spinning Archives - tamarackfiberarts

A New Loom Joins the Herd

March 20, 2023 by Donna Johnson Leave a Comment

After some time of consideration and budget planning, I decided on a new table loom. The order was placed with the Eugene Textile Center in August. At the end of September 2022, “Louie,” a 16 shaft LeClerc Voyageur table loom arrived at my door.

Getting the packaging open presented more of a challenge than did assembly of the loom. Finn was eager to help with packaging but not so much with assembly. Louie is a very well-made piece of equipment.

My goal in obtaining this loom is to play with more complex twills and, more importantly to me, to learn more about woven structures. Given the slowness of weaving on a table loom, this will undoubtedly take a good deal of time.

I am imagining a series of different structures utilizing the same profile draft and then an exploration of a variety of tied weaves.

While waiting for Louie to arrive I had decided to weave a 12 shaft draft from Handwoven. This was an “extra” for subscribers and is a Summer & Winter draft of cats for dish towels. Working primarily from stash and from pictures of my two grandkitties, I planned to make two towels as a holiday gift for dearest Kiddo.

I used KnitCompanion to track the lift plan. It turns out there is a fair amount to learn about weaving on a table loom after being focused on floor loom weaving. The first towel, a rather ridiculously long towel with several mistakes, now graces my kitchen. I tied on more warp and had another go, including adjusting colors to better depict the cats. Meanwhile, I was getting a better feel for Louie’s brake, weaving sweet spot, and other adjustments. We are getting along pretty well now, despite the slow going.

Of course, time is one thing I usually feel rather short on, especially as holidays approach. While learning Louie’s intricacies, I was also working on landscaping the front yard, dealing with several veterinary encounters, and making plans for the holidays that happen in November and December.

If you have read my previous posts, you know gardening is important to me. I took several months of leave taking from my yard in California where Michael and I grew fruits and a variety of herbs and vegetables. We both knew we wanted to simplify and have much easier maintenance in our new yard. By the time I found Pam, the perfect person to help us design and plant our front yard, the yard was looking pretty ugly. The backyard will be Finn’s with the exception of some planned raised beds and we have left dealing with that until spring.

In a nutshell, with great help and guidance, we got rid of a good deal of lawn and other unwanted vegetation. We planted a lavender hedge, two good sized birch trees and a scarlet hawthorn, and lots of perennials and bulbs. We now have a front yard that I am excited to watch develop. The 20-year-old rosemary bush we brought with us is planted there, too. Our faery altar is graced with a large piece of granite from the Sierras. As things start blooming this spring, I will start taking photos.

So landscaping was a major development during the autumn and consumed a good deal of time. Finn continued to take up a good deal of time and energy with daily exercise and training as well as some unanticipated veterinary needs. In the end, Finn was fine and fit as a fiddle, but we nicknamed him “CreditCard.”

One of his veterinary excursions nearly derailed my long planned trip to a weaving workshop. Fortunately, he recovered, and, at the end of October, I headed to the Eugene Textile Center for a workshop on Transparency weaving with Suzie Liles.

It was wonderful to be at an in-person workshop (my first since COVID) and to be learning. Suzie is a great teacher and the topic strikes me as a possible way for me to work with some ideas in my head.

Once again, the issue of time creeps in and I’m sad to say that I have not done anything with the warp since returning. My Wolf Pup has been rather neglected since traveling with me to Eugene.

Early November brought more veterinary encounters and nursing of Finn who, once again, thankfully, is quite fine.

About this time another new piece of equipment arrived. In the summer I placed an order for a motor for my fabulous Clemes and Clemes Elite drum carder. Again, lots of thought and budget planning went into the decision and I know the workmanship of Henry and Roy Clemes is fantastic.

I have plenty of fleece, lots of ideas, and not enough time, so the motor seemed like a good investment. It is a beauty and exponentially shortens the amount of time it takes to process fiber.

I’ve been blending some of my wool and alpaca with a project in mind that involves lots of spinning and then weaving. This is, of course, a very long-term project but I have completed spinning samples and made some decisions regarding the blends I will be using and a herringbone draft. Stay tuned for more information as this project slowly unfolds.

In late November we celebrated a day of gratitude with friends, including my decades old tradition of making pie from real pumpkins. Training and beach walks with Finn continued and I worked on knitting and spinning when I couldn’t get up to the Loom Room.

Then, of course, there was all the holiday planning. Finn needed a Christmas stocking and dear kiddo was bringing a friend, so they needed one as well. I was not undertaking any major holiday crafting, but it was still very busy.

Finn loved the snow we had in December. Fortunately, both my beloved kids arrived after that storm and left before then next big rain, ice, and wind event. We had a great holiday visit with plenty of good food to share.

In the end, in addition to the cat towels, I made two stockings, a sheep ornament, and some gnomes. The sheep ornament included some of the Shetland fleece from Riplet that I needle felted onto the fleece woven base.

My dear friend, Mary, got me going on knitting gnomes. This seems like a great way to use up all the many bits and bobs of left over fingering weight yarn in my stash. Alas, the arthritis in my hands will definitely limit my gnome knitting but if I plan well and do a little bit at a time ... maybe there will be more gnomes under our tree next year.

Winter was here and we had passed the longest night. A new project was on the Mighty Wolf and on the table loom.

The towels that took months to weave were ready for inventory and Michael’s sweater that I had been knitting for most of a year was ready for seaming. And sometimes we even enjoyed sunshine.

Knowing Imbolc was just around the corner, I was planning my annual meditative lace knitting project. The wheel of the year was turning, and I was encouraged by the additional minutes and then hour of daylight.

And ever grateful as we carry on in our new homeland.

Looms in Storage

August 9, 2022 by Donna Johnson 1 Comment

Several months have come and gone since I last posted. Rather than a very long story, I will be brief and break the tale of our adventure into two parts.

We left California on March 3. Our beloved home was empty, being cleaned, and about to be staged. Our possessions, other than what we took with us for our temporary stay, were now in storage. We were excited and scared at the same time. Exhausted, too. With two vehicles, a large puppy, and a rented trailer attached to Michael’s pick-up truck, we took three days to reach our destination of Whidbey Island, Washington. If you have questions about dog parks on the way, chances are Finn and I can answer them.

We arrived at our destination on March 5. We knew the island was the right place for us from the minute we arrived. All that remained was to navigate selling a house, finding the right house in the right place in an exceptionally tight market, and dealing with a cramped and crumbling AirBnB cabin that we came to call “The Hovel.”

Thank goodness for knitting, spinning, and band weaving. Thank goodness for such an amazing and beautiful environment to explore. And thanks to our pup, Finn, for making us get out and about, no matter the weather. We quickly found some beach front property in our price range but hoped for something better.

Less than a week after arriving, our California home was on the market and exceptional offers were coming in. We put an offer on a great home here that we realized we were unlikely to get, given the very tough market on the island. Uncertainty, unknowing, and major life decisions. Spiritual practice and mindfulness can only help, and they did. And, yes, knitting, spinning, and weaving are all part of that.

While waiting to hear about offers on our house for sale and our offer on the house we wanted, I took a walk on a beautiful stretch of beach on a blustery day.

The spirits of the island were palpable and four eagles circled overhead, calling like a choir in a church.

I made a conscious decision to TRUST. Not something that comes easily, but a clear choice. Trust that this will work out, one way or another. Let go of doubt. Be in the present moment.

Within ten days of arriving, two contracts had been signed. One for the sale of our house in California and one for the house we wanted here. Hallelujah! If I could carry a tune, I would sing it now.

Hallelujah Images – Browse 3,493 Stock Photos, Vectors, and Video | Adobe Stock

We would play the waiting game for a few months as the family we bought from couldn’t move until early May. We completed tons of paperwork; visited the wonderful off-leash, dog friendly areas on the island; and I continued knitting, spinning, and band weaving. I met new fiber friends, and I attended the Whidbey Weavers Guild Spin-In

Finn continued to grow and we discovered that groomers are very hard to come by here. We found a wonderful day care for him for an occasional adventure. Puppy training continued and Finn had us well trained by this point.

I participated in Ilga Jansons' Edgewood Garden Studio Spin-In on Ravelry, spinning a new-to-me fiber (Stricken Lonk) that Ilga dyed. This will become pattern weft for an overshot dresser scarf. And I spun some lovely BFL that became a sunflower hat. There were some other skeins spun as well and one is for a gift so I’m not posting pictures of that one.

After about six uncomfortable weeks in The Hovel, we spent two weeks on the southern part of the island in a nice house. I made adaptations to spinning technique to accommodate worsening arthritic thumb pain and I discovered ways to wind yarn that I had never considered.

The improved environment opened something inside of me and while walking on a beach one day I was flooded with weaving ideas for the first time in months. Amazing what a better environment and a walk on the beach will do for you.

Back to the Hovel we moved for another couple of weeks. Poor Finn! There literally wasn’t room for him to turn around in the bedroom.

While waiting to get into our new home we took care of the many details involved in moving from one state to another, ordered a few things for the new house, and continued to get exercise with Finn.

I completed a pair of leg warmers for my daughter. It was a pattern and yarn that she selected. The textured pattern and gusseted calves kept the knitting interesting.

A cabled sweater for Michael was started and stopped several times, and the lace knitting project I started in February was frogged.I decided that the Gotland, while beautiful, just wasn’t the right yarn and my brain was just not in the right place for lace knitting.

Between the cramped and oppressive environment of the Hovel, the stress involved with real estate transactions even when all is going well, and lack of anything resembling space to meditate … well, I’ll save that pattern for another time.

As May approached, we were very excited. In addition to getting keys to our new house, both of my kids were coming to visit. And the movers said they could get to us early – just three days after we closed on the house.

But … stay tuned and see how things turned out.

The Weaving Doldrums

August 31, 2021 by Donna Johnson 2 Comments

Doldrums:

A state or period of inactivity, stagnation, or depression.

An equatorial region of the Atlantic Ocean with calms, sudden storms, and light unpredictable winds.

No matter which definition is used, I think the word doldrums applies in my life lately, even if I am far closer to the Pacific, rather than the Atlantic Ocean. I cannot say I have been inactive; just that the weaving part of my life has been inactive. That would be for several reasons but I’m not writing to list them as excuses. It is what it is.

And what it is … is fire season in parched wildlife-urban interface in Northern California, garden season, and summer activities, including some family visits.

Combine all of that with the sudden storm of getting DHs book completed and self-published The Heart of Understanding: Karate and Kokoro and his new websites developed and (at least one of them) up and running, Sierra Shotokan and there has definitely been stagnation on the looms. But for very good reasons.

I did manage to accomplish loom movement, just not in the way anticipated. Gil is still in need of a new home, but he has been relocated to a safe space in the office we built out in our garage a few years ago. He awaits the perfect home and comes at a great price! Click on the link to view details; be patient for the pdf to open. Gilmore For Sale

Wilhelmina, the Mighty Wolf, remains in her usual position in our family room. As I write this, doubleweave linen bread bags are underway. Fiona, the Baby Wolf, has been relocated to the breakfast nook formerly occupied by Gil. This is far better than being folded and stuffed into my closet during visits involving the fiber room that becomes a guest room. With vaccination in place for friends and family, there have been a few visitors for the first time in a very long time. Fiona has a linen warp for light and lacy linen scarves. It is difficult to gently place weft while fires rage nearby, so I had to stop weaving on Fiona the other day. Little Pup was sitting next to Fiona but even folded up it was difficult to open the kitchen cabinet. So, with visitors departed for a week, Little Pup is now in the fiber room. Such is life when house also serves as studio.

Meanwhile, to preserve a bit of sanity in the parched heat with fire planes frequently flying overhead, I’m slowly working on the Shetland fleece that came home with me from my trip to Washington in early June.

My youngest, Archie, now 30, lived in Olympia, Washington until mid-July. When DH and I visited in early June, we took a day trip to a lovely farm about 15-20 minutes outside of Olympia. Archie’s friend lives on the farm with her Shetland sheep. The activity for the day, other than spending time with my dear offspring, was to visit the farm and observe the sheep shearing that was scheduled for the day. Long story very short, the shepherdess pretty much begged me to take home a fleece.

With such beautiful fleece being offered, how could I refuse? So, I offered her my first attempt at a handspun, color blended Sheepheid hat which I happened to have with me as a comparison for the second one I was starting to knit. She was delighted and so was I.

I returned home with 4.7 pounds of white/grey fleece from a sheep named Riplet. I started with washing a sample of about half a pound of the fleece. After three washes, the lanolin and most of the dirt was gone but the tips looked like crap. And we are in a major drought with water restrictions. My process was rather inefficient. So, the rest of the fleece was shipped off to Morro Fleece Works and came back quickly.

It was nice and clean, except for the tips. Oh well, it was definitely worth saving water resources and my time and energy. Shari does a remarkable job, and she does it as quickly as possible. I have other things to say about the cost of shipping but that is not Shari’s fault, and it is not suitable content for a fiber blog.

Meanwhile, I have completed a second Sheepheid hat. This time I drum carded all the colors, including the four natural colors (black, natural, grey, and morrit) I started with and I ended up with more spinning consistency across all nine colors. I also steam blocked it after wet blocking and that really helped improve the knitted fabric.

Recently I've been flicking locks in preparation for drum carding a sample of the Shetland fleece with the intention of spinning and knitting fingerless mitts for the shepherdess. It is a fun project and helps keep me sane as California burns and we further refine our “Go Bags,” as inane as that process is.

One of the many things I’ve learned this summer is just how important weaving is to me. When I have projects on the loom, I can be mindful and enjoy what I am doing instead of fretting about the state of things. I have missed that over the past month. We have enjoyed visiting with vaccinated friends and family but preparation for three different visits in one month and putting things back where they usually go, as happens when house is studio, is time consuming and requires a different sort of concentration, timing, and energy expenditure than regular days and fiber play. And as we are withdrawing once again due to this most recent surge of Covid, I’m facing more isolation and need the creative interaction that comes with weaving.

So, I am to ready get these linen projects going! Right after garden duty.

If your air quality isn’t too bad, breathe deeply. Appreciate what we have in the moment and enjoy it. Practice gratitude and weave on. It can only make our world more peaceful.

Fiber Arts and Life: It’s A Process

June 5, 2021 by Donna Johnson Leave a Comment

Process. So it seems for weaving, knitting, spinning, and life. For most things, I enjoy the process.

At the beginning of February, in honor of Imbolc, also known as Brigid’s Feast, I decided to begin knitting a black lace shawl. I had been contemplating knitting such a thing for a good while and had the yarn in my stash. I wanted to incorporate knitting mindfully, beginning something new at this time of year, and at least in some small way, I wanted to celebrate Brigid and this cross-quarter time in the wheel of the year.

And so I began on February 1. It was a bit of a rough start, requiring a few attempts, but that is not unusual. Once the project had more stitches on the needles, it became easier. And then it became a relaxing evening knit, if I had a light, solid color cloth on my lap and good lighting.

In the meantime, with both of us fully vaccinated, we visited family and one of our favorite places on the coast of Northern California. It will be a process finding our way forward through the pandemic. I expect it will require even more mindfulness than my lace knitting project. It seemed like a brief get-a-way to the coast would help. It did.

Then there is the learning process, specifically with sewing machines. I have never gotten along particularly well with sewing machines. I’ve tried. And I’ve tried to forget about sewing through my finger many decades ago, using the machine I fought with as a kid. Now have a very good, basic machine; the best I’ve ever had. Usually we get along well enough.

But apparently this machine wanted a different needle for this project. I change them frequently and it was only because of great advice from my weaving group that I was prompted to switch needle types for hems on my Sky towels. No one could exactly say why, but it worked.

I continued slowly knitting my black lace shawl. It is, of course, difficult to photograph progress in a circular lace project. The lace simply clumps together. Then it became time for more mindfulness practice as the bind off, nearly 15,000 stitches of it, became a bit boring.

But, patience and perseverance paid off. Just in time for 90-degree heat, I have completed a 50/50 merino/silk shawl. It blocked very easily with the lace relaxing and blooming like magic. It is 48 inches in diameter.

Another process I very much enjoy is the process of project percolation. I was quite taken by a painting I saw in San Francisco in 2017 and I purchased a post card of the print. Not long after, I set aside tubes of Brassard 8/2 cotton in appropriate colors. The cotton and the print sat on my desk for nearly four years. Suddenly, the juices were percolating and this project came to life. That’s the fun part of project percolation.

Recently I found a draft I thought I could use for this (Strickler #732) and, after lots of playing around in Fiberworks, wound the warp in mid-April this year.

I expected to weave the five towels fairly quickly as it is a very pleasant weave and easy treadling, especially with TempoTreadle on the loom.

But, as life would have it, being the process that it is, the towels were put on hold to take a class with the Feralknitter, finish two other projects, and deal with projects that life presents.

Here is where process, rather than product, is everything. I wanted to take a class with Janine Bajus for a long time and, thanks to the pandemic and Zoom, the opportunity finally came in April. The class was about designing a Fair Isle vest with a focus on color. That really makes my heart sing!

I had no doubts about choosing my colorway from what Janine offered. It was based on a carpet. I spent a couple of weeks learning, swatching, and playing with color. I had been doing what I was told was Fair Isle knitting for a number of years but I learned so much in this one class! I will not knit Fair Isle the same going forward and I learned a great deal about designing with color in Fair Isle knitting.

After a number of swatches, I decided that I may not want a vest knit in these colors, or at least how I was putting them together. And how I was putting them together was nothing like the photo of the carpet Janine sent to me after the class!

Janine warns that designing from a photo of nature is much more difficult but that is what I would really like to wear. I have some photos of the Olympic Peninsula that I’ve been wanting to use so, when weaving needs are less demanding, that is the direction I hope to take my Fair Isle colorplay.

At the same time I wound the towel warp, I wound a final rug warp. As Gil (my Gilmore 8/12 loom) has not found a new home, I decided to weave one final rug. I used a Summer and Winter draft from an old Handwoven magazine (November 1982) with 8/5 linen for warp and Halcyon rug yarn for weft. I planned to slowly finish the rug, weaving it when I wanted a break from weaving towels, scarves, and other things that I find more fun to weave.

An email from someone on Ravelry prompted me to finish the rug as quickly as possible to secure a new home for Gil and more space for me. So, the rug was woven in two weeks. And then the potential buyer decided the cost to travel to pick up the loom was too much. Now I will have to decide on fringe or weaving in the warp threads and then try and sell Gil. I have gained a great deal of respect for this loom, built in 1973. But space is limited and my weaving is in a different direction. It's a process.

In the meantime, I was inspired to weave a scarf inspired by a flower I photographed somewhere in the Los Angeles area in 2015. Like I said, the project percolation process takes time.

I decided on a network draft based on something posted on Eva Stossel’s blog. I modified the draft and, because the colors I wanted can’t be found in Tencel, I used 8/2 cotton from stash. I would much prefer the hand of Tencel and did attempt to ease the sett, using 20 ends per inch, but between being overwhelmed by the red weft and being a cotton twill, well … let’s just say not every project that percolates is perfect. It is not what I envisioned. I’m considering another attempt using plain weave and a more open sett.

As Winter turned to Spring and Spring is moving into Summer, I have been spinning as much as I can. My goal, as it is with many spinners, is better consistency. I would like to use my handspun in weaving; I do have a great deal of it now. Another process.

Most recently I have been spinning fiber from Edgewood Garden Studio, Allonsy Fiber Arts, and Three Waters Farm.

We have been busy dealing with the process of purging “stuff” that isn’t being used (not fiber related!) and preparing for fire season here in very hot and dry Northern California. And we planted another garden, which is growing before our very eyes. There are some other life processes and fiber projects that I am engaged with, but I’ll save that for another post.

Recently, my dear enabling husband honored me with a beautiful gift. Using a piece of driftwood found on the Mendocino coast, he created a kanji that says Weaver Woman. I am humbled by how he honors and encourages my process on the way to becoming a weaver.

In the meantime, enjoy the end of Spring, the growth and promise it brings (even here in fire country), and be mindful.