My third hat is done in all natural black sheep's wool that I enjoyed spinning. It doesn't look like much in the picture, but is my favorite of the three, though it tends to stretch after a few wearings, and have to be refelted from time to time. 

The next hat I made with some of the wool I had spun when just learning to spin. I had little bits of rovings in different colors that I spun up and plied with white. At the time I had no idea what I would use the yarn for or even if it would be usable, but it turned out to be good for this felted hat project. 

Here is a picture of the scarf and hat together. 

This hat was my first attempt at this process. It was made with the same two tone, two ply purple wool as the scarf I showed earlier. They make a nice pair. 

Show and Tell - Hats

Before I learned to weave I learned to knit just a tiny bit. I plan to learn more knitting in time, just as soon as I have the time, but in the mean time I'm working on my weaving skills. What I made with the knitting was hats. Using some of my hand spun wools and a pattern from Spin-Off magazine, I knit this big baggy thing that didn't much resemble a hat, then with lots of washing in very hot, soapy water with lots of aggitation, then cold rinse, then back to hot wash, etc., the hats were felted down to size and shape. Kind of an interesting process, and no two hats turn out the same.

This scarf is not quite finished, I still have to twist some of the fringes then wet finish the scarf. One day my friend Lindy gave me a bag of teal beads, I knew right away where they were going. The rest of the scarves were woven with one shuttle, but this was done with two... what is called using a tabby. For those of you who weave, these are all from Marquerite Davison's A Handweaver's Pattern Book, page 52, Undulating Twill. 

This scarf uses a different synthetic yarn for the warp. It's called Red Heart Luster Sheen and makes for a heavier, warmer scarf more for winter than for fashion. The weft is a two ply wool in two colors of purple. In the picture of me spinning on my Uncle's lawn in Smithers (see first post) I am spinning the lighter of the two purples. The fringes on this are braided instead of twisted, the warp was too big for beads so I added small tufts of the purple at the ends of the black braides. I also made another scarf with this warp, but gave it away as a Christmas gift, so have no picture of it. 

Black Orlec warp with white hand spun wool weft and white beads in the twisted fringes. All these scarves I'm showing you have the same warp threading on the loom. The pattern is changed by using a different treadle pattern. 

On my computer and digital camera I was able to see the scarves very clearly, but I see on the blog not all show up very well, especially the ones with black warp. Hopefully this one will show better.  

Hopefully you can get a better look at the pattern in this close up. 

The weft on this one I processed right from the raw fleece... sorted, washed, dyed, carded, spun, then wove the scarf with it. I used clear beads in the fringes. 

Here's a close up of my second scarf. As you can see, the pattern is much better as I counted the weft threads every inch to make sure my beat stayed even. Also, the edges aren't perfect, but they are much better than the first weaving attempt. 

This is the second scarf I wove. Much better than the first. The warp is Orlec and the weft is my home spun wool. I took somewool that was dyed Polar Red and mixed it with white and black on my drum carder, then with my wool combs, then spun it into a varigated yarn as you can see in the pictures. I used black beads in the fringes. 

A closer look at my first scarf shows how the edges were way too loose and so was the beat of the weave, causing the pattern to be lost from one end to the other. 

This scarf is my first attempt at weaving. It's something of a disaster, but I learned a lot from it so look at it as a great start. 

Show and Tell - Scarves

My first weaving projects were scarves using Orlec (commercially prepared synthetic fiber) for the warp, and my hand spun wool as weft. I also did some with a heavier commercial synthetic fiber for the warp but still my hand spun wool weft. Unfortunately, due to my computer blowing up I no longer have pictures of all the scarves, but have taken new pictures of the scarves I still have.

Another one like the other one. This is a Lendrum wheel, made in Canada. It folds for easier travelling to spin-ins, etc. 

This is me spinning on Uncle Johnny's front lawn, Aug. 2003. 

And So The Blog Begins

Hi. Welcome to my blog. I thought a good way to start my first blog would be to show you a picture of me spinning on my Uncle Johnny & Aunt Lois's front lawn. I was in Smithers, BC, for a Lapadat family reunion and to celebrate my mother's 80th birthday.

I think Mom thought I was crazy when I loaded the spinning wheel into the car for out trip up to Smithers, but I sure am glad I did take it along. Not only did I enjoy spinning while I was there (of course, love spinning everywhere) but the day we were leaving and the accompanying pictures were taken, UJ was admiring what I was doing and said "You sure are old fashioned", then added that he wished his son Tony could find a woman like me. I know how much UJ loved all his children, so I took this to be a major compliment. I really didn't realize until then just how highly UJ reguarded me. This has extra meaning as UJ passed away a few short months later.

As this blog grows you will see pictures of my weaving and read much about my spinning, weaving, and other fiber related obsessions... haha. I think I'll eventually start another blog for family stuff and/or animals in my life as I am animal crazy.... but this blog will be for my fiber addiction and other craft type persuits.