Merrilee makes

I know I just started weaving placemats, but I always make sure I have a queue of weaving projects. Having planned projects waiting to go is a good strategy to avoid decision paralysis and to keep making things. I often get asked how I have the time to make all the things I do. One of the answers to that is that I usually have things planned and ready to go.

So here's my next weaving plan. I'm going to make another V cowl for this unassuming ball of sock yarn.


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'Yarn chicken' is the game of knitting with a tiny amount of yarn and seeing if you win (and finish the project) or if the yarn wins (and your project is forever unfinished).

I'm playing yarn chicken here. I have a little corner of this shawl to knit in purple, but my purple is almost gone! And this is hand dyed yarn from Dyeing 4 Ewe that cannot be replicated, so if I run out there's no option to get some more.


( Ok, let's chicken! )

This Sheridan wheel is another one owned by Canberra Spinners and Weavers. It's been sitting in a back room with the leather connector between the footman and the treadle had broken, making it wheel unusable. But I had some spare leather and some spare time, so why not give it a make over?



( Two Scandinavians walk into a [insert non-racist joke here, because I can't think of one] )

So I was talking aboout maybe getting more stash. Well I did not exactly sleep on the idea. So here's me flashing my stash!

I picked up this pile of alpaca roving from the Canberra Spinners and Weavers recycling room. Plus a boat shuttle, because it was cute and pretty.


( You deserve cute things )

It's been a while since I showed this cross stitch project. It got sent to time out for a while because I noticed that something, somehwere had gone wrong and I got frustrated. I was going to ignore the miskates and make a post about how it was an imperfect cross stitch, which was a first for me, and isn't that a lovely bit of growth, moving past perfectionism, blah blah. Buuuuut, I'm not there yet. I did have to fix it.

( Growth is fuckin' slow ya'll )

One of the things I love about my Saori loom is that you can buy prewound warps. These are warps wrapped around a cardboard tube that you can just slide onto your back beam and hey presto, your loom is ready to thread up.
( Prepare for warp speed (it's really very slow) )

Wee Maggie is ready to go off to her new home, but I wanted to make her a few gifts before she went.


( I couldn't even begin spell zhuzh )

Here's a video of Wee Maggie in action. She's a little Porche of a wheel! Very fast and smooth, a real joy to spin on.

I forgot to mention earlier: both the Sheridan Macarthur wheel and this Wee Maggie are double drive wheels. I found two of Jillian Eve's videos invaluable in understanding how these wheels work, how to set their drive bands and how to adjust their tension properly. These videos are her Double Drive Spinning Wheel Setup and How To Tie A Drive Band Onto Your Double Drive Spinning Wheel The Right Way. Almost everything crafty I do I learned through online videos. They're an amazing resources and Jillian Eve is so generous in sharing her knowledge and a pleasure to watch.

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Well, this could become a problem. I've brought home another wheel to restore.

This one is, according to the handwritten notes on the bottom, a Wee Maggie wheel. It was made in 1983 by M. N. Cork in Tumut, and is the 57th Wee Maggie made. ( Oh Maggie )

So this year I'm going to work on my Fancy Folder and keep better notes of what I plan, sample and weave.

I'm repeating a weave that I did last year so for this project I'm mostly taking notes to get in the habit of taking notes, as well as taking a project planning sheet for a spin. ( Read more... )