New Toys

I can go for several months without internet shopping, keeping my credit card in my wallet and resisting all the links on Lime & Violet and all the tempting offers in my in box.  Then I'll trip and have a small relapse.  This invariably opens the floodgates and I'm a shop-a-holic for a week or two before I get myself reined in again.  Since my sister went home and I went back on Weight Watchers, I have been filling the company and food voids with online retail therapy.  Nothing too extravagant, but enough to feed my package addiction.  Is there anything more fabulous than coming home to goodies on the doorstep?

My first toy was ordered approximately 27 seconds after I received the latest Spin-Off in the mail.  I have always craved a Woolee Winder flyer, but I held off because they seemed pricey and I wasn't sure it was worth it.  But now Ashford has their own "Sliding Hock flyer", made especially for Ashford wheels and costing about a third of the Woolee Winder price.  Woot!

It was waiting for me when I got home from knitting on Tuesday night and I had to try it out right away.  I dug around in my fiber stash for something I didn't care much about and came up with this Masham that I bought at the Ann Arbor fiber fest last October.  A prior attempt to spin it had produced a two-ply too coarse and scratchy for any garment.

What makes the new flyer cool is that instead of fixed hooks that guide the spun yarn onto the bobbin, you have mobile guides.  You slide them incrementally up and down and the bobbin fills smoothly instead of in lumps beside each fixed hook.  The bobbin can hold a lot more this way.

The Woolee winder moves the guides up and down the flyer arms automatically and mine has to be moved by hand, so the Woolee Winder is still cooler, but I like my new gadget and it did make a very smooth bobbin of singles.  Because I was just playing, I decided to chain-ply it this time.

I learned that A) I am still really bad at chain-plying and B) this fiber is not any softer in a three-ply.  The colors are absolutely lovely, but the resultant yarn has no tactile charm.

I was trying to think of something I could make with it and remembered a craft my mom and I used to do years ago.  She called it "warp wrap" at the time - it probably has other names.  It entails wrapping yarn around rope or cord and coiling it.  After a set number of wraps, you stitch the new coil to the last one to hold it all together.  We used to make bowls and baskets, but I contented myself with just a little hot pad.

I didn't have any suitable rope or cord lying around, so I used some pencil roving that I held doubled.  Worked like a charm.  It isn't stiff enough to hold its shape if I was trying to make a bowl, but just fine for a flat piece.  Beautiful and horrid yarn all used up!

My next toy came yesterday.  This one I am blaming entirely on the Keyboard Biologist.  She had a post about a cool braiding tool that she was using to make some sample cords.  She's going to weave a pillow and then edge it in braided cording.  That would have been all well and good, but then she had to go and post a link to the braiding tool supplier.  (Click at your own risk)

This disc is made of foam and the notches in the edge end in slits that hold the threads tightly.  The braid is formed in the middle hole and feeds down, kind of like spool knitting.  Apparently there are endless braids with varying numbers of strands, but I started with a simple 8 strand spiral braid, using some sample thread that came with the kit I ordered.

This was crazy-simple to execute, it just takes some time.  I think I could even read a book and braid at the same time once I finished the initial set-up.  It was certainly no strain to braid and watch TV.  I'm going to play with it more today.  My instructions tell how you can add beads to the braid, so maybe I will try a simple little bracelet for M.  I will also bring it to Knit in Public day at Yarn Cravin' tomorrow in case anyone wants to check it out!

Okay, one last thing.  I've been weaving again!  I ordered an amazing book - Textures and Patterns for the Rigid Heddle Loom by Betty Davenport.  This book is (shockingly) full of different weave patterns for the rigid heddle loom.  (Who'd have thunk?)  I should probably order a second copy while I can because I suspect my original copy will end up in tatters from frequent use.  The minute I got the book, I was ready to try something new.

We have a guest room in the basement with a long dresser and when my sister visited I wished I had a runner or something to spruce it up.  Once she had headed back home, I measured the dresser top and got to work.

In the interest of "reduce, reuse, recycle" I used some silk/cashmere blend that I had started an ugly shawl with and never ripped out.  It is not as soft as it sounds, but it has a subtle sheen and is strong enough for warp.  I chose to alternate between what Betty calls 3/1 lace and 1/1 leno.

Forgive the dark photo.  Natural light has been hard to come by in Northwest Ohio this week and the flash photo obliterated the pattern.

This was a very looooong project, so it took me several evenings to finish, but I just love how it turned out.  I soaked it in wool wash and then blocked it with pins on the living room floor.  Now my boring old dresser is all spiffed up.

Knit in public tomorrow, wherever you are!

Comments

[Walden]

I love the hot pad and the weaving, beautiful!

[Sophia]

Your creativity makes my head spin!! Sooo many project. And the braiding tool is really cool.....trying to resist as I have no use for braids, but it looks like so much fun!

[Mary]

Did I miss the braiding tool? I wish I would have read this a day ago.

[Kim]

I want a woolee winder flyer AND the braided cord maker! You are evil, pure evil.