lace' to get me started, and a set of 24 bobbins.  The bobbins were about $15 for the pack off of amazon and I thought 'Oh that'll be more than I ever need!'.  The funny thing about bobbin lace is the sheer number of bobbins needed.  It looks fun and interesting in pictures, but when you have it in front of you all you can think is what a terrible mistake you've made with your life.

I made the pillow out of some leftover packaging foam, a bucket lid, and some fabric.  But any kind of solid foam pillow will work.  It doesn't even have to be round.


The first few patterns in the book I found to be quite easy, and simple to understand.  A few patterns in I got very confused though, and had to seek help through youtube.  I still don't consider myself very good, but if you're interested in trying it I do have some comforting news!  First, there are only two movements: cross or twist.  Every single stitch is a different variant of crossing and twisting.  The second bit of good news is that you only work with two pairs at a time, usually moving one pair across the line.

 Keep in mind that in my photos the bobbins are NOT in any kind of order.  If I were still working on the piece they would all be spread out flat and kept in order.  As they are I tied off the ends and just let the bobbins hang while I took photos.

Alpaca and Silk

This was my second spinning project, I picked the fiber that I deemed 'least pretty' since I still wasn't sure if I was going to improve on the wheel yet!  Shockingly, once it was all spun I LOVED it, it's so soft and shiny.  I would consider buying more of this fiber!

I just love how the silk adds that sine to it, and even though it's not perfect that's just fine with me, it's not like it's unusable, it just has lots of character!

More yarn!

This was the first thing that I spun on my wheel, it was a fairly small and cheap batt that I thought would be good for a first go.

It doesn't look it but it's actually two ply, I hadn't gotten the hang of the amount of twist yet (I'm still not sure that I have it...)!

Alpaca Yarn 'Northern Lights'

I've spun a few yarns with the fiber that I got for my birthday (back in August...)!  This fiber was so pretty, I couldn't wait to work with it.  It's a black with bits of jewel tone blue and pink throughout it, it really just sparkled as a fiber.

Having a lazy kate built into my spinning wheel makes it SO easy to make two ply yarn!  I love plying, it's like magic :)