Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Weaving journey continued, current events and nostalgia

Yesterday I donated the waste warp yarn, in small pieces, for nest use if birds would like it

This morning I thought I'd finish up the warping I started last evening, and the first part was looking good.

So, after a break to stretch my back, I did threading part two, ready to roll the threaded warp onto the beam, then  to prepare the weaving area to start weaving.

All the videos show a second person at the warping peg end, after the warp's off the peg, holding it steady to keep the tension while the weaver rolls the beam you see in the foreground. I don't have a second person, but the Book Lady said use a dumbbell in that case. Which you see there.

I was getting cautiously optimistic at this point.  Then I found that the rolling wasn't working. The top part of the warps rolled and the lower ones flopped about.

I studied the situation, then realized I'd missed a crucial part of the previous threading stage. And I think that's what caused the problem. 

Not fixable. Soooo, I cut the whole Kitten Kaboodle off the loom. Again. Rolled it onto a fat dowel which has had many uses.

I can use this for weft or for another small weaving on my little handheld tapestry loom. Tomorrow I'll try again. This yarn was better, so there's that.

My life is devolving into Before and After the RHL.  To think this was just a spur of the moment idea a couple of days ago... it's developing into a spur of the year idea.

But by the time I succeed, I'll be really really good at it.

Speaking of being really good at something, this sticker now on my fridge, shows just a few of the inventions created by African Americans.

Then I went and spent the afternoon with a fun group, my first time there, discussing current events. About a dozen people, some men who, blessedly, did not try to dominate the discussion. It's weekly, at another library, where I used to go to a knitting group which is no more, since the pandemic.

I noticed several people were masked, though it's no longer required and was a room with plenty of space. So that may become a regular event on my calendar.

And here's a picture this week of a scene well known to me in childhood. It's a village. It's called Great because a couple of miles away, there's Little Ayton, known locally as Canny Atton.


That's the River Leven. There was a wonderful ice cream store, which I went to later, when we'd moved and I only visited when a nice older relative took me. Homemade ice cream, local cows. 

We'd sit somewhere near here to eat it with one of those little wooden spoons out of a paper cup. Captain Cook, the explorer, was a boy here, too, but I don't know if he ever got ice cream before he went to the coast at Whitby, to go to sea aged nine, as a cabin boy.

Happy day everyone, what did I do in the mornings before heddling happened? Enjoy your day.



 

18 comments:

  1. We saw the neighbourhood crows looking for nesting material today and I hadn’t any wool to leave out for them since I had passed it on to a friend. I have to find something to leave for them.

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    1. Take up weaving, you'll have tons of scrap yarn..

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  2. " A spur of the year idea" -- LOL, very descriptive!

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  3. A lovely memory with delicious homemade ice cream! I'd enjoy sitting near that river.

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  4. Keep on with it! I know you will. You are the most determined person I know. Glad you found a new group to enjoy.

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    1. I can't seem to let it go! I think the new to me group will be a good part of my week.

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  5. One thing coming out of the weaving venture is your engineering skills! You are persistent, you will figure it out. That sticker may be banned in Florida.

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    1. It's so weird that I did this successfully once, years ago. But here we are.

      Yes, I imagine the sticker would carry legal penalties in Florida. But there are so many inventions by African Americans which have not been correctly attributed. Trying to do my tiny bit to right the balance.

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  6. How did "Great Ayton" come to be known as "Canny Ayton"?

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    1. Little Ayton is known as Canny, meaning small in Yorkshire, and Atton is how it's pronounced. Locals also don't use the great in Great Ayton. They just call it Ayton. Yorkshire has many local words, often Nordic in origin, and in the case of canny, meaning quite different from the southern usage. Canny is little or cute, not astute as in southern speech. Likewise bonny is pretty, not plump as in the south.

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  7. Once you have it worked out you will have to do one a week for a year to turn it into a programmed skill. Have you got that much weaving in mind? The discussion group sounds mint, but I couldn't imagine how such a thing would go around here. Hmmmmm

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    1. Not planning on getting it programmed in! I just want to be able to use it occasionally when I feel like it. This is far from my weaving style, but I like to know what I'm doing if possible.

      How come the discussion group might not work where you live? We have Socrates cafes in many towns, virtual now, and I tried a couple but the leader was often unable to stop one or two people from shouting down the group! This group seems more civil.

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  8. "But by the time I succeed, I'll be really really good at it." lol I must find an opportunity to use this expression. :)

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  9. Spur of the year - that one made me laugh. Reading the bit about eating ice cream with one of those little wooden spoons was a good reminder of my childhood. Oddly enough, I just saw a 'bit' somewhere that they are now making those little spoons out of some sort of compostable material.

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    1. The spoons went away, but they were terrific for a little kid to navigate ice cream. Also they were presented to me as dollies' spoons, always appealing!

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    2. Dollies' spoons - yes!!! I had forgotten all about that!

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