Today will be a short post as I really want to get some things done on my level 3 homework. Yesterday it took me all morning and part of the afternoon to get all the pictures from the weekend uploaded and on the blog. I am on dial up and it takes forever to upload pictures. So even though, I did get some work done on the level 3 homework, it's not as much as I wanted. I did some writing up for some of the questions that I have finished and I did some washing of my samples, so now I want to mount them and get on with two other questions that are in a bit of a limbo but would take very little work to finish them and I could have them done this week. The nice thing is that I surprisingly discovered that by the end of the week, with all my write ups done I will have 1/3 of my questions finished. And I thought I was getting nothing done! How quickly it all adds up. Next week though I will have to get back to the big j.c. Time creeps onward and there is no doubt that I want the Big j.c. done by the time mid March rolls around and the lady who commissioned it is back from South Africa. I screwed up the date the first time and I sure don't want to do that again. I also don't want to feel that kind of pressure ever again.
It is a foggy and very icky day today so a good day to stay in and work, work, work..... which is what I am off to do now.... Pops might come by later for a cup of tea so I had better get down to it....
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Awesome Retreat
I am back from the Blueberry! What a great weekend..... I got lots done.... of course I didn't sleep hardly at all.... about 4 hours a night.... but that's ok because I had a blast!! I finished my mawata.... (I'll tell you all about that)... I finished my silk/cotton sample... (I'll tell you all about that)... I did a little toward my cotton on the Charkha sample.... (I'll tell you all about that).... and I started on my cabled yarn for my wrist distaff.... (I'll tell you all about that too)! Quite a bit of the work I did was for my level 3 homework, and I am starting to feel a whole lot better about that. The food was awesome and I was a little worried that I had gone easy in organizing the food and not had people bring enough...... yeah! right! like that is likely! These ladies never bring too little food. We eat like sheiks and we wouldn't do better aboard a cruise ship! We even had 4 cakes...(one was a birthday cake). You can't beat that! It was sunny and beautiful with excellent roads for traveling and I even sat out on the deck in short sleeves and NO SOCKS 
on Saturday and spun for a while. Except last year, (when I went to Victoria for a conference) I've been going to the Blueberry retreat for seven years. I love our annual Blueberry retreat.
I started work as soon as I got there hemming a shawl that I had woven last summer which I showed you pics of a while back. That didn't take long and so I then started working on my commercial silk hankies which are colourful and bright and a whole lot of fun to spin. I spun about six of them and then plied them, and then they were so fine that I thought a cabled yarn would be nice..... so I re-plied them so that there would be lots of energy in the yarn and then cabled them..... (this is probably too technical for you non-spinners but bare with me and I'll be talking about normal stuff in a little bit). I loved the cabled yarn from silk hankies
and suddenly I thought this would be great for my cabled yarn question for my level 3 homework...... I will talk some more about this in a little while.... One of the ladies who was at the retreat has been learning Chi Gong and so she took us all into the other room and taught us a little Chi Gong.... exercises are good when you eat lots and sit lots... laughing is good exercise.... but Chi Gong gets you up and moving. : )
I went to my room and pitched my sleeping bag and crashed with the full intention of sleeping well..... but..... that didn't happen.... by 4:48 a.m. I was wide awake and dying of thirst. Heat control is an issue at the Blueberry. The people who run the Blueberry lodge decided a few years ago to put in one of those huge wood heat systems where the fire box is in its own building and wow... can that produce heat. I have learned not to bring long sleeve anything with me because I just about die from the heat..... and drink..... I suck back huge quantities of water while there in an effort to stave off dehydration. I still come home with my lips chapped and skin itchy from dryness. Anyway.... in the middle of the night I had to go visit the water cooler and ended up drinking almost a litre of water. I did go back to sleep but not for very long before I heard people up and moving around so I got up too. There was a lady downstairs making coffee and boy was that stuff strong. Even with milk in it, it looked like tar..... but that wasn't a bad thing... after a night with very little sleep good strong coffee perks you up.
Saturday I decided to leave off spinning silk hankies.... I already had a nice bit done and I really wanted to work on my silk and cotton sample. I had chosen to use Supima combed cotton rovings and Bombyx silk rovings for my blend. Both of these fibres are the supreme top quality preparations, I think, for their fibre types. I was looking for a cotton yarn with and sheen almost like mercerized cotton. Well this took a little fiddling since when you blend, staple length is an issue and cotton is way shorter than Bombyx silk so with scissors in hand I cut the silk..... (believe me I had to cringe each time I snipped!) Then I weighed it and measured it to get a 50/50% blend. Then I tried combing it but that didn't work so I carded it with my Ashford all purpose/cotton cards.... and made punis.... (sorry to you folks who have no clue what I am talking about) I spun it with a point of contact drafting method and by the end of the day I had a fairly consistent 3 ply yarn.... which disappointingly had less sheen than I wanted.... that is, till the sun shone on it the next morning. This isn't a very god picture...
It is quite nice. Meanwhile while this was going on I cooked a ham for supper in the kitchen and made a blue mawata. One of my fellow Master Spinners students who is in level 3, had decided we should make a mawata while at the Blueberry and I was all for having company for this dastardly job. A mawata is a way of preparing silk from a cocoon for spinning. You have to boil water with washing soda and soap in it and then soak your silk cocoons until they soften and then pick out the worm and poop and then stretch the cocoon out over a square frame into a shape that looks like a hankie. My cocoons had been previously dyed blue in a mason jar on my deck in the summer sun a few years ago. So I have a blue mawata.
The whole process is a nasty job and though generally I'm not squeamish this is one job that totally disgusts me. The worm is bad enough but the poop is just plain gross! Anyway, I now have that done too. Once it was rinsed in water and vinegar I left it to dry.
After not sleeping much on Friday night I got pretty tired along around mid afternoon so I went and crashed for twenty minutes.... not long but long enough. When I came back downstairs... some of the ladies had moved to the deck to spin so I did too. It was simply divine to sit out in the sun after a long cold winter and spin and chat with no socks... it reminded me that I am so lucky to live in Northern Canada, and it reminded me that spring is coming, and it reminded me how good it is to have friends that you enjoy being with, and it reminded me of how nice bare feet are! There was a dog hanging out at the Blueberry..... I think he belonged to the caretaker and there was something so casual and satisfying about spinning in the sun... friends to chat with and dog by my side with a gorgeous view out over the valley, some might call it contentment.
Sunday started very early. I woke at 5 a.m. and remembered that I hadn't washed the shawl that I had hemmed on Friday night. I figured I had better do that. So I got up and washed a shawl long before anyone woke up and then I hung it out on the rail on the deck to drip.... the dog was there so we bonded for a few minutes and then I asked him not to lift his leg against my shawl... no worries there since he is a very well mannered dog. Later, I was showing my Charkha to anyone interested, when I realized that I had enough cotton spun in singles that I could use it for the sample I have to do on a Charkha or quill wheel. I just have to ply it today and I'm done.
For the rest of Sunday I spun jewel toned commercial silk hankies so I just need to finish that today as well, and do some writing... label it all and then mount it in my binder. I feel very satisfied that I worked well at the retreat and got lots done.
I really could have stayed another day but that was not to be..... when I got home I realized that the only person I never got pics of was the gal I traveled with.... how dumb.
So here are some pics from the weekend.....
We spun....
in the sun....
We wove....
We felted....
We knit and we chatted....
And worked....
We cooked....
We ate...
We partied..... and some of us were surprised......
And when all was said and done.... we left.... sadly.... to wait for another year.
on Saturday and spun for a while. Except last year, (when I went to Victoria for a conference) I've been going to the Blueberry retreat for seven years. I love our annual Blueberry retreat.I started work as soon as I got there hemming a shawl that I had woven last summer which I showed you pics of a while back. That didn't take long and so I then started working on my commercial silk hankies which are colourful and bright and a whole lot of fun to spin. I spun about six of them and then plied them, and then they were so fine that I thought a cabled yarn would be nice..... so I re-plied them so that there would be lots of energy in the yarn and then cabled them..... (this is probably too technical for you non-spinners but bare with me and I'll be talking about normal stuff in a little bit). I loved the cabled yarn from silk hankies
and suddenly I thought this would be great for my cabled yarn question for my level 3 homework...... I will talk some more about this in a little while.... One of the ladies who was at the retreat has been learning Chi Gong and so she took us all into the other room and taught us a little Chi Gong.... exercises are good when you eat lots and sit lots... laughing is good exercise.... but Chi Gong gets you up and moving. : )
I went to my room and pitched my sleeping bag and crashed with the full intention of sleeping well..... but..... that didn't happen.... by 4:48 a.m. I was wide awake and dying of thirst. Heat control is an issue at the Blueberry. The people who run the Blueberry lodge decided a few years ago to put in one of those huge wood heat systems where the fire box is in its own building and wow... can that produce heat. I have learned not to bring long sleeve anything with me because I just about die from the heat..... and drink..... I suck back huge quantities of water while there in an effort to stave off dehydration. I still come home with my lips chapped and skin itchy from dryness. Anyway.... in the middle of the night I had to go visit the water cooler and ended up drinking almost a litre of water. I did go back to sleep but not for very long before I heard people up and moving around so I got up too. There was a lady downstairs making coffee and boy was that stuff strong. Even with milk in it, it looked like tar..... but that wasn't a bad thing... after a night with very little sleep good strong coffee perks you up.
Saturday I decided to leave off spinning silk hankies.... I already had a nice bit done and I really wanted to work on my silk and cotton sample. I had chosen to use Supima combed cotton rovings and Bombyx silk rovings for my blend. Both of these fibres are the supreme top quality preparations, I think, for their fibre types. I was looking for a cotton yarn with and sheen almost like mercerized cotton. Well this took a little fiddling since when you blend, staple length is an issue and cotton is way shorter than Bombyx silk so with scissors in hand I cut the silk..... (believe me I had to cringe each time I snipped!) Then I weighed it and measured it to get a 50/50% blend. Then I tried combing it but that didn't work so I carded it with my Ashford all purpose/cotton cards.... and made punis.... (sorry to you folks who have no clue what I am talking about) I spun it with a point of contact drafting method and by the end of the day I had a fairly consistent 3 ply yarn.... which disappointingly had less sheen than I wanted.... that is, till the sun shone on it the next morning. This isn't a very god picture...
It is quite nice. Meanwhile while this was going on I cooked a ham for supper in the kitchen and made a blue mawata. One of my fellow Master Spinners students who is in level 3, had decided we should make a mawata while at the Blueberry and I was all for having company for this dastardly job. A mawata is a way of preparing silk from a cocoon for spinning. You have to boil water with washing soda and soap in it and then soak your silk cocoons until they soften and then pick out the worm and poop and then stretch the cocoon out over a square frame into a shape that looks like a hankie. My cocoons had been previously dyed blue in a mason jar on my deck in the summer sun a few years ago. So I have a blue mawata.
The whole process is a nasty job and though generally I'm not squeamish this is one job that totally disgusts me. The worm is bad enough but the poop is just plain gross! Anyway, I now have that done too. Once it was rinsed in water and vinegar I left it to dry.After not sleeping much on Friday night I got pretty tired along around mid afternoon so I went and crashed for twenty minutes.... not long but long enough. When I came back downstairs... some of the ladies had moved to the deck to spin so I did too. It was simply divine to sit out in the sun after a long cold winter and spin and chat with no socks... it reminded me that I am so lucky to live in Northern Canada, and it reminded me that spring is coming, and it reminded me how good it is to have friends that you enjoy being with, and it reminded me of how nice bare feet are! There was a dog hanging out at the Blueberry..... I think he belonged to the caretaker and there was something so casual and satisfying about spinning in the sun... friends to chat with and dog by my side with a gorgeous view out over the valley, some might call it contentment.
Sunday started very early. I woke at 5 a.m. and remembered that I hadn't washed the shawl that I had hemmed on Friday night. I figured I had better do that. So I got up and washed a shawl long before anyone woke up and then I hung it out on the rail on the deck to drip.... the dog was there so we bonded for a few minutes and then I asked him not to lift his leg against my shawl... no worries there since he is a very well mannered dog. Later, I was showing my Charkha to anyone interested, when I realized that I had enough cotton spun in singles that I could use it for the sample I have to do on a Charkha or quill wheel. I just have to ply it today and I'm done.
For the rest of Sunday I spun jewel toned commercial silk hankies so I just need to finish that today as well, and do some writing... label it all and then mount it in my binder. I feel very satisfied that I worked well at the retreat and got lots done.
I really could have stayed another day but that was not to be..... when I got home I realized that the only person I never got pics of was the gal I traveled with.... how dumb.
So here are some pics from the weekend.....
We spun....
in the sun....
We wove....
We felted....
We knit and we chatted....
And worked....
We cooked....
We ate...
We partied..... and some of us were surprised......
And when all was said and done.... we left.... sadly.... to wait for another year.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Spring Is In The Air
I think, at least it seems to be mind you there are no flowers yet..... but the snow on the roof goes drip, drip, drip, everyday and I am starting to walk around during the day fully dressed without socks...... now that really says spring to me.
Yesterday I picked myself up again and had a lovely afternoon sitting here in the sunshine with a movie on (The Da Vinci Code) and some silk for spinning. The silk that I dragged out of my stash turned out not to be green undulating to purple but two separate batches of rovings.... green undulating to gold and purple undulating to beige..... I chose the purple and it turned out lovely though not quite as colourful as I thought. I finished my knitted sample last night
and am now washing and blocking it. The skein is labeled and ready to go in the book. I am also setting in my book the woven sample from a few weeks ago...
I have the write up done but I didn't print it and actually put it into my binder so that will be one of my many jobs to do today. I also want to card rolags today with Bombyx silk and Pima cotton for the silk/cotton sample... I would like to do that sample over the weekend at the retreat.
Ah yes... the retreat...... Tomorrow I am headed off to the Blueberry for a short retreat. I will be spending the weekend in a log lodge north of FSJ overlooking a river (frozen) and spinning and laughing etc.... I am taking black alpaca for spinning for the big j.c., the Bombyx and Pima rolags if I can finish it today and silk coccoons for a mawatta. I will also take those damn lace gloves that I have been working on since Judas was in diapers. Who knows.... I might even get some of it done!
I have been in charge of food for the Blueberry retreat this year and am going to have to do some cooking today. Pub night on Friday night and no we won't be drinking.... just eating pub style food..... Breakfast is a whatever you can drum up affair.... Saturday lunch is soups and buns..... Saturday night is ham and scalloped potatoes..... Sunday is always a "must go" day..... The log lodge is a great place to have a retreat because they have individual rooms, showers ( a must), and a huge room in which to set up your spinning and weaving junk and spread out completely.
So I guess I had better get to it.
Yesterday I picked myself up again and had a lovely afternoon sitting here in the sunshine with a movie on (The Da Vinci Code) and some silk for spinning. The silk that I dragged out of my stash turned out not to be green undulating to purple but two separate batches of rovings.... green undulating to gold and purple undulating to beige..... I chose the purple and it turned out lovely though not quite as colourful as I thought. I finished my knitted sample last night
and am now washing and blocking it. The skein is labeled and ready to go in the book. I am also setting in my book the woven sample from a few weeks ago...
I have the write up done but I didn't print it and actually put it into my binder so that will be one of my many jobs to do today. I also want to card rolags today with Bombyx silk and Pima cotton for the silk/cotton sample... I would like to do that sample over the weekend at the retreat.Ah yes... the retreat...... Tomorrow I am headed off to the Blueberry for a short retreat. I will be spending the weekend in a log lodge north of FSJ overlooking a river (frozen) and spinning and laughing etc.... I am taking black alpaca for spinning for the big j.c., the Bombyx and Pima rolags if I can finish it today and silk coccoons for a mawatta. I will also take those damn lace gloves that I have been working on since Judas was in diapers. Who knows.... I might even get some of it done!
I have been in charge of food for the Blueberry retreat this year and am going to have to do some cooking today. Pub night on Friday night and no we won't be drinking.... just eating pub style food..... Breakfast is a whatever you can drum up affair.... Saturday lunch is soups and buns..... Saturday night is ham and scalloped potatoes..... Sunday is always a "must go" day..... The log lodge is a great place to have a retreat because they have individual rooms, showers ( a must), and a huge room in which to set up your spinning and weaving junk and spread out completely.
So I guess I had better get to it.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Silk And A Little Something
I started spinning Tussah silk a while ago for my silk knitted sample but last night I was tired of a colourless life after the last few weeks of black, and so I dug through my stash and found some nice green silk that undulates into a purple and I thought that's just the ticket. So this morning I got out my spinning wheel and got everything together for a day of spinning with colour (and shiny colour too)!
About five years ago I started having odd dizzy spells that really made me tired. I'd get them for two or three days and then it would clear up and leave me feeling a little tired but not really any the worse for wear.... after a while I was getting them so frequently that I thought a trip to the doctor was in order. He said that it wasn't anything serious, that it was an inbalance of fluid in my inner ear, and that there was nothing to do but wait them out and go on with life. Sunday morning I woke with my balance all screwed up and so I lay low for the day..... Monday wasn't a whole lot better..... Tuesday was better but not much.... today I am finally starting to feel a little better.... but at times like this I generally stay close to home and and don't stray far since driving with things spinning around you is not a great idea. So a day home with some silk to spin is just what I'm looking forward to.... if it gets sunny I will pick off the pocket on the big j.c. since black thread on a woolen fabric is not easy to see..... (a sign that I'm getting older ; 0)
Down time is what I have needed after beating myself out and up last week. I have been doing a little reading in the last few days... funny.... Daughter #2 has been reading youth books by an author of the name Sarah Dessen so in the interests of checking up on what the Daughters are reading these days, I picked up one of her books and read it. Actually it was quite good. A basic teen romance/find yourself kind of book..... typical of the books I got into when I was the same age. But even for an old gal (I've been feeling pretty old the last little while) these books have something to say (although the author does tend to put parents in a bad light generally)... it reminds you of how very difficult it is to find your place in the world and accept that you are not a princess and may never be famous..... and that is ok. After I read the first one I thought maybe I'll read another.... and that one was good too.... same message just in a different package. It's kind of nice to have a reminder that you can fall down and it is ok just so long as you pick yourself right back up and keep on going....
I'd forgotten that...
So silk today and who knows what tomorrow will bring....
About five years ago I started having odd dizzy spells that really made me tired. I'd get them for two or three days and then it would clear up and leave me feeling a little tired but not really any the worse for wear.... after a while I was getting them so frequently that I thought a trip to the doctor was in order. He said that it wasn't anything serious, that it was an inbalance of fluid in my inner ear, and that there was nothing to do but wait them out and go on with life. Sunday morning I woke with my balance all screwed up and so I lay low for the day..... Monday wasn't a whole lot better..... Tuesday was better but not much.... today I am finally starting to feel a little better.... but at times like this I generally stay close to home and and don't stray far since driving with things spinning around you is not a great idea. So a day home with some silk to spin is just what I'm looking forward to.... if it gets sunny I will pick off the pocket on the big j.c. since black thread on a woolen fabric is not easy to see..... (a sign that I'm getting older ; 0)
Down time is what I have needed after beating myself out and up last week. I have been doing a little reading in the last few days... funny.... Daughter #2 has been reading youth books by an author of the name Sarah Dessen so in the interests of checking up on what the Daughters are reading these days, I picked up one of her books and read it. Actually it was quite good. A basic teen romance/find yourself kind of book..... typical of the books I got into when I was the same age. But even for an old gal (I've been feeling pretty old the last little while) these books have something to say (although the author does tend to put parents in a bad light generally)... it reminds you of how very difficult it is to find your place in the world and accept that you are not a princess and may never be famous..... and that is ok. After I read the first one I thought maybe I'll read another.... and that one was good too.... same message just in a different package. It's kind of nice to have a reminder that you can fall down and it is ok just so long as you pick yourself right back up and keep on going....
I'd forgotten that...
So silk today and who knows what tomorrow will bring....
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Play
Sometimes it is just fun to play and relax. Sometimes you need to do that.... it's called rejuvenation.
It is good.
It is good.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Going Forward
Hi! I'm back after a day of relaxation yesterday.... a nice lunch out with my Hubby for Valentine's day and back home for a really long snooze..... I think the stress of the last few weeks finally caught up with me. Today I wasn't able to get my body out of bed.... my back gave out on me... go figure. Spending 15 hours a day over a loom, spinning wheel, or sewing machine will do that to your back. I'm trying really hard to get my train back on its tracks after the derailment of the weekend. It's hard. I'm pretty hard on myself generally and look upon my failures as just that.... failures... but like a Pheonix I always raise up from the ashes... not always better but at least up and running. I have a bunch of fleece washed for spinning for the sleeves that I screwed up and tonight, if my back can hold up I am going to spin a little silk for my knitted sample for my level 3 homework. I also need to do the write up for the silk woven sample which turned out to be a study of two different spinning techniques. I'm pretty happy with that actually.
We had an awesome day today, weatherwise. The temperatures soared. At one point the water was dripping off the eaves and snow was falling from the roof in clumps. Even now as it heads for 7 p.m. the sky is a lovely shade of blue and it really lifts the heart. It gives me such pleasure to know that we are having a lovely lull in the cold temperatures of winter. I've been watching the birds that have been visiting our bird feeders and I am really enjoying their antics. One day I watched a bunch of Red Polls on the snowy roof of our shed.... they were playing chase in the snow and it was really cute to watch.
It's been a strange few days though, as Hubby, being a wonderful man, has stepped in to allow me plenty of time to work on the big j.c. It's hard coming down off the ride and getting back to the schedule of a normal household, but indeed that is what has to happen and at the same time I cannot let the big j.c. go yet... I still have work to do.... I still am having trouble trying to get my pictures up and posted.... I just don't have the heart to look at them yet but maybe tomorrow. I think a little positive work on the big j.c. might spur me to have a better feeling about it all.... Hubby says baby steps, so baby steps it will be.... wash fleece that's a start.... I have to take off one pocket and resew it as I am not happy with it's placement.... it is slightly askew and while most people wouldn't notice I do and I am not happy with that.... so I will do that and of course I still love spinning so that is always something to enjoy. When you fall off the horse..... get back on and keep riding.... so I guess that's what I will do.... I guess I just need to wear a helmet!
We had an awesome day today, weatherwise. The temperatures soared. At one point the water was dripping off the eaves and snow was falling from the roof in clumps. Even now as it heads for 7 p.m. the sky is a lovely shade of blue and it really lifts the heart. It gives me such pleasure to know that we are having a lovely lull in the cold temperatures of winter. I've been watching the birds that have been visiting our bird feeders and I am really enjoying their antics. One day I watched a bunch of Red Polls on the snowy roof of our shed.... they were playing chase in the snow and it was really cute to watch.
It's been a strange few days though, as Hubby, being a wonderful man, has stepped in to allow me plenty of time to work on the big j.c. It's hard coming down off the ride and getting back to the schedule of a normal household, but indeed that is what has to happen and at the same time I cannot let the big j.c. go yet... I still have work to do.... I still am having trouble trying to get my pictures up and posted.... I just don't have the heart to look at them yet but maybe tomorrow. I think a little positive work on the big j.c. might spur me to have a better feeling about it all.... Hubby says baby steps, so baby steps it will be.... wash fleece that's a start.... I have to take off one pocket and resew it as I am not happy with it's placement.... it is slightly askew and while most people wouldn't notice I do and I am not happy with that.... so I will do that and of course I still love spinning so that is always something to enjoy. When you fall off the horse..... get back on and keep riding.... so I guess that's what I will do.... I guess I just need to wear a helmet!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
The Big j.c. Saga
Arggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Damn.... are you getting the drift on whether I finished or not???!!! Yup... my friend who commissioned the big j.c. is winging her way to South Africa less one jacket. I can't think of it without feeling like a total failure. I worked so hard and about 8 p.m. last night everything was coming together nicely and then I went to full the sleeves. I had already fulled the fabric for the rest of the jacket and it had turned out really well. Now I'll be honest... I have not got a lot of experience with weaving.... I keep saying that I am not a weaver and that I have tons to learn about weaving so with that in mind I hope you will read my tale of woe with an open mind, and not judge me harshly.
Yesterday afternoon I started cutting the fabric I had spun and woven for this great project..... I stared sewing and it was looking great. I had been weaving the last little bit of fabric all morning.... but I felt I needed to full the woven fabric first.... I mean lets face it all the great weavers say it is not fabric until it is fulled.... Fulling is a process of washing the fabric so that the individual warp and weft threads will bite together and actually cling so that the fabric has more of a face, with that in mind I called my friend in FSJ who has way more experience than I do.... and she said..... (this is important)..... "when you full you have to stand by the washer and check it carefully and often because in a matter of a few seconds it can go from being fulled to a felted mess in no time, make sure you watch it really carefully!".... are you getting the idea yet..... no...... well let me enlighten you...
So I am almost finished putting the jacket together last night and all I needed to do was full the fabric for the sleeves.... the sleeves, that was it.... I checked it after four minutes and it was looking good but not quite as nice as the body of the jacket, which had been fulled earlier in the day. It needed a little more fulling. I popped it into the washer and went to pee...... just pee (which I was really needing to do).... that's all.... I came back and checked to see the progress and just like that .... felt! I now had no sleeves and no more fabric to finish them.... yup..... pee ruined my jacket. Just like that I was out of the running to meet my deadline. I wanted to jump off the nearest cliff. Six weeks for a vest and a lump of felt, instead of a beautiful jacket. I called my friend to tell her the bad news. She was so gracious about it and I even woke her up.... double whammy. As a result I have one month to finish the sleeves so that when she gets back from South Africa she can send her Mom a jacket with sleeves for the South African winter, instead of taking it with her...... And I have to wash more fleece, card more fleece, spin more fleece into yarn.... and then weave sleeves for the said jacket....
I have loads of pictures to show but I just don't have the heart today to post them..... I'm just going to post one.... and that's the one of my sleeveless jacket so that she can show her Mom what she will be getting some time in April... here it is.... I think I'll go cry some more, while you have a look.....
Yesterday afternoon I started cutting the fabric I had spun and woven for this great project..... I stared sewing and it was looking great. I had been weaving the last little bit of fabric all morning.... but I felt I needed to full the woven fabric first.... I mean lets face it all the great weavers say it is not fabric until it is fulled.... Fulling is a process of washing the fabric so that the individual warp and weft threads will bite together and actually cling so that the fabric has more of a face, with that in mind I called my friend in FSJ who has way more experience than I do.... and she said..... (this is important)..... "when you full you have to stand by the washer and check it carefully and often because in a matter of a few seconds it can go from being fulled to a felted mess in no time, make sure you watch it really carefully!".... are you getting the idea yet..... no...... well let me enlighten you...
So I am almost finished putting the jacket together last night and all I needed to do was full the fabric for the sleeves.... the sleeves, that was it.... I checked it after four minutes and it was looking good but not quite as nice as the body of the jacket, which had been fulled earlier in the day. It needed a little more fulling. I popped it into the washer and went to pee...... just pee (which I was really needing to do).... that's all.... I came back and checked to see the progress and just like that .... felt! I now had no sleeves and no more fabric to finish them.... yup..... pee ruined my jacket. Just like that I was out of the running to meet my deadline. I wanted to jump off the nearest cliff. Six weeks for a vest and a lump of felt, instead of a beautiful jacket. I called my friend to tell her the bad news. She was so gracious about it and I even woke her up.... double whammy. As a result I have one month to finish the sleeves so that when she gets back from South Africa she can send her Mom a jacket with sleeves for the South African winter, instead of taking it with her...... And I have to wash more fleece, card more fleece, spin more fleece into yarn.... and then weave sleeves for the said jacket....
I have loads of pictures to show but I just don't have the heart today to post them..... I'm just going to post one.... and that's the one of my sleeveless jacket so that she can show her Mom what she will be getting some time in April... here it is.... I think I'll go cry some more, while you have a look.....
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