Monthly Archives: August 2023

My summer fields: predrafting from rolags.

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Just look at these delicious whipped up light woolly confections! I am learning that big fat rolags off of the drum carder or blending board spin so much better and smoother when I do this pre-drafting technique, basically stretching the rolag (in little jerking motions) out into a longer, much more airy variation that has released the bound up energy so fibers can slip through so much better, not having to tug at the rolag.

From this rolag, firmly pulled-off-the-carding-drum, a woolly larvae of sorts . . .

Metamorphosized into this long limp airy creature . . .

And finally into this lightly wrapped beautiful whipped confection ready for woollen spinning.

(( See all posts in this series My Summer Fields Project ))

My summer fields: carding.

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I’ve been busy since the resident carder came earlier this week, down in the tiny (wool) house, raking through the fleece that, after washing it twice, and putting through the box picker twice, I gave up on it as it still had way too many weedy bits, still smelled bad, and was still greasy. The last thing I need is a moth attracting sweater in my wardrobe, so, after cleaning the greasy grime that was fast accumulating on my brand new Ashford carder, I started over blending color with commercial white corriedale/merino top roving I had on hand, and added still more marigold, honey, and dark caramel hues.

However, I made the mistake of pulling off the rolags from the last carding without test-spinning ~~ I am so out of practice ~~ no recipe, just improvising, honing my instincts, and from this point forward it is going to be what it wants to be. I am planning on this first sweater in my wardrobe, to wrap me in the warm memories of golden summer fields all winter long. As I changed course in the middle of carding, I have no idea how much all these rolags weigh, but I’m guessing well over 600g . . . and now for the spinning!

See all posts in this series My Summer Fields Project

The resident drum carder . . .

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. . . has arrived!

I am busy down at the tiny (wool) house, figuring out methods, weighing carefully, taking notes and taking a leap of faith in color, learning how to use the hand-cranked carder (feeding with left hand, cranking with right) and calculating percentages of mixes.

Back down in the charcoal forest, away from the internet, I am hunkering down . . . with a return to Tweed Chronicles, engaging my creativity with a bit of hard work, and making the effort for the yarn.

(( See all posts in this series My Summer Fields ))

High summer.

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This morning I went for a walk with Juno, in the hot . . . dry . . . toasted-in-the-sun wild grass of high summer. I so very much want to capture it and knit it into a sweater! These are moments of this afternoon, as my ideas begin stirring, testing all gold tones together, trying to grasp the emotion I feel about the summer landscape that is elemental to my life on the mountain, and translate it into yarn.

See all posts in this series My Summer Fields Project

Tiny (wool) house.

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Those of you who have been following my blog since at least four years ago do not need to be reminded about what the tiny house is.

But for those who don’t know; after the wildfire Jeff, me, and our dog Emma lived in it while our house was being rebuilt, then Jeff’s daughter stayed in it during the pandemic. It has been vacant now for a couple of years, spiders having it all to themselves, and having become weathered from the elements, I cleaned it up and decided to inhabit it for the purpose of wool processing, and carding!

While fresh air blows through all the open windows through the entire summer, the place is feeling wonderfully clean, neutral, and cozy, and so I am making plans as I await the arrival of the Ashford drum carder, due in a few weeks from New Zealand. I have pulled out the box picker and decided to get a head start picking the fleece mentioned in last post.

I was rather surprised in myself to purchase the drum carder, as I really just didn’t think about how it would create dirt and dust in the house from carder fly-off, especially with home-grown wools, so it became evident a shed would be needed, then I remembered about the tiny house, it just called to me!

Such a sweet place to ponder in the afternoon, a short walk from the house, down in the charcoal forest, and having spent some hours in it today, mostly cleaning and then bringing down the wool picker … I made a cup of coffee, wrote down ideas, and picked wool. I very much enjoyed the warm and inviting personality of this space, remembering its womb-like feel. Anyway, I am hopeful that I can do something special with the tiny (wool) house, things happen for a reason, and well, here I am.

A fiber mill.

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I bought an Ashford drum carder, because I really need one, and it should be here soon. After moving back home I began collecting fiber to spin; interesting roving by the mile, a palette of solid wool colors for blending, artful hand-dyed braids too, and novelty fibers to explore, as I was very anxious to get back into Tweed Chronicles, to blend and spin till the cows come home.

To add, earlier this year a friend gave me a raw fleece. I let it soak outside for the month of April, before rinsing it and letting it dry, not wanting to bring it into the house until it was completely clean and odorless, which it was not, it needs still further washing. Since May it has sat in that tub outside, a dry fluff of wool that the birds have enjoyed for nest lining. I realized that my work space and creative flow had become “fiber bottlenecked”, and can not allow it inside. I really hope this new addition to my loft studio will inspire me to get things flowing again with blending and spinning, and making.

Juno, who hangs out with me in the loft, agrees that it is about time I joined in on the fur fun !

first backstrap weaving

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I am humbled all over again, after rants of frustration, breaking warp threads, redoing the string heddles a few times, inserting a new section of warp after I was fooled by the “false cross”, tired shoulders, and to add, a bit of defiant arrogance. I was all ready to give up, but then remembering Laverne’s words in her tutorial video about backstrap weaving being such a special thing (which it very much is!) and to get frustrated and give up would be a shame. Those words hovered in my brain and made me take another look at the situation and yesterday late afternoon I put it back on the lasso and gave it another try. Well, things started to miraculously come together, finally!

The small swatch is not that much to look at, the selvedges are poor, and I have had to weave in through the back a lot of broken warp threads, but here it is at last, just what it is, my very first weaving, and an excellent test sample from the yarn that I made myself (see this post). What is the best that came out of this is overcoming frustration, seeing the finished piece, and an eagerness to warp for another weaving project. Another weaving on a backstrap loom may need to come around after I get a bit of perspective.

♣   Weaving Notes  ♣ 

  • First and foremost, credit where credit is due; I have been following Laverne’s blog on Backstrap Weaving for some time, and I believe it is her work which has given this style weaving a very deserved mark of excellence. Do see her most artful blog here:  https://backstrapweaving.wordpress.com/
  • This piece was a very stressful, and I have a new deep reverence for backstrap weavers!
  • I wanted to try my best at the Andean style, I used my hand re-spun wool, and wove very tightly, but still am learning about how the two-color-warp and false cross works, and I did end up having to warp over and insert some warp threads after bad mistakes in set up. 
  • Several times getting up and wriggling out of my backstrap, the whole weaving would flip sideways and I did not secure the shed rod or sword and so they fell out then I lost my shed, had to go back to the default cross and get it set up again. A lot of explanation for the ways I was clumsy need not be written, but I think I would like to take a break from warp-face weaving, as I really crave balanced plain weave, and not to mention, a loom that is secure in place as I like to get up and walk away for breaks a lot. 
  • This 12″ backstrap loom is the smaller of two (the other is 20″) and was the loom I ended up sending to Ro in Mexico shortly after my rigid heddle loom arrived.