BACKSTRAP LOOM

Laverne Waddington has an excellent tutorial on backstrap weaving on her blog and on Weavezine.com. She also has a backstrap weaving group on Ravelry.

I used two strands of different colors for my warp - - one each of red and black cotton warped as one.

After Laverne suggested attaching my loom to a table top with clamps, things went along well.

NEW TOY! THE KUMILOOM!

This Kumiloom seemed like a good Christmas present for my granddaughter who likes fingerloop braiding. I helped her get it going and was so impressed, I had to have one too!

The loom is made of a flexible foam with slots cut in it to hold the strings very firmly so there are no tension issues. The bobbins are terrific. They flip open to wind and flip closed to hold the string securely - - so much so that they are still holding on when only a half wrap is still on the bobbin core. The bobbins snap together in a stack for storage. I got my Kumiloom kit on ebay for $15 including shipping, but there are a number of sources for it.

My spinning wheel threading hooks needed new loops so I dug out my silk – some purchased from Stringpage.com - and dyed some white silk blue (food coloring + vinegar) and here is the result.
The braid on the loom and the blue braid were made with the basic instructions that come with the loom. The black braid is a variation on the basic one.

Which is which?

Which is the real maiden and which is the repro? Fred was asked to recreate the missing maiden. It took a couple of tries, but the results were worth it.

The maidens are from a lovely Scandinavian wheel owned by a Ravelry member of the antique spinning wheels group.

Finishing the last presents

The last presents are finished. I made a version of the amazing Queen Silvia into a scarf (minus the scary X-thingies where you knit five together three times and yarnover twice all into the same stitch – I think!). It was pleasant to knit (Knitpicks glace) even though it was only my second try at lace-weight knitting. The photo isn’t very good. I snapped it just before packaging it and getting it into the mail without checking to see if the photo was okay.

The hat – requested by my grandson – was made of Knitpicks swish worsted with a hand dyed orange band. I am not into orange so didn’t want to buy a WHOLE skein of orangeness. The green/blue thing is going to be a glasses case for my son who has discovered that his arms are too short for reading. It is my Faux-Isle pattern (Aug 07 archive) which is always fun. It just needs to be hemmed at the top and the lining sewn in.

Ta-daaa!

The sweater for Fred is finished!

My mom sent me the Barbara Walker fourth treasury of knitting stitches for my birthday and I found an awesome cable that looks like a three dimensional chain. The only trouble was I couldn't figure out how to do it from the Walker book.

So I went on the Ravelry group - Big Sky Knitting- and found out the pattern for the cable (left and right versions)is in handy photos in Janet Szabo's cable book. (Cables: the basics, volume 1).


I love making sweaters starting with the shoulder saddles and working one's way down. Fred tried the sweater on numerous times so it fits very well. It is made from my handspun Finnsheep wool.

National Coverlet Museum

Last weekend we went to the National Coverlet Museum in Bedford, PA to see antique spinning wheels and other fiber processing equipment from the collection of Kitty Bell and Ron Walter displayed against a backdrop of exquisite hand woven coverlets.

We were thrilled to see so many southeastern PA wheels with red/orange stripes on them - - all carefully documented like the three Andrew Kunkle pieces and this gorgeous yarn Johannes Kroh winder. There are over thirty antique wheels in the show including several Farnham wheels, a glorious Irish Castle wheel by Henry, several patent wheels, double flyer wheels, as well as flax processing tools.

One whole room was devoted to flax processing. The title of the flax processing exhibit is “Stay at Home and Use Me Well”, taken from an inscription on a flax hetchel.

The museum shop is filled with reproduction coverlets and other items hand woven of easy care fibers instead of the original wool and linen fibers. The patterns duplicate actual coverlet designs.
The town of Bedford is lovely and is home to Old Bedford Village open during the summer as well as Fort Bedford.

RHINEBECK!

This year the weather was a lot cooler for Rhinebeck, but that made the cappuccino all the more enticing once we finally got to it. Before we ever got to Rhinebeck, we had to detour to Red Hook to view a pristine W. Hopkins saxony with the terrific chip carved detail.

The featured breed was Lincoln Longwool with luxurious lustrous locks.

We got to meet the Tsocks Tsarina of the Ravelry Antique Spinning Wheels group. She had a couple of questions for Fred about two of her wheels.

Also met Jesh who we also “knew” from the Ravelry group. The reason Jesh’s neck is all scribbly is because she has only recently submitted the pattern for release and it isn’t out in public yet. It was a lovely thing, but you’ll just have to wait for it.

As usual I had to get pics of the horses. I think one will do for a painting. This is what came of the photos of the black team of horses I took at Goschenhoppen.

We paid a visit on the way home to the Beekman Inn for lunch rather than brave the cold winds at the vendor stands.