Full Circle

[mafief]

This week I signed up Mr Five for his first ever swim lessons. He’s having lots of fun, but it’s been very cold each time. I’ve sat out on the outdoor pool deck and crochet while watching him swim/freeze. In a sense, this act signals that my life has come full circle.

My sister and brother were enrolled in ballet and taekwondo, respectively. I was dragged along to their events and needed to come up with something to do so I wouldn’t drive myself (or mom) insane. This often took the form of bothering the other parents around, especially if they were doing something interesting. One of the parents brought her spinning wheel and was spinning the yarn while she waited for her daughter to finish her ballet class. I was fascinated and wanted to learn, but the lady wanted to make sure this was something I wanted to do and not a passing phase thing. I needed to prove myself. She gave me a 2 lb trash bag filled with unwashed raw fleece. Btw, 2 lbs of fluff is HUGE. My job was to tease (separate the crimped and clumped fibers) the entire bag. I convinced a friend to help and we got the job done. Finally, when I turned 10 I was finally allowed to learn how to spin. She sat with me for a few hours and it took a while to get my unwilling 10 year-old body to be coordinated. I still have my first lumpy, bumpy, dear-god-what-am-I-doing first spun somewhere at my parent’s house.

One of my relatives, who I have never met, had a flax wheel. This was my first wheel and it was the worst wheel for a beginner to use, but I used it. Eventually, when this became more of a passion that would stick, I upgraded to my current wheel (which I still LOVE).

And this is a pic of me spinning tonight.


Next, my everything-must-have-a-purpose mom realized that I was going to be producing yarn. Now what? Knitting and crochet held no appeal to her. Our yarn that we were spinning was not fine enough. Most yarn at the store has multiple strands twisted together (8 or so ply). Our single ply was/is about the width of worsted weight. In order to use homespun for knitting or crochet and have it NOT twist, you need to two-ply it (I’ll spare reasons, unless you ask). So, our stuff was not thin enough for that purpose.

In any case, she looked into weaving. Harrisville Design is relatively close to where my parents live, and she took a class there. From the website: “Woolen yarn has been spun in the water powered, brick mill town of Harrisville since 1794. This small village is nestled in the Monadnock Highlands of southwestern New Hampshire and is the only industrial community of the early 19th Century that still survives in America in its original form.” It’s an amazing place to visit.

Our first loom was a table top (below). I’ve labeled loom anatomy (blue arrow = reed; orange = heddles (4 total); green = hand treadles that correspond to each heddle).


Using a special board with pegs on it (warping board), we would count out the length we needed and number of strings. The number of strings would correlate to how wide the piece would be. Once done, we sley the reed (aka: put one string in one slot in the reed - https://www.allfiberarts.com/2011/aa110299.htm). After the reed, one string would be placed into each heddle. The table top loom has 4 heddles, which determines the type of pattern you can create depending upon if you put a string in heddle 1 versus heddle 4. All of this is repetitive and time-consuming work. It would take me a couple of days to warp the loom (put all the strings on). Eventually, we upgraded to a 36” floor loom with 12 heddles (we only used 8) and a more ‘portable’ 22” floor loom.


This pic shows the 36” floor loom with the beginnings of a project on it. My mom was making a blanket for my brother. The black that goes through the reed is the warp. The red is the filler we take out, but helps evenly space the warp at the beginning. The blue/purple is the weft. If you look closely, you’ll see a chevron pattern. Remember the stringing heddle thing? This is one place where we can change the pattern. Some of the warp is lifted. We can lift certain heddles, in a specific order, and that also creates a pattern.


Cool side note story: We (mom and I) participated at county fairs where we spun and wove products to show the general public. One guy who could come by the fair was responsible for making the spools for the loom harnesses that were used in Harrisville Design looms. We saw him for a few years in a row and he was very proud of his spools. (see spools in below pic)


Most of the material we used was wool or angora. The wool we tried dyeing, but that was a pain or more toxic than we wanted to deal with. So, we bought our wool dyed and processed at local Sheep and Wool festivals. This is also about the time where I started the angora bunny raising and breeding. So, we would harvest the angora wool and spin that.
(this is wool and mohair)

What did we make? Glad you asked. I’m saving that for a locked post because yours truly is modeling stuff so you can see it. (oh my!)

We also attempted to sell some of the angora scarves. Now, this was my first venture into what is something worth versus what someone is willing to pay. We calculated based on cost of material and labor that the scarves were worth about $75 and shawls were worth about $150. But, these are still low-ball figures. It was never a hobby that supported itself. The bunnies, however, did break even because I bred and sold the babies. Because of that experience, I know I dislike making things to sell and prefer to make things as gifts.


So, crochet and back to the being dragged around to sibling’s activities. Another lady was crocheting at my brother’s taekwondo class, and I pestered her into showing me the basics. From there, and with the help of youtube, I taught myself fancier stitches and patterns.


This post was requested a little while ago by Frankles. It’s taken me a little bit of time to find everything to take pictures, since a lot of it is in storage. However! I just brought my wheel and a tote of wool back with me. I’m wicked excited that I am beginning to spin again and even have a project (oh my!) already partially planned out project to crochet a long cardigan out of home spun. Hopefully it doesn’t make me look too much like a hipster. :)

Comments

[smallhobbit]

Absolutely fascinating - and far too time consuming for me!

[mafief]

Yes, absolutely time consuming and it sort of takes over your life. Besides my recent play with the wheel, I haven't done anything with the stuff in about 15 years. It was fun re-awakening old memories of these activities. Someday I will get back to it, but I need an entire room devoted to the looms.

Before cloth was available for purchase, this was a whole family affair. The kids would card the wool, the women and older girls would spin, and the father would weave. So yes, very time consuming.

[scfrankles]

Crikey, thanks so much for putting this together ^__^ It's so interesting to get a closer look at the workings of looms. Must admit I still don't quite understand how they work - I'll have to turn the information over in my head a bit ^^" I hadn't realised you could get tabletop looms too - I always think of the ones that stand on the floor. And your wheel is beautiful.

As always I'm so impressed how you decided so young that you wanted to do something and then you stuck with it. And how lovely that you're now excited about spinning again - I look forward to seeing how the cardigan turns out ^__^

[mafief]

You are most welcome! :) Thank you for asking - it was a lot of fun going through the old stuff and memories associated with it. My mom is tickled pink that my wheel is being used again. I haven't done spun or thought about spinning and weaving in over a decade.

I really wish I had better pics of a project on the looms so you could see it. The 36" loom pic is about 8 years old. I didn’t really show how the warp opens up or anything like that. I can either A) send you links to other website that show this, or B) slowly collect these images whenever I warp a loom or see someone weaving at a fair or show. I like option B because it’s a fun project to think about. I have considered going to Harrisville for a day trip with the kids. Mr Five has been fascinated with my wheel and the looms and I think he would like to see the floor-to-ceiling rug looms.

The tabletop ones are usually for beginners or folks limited in space because they are small and cheaper. That was our first loom and afterwards we used it as the portable one that went to fairs. It is not fast and sort of a pain to use because you have to do everything with your hands (no division of labor).

As always I'm so impressed how you decided so young that you wanted to do something and then you stuck with it.
This is very sweet of you to say, thank you. I did not stick with everything I was interested in, though. I am no good at playing the piano or reading music. ;)

[scfrankles]

B) slowly collect these images whenever I warp a loom or see someone weaving at a fair or show. I like option B because it’s a fun project to think about.

Yes, absolutely go with option B. I think it'll be fun for both of us ^__^ And it'll probably be easier for me to get to grips with the details if I'm being introduced to them gradually.

[mafief]

AND I HAVE IDEAS FOR PROJECTS!!! What? That took me all of two days. O:)

Sweet, can do. If there is anything that you want to know in particular, let me know. :)