Author: vikkihaffenden

Somerset Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers Skill Share day

On By vikkihaffendenIn craft, creativity, fibre, fibre preparation, Textiles, Wool, WorkshopLeave a comment

Yesterday, Easter Saturday was the Guild Skill Share. There were many generous members who shared their knowledge and skills in weaving, knitting and spinning related sessions.

Kathy and I offered a Wool Fibre Preparation day so that members could have an induction on the Guild equipment or bring their own carders and combs etc. along to learn how to use them or just pick up some tips.

The morning was all about using swing or box pickers and hand and drum carders plus how to use these for blending. After lunch we tackled wool combing using a  pair of English Combs and smaller Valkyrie ones plus blending in a heckle.

We enjoyed running the session and everyone seemed happy. After my initial H&S talk it was me that pricked my finger on the combs!

Inkle loom warped up and ready to go

On By vikkihaffendenIn craft, creativity, Textiles, weaving, Woven textilesLeave a comment

After almost a year I have got round to putting the warp on my Inkle loom to make the second curtain tie I started last April, (and ended up not finishing until July). The yarn is Drops 8/4 cotton.

I hope I’ve got the warp threaded according to the pattern, but my notes were a little sketchy but I hope it will approximate it. Fortunately the curtains are at different sides of the room so there won’t be much opportunity to compare.

Of course not only had I forgotten the pattern, I’d forgotten how to put the warp on. So to begin with I put everything over the top bar and had to re-thread the first four or five threads.  Luckily I had saved my heddles so I know I’ve got the right number of threads because I’ve got the right number of heddles.

The first band I made is in the photo. After a wash the cotton becomes soft but still holds it’s shape.

Or really sorted up the process of warping to leave a long tail attached to the first thread and to tie every new thread onto that tail as I worked across the warp. So you don’t have to cut your threads  until get to the end which I really like.

Getting going

Pink tradescantia flowering

On By vikkihaffendenIn gardeningLeave a comment

I had no idea these plants flowered!

This plant is sitting in the conservatory waiting for the spring. It was only when I watered all the plants in there that I noticed these sweet little flowers.

I bought the plant as a tiny cutting and repotted for the conservatory and it has flourished in there since then. Clearly the best place for it.

Sock mending this evening

On By vikkihaffendenIn craft, creativity, darning, fibre, hand spinning, hand spun, Knitted textiles, knitting, mending, WoolLeave a comment

It’s a howling gale outside tonight, so the place to be is by the fire doing a bit of mending. The subject is a pair of socks machine knitted from my hand spun yarn. These sticks are like , ‘Trigger’s broom’ from Only Fools and Horses.

I plied the yarn from singles of Alpaca and Texel fibre, but did not include any nylon. Consequently, but after a reasonable amount of wear they have begun to thin and finally the stitches have burst. First of all the big toes went, and now the heels.

I had a little of the yarn left, but now it’s onto improvised and colourful mending…

The toes that were mended a while ago
Todays heel mending

I used one of those little mending looms for the toe repair, but the heels have been done ‘freehand’ using a technique from a 1970s mending book. I bought this useful book secondhand when a penniless student in the 80s, well before ‘slow textiles’ and ‘visible mending’ became a thing. Since then, useful book has helped me extend the life of many items for reasons of economy and necessity rather than fashion. Now my mending is on trend and it’s good to see the skill encouraged by a plethora of modern books on the subject.

Cutting a warp off my inkle loom

On By vikkihaffendenIn craft, weavingLeave a comment

Cutting the warp off, is for me, a scarey, but exciting part of weaving. I started this inkle band during a workshop with the Somerset Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers several months ago. When I got home I did a bit, but it sat part done in the corner for all this time until I was fired up to finish a few projects off and wove the last fifty or so centimetres yesterday evening.

This morning I cut the warp and will now wash the band. It is in 4ply hand knit/crochet cotton and follows a simple pattern that was set for the workshop. The colours were chosen to suit the living room curtains and if I ever get around to it I will make this band into tie-backs for the curtains, (which was my original intent).

Cutting the warp threads on my inkle loom

Making a warp for testing out my countermarch loom

On By vikkihaffendenIn craft, creativity, making, Textiles, weaving, Woven textilesLeave a comment

It’s taken me a while, but I have finally made the warp which I will use for testing out my new (to me) countermarch loom.

It’s taken me a while as we have building work going on in the house so I am moving from room to room to escape the chaos. I finally ran out of places to go, so ended up in the conservatory which is HOT. Lots of short breaks needed.

I am in two minds about what to weave. My heart says a fleece rug – I have two in bags in the shed, but my mind says ‘ do you need a rug,?’ What I really need is more tea towels, since my son burned a hole in one of my hand woven ones.

The loom has got an 8 dent reed and I am using a thickish cotton and making a sectional warp because my warping board pegs won’t take more than 80 ends of this. I’ll thread it up as a twill and let myself be guided by the spirit of the day I start to weave.

Winding the warp of the warping board onto a kite stick, as recommended by Peggy Osterkamp

The loom waiting for the warp. I know I’ll be whining about back ache quite soon…