1st Annual Ingram Arts and Crafts

I have mentioned the 1st Annual Ingram Arts and Crafts Show to be held in Tupelo, OK on September 22, 2012 on my other blog Fabric Follies Two.  I'm a little late getting it up over here and I apologize for that.  It's been a busy month.

I love to weave.  Whether it's with my own hand spun or not, there's just something soothing about the rhythm and the immediate gratification that comes with something that comes together so beautifully and quickly.  This is the beginning of an envelope purse that I put together a couple of weeks ago.

This is how it turned out.. ;o)

These beaded stilettos are an exceptional tool when doing hand sewing.  It was very useful when making the coin purse below.

This fabric for this coin purse was at one time a sheet on our bed.. ;o)  I tore the 1/2 inch strips and then wove them onto a pocket weaving board (see photo in header), embroidered the ribbon rose grouping, sewed the back onto it and then cut and mounted it into the coin purse frame.

 These are hand spun embroidery threads.. most of them hand dyed using kool aid as the dye agent.

 Hand spun yarns, hand felted fabric.  All hand dyed or natural fiber.

 This needle book is made using hand spun.. on a spindle.. yarn, hand woven, hand spun and dyed embroidery yarn, hand felted fabric inside.  The only part not hand made is the cotton lining and sewing machine thread used to sew it in.

 Yarn, yarn and more yarn.. ;o)

These hand spun yarns were Rit dyed.  This was my first foray into the acid dyes.

There will be much more at the Show..  My Uncle Bobby is the most amazing "whittler" you have ever seen... He will be showing his planes and guns..  My Aunt Betty is a wonderful artist.  There will be other art projects shown also.. If you are near .. we would love to have you!

Four Year Anniversary... I Missed It

On August 13, 2005 I made my first ever blogging post. I never dreamed that I would still be posting 4 years later. The customary thing is to link back to that first post on your anniversary... however... we were out of town. So I will do it here... Sharon B's Bags of Fun That was a fun undertaking. As the pages clicked by while I was looking for that first post there were several that stood out as places that turned out to be kinda important. Here's one...

The Joy of Handspinning Anyone who has been around my house lately can vouch for the fact that this site definitely changed my life...lol I am now surrounded by hand made spindles, a spinning wheel and a rigid heddle loom. I teach anyone who will stand still for a minute and doesn't fight back...lol

This site gives step by step instructions for making your first spindle and how to use it. Somehow it never left the back of my mind, but nothing happened until August of 2007. That was when I had been back to the site multitudes of times and finally decided that I would give it a try. That would be 2 years ago this month.

Much has happened in the 10 days since my last post. A trip to see my sister, on to Tulsa for a trip to the chiropractor (none near us uses our insurance .. bummer), and back home just in time for our son and daughter in law to arrive from Michigan. Busy time.. ;o) What a wonderful visit!

I hope all are having a good Sunday... It's a lovely, sunshiny day here and we have tiny baby wrens just hatched out in the back yard. It will be fun to watch them grow...

Newsletter, Echocardiogram, Silk/Bamboo

There have been many ups and downs with the newsletter during the last year. We handed it over to someone else to do and for one reason or another, it did not get done.... so we are once again doing it. It will be in the mail this afternoon. This is a good thing...really wanted everyone to have theirs before Christmas. Our mailing list is now around 550, but with none sent out in a year, we are expecting quite a few to be returned as undeliverable as people move and don't send in new addresses.

Went for echocardiogram yesterday. It took quite a while, but not nearly as long as I was expecting it to take...lol (Didn't have to see the doctor!) My cardiologist has one of those doctor's offices where you make sure you have enough knitting/crocheting/nalbinding supplies with you to last for several hours.... you will need them. My DH has finally learned to take his own book with him...after he had read all of the magazines in the place at least twice in one visit. Go again next week for chemical stress test.

Made a trip to Durant, OK for some supplies and while there stopped at Ozark Mills. I got some silk roving and some bamboo roving. It's amazing the difference between spinning the silk/bamboo and spinning wool. The white in the pic to the left is the silk. The beautiful fuchsia/purple colorway below is the bamboo.

Sorry for the Lack of Posts

It's been a really busy week...go, go, go... Will say hello this morning with a couple of things...

First and foremost... our new granddaughter Hannah.... Is she not lovely?...








And second...what I have been working on in the evenings...home spun, dyed and woven..then sewn and embroidered needlebooks....

I have just been reminded that I have to be at the dentist in 40 minutes...lol ... (Does your DH do that too?...) Will try to blog more later and catch up on my Simple Woman's Daybook!

Sniffles and Broomstick Lace

If you've been following my other blog, you'll already know that I have been preparing to go to Drumright (the town where 3 of my children were born) to the Oil Patch Jamboree. DD has a booth and we were going to set up and "sell our wares"... ;o) And then the sneezing, sniffling, runny nose, watery eyes, I can't sleep 'cause I can't breathe hit... early cold or sinus infection.. don't know which. Down for the count all day yesterday. Slept so much poor DH had no one to talk to most of the day. Anyway... now I have a bag full of beginner's spinning kits, hand spun yarns, hand spun and hand knit scarves, nalbinding things, and broomstick lace "Broomstiks"... and speaking of...

This is what I have been working on in the evenings. It is the most amazing stuff I have done in a long time. There is so much elasticity in it that I just love it. Whatever this thing is that I am working on is growing longer.. so looks like it will turn into a lacy scarf... I tried this with larger yarn and a larger Broomstik and it would make a really good afghan...

Video tutorial by Jennifer Hansen of Stitch Diva Studios showing how to do this is found here.

Finally Finished Hand Spun..Tiny Booties

I finally finished spinning the first hand dyed roving I ever tried. I gave up on the hand spindle since I only use the spindle when I am out and about .. perhaps at the doctor's office or such.. so i finished it on my wheel. Ended with 120 yards of triple ply that measures out at 10-12 wpi. It has not been wet finished yet and I think it may be plyed a little to tight...we'll see. I'm thinking this will be joining the pink merino that I did last winter and be woven into a check pattern scarf...

I've had the knitting needles out again in the evening and when I had some yellow alpaca blend left over from the fabric I did on the Harp .. I decided to try this little pair of booties... How cute are they?!! The pattern is here at Bev's Country Cottage. I think I found the pattern via Mariella at Knitting Nonni ... I'm not sure..lol I know one thing... I need to ask her to do a tutorial on how to sew them together... ;O) I never seem to be able to do that so the seam is invisible...

Knitting at night...

As I sit watching television in the evening with my sweet DH, I usually have to have something to do with my hands. Lately I have been knitting. I am totally in love with Yarn Harlot's pattern for this scarf...I use it for everything...

This alpaca blend feels wonderfully soft when done in this pattern with really big needles.

This spindle spun lace weight yarn is also done in the same pattern. Quick, easy and one that I don't mess up too badly...lol

The next thing I am going to do is make a baby blanket with this pattern. I think it will be totally soft and lovely....

Cool Rain

It's been a lovely couple of days. Cool, slow rain...temps in the 70s and 80s. Lovely.

Off to the cardiologist tomorrow.. CT Angiogram.. just checking. Should know the results by the beginning of next week.

This doctor is one that when you go for an appointment, make sure you have enough of something to keep you busy for at least 4 hours. They have grown accustomed to my spinning...grin And speaking of which, I don't think I will ever get the Corriedale that I dyed spun into that sock yarn I really wanted. Of course, if I have very many more of these appointments, it may be done before I know it...lol

DH has finished his clock. It turned out really lovely and looked so good on the wall! But there is something wrong with the speaker for the chimes, so that part of it had to come out and is now on it's way back to the factory. Hopefully the new part will be here within a few days.

I found this Stephen King book on sale for $3.99. Naturally I grabbed it right up. It bears an uncanny resemblance to "The Stand" in the plot line and the characters. After learning not long ago that many authors have "ghost writers" that write the

story after the "author" gives them the outline and plot, this one makes me wonder if it really was Stephen that wrote it... This is not to say that I didn't enjoy it... it just didn't seem to be of the same quality as his others...

Spindles and More Spindles

I painted a few of my spindles the other day. When I began to spin the hand painted roving on my spinning wheel I realized that it would not spin as small as I wanted to spin it. It was then that I decided to do it on my spindles.
The only problem was that I needed more than the one spindle I had to do it on. (My Bosworth is in use with some white Corriedale roving...) So I set about making several more, with 3 approximately the same size... 2" whorl, 8 1/2" shaft and weighing 0.75 ounces. They absolutely work like a charm.

The spindle lying on the table with the white mixed wool is my first efforts at "Ply on the Fly" spinning...I love it. When all done with the spinning, I will also be done with the plying and will have totally finished wool yarn to take off the spindle (except for the water bath finishing, of course).

The long spindle with the brown horse on the whorl is actually a metal door pull that we found at a local farmer's market..(no farmers showed up .. !!). I bought it for a $1.50, brought it home, put a shaft on it and boy did it go! lol Have to say I was not surprised that it worked...but very surprised that it worked so well.

Spinning Chiengora

I suppose there's a fancy name for everything..grin I had our son keep the "fur" after our grand poodle Brigit was groomed and bring it to me. I've had a smaller amount in my room for quite a while, but didn't have a spindle that was light weight enough for the tiny strands of poodle fur.

I finally got around to making one and so.. here we go. I started with a bit of wool to give the poodle fur something to grasp and I have to admit, it was rough going to learn. I finally figured out that if I would use some spinning oil on it as I was carding it everything would spin much easier and there would be a lot less fly away going on. I pulled on the thread quite hard at intervals while spinning it and so far it seems to be quite strong. Perhaps will get it finished tomorrow and then I think I will ply it with wool...that will make it go much further and I already have some Corriedale wool going on my Bossie spindle. I can hardly wait to see how much it finally ends up being...

How to Make a Beaded Wrist Distaff

Yesterday was laundry day. While I had 20 or 30 minutes between loads, that's not very much when it comes to weaving..so... instead of weaving I made the wrist distaff that I have been wanting to make forever... but just kept putting off.

It consists of about 20 pieces of yarn that are about 30 inches long. (Notice all the "abouts"... I seldom measure anything..If it looks "about right", then it's fine with me.) These are all held together and folded in the middle to find the center. Keep your finger in between the fold or you will find that you will be 10 minutes sorting out the yarn and have to start over... (guess how we know this!) Working out from the center, the yarn is "measured" to about twice the amount needed to circle the wrist and then tied of with a string at that spot on one end. With the string tie hooked on something substantial ( in this instance it was my big toe...lol A sight to behold if ever there was one!), you divide the yarn into 3 equal groups and begin to braid the center. When it reaches the desired circumference of your wrist..making sure it will fit over your hand also... the braiding is then tied off on this end.

There should now be fairly equal lengths of loose yarn on each end. I trimmed 2 or 3 on each to be shorter and did some random cuts to put some of the beads at different levels.. This helps to hold the wool. And here comes the picky part. The beads can be any kind you want. Any color you want. The only stickler is that they must have a hole big enough for the yarn and the eye of the needle you will be using. Each length of yarn hanging from the braid is beaded. I used a single good sized bead with a knot tied at the end to hold it. You can use as many beads on each piece of yarn as you like, but each piece of yarn should have at least one. After the beading is finished on both ends, the braided wrist area is joined by putting the ends of the braid together, then wrapping a length of yarn around them.. joining both sides into one. Tie it off with a knot. I then applied super glue to all the knots. While I don't plan to be throwing it around much, I figure a little extra oomph on those knots couldn't be a really bad thing.

And... you don't absolutely have to bead your distaff. The beading gives some weight to the lengths of yarn and helps to allow the wool to fall off the distaff easier as you can twirl the weighted lengths of the distaff as you spin.
However, the first distaff I made was not weighted and I found it nearly indispensable for holding plenty of yarn on hand as I was spinning and also for keeping the wool away from the spinning yarn. (Hate that when the wool becomes tangled in the spinning yarn...)

I should add here that you can make a wrist distaff of almost anything... from crochet cotton thread to strips of rags... but the use of a woolen or semi-woolen yarn will give something for your wool to "hold" to and be less likely to just slip up and down on the distaff.

This is really a post that should be on Fabric Follies Two.. hmm May just copy and paste it over there..lol

Of Painting and Sealing

It took a couple of days to paint everything, let it dry and then seal them with polyurethane. But it finally all came together...

I started to paint more on the bottom of the lucet, then decided that I just wanted something small and simple.. so there is a small flower on each side, then several coats of polyurethane.

I finished one nalbinding needle, then decided that would be more than I needed if I used all those blanks for needles...sooo... DH assisted and we put four of them together to come up with this 5 1/2 inch loom. All that I really did to the oak was sand all the edges smooth and make sure that nothing would cut the yarn as it pulled around it. All this was done yesterday morning. Yesterday evening I did the piece of test weaving. I can already tell that I will have to grab oldest son and have him tutor me a bit on how to do this..grin But all in all.. I didn't think it turned out too bad.

This spindle is a toy wheel with a very small center hole. The shaft is a bamboo skewer from the kitchen. I still had to sand a little so the skewer would fit, but it spins like a dream now. I let enough of the shaft push through that this spindle can be a bottom whorl or it can be a supported spindle. I will be trying to learn to use it as a supported spindle. I have some short, short poodle hair that I am dying to try to spin.. I think I will have to mix it with some wool... but this spindle will be good to try it with.

The four sets of finger weaving sticks were a no-brainer. All that had to be done was sandpaper the ends and length, sand, seal, sand, seal, sand, seal...lol

There is another spindle that was finished yesterday, but I'm so glad all the pics fit that I'm afraid if I try to add another one, I will be pushing my luck with Blogger...lol So will put it up tomorrow...

I've had a couple of people ask about using a lucet.. The top You Tube video in sidebar is a video of how to use a lucet. Have a look....

W I F #5 & Lucet

It's been a fairly good week...weigh in today...188..ta da...

We spent a little time out in the shop yesterday. These are nalbinding blanks, fingerweaving rods, Lucet and spindle parts. The all need to be completed, but I couldn't wait to see if I could work the Lucet. I only had inch and a half wide piece of oak, so I drew out what I thought would work and DH cut it out for me.

I used the Dremel to sand it down, but let me tell ya... a person needs a little time and practice using the Dremel...lol My poor little lucet has some real ocean waves... But it worked really well. I had to spend some time getting used to the small working area between the forks...about 3/4 inch... but when I did get it figured out it whizzed right along just like a grown up... Today I will finish sanding with some sandpaper. I think I will figure out some way to paint a tiny floral on the hand piece and then finish with something that will show the grain of the wood. May have to ask DSIL and find out what will work. I am trying to stay with whatever would be available around 800 AD... may not make it tho... sure like to use acrylic paints...hmmm

The Redbud ... Love it..

The sun is shining and it looks like the first tiny leaves are showing up on a couple of the trees and buds are showing up on many more. I went out to take the pic of the redbud tree this year and was surprised by how green the meadow is already. Even if the thermometer on the back porch says 50 degrees at 10:30 this morning, the quick breeze out there makes it feel like it's about 32. (DH says I'm a wimp! grin)

I finally bought the rose essential oil I have been coveting for the last 2 years.... The only thing I can say is that a person should go ahead and get it when they first think of it...The price had gone up $10. an ounce to make it now $35. an ounce. That's the last of that because it takes almost a whole ounce to make anything... Think I will move on to something like lilac or jasmine...

While I was there I saw some necklaces that were polished flat stones with holes in the center.. I had to have one and here is what I have done with it...lol It only goes to show that a person can make a spindle out of almost anything...grin

The truth is that DH is going to cut the brush part off and I will refinish it. I was most surprised, however, that it spins just fine with the brush still attached...

My Bossie...

I'm a little rushed today...errands to run.... On with the saga of my hand spinning adventures...



This is my first smaller sized yarn. I am working toward the size that when plied will be sock yarn, then I want to do sweater yarn. Well, what a trial and error...grin After this was finished using the homemade spindle, I thought perhaps I could (maybe) do better with a professionally made spindle. Sooo.....

This is my Jonathan Bosworth Bird's Eye Maple spindle. This is what the lace weight yarn was spun on. Ask me if I love it...!!! In the background of the picture is a wrist distaff I made by braiding the first hand spun yarn (Hobby Lobby stuff...ughhh). I had wondered about them and thought..."How could that help?"... Well, it's wonderful. I have to make a real one now with some weights on the ends because I have to stop and unwind the roving, but still... it keeps the roving from swaying in the air conditioning and getting caught in the spinning. It also keeps plenty on hand...

Gotta run...

Monitors, Dopplers and Yarn

First, we went to the doctor yesterday. DH went into the exam room with me and the discussion and exam ensued. I feel like for the first time since the stent placement in October he is taking it seriously. Today will be a trip to Denison for the 24 hour heart monitor...again. Then another trip next Wednesday for another doppler of the carotids. In the meantime, I guess the trip to Stonewall is off until after next Wednesday. Bah...

On to other things... Since I took up naalbinding, I have wanted to have some homespun to work with. Naalbinding needs just a bit of felting to close the stitches. Now you know why I took up spinning...grin

Just before we left to go the Steve's graduation, I took the blue spun yarn off the holder and tied it, soaked in warm water and hung it over the bathtub spout and left it to hang dry until we returned. When we got home I rolled it into a small ball and found that the places where it was spun very tightly did not hang loose... now that tight twist continues to want to twist back on itself. I wonder if I there is any way to save this yarn, as it did not work well when I tried it to see what it would do.....