Spinning, weaving, resting

I never made it to my knitting group today.  Tired after a busy week, I was in the mood to spin a bit. Then I thought I'd rest a few minutes before going out to my group. Woke at four pm. Half an hour after the group ends.

Anyway here's what's up

A spindle sticking up from an assortment of roving, that's the fluff you spin. It's a mixture of fibers including silk. 

You haven't seen me plying the spindle for a while because my shoulder was not happy for a couple of months and the actions of spindle spinning need a shoulder that works. But it's better now so I'm doing a bit.

I was reminded of this by a passage in Golden Fleece where she discusses spinning and her mother's expertise. 

She mentions the spindle but learns on her mother's wheel. And she and her editor both missed a flub: you usually spin singles z twist, clockwise. Then ply s twist, counterclockwise. She gets the names reversed, oops.

Anyway I've been wanting to spin a bit, but one thing and another, and this spindle among the roving is my highest tech one: 3D printed. It's a good spinner, light but balanced.

Here are my others. Some spinners have tons of these, but my collection is modest.

Left to right, three sizes of Schacht spindles. I usually use the big one for plying. 

The ones with points at both ends are beautiful handmade supported spindles I have yet to learn, my shoulder having intervened. 

You rest one point in a dish, spin off the other tip. This is good for very fine fiber, maybe silk.  And it's a whole new skill. The button and the metal thing are my versions of dizzes, used to draw roving through to smooth out and draft. The name is ancient.

While I was pawing through the spindle collection, I found myself reviewing fiber prep and weaving gear.

Here are my hand carders, for drawing out the fibers to lie parallel and creating rolags, little sausages of fiber ready to spin. Those are fine wire teeth.

Then can weaving be far behind

Here's a handheld craftsman made and signed tapestry loom. Left is a set of weaving sticks. I've taught kids stick-weaving using drinking straws instead of sticks. Mine are handmade, beautiful to use.

At the top of the picture are lovely weaving shuttles, one a rough homemade one, the others  craftsman made, which I've used with my rigid heddle loom.

Under there a lot of people will recognize the potholder loom, green metal, family made, on which I've made some interesting things in addition to potholders.

Then there's the collection of paperclips I used to fashion a four selvedge loom on which I created this tapestry, which was awarded a purchase prize in a regional juried show. I used embroidery floss for the weft. 

Little did the juror know how simple was the loom.

And these scary things are circular saw blades from my handyman artist friend Mike, on which I've created circular weavings, now in various collections.

One still at home is this mixed media, woven wire and roving with beads, mounted on a monotype. It's part of my Planet Series.  This was a series I made in honor of the centenary of the first performance of Holst's Planet Suite in 1918, and exhibited and sold in 2018. I'm a better artist than a photographer, sorry about the reflection and wonky pic. But you get the gist.

These are not stray bits of cardboard, as you might think, but left is the loom I made to weave this seamless bag, the handle made on the weaving sticks you saw earlier.

On the right of the picture is the loom on which I made the yoke (top part of the bodice)  of this vest. 

The rest is knitted, corner to corner rectangles.

I wove the yoke to keep the shape better than knitting, since it's heavy yarn. I spun and plied the yarn, and longtime blogistas followed me through the endless adventure.

Well, that musing led me far afield. For anyone still reading:

Gary stopped over to visit and I showed him the DNR on the fridge, just in case. And we arranged that one day granddaughter K will come over and learn to emboss cards. I showed him some.

He said doesn't this need a machine? Surprised when I said nope, she can do it by hand. He's quite excited, too.  I expect I'll be showing him, along with K.

So now I need to fix supper once I decide what.

Happy evening everyone, make stuff, or just buy stuff you need from artisans, next best. You'll have observed I either make my tools or buy from craftspeople. I like to support good work.