Carving space..

Creating a little weaving space in the attic.

When we were building the house, I carried my 

sleeping bag up multiple ladders to sleep up here.

The roof was on, but the ends of the attic were open.  It was magical 

sleeping in the trees.

Well, until my candle holder exploded like a shot in the

middle of the night!

I've always love this space..

~

Grit

There is no doubt in my mind that weaving is a *skill that can take

a lifetime to learn.

Volunteering to weave for a demonstration is a good way to make 

an *effort in learning.

All I can say is .. good thing I started the sample early!

This hand dyed warp:

Shrunk, plumped, was mis-measured,

beamed twice, and turned into Gumby stretchy on the loom.

While the yarn is soft, it has made me

.. "GRITTY"..

I just started reading a book called:

'Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance'

by Angela Duckworth

She defines 'grit' as the combination of perseverance and passion.

For now I'll just keep on weaving.

With all the extra yardage from a measuring error, I'm going 

to be here for a while...but I won't be gritting my teeth..

*skill x *effort = achievement

: )

~

Mug Rug..

This little loom belonged to my mom as a child.

When I unearthed it there still was a little piece of her weaving on it.

That little square of wool now hangs 

on the inspiration board in my studio.

One day I took the little loom with me out to the campfire with

some cones of who-knows-what-kinda-yarn I dug out of the cedar chest.

Isn't hand-me-down-mystery-yarn wonderful?!?

The little square on the upper left is what came off the loom that day.

It happened to be just the right size for my coffee mug.

I use that little mug rug every. darn. day.

It makes me think of my mom's little fingers weaving wool..

the day we sat together laughing at the campfire..

how imperfectly perfect it is.

That little rug got me thinking about maybe trying a few more. 

This little rug was woven on a Schacht Zoom Loom.

Small.

Portable.

Easy to use.

Perfect for more hand-me-down-yarn,

recycled sweater yarn,

and..

a little embroidered pine tree.

~

Weaving..

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending

a weaving workshop.

It was sponsored our local spinning and weaving guild.

Introduction to weaving on a four harness loom..

 Learning new words, calculating, threading, treadling...

Then weaving a pattern..

where this..

Turned into this.. 

Plain weave and twill.

It was an amazing day

and

FUN!

The amount of talent and knowledge in this body of fine folks

will never cease to amaze me.  

My sincere thanks to you all who took the time to 

teach us,

mentor us, 

encourage us,

laugh with us,

and 

share your love of the fiber arts...

I am grateful for you ~

Yarn Along..

The Antarktis is actually finished, but not blocked yet so I'll share that next week.

Today I had a second lesson on the loom... warping!

I chose to try weaving this fun yarn that I spun over the summer.  It is a blend of hand dyed fiber plus any other little bits I could blend in... including recycled sweater yarn, silk, taffeta from the thrift store.. those kind of things.

The plan is to weave with one of the singles that is still hanging around here unplied from Spinzilla.

It needed the twist set first.  

For now the weft yarn it is drying next to the wood stove ~

Can't wait to start on it tomorrow!

As far as reading ~ I've got my nose in a few books right now.

Currently enjoying this on the kindle via free library loan.

Anyone else enjoy library books electronically without leaving home?

~ 

Joining Ginny..