Hands that weave

Meg put up a post on her blog, 31st July, "Calling all Hands".

I remembered it today, whilst making an alteration to my inkle loom warp.  This is what Meg said in her post:

"Anytime on Saturday, August 13, take a picture of your hand/s; spinning, knitting, weaving, baking, reading, holding your child's/grandchild's/long-time-love's hand/s, whatever. It doesn't have to be craft-related...."

Above is my inkle loom, originally made by Michael Crompton (best known for his tapestry weaving) but recently modified to make the tensioner and pegs stronger.

Below is the warp, which was slightly more assymetric than intended.  I wanted to put in two more of the darkest green threads.  I have found that starting off with three little sticks in the warps helps to spot problems before I start weaving (acting like the header row on my floor loom) and also enables me to bunch the warp threads tight so I start weaving the band at near to the width I want.

Tying tight knots for my inkle loom warps is a little tricky, I use one finger to hold a slip knot, whilst manipulating the threads for another to make a knot that will hold tight, and then I tighten the second knot without shifting the finger that holds the first knot from slipping.  I'm lucky to be ambidextrous, but having double-joined digits doesn't help.

Today there was someone else around to take photos (thank you Bob!) so you can see both my hands.

I'm happy with the way this band is weaving.  I drew the edges in a bit tighter in the first few inches, when it is finished I will take out the first two inches of weft (possibly then using the free warp ends as tassels).

Resting in/on the warp you can see my homemade thread bobbin and separate shuttle that I use only as a beater.  I can't work as fast or get as neat results without the separate beater.  I used to wonder if this was because other people are better weavers, or more practiced at working with the shuttle/beater.  But today I had a new thought - is it because other people are not ambidextrous?

Meg asked for some words too:

"Also, give me a title or description of yourself; whatever best describe how you saw yourself as at the moment the photo was taken, i.e. "Mama, Yarn collector, Weaver, Neighborhood Weaving Teacher"."

A description of me? I don't know how to do this. I was so absorbed in what I was working on, there was just me and the threads and the loom.  So quite simply:

Dorothy, weaving a linen inkle band on her 44th birthday.

Drying fleece in the summer sunshine

 Today, I washed some alpaca.  I have three full fleece, around 1 kg each, and I'm washing just the amount I think I can get dried each day.  As the weather is good today I washed a couple of trays full, and put them out in the sun.

Three upright spinning wheels.

A family photo - my three little three upright spinning wheels.
Originally uploaded by Dorothy L

A family photo of my upright single treadle spinning wheels. All production wheels, all developed from the traditional Scottish upright wheels taken by settlers to New Zealand. Click on the photo to see a larger version hosted on Flickr.

On the left we have a 1976 Rappard Little Peggy. She's a two speed wheel and has seen considerable use at some time in the past, the metal of her flyer shaft is worn and you can see the footprint on her treadle. Recently aquired from ebay and in need of new leather flyer and bobbin bearings, otherwise in good working order.

In the centre, a little old Ashford Traveller, the original model as made from 1977-79 and identified with help of previous owner who bought it secondhand in 1980 and Mary Knox's website and book "New Zealand Spinning Wheels and their Makers", recommended to me by Spinningfishwife because shoulder problems can make righthand flyer wheels uncomfortable for me to use.

On the right, a modified Ashford Traveller, around 12-15 years old (I think..) with modern sliding hook flyer. Modifcations include the sycamore treadle that operates centrally and a lead weight on the inside of the wheel rim to balance the weight of the footman and give smoother treadling.

In the background you can see part of my American pendulum wheel.