Warping and Weaving

I was back at Wickerwool at Cedar Farm today, our loom collection has now grown to four with the addition of a table loom courtesy of Jackie from The Cedar Beaders who is unable to weave any longer due to arthritis.  It's so sad when that happens, but we will certainly use her loom to the full!!

Heather was able to show Ginny how to thread up the loom and begin weaving.  We started by using the Inkle loom as a warping board to get started, I was in and out of the room (I had forgotten wool and had to nip home)

Heather took Ginny slowly through the stages up to which she was able to start weaving.  For a more detailed explanation of what happened ( I have to be honest, at the moment it's all a blur for me as beginner), follow this link to Heathers blog http://tinywoodlandfibres.blogspot.co.uk

Heather is so talented with her weaving, she explains things clearly and I'm sure we'll be creating amazing scarves soon! This is my plan anyway, possibly in the style of this time next year we'll be millionaires.

In the meantime, I'm going to spin some singles to use on Jackie's loom. It has plastic Heddles so it will be great for handspun. This book by Sara Lamb is amazing and I will be ordering it ASAP, it has all the info needed to get going if you plan to weave your handspun yarn. The colours in her scarves are amazing and certainly gave me ideas and inspiration for our dyeing day next Tuesday.  

We'll be starting at 10am and trying different methods of dyeing and talking colour theory too. We're at Cedar Farm, if you fancy coming along, please get in touch so we can prepare.  We'll also have the looms and spinning wheels there too.  

You can contact me on cathy.lazykate@gmail.com

Pendle Stitches

We (Ginny and me) were at Pendle Stitches in Clitheroe for a workshop yesterday. Clitheroe, if you've never been is a beautiful market town in the hills of Lancashire and well worth a visit.

We met Emma, Liz and Lucy who worked their socks off and each achieved an impressive skein of yarn.  It's not easy to learn to spin, especially if you've never been near a wheel before but there certainly was determination in the room!

As well as yarn, books and worshops, Pendle Stitches also teaches how to shabby chic vintage furniture and how those tins of paint came in useful as our wheels moved across the carpet. Even though they were supposed to be Traditionals, not Travellers. Hahahahaha. (Almost Bruce Forsythe standard joke there!)

I'm sure the ladies went home and had a well deserved glass of wine, it was lovely meeting them, I hope they continue with their spinning, - they'd better!

An Introduction to Weaving at Cedar Farm

We bought a loom! Ginny and I bought one from Lancs and Lakes Guild of the Spinners, Weavers & Dyers who were selling a couple and we thought why not?  So, it has sat for a little while with no-one to love it until now.

We went to Wickerwool at Cedar Farm to meet Heather and her Ashford Rigid Heddle loom.  As complete novices we have absolutely no idea what it was all about - I imagine that will become clear from the rest of the post.

So firstly we took all the little bits n bobs out of the bag, which turned out to be 300 heddles.  Heather showed us how to attach them to the frame (don't know if that has a name

So what we realise we need now is a warping frame.  Man, are they pricey! So before we jump in and commit ourselves to the £100 layout, we may be searching for a way to do it ourselves - quite a statement considering, well, we don't really know what we're doing.

Just that little introduction has wetted our appetite for wanting to know more - we're so excited about using handspun yarn to create a scarf. You can follow Heather's blog of her spinning and weaving here at http://tinywoodlandfibres.blogspot.co.uk

So, if you've ever wanted to see what's involved with weaving, if you're inquisitive and want to have a mosey or it's something you've always wanted to do, come to Cedar Farm in Mawdesley every Tuesday and we'll be there with our looms, we really want to meet people in our local area who want to get together and weave, spin or knit. Please feel welcome to join us.

We finished the afternoon having a go on Heathers Schacht Loom, which was so sparkly and new, we were scared to touch it.

For the weekend, I' making a workshop at Pendle Stitches in Clitheroe. I love Clitheroe and don't need much of an excuse to trek over there. Please pop in and say hi if you're a Pendle Stitch regular.

Pendle Stiches

10 Moor Lane 

Clitheroe

Lancs

BB7 1BE

Latest Workshops

Workshops are keeping me busy at the moment and they really are my favourite thing.  When someone comes along to spin and loves it, it's the biggest buzz going.  So, last Saturday at Knit Wise in Ormskirk, I met Marion Diane and Julie and we spun together for the day.

Marion and Diane had both used a drop spindle before and that is always a bonus because it introduces you to the drafting process, so they had a little bit of a head start.

Julie had brought along her own wheel, an Ahford Traveller which is quite a quick wheel for a beginner but she did so well and by the end of the day had mastered it enough to produce a beautiful skein of yarn.

It's one of the things that I try and let people know when they come to spin, that they will learn at different rates,  it's easy to say but hard to convey, especially if you're the one who doesn't seem to pick it up as quickly as others but there can be many different factors that will affect your ability to learn. And some of those maybe out of your control.

So, if you learn on say, a Traveller, it will be a faster wheel and may take you a little while to master it,  but a Traveller is a wonderful wheel, so stick with it. We need to learn not to be so hard on ourselves, we expect so much!

All the ladies were wonderful, I'm sure they'll continue with their spinning and hopefully stay in touch, I have a feeling we'll stay friends and there isn't a greater reward than that.

If you're interested in Spinning Workshops, take a look at my facebook page for all the events that are going on in the near future.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lazykate-Handspun-Yarn/150686551664405?id=150686551664405&sk=events