Elabeth's Crafty Blog

Changes Around Here

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:49:00 +0000

I'm changing up the look of the blog. I think most of you who read it do so through a feed, but just in case you actually come here to the page I figured I'd make an announcement.

Like I said in the last post, this has become more of a general crafty type blog than a strictly knitting/spinning/weaving blog, and what with me getting into the pottery now I figured I needed a place to document that too so here we are since I don't want to maintain a different site for each crafty thing I do. From here on out things will get tagged for easy searching, but I'm not going to go back and tag the old stuff so you're on your own there.

I'm paying my friend Michelle at Mockingbird Creative to redesign the yarn store's website so that I can have a shopping section with which to expand my yarn pushing empire. It's pretty ugly right now, but Michelle is great at adding polish to wordpress templates and making things super search-friendly, so I'm sure she'll have it looking dandy in no time. I'll let you know when it's finished so you can check it out.

That's about all the news I have right this minute. Happy Halloween!

Freeform Mobius

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:16:00 +0000

Freeform Mobius
Originally uploaded by Elabeth.

Look, I finished something not for the store! This thing was started at TNNA back in June in a class I took from Cat Bhordi. Pretty much you cast on like you're gonna do a regular Mobius then start doing random short rows all over the place till it's however big you want it. This one is hella long cause I wanted it to loop around twice and be floofy, but you can do the same thing with something smaller if you want. I'm thinking it'd look great with a long color change yarn like Mini Mochi or something. I may try that theory out soon. I gave this one to my Mom. She likes it :)

I've been thinking about changing the name of this blog since it started as a knitting blog but has turned into a multi-crafting type crazy thing. I need a name for it because just listing out all the crafty goings on would be too long. We have knitting, crochet, spinning, felting, weaving, and now pottery stuff going on here. Eventually there may even be some quilting, painting, screen printing, and jewelry making going on here so it has to be something general. Let me know if you can think up something appropriate :)

Two Cups And A Bowl

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:39:00 +0000

Two Cups And A Bowl
Originally uploaded by Elabeth.

I finally remembered to snap a picture of freshly thrown pottery stuff last night after class. 3 out of my 4 attempts survived, and the 1 bowl I did last week got trimmed without incident. Whoo!

The thing that failed was going to be a vase. It got tall enough in about 4 "throws" (pulling up type passes) but then I kept messing around with the shape and as usual I don't know when to quit so it fell over. I think if I could just learn to stop fucking with things that would be a big improvement, but that has been my problem with all the art I've ever done and is sort of a theme with my life so that is probably not happening any time soon.

I'm still really enjoying the class mostly because it is so not organized and class-like. I just go in, do my thing, and the teacher girl is there if I have any questions or need her to show me how to do something or other. I like that.

On the knitting side of things, I'm working on finishing some sweaters I've started over the last year or so that have never been completed because they got boring and finishing up the recently started sweaters and some hats I've promised to various people. The sweaters in no particular order are:
- Neck Down Pullover Tunic (Knitting Pure & Simple #9726) in Cascade Yarns Lana D'oro Tweed that I started last year.
- Zephyr Style 28Thirty in Noro Kureyon that I started this year after listening to Lime & Violet go on and on about the pattern.
- A boring raglan I started as a shop sample in Classic Elite Sprout. That thing is a snoozefest, but it'll be nice to have next spring.
- Kertzer's Weekend Jacket in Marble Chunky that I started when I got the yarn at the shop. All I have left are the sleeves. zzzzzz

I'm also sort of halfway working on a baby blanket because I'm gonna be a Grandma in November (surprise!) but it's still small and easy to flip around. We'll see if I keep that up once it gets bigger and more annoying to work on. You know how I am.

I Mixed Clay Tonight...

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:30:00 +0000

I Mixed Clay Tonight...
Originally uploaded by Elabeth.

& these are my shoes. They'll never be the same.

I now have about 100 pounds of clay to play with, but I'm telling you I will NOT be doing that again. No thanks, I'll just buy pre-mixed from now on.

Here's how it goes:
-Put on your heavy duty dust mask
-Drag out five or six super heavy sacks of dust
-Measure 20lbs of this one, 25 of that one, 25 of another one, etc. and put it in the mixer with 26lbs of water.
-Turn on the mixer and wait for it all to be wet
-NOW, slowly pour a whole bag of another dust into the mixture like if you're making bread adding the flour. This takes a while so your arm is going to hurt before you're done.
- Let it mix for 10 minutes
- Take the fresh clay out of the mixer in 10-15lb chunks and roll it up in plastic bags
- Scrape the insides of the mixer forfuckingever, then scrub it with a brush, rinse it with water, and sponge the water out of there because the UofA never heard of buying a damn shopvac. Repeat this step 5 times.
- When your arm falls off you're almost done!
- Wipe it out again and tell the kids in the other room they can use it to make their clay now.

Miss Kitty Is Not Amused

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:29:00 +0000

Miss Kitty Is Not Amused
Originally uploaded by Elabeth.

She totally got under that throw herself. I guess she was cold. That box in the background is from Ian's new goldfish aquarium. He put a blanket in it for the cats and they LOVE it so it has to stay in the living room until they lose interest. haha

My ceramics class started up this week. So far, I'm the only one showing up on Monday/Wednesday who is a total noob. The first class I didn't get to do anything because we didn't have any clay, but last night I got to make some buttons and learn how to use the wheel to throw pots. My buttons are gonna be OK, but I will need some more practice on the wheel unless I only want bowls with super short walls and espresso cups or shot glasses.

I did a good job on getting the clay centered, making the volcano shape thing, then smushing it into a hamburger patty shape and opening up the center, but when I try to drag the walls up it all goes to hell as soon as it gets taller than about 3 inches.

I figure this is like when I learned to spin yarn and made all that lumpy bumpy crap that wouldn't hold together. At least the clay is re-usable so I can practice on the same blob a bunch of times without wasting too much. That's a good thing.

There's a Loom In My Living Room

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 04:28:00 +0000

There's a Loom In My Living Room
Originally uploaded by Elabeth.
I spent all day Sunday cleaning up this used Leclerc Artisat. It needs new heddles and a part that attaches the treadles to the front bottom beam, then it'll be ready to rock. Right now it's all folded up there behind the loveseat waiting....like Chuck Norris.

Oh, and I finished the table runner/scarf thing that has been on the loom down at the yarn store for a whole dang YEAR. Here it is in action:

Here is a closer look

I'm pretty proud of it since it is the same width the whole way down. It was totally worth all those rows I ripped out and re-did a million times.

TNNA, Summer Stuff, & A New Crafty Thing

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:43:00 +0000

TNNA was crazy, fun, and exhausting. I placed a bunch of orders for the store (maybe too much) and had fun meeting people and seeing things. I didn't really end up taking many pictures so I never made a big post about it. The classes were the best part for me. I got to get new display ideas from other store owners, see how other people do things, etc. Everything was pretty much great till I tried to get home and ended up stuck in airport hell. Oh well. I'll for sure be going back next year.

July and so far August have been full of a whole lot of not much. There was the Fiber Xmas In July event in Kellyville, OK. That was one fun thing. I taught a novelty yarn spinning class, but only ended up having two students so it was nice and relaxed. I've been spinning a lot and have actually finished some yarn so I guess I'll take pics of that for you guys to stare at tonight :) The weaving is still slow going, but I scored a huge haul of rayon chenille and cottons and some cones of metalic goodness that are great for plying handspun with at Fiber Xmas.

I have a new to me used Leclerc Artisat loom at the house that needs cleaning up, and then I'm going to warp it for a baby blanket or something to try it out. That has to wait for the rest of the patio room cleaning to take place though because for some reason the cats think that thing is a jungle gym if I drag it out into their part of the house and it's too big to drag in and out so meh.

I seem to never finish a knitting project that isn't store related, but I've been working on two store sweaters and two non-store sweaters so hopefully one of them will eventually get finished and I won't freeze this winter. haha

Oh, and I'm starting a new crafty thing. (like I need another one) I signed up for a beginning ceramics class at U of A in Fayetteville starting August 24th. I'm really excited because I've always wanted to learn to make those hand thrown kind of bowls and mugs and things, and I have all this basement space down at the yarn store that isn't being used. If I like it and get good at it I might get a kiln and a wheel for the basement. There is already the wiring down there for it because the salon that used to be here had tanning beds in that space. We'll see.

I promise pictures next time and more frequent posting. I know you don't believe me. haha

TNNA Blogging

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:21:00 +0000

I'm headed to Columbus tomorrow for the TNNA market. I'll be there Thursday - Monday, and I'm running around like a chicken with it's head cut off trying to get ready. I need to pack, pay the store bills, straighten up around here so Kristen doesn't trip over anything or run out of change while she's watching the store for me, print some shirts for Steve's company, and go get my hair dyed.

I'll be updating my twitter through ping.fm all weekend so if you're interested in knowing how that goes down before I get back and post about it you can follow me there. http://twitter.com/Elabeth They don't allow pictures on the show floor or in the fashion show, but I can be pretty descriptive in 140 characters & I'll be posting pics from elsewhere.

LOL

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Sun, 24 May 2009 04:45:00 +0000

may 2009 050
Originally uploaded by willy0426.

This is a pic of me taken at the sheep to shawl thing last weekend. HAHAHAHAHA! I love it.

Sheep To Shawl 2009!

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Sun, 17 May 2009 18:56:00 +0000

Yesterday I went to the local spinning guild's Sheep To Shawl competition in Prairie Grove at the battlefield park. This is my team. We were the first to finish our shawl/scarf, but ours was just plain tabby weave and everyone else did at least some kind of pickup stick pattern and used smaller warp yarn. Ours was worsted weight at 8dpi.

Left to right that's me, Dominique, Lynnell, Kate, Dominique's friend who's name I can't remember, and Jane. The picture is one that I stole from Kathleen's flickr cause I forgot my camera and only have a few crappy iphone pics of the day.

Each team showed up with a pre-warped loom. Each team got 8oz of pre-washed fleece, and got to work carding, spinning, and weaving our shawls/scarves. They had to be at least 10in wide and I thought 60in long but some of them didn't make it to the length. We didn't care cause it was mostly just for fun.

Here are pics of the other teams:

that's Kathleen there in the middle. I can't remember the names of the other ladies. I suck with names.

That's Cecelia in the middle. Again, I can't remember the other ladies' names.

This team was made up of people who just showed up hoping to be placed on a team who didn't really know eachother before then. 2nd from the left is Melly and 4th from the left is Anne. Those are the only two I know the names of. haha

Here is a pic of all 4 shawls at the end of the day

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:58:00 +0000

Hey, remember the sparkle handspun lincoln/merino/glitz shawl I started in October of 2006 on the triloom? Sure you do! That sucker is thisclose to finally being finished. I put it off for a long time because it got down to the pain in the butt last 20 or so nails there in the center of the tri-loom. I've got ten to go, then fringe to add before May 7th when I take the loom to it's new owner at Yarn School. I'm hoping the fiber will get back some of it's sproing in the wash. At least I know it's strong being stretched out like that for dang near 3 years. ugh.

Weaving Loom Madness!

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:54:00 +0000

Well, here are the scarves I made on my Cricket loom:

I really like how they turned out. The blue one is my handspun for the weft with a commercial yarn for the warp. The pink one is Wisdom Sonnet for both the warp and the weft. I like how the self striping yarn used as both warp and weft makes such a cool pattern just in plain old tabby weave. I'm going to have to mess with that some more :)

OK, so last week I got a call at the shop from a local lady with a 25in 4-shaft Schacht table loom to sell. The loom had been boxed up in her Mom's garage since shortly after it was purchased back in the 80's. It was in perfect condition and came with a giant bag of yarn, a couple of books, and some stick shuttles all for $300. Was I interested? I jumped on that!

Once I got finished gloating over my new baby I realized I now owned 6 looms. (!!!) LOL How did that happen?? Somebody would have to go, so I decided to sell my big triangle loom, the 15in Schacht Table Loom, and the 32in Kromski Rigid Heddle as soon as I finish the big shawl, the little birdseye twill scarf, and the Sheep To Shawl competition on May 16th. The triloom is going to a girl at Yarn School, the rigid heddle is going home with a friend of one of my sheep to shawl team members, and the table loom is going in the mail to a livejournal friend. I should be down to three looms (45in floor loom, 10in rigid heddle, & 25in table loom) by the end of May.

One good thing about buying fiber equipment is that it holds it's value really well and there are always people out there in market for used equipment so it's pretty easy to move it when you decide you don't need it anymore or you upgrade :)

Springtime!

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 21:16:00 +0000

Happy Easter!
What am I doing??

Weaving
I've been doing some scarf weaving (sorry, no pics of that yet) and planning of other weaving projects mostly.

Knitting
Mostly store sample things. I'm a little over half done with a leaf lace shawl in Lion Brand Nature's Choice Organic Cotton, a little over half done with a no-pattern triangle shawl in Plymouth Kudo, and just started a Claudia Handpainted French Scarf Kit. It's all about the shawls lately. haha I'll post pictures when those are finished.

Crochet
Still sometimes working on that Babette Blanket. That thing is so boring...

Other Crafty Things
I just ordered a Yudu Screen Printing Machine. I've got all the supplies for traditional screen printing, but this thing is sort of a combination light table/exposure unit/dryer and the emulsion already on peel-away sheets looks super fast/easy/non-messy and very attractive to me since getting that stuff on there evenly without making a HUGE mess is the hard part of screen printing for me.
Here is a video showing how it works:

I'll post a review once mine gets here and I'll show you what I make with it :)

Camp Pluckyfluff!

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:53:00 +0000

Last month I went to Harveyville, KS for Camp Pluckyfluff taught by Lexi Boeger her own self. I can't believe I didn't run home and instantly blog about it here. I'm totally slipping on my craft blogging. Ravelry has pretty much sucked all the project documentation motivation out of me somehow. There is a big Yarn Room reorganization/move coming up at my house so I'll be sure to document that here for your viewing pleasure. I'm sure there will be some half done something or others that turn up for us to laugh at.

So anyway, Camp was great! There were only about a dozen students so it wasn't all crowded. We made lots of awesome yarn, ate a lot of really great food, and invented a drinking game that involves the word orifice. That's all you need to know. haha

Lexi is really nice and she's a great teacher, so if she ever does one of these workshops near where you are and you have ANY interest at all in learning to spin novelty stuff you should sign up.

Here is my little pile of yarns. Just click on it to see the whole set on flickr.

Hey! I'm Still Alive!

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 17:39:00 +0000

Sorry I kinda fell off the face of the world there for a few months again. One of my new years resolution things is to get back to blogging about the weaving/spinning/knitting here again. I'm also going to document my stuff more on Ravelry (I'm elabeth over there) and on Weavolution (I figure I'll be elabeth there too) once it gets going.

So, what's been going on since July? haha Not a lot for a while there. Once I got home from weaving camp I warped up the Mira for a scarf. It's still only about 1/3 done, but it's coming along nicely since I figured out that I wanted it to all be the same colorway after trying a bunch of different combinations.

That stuff they say about looms multiplying is totally true! Weaving isn't like knitting where you can just start something else cause you feel like it. Nope. You need a loom to start it on. I rationalized the need for a used Schacht table loom by telling myself it would be good for scarves and doing samples before starting big things on the floor loom. This is my first scarf project on that loom. It's some tweedy stuff from a Webs mill ends sale for warp and Wisdom Yarns Poems for the weft. The sett is 10epi I think. It's a point twill pattern.

I'm not beating it very hard because the warp yarn will poof up quite a bit when I wash it and I don't want it to end up all stiff. It's about half done at this point.

I also got a Schacht Cricket rigid heddle loom. That one is technically a store sample though. haha Stringtown is now a Schacht dealer so I needed one out of the box and all put together to show people, right? This is my first scarf made on it using the yarn that comes in the box with the new loom. It's a basketweave pattern, which looks complicated but is super easy.

OK, that's all the weaving for now. I have been doing some knitting too, but mostly shop samples with a few hats and socks thrown in here and there. I need to finish something from ye old WIP pile one of these days. I'm mostly working on a Fish Hat from the winter Knitty for Ian and my long overdue Hat Attack hat right now.

Oh, and if you want to see pics of the shop samples or pics from October's Fayetteville Fiber Festival or Arkansas Knit & Spin Day at Mt. Magazine earlier this month, just check out my flickr photostream

Weaving Camp Pictures

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:17:00 +0000

My Work Area
Originally uploaded by Elabeth.

Click here to see a slideshow of pics from my week at weaving camp.

I had a really good time and met a lot of nice people. I also got a killer deal on a warping mill (the 22 yard tabletop model shown here) for just $35.

I'm already thinking I'll go back next summer to learn the rug stuff that half of the class was doing if they offer it again unless I get impatient and teach myself before then. haha

To keep my monentum going I've already planned three projects for the loom down at the store, and tonight I got myself a clip-on lamp for the loom area so that I'll be able to see what I'm doing. First up is a balanced twill scarf/stole thing using Tofutsies yarn for the warp and the weft. After that I've got weft yarn already dyed for two more scarves and the calculations done for three others. I'm afraid I'm going to need an 8-harness loom before too long. I keep finding really badass 8-harness drafts.

On Friday night I'm going to Fiber Xmas In July at the fairgrounds in Kellyville, OK. I'm hoping to get some more weaving shuttles and bobbins etc. and maybe some yarn, but mostly I'm just going to hang out and say hey to the Oklahoma ladies I don't get to see too often.

Updates

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:06:00 +0000

Weaving Camp was super fun! I have pictures and stuff and a big post to make later, but for now I want to put this link to the online archive of Curious Weaver zine/newsletter so that I won't lose it later. haha
I'll be back soon (maybe later tonight) with some garden and weaving updates.

My Plurkette Hencircle Intro

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:33:00 +0000

How do I get myself into these crazy, fun things? Well, I blame Stacy (she of Tempted Handpainted Yarns fame) for this one. She's the one who invited me to Plurk, which turns out is pretty darn entertaining when work is slow. Go on over there and get yourself sucked in if you don't believe me. There I was plurking away, one thing lead to another, and now I'm a Plurkette Hencircle Farmgirl Sisterhood member :)

I've been reading Mary Jane's Farm off and on since it first came out, but I never bothered with getting a subscription until recently because between the husbeast and I we subscribe to about a dozen magazines each that are slowly taking over our house because we're both packrats and don't like to throw out useful information, see? What's that you say? Cut out the articles you want to keep and put them in a binder? That's just not how we roll, dear.

So anyway, Farmgirl type goins on have been a part of my life for a while. When I was a kid we'd go visit my Grandparents every summer. (My Grandma was a cranky old lady - you would be too if you'd raised 7 kids and had a farm to take care of, but she sure made some good pickles!) They had a big garden that my Grandpa would let us help him pick stuff and hoe stuff in. I was terrified of the cabbage. I don't know...something about those two rows of things with heads and GIANT leaves just freaked me out. But other than the cabbage, it was fun. They also had chickens and guinnea hens and a horse and cows and a pond to fish in. They did NOT have a tv that would get more than 1 crappy station though, and so I did not like to stay more than a couple days lest I miss out on the latest episodes of Bionic Woman or Incredible Hulk. A little girl has to have her priorities, ya know?

My Mom likes to raise flowers and houseplants and do crafty stuff like crochet and latch hook etc. , but my Dad was the one doing things like deciding we needed to re-cover the couch and chair, buying a sewing machine and some upholstry material, then taking the furniture apart to use as a pattern, sewing that stuff up himself with no prior experience, and making it look amazing. My Dad taught me by example that you can do anything yourself if you can get a book/instruction manual/website tutorial for it. That is some dangerous knowledge right there, folks!

Without that lesson I don't think I would have ever learned to knit, spin, weave, dye yarn, put shingles on a roof, build a deck, rewire a lamp, refinish furniture, replace the brake lights and tail light on my scooter, change my oil, change a tire, hitchhike across California (yes, there was a how-to book involved in that), and I damn sure would never have been able to start my own business. Most of that isn't directly related to Farmgirl stuff, but I feel like the spirit of wanting to do something, seeking out the knowledge, and giving new stuff a try is very Farmgirl.

The older I get and the more screwed up the world gets the more I feel like everyone should get back to being a little more self-sufficient, a little more community-minded, and a little less "Why don't they do something about...." Do something about it yourself! Do something for your friends and neighbors! Something besides sitting on your bootie complaining. haha Get out there and plant yourself a garden instead of just growing stupid old grass that you have to mow all over your yard and complaining that fresh veggies costs so much at the store. Make something and share it! Find a need in your community and fill it! Get involved. Be the ball, Danny! (Caddyshack reference, sorry.)

OK, I'm off my soapbox now.
That's pretty much me.

Oops!

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 18:20:00 +0000

Did a whole month go by? Dang! I've been busy and stuff. haha
OK, first of all there hasn't been any weaving yet. I got the loom all set up except for the new aprons, but I've been kinda lazy about doing those mostly because I can't find my hammer. haha The class I'm taking is July 14-18 so I still have some time to take care of that, but I'm planning on doing it sometime next week.
I did finish this cute baby blanket last month:

It was knit on size 9 needles with two strands of Tofutsies. The pattern will be available soon on the SWTC site or you can email me for it. Keep an eye on my Ravelry designer page.
I've got a mesh "lace" scarf on the needes as a shop sample for Art Yarns Silk Rhapsody. I don't have a picture of that yet, but it's basicly just cast on an even number of stitches, knit one or more rows, then slip the first stitch, yo, k2tog to the end and purl the last stitch. Repeat that row till you're almost out of yarn then knit however many rows you did at the beginning and cast off. You can do fringe or beads or just leave it plain. It's super simple and boring but looks great with a fancy yarn. I think I'm gonna put some beads on the ends of mine. I haven't decided if they'll be all dangled on fringe or just sewn on the edge yet though. I guess if you wanted to get crazy with it you could string a bunch of beads on at the beginning then bring one up every once in a while when you do a YO. That might be pretty cool. Oh well. There's that.
I've also got some non-knitting stuff going on. I got myself a scooter:

It's a 2008 Yamaha Vino 125, and I got a killer good deal on it because the new 2009 models were about to come out. I took a motorcycle safety class last weekend to help me learn to ride it without killing myself or others. That was pretty fun. I think in some of the things I had an advantage over the people on motorcycles because they had to shift and stuff, but in others I was at a disadvantage because the scooter doesn't have the clutch control a motorcycle does.
I've got a little over a hundred miles on the scooter so far and I've been riding it to work every day I can. It gets 70mpg, so we've only had to take it to the gas station once. Steve took it, and he said there were a lot of people asking questions about it. The thing will go almost 60mph. I've had it up to about 50 when not paying close attention to my speed. I should be able to ride it till at least October before it gets cold enough to make me want to lay off. haha
There is some gardening going on at my house too. You can check that out over at my flickr page.

More Loom Stuff

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 18:13:00 +0000

I ordered the following things from Yarn Barn in Kansas. They're SUPER NICE. Jim took my order and even speculated with me about how old my loom is. (We think it was probably built in 1971, so it's one year older than me.)

- A set of 6 treadle hooks
- A set of 12 treadle cords
- A set of 2 upper roller cords
- A set of 4 lower roller cords
- 2 45" aprons
- 4 45" steel rods
- 1,000 inserted eye headles
- A 45" 12dpi stainless steel reed
- 2 beater bumpers
- 1 boat shuttle (I already have one at home)
- 1 dozen plastic bobbins

All that was about $500. I might also get a "Shed Regulator" attachment for it later on, but those are over $200 so I'm going to see how I get along without it.
I also got a Louet bobbin winder for the store because I figured if I get good enough at this I'll teach beginner classes and we'll need that thing. I've got the warping board on the back of my Kromski Harp rigid headle loom, so I figure I'm pretty much set up now. I just need to plan out a project.
I was reading about using handpainted yarns as warp, and that sounds pretty cool. I'm thinking about pre-winding a warp with some wool yarn and hand painting it myself, or I have some black and purple alpaca at home that I dyed at yarn school which would make good weft. Maybe I'll try that. It would look pretty cool in a point twill pattern with a hot pink warp.
Oh, and I also found Weavezine. It's kind of like Knitty, but for weavers! I'm hoping they'll have a lot of good beginner info in the issues to come. I'm not a weavecast listener, but it's the same girl behind it if you're familiar with that.

Loom!

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:17:00 +0000

Well, it turns out the loom I bought is a Mira instead of a Fanny. No problem! They're really similar. This is what it looked like when we arrived to pick it up.

Most of the metal parts have a little rust on them, a lot of the nuts and bolts aren't original and dont really fit well, but I have the correct sizes written down from the manual so I can replace those easy peasy with a trip to the hardware store.
As for the loomy parts, the reed is pretty smushed up and rusty and so are all the headles. I'm replacing those, the aprons, (the warp beam has a sectional thing on it that I don't care to use at this point, and the apron on the cloth beam is pretty nasty + frail feeling) all the nylon cords, and I'm adding some beater bumpers.
I'll have another $500 in it before I'm done, but it still comes out at costing me less than half price of a new one. The wood is in pretty good condition - just a little scuffed up here and there.
Does anyone know how to tell how old it is by the serial number? Here's a shot of the sticker on the side:

Creativity Attack

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:10:00 +0000

Just when I thought my creative spark had fizzled out/dried up/been blown away I'm suddenly just bursting with ideas and projects I want to do. Whew!
Surprisingly, most of them are not knitting related. They're all fiber arts related and most even involve yarn, but the knitting just isn't calling out to me so much lately. I finished my Kiri Shawl and hung it up behind the cash register at the shop. It looks amazing and makes a nice spring/summer backdrop. I took a picture, but it's still in the camera and I don't have time to get it out so you'll have to wait to see it unless you come by. Now I just need to finish one or two of the jillion WIP's I have laying around before the knitting gnomes start whispering in my ear about new stuff.
Here's what I have going:
My own version of the Babette Blanket (look it up on Ravelry if you can or just google it) made with just 5 colors instead of 17 and with worsted weight yarn instead of sock yarn. I'm using Universal Classic Worsted, but if I'd maintained a little self control and not started for another week-ish I would have used Berroco Comfort. I'm kicking myself every time I pick it up to do a square or two. So far there are 50 teensy tiny squares and about 15 4-round squares done.
Some Mittens - I started wanting some when it was really really cold out and my fingers were freezing off. I now have about half of one. It's kinda pathetic.
About 4 or 5 pair of socks - Not starting any new socks until I complete all the second socks. Really. I mean it this time.
The Triangles Within Triangles shawl - This was almost going to be a xmas gift for Steve's Mom. She was in the hospital all around then and just recently got out so I should probably finish it up. It's pretty close to being done.
Several Top-Down Raglan sweaters and cardigans - Not feeling the love. Most are past he point where there is anything to do but boring stockinette. feh.
The Giant "Let's Use Up All This Fucking Wool-Ease" Crochet Stripe Blanket - I'll be working on this thing ten years from now, I'm pretty sure of it. I think wool ease is related to tribbles. (google it if you don't know what a tribble is)

Now, here's the scoop on what I'm about to start doing and what I want to do and all that mess.
First, I'm getting a giant floor loom. This thing is about 4.5 feet wide, just as tall, and 3 feet deep. It's a 4-shaft counterbalance Leclerc "Fanny" for those of you who know about the weaving. So, there will be more weaving content on here soon. I'm buying it from a lady in Kansas, and we go to pick it up April 6th. The plan is to install it at the store over by the coffee area, but I'm not too sure how that will work out. I might end up needing to move it somewhere else. We'll just see what kind of contortions I have to do to be able to warp it over there. It weighs 130 pounds, so I'm hoping it can stay put.
Now, do I know how to weave on a 4-shaft loom? Hell no. It was a crazy good deal, so I'm just buying the thing. I've been reading the weaving textbook "Learning To Weave" by Deborah Chandler, and have learned how to read a draft and do a drawdown of one so far. I'm pretty happy about that. Next I need to learn to create my own drafts or this will get old pretty damn quick. I know me. haha I signed up for a beginning weaving class in Bella Vista in July. Hopefully by then I can have at least warped the thing once and done some easy twill pattern dishtowels or a shawl or a table runner or some such thing. There will be pictures and updates about that. My hope is that I get good enough at it to be able to sell some stuff on etsy or in the store or both and maybe do commissioned shawls and stuff.
I'm almost finished with the purple tri-loom shawl I've had on the loom for over a year. I'm slower than xmas on that thing and might just sell it. (the loom not the shawl) I'm still thinking about it. It depends on how good I get with this 4-shaft monster. For now, as soon as the shawl is off it's going in the dry end of the store's basement for a time out.
I have officially outgrown the "yarn room" at home. It is basicly a very crowded storage area right now. No work is getting done in there on anything. I've been talking to Steve about trading rooms with me. He has his gun cleaning stuff and old computer stuff/desk out in the patio room. There is also a bunch of other junk out there needing removed. So my plan now is to remove the junk, clean the floors out there, then get either carpet or wood laminate installed. (the existing floor is all gappy and makes it hella-drafty cold out there in the winter) After that we move Steve's desk and junk into the current yarn room and my stuff out there. One side of the room can be sort of a studio with a big table and all the yarn, fabric, the Ladybug wheel, the Rigid Heddle Loom, the sewing machine, the painting junk, and all the other assorted craft junk on shelves. The other side can be for the gym equipment we can't get to because it's currently burried under all that other junk.
Now, getting Steve to actually get off his ass and help me sort though the junk/take things to to dump/donation station/freecycle/whatever will be the big challenge to this plan. He'd much rather run off to play on weekends and that is really the only time I have to devote to it.
Once that's all set up I want to try making some quilts and big needle felted doo-dads and maybe some paintings since I have all the supplies and haven't used them in years. We'll see.

Upgrade

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:17:00 +0000

Upgrade
Originally uploaded by Elabeth.

Hahahahahaha! I stole this from Miranda. She probably stole it from someone else who stole it from icanhascheezburger.com

It kills me.

So, what's new with you?
I still read blogs, but have been sucked into the Ravelry timesuck. I'll post some FO pics soon, but basicly here is all the latest news:

- The Store is going great!
- I am thisclose to being done with a Kiri Shawl.
- Stargate Atlantis on DVD is like crack (thanks Kristen)
- My house is hella messy. The clutter is killing me slowly, and I seem to be the only one living there who cares about getting rid of any of it.
- The weather needs to take it's meds.

Spinning!

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:53:00 +0000

Pile of Handpsun
Originally uploaded by Elabeth.

In back there is the yarn for the recently finished Handspun Hat made from a batt sent to me by Melissa and some top left over from Yarn School. The middle one is from two blobs of funky roving I got years ago at the Okiefiber retreat, did the singles at Yarn School, then finally got around to plying recently, and the front one is from a wonderful everything but the kitchen sink type bat I bought at Yarn School from Maisy Day Handspun.

Here is another one:

I made that one from some fiber of the month club stuff I collected over the past year. I got it all and never did anything with it, so I'm trying to spin it all up now.
Oh, and here is that handspun hat I finished. It's kinda poofy on the top, but I dig it.

Happy Holidays

elabeth@gmail.com (Elabeth) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 17:12:00 +0000

Well, my Ladybug arrived just before Xmas. I LOVE IT. It's super cute and spins perfectly. No trouble so far. The attached, tensioned lazy kate looks super awesome. I'm on my 4th bobbin of yarn being spun on it, but haven't plied anything yet. I'll let you know how it works for that, but I'm not expecting any trouble.
There are so many big flat surfaces on the frame of the wheel that it just cries out for stickers or decals or some sort of decoration. The only complaint I can muster is that it stinks. Literally. The oil they used to finish the wood is mighty smelly. I've had it out of the box for a couple of weeks now, and I can still smell it when I first sit down to spin. I'm hoping that will get all aired out soon.

The basement at the yarn store seems to be no longer leaky, so I've started setting up the dye workshop area down there, and I plan to order the first batch of undyed yarn next week. The only thing I was freaking out about was that there is no spin-cycle washer down there to help get all the excess water out of things before hanging them to dry. I wasn't looking forward to all the mopping up and dripping etc. Well, today I found this thing online:

It's a little spin-dryer! If you want one, you can get it here.
OK, I'm also freaking out a little bit over my lack of a motorized skein-winder to help on things that will need to be re-skeined. Anyone got a recomendation there?