Weekend wrap up

Ha. 

I managed not to post a single word since my last wrap up. 

Well, what can I say? It was a hard, fast-paced week. 

I did manage more fiber work than blog posting, so here goes. 

Late in the evenings, I spun a bit more of Clementine's lamb fleece. I see a pattern developing. I like to listen to audiobooks while I spin. Together, the book and the spinning are relaxing in a very indulgent sort of way. Almost as good as eating junk food. This makes it a go-to activity if I'm still awake at the end of the day, after the teenager goes to bed. I've only done a little every day, but it starts to add up and my comfort with the wheel gets a little greater each time. This is all good.

At the weaving studio, on my regular Thursday afternoon visit, I began a new warp for a new project. This time around I decided to go back to scarves. I snagged a nice little four harness loom that I used once before and enjoyed. I chose a pattern based on Atwater-Bronson lace and got the warp entirely measured out. The fiber is an off-white lace weight alpaca silk. When I pulled the warp off the warping board and felt it loose in my hand for the first time, my heart went pitter pat. :) That's as far as I got this week. I'll start winding it onto the loom next week. I may also start a similar warp at home, because, did I mention, the feel of the yarn made my heart skip a beat.

My last fibery bit of work was playing around with an idea still in the embryonic stage.

I came across something this week called twining and it struck me that I might be able to make my longed for horse hair wallet this way.

This is the well-worn wallet that I am trying to replace -- hopefully before the seams completely come apart or any more of the stone tiles crack. I bought this at a Whole Foods store about 10 years ago. It has been an absolute workhorse of a wallet and I'd like to retire it before I completely destroy it, but I need something equally unique, charming and sturdy to replace it. If I can use horse hair, all the better. 

I did some beta-testing, so to speak, with baling twine. I'll share the pictures, but you have to keep in mind that this was really just for the purpose of seeing whether I could get the mechanics to work before I try to do it with horse hair. See, I'm learning to do swatches. ;)

I started by tying individual pieces of twine to a cheap plastic yogurt lid. This gave the structure enough support and shape to work with. The pieces tied to the lid are like the warp on a loom, except there's no tension, because their ends aren't tied to anything.

Next I wove a separate piece of twine through the warp pieces, sort of like basketweaving I guess. It's upside down in this picture. The yogurt lid is resting on the table.

When it was long enough, I closed the circlular form at the bottom by weaving the two sides together. This was awkward with such heavy twine, but it proved that it could be done.

Next, I cut away the yogurt lid and threaded a placeholder ribbon through the loops to keep it from unraveling. 

Finally, I turned the whole thing inside out to reveal a woven pouch.

Voila.

The details need a lot of work, but I was satisfied enough with the result that I ordered some hardware off etsy to try it out for real. Well, maybe with some yarn anyway. 

Beaded silk clutch anybody? 

And that's what I worked on, when I wasn't at work, doing chores, shuttling the teenager around, or sitting with animals at the vet. Yes, not one but two vet emergencies this week. Both ended well, even if expensively, so no worries there. If I have time, I'll post something about that later.