It’s Back!!!!…… July 11, 2004

It’s back!! My Robin wheel made it’s way back home to me today. This wheel is definitly one of my favorites. It is a gorgeous wheel made from burled maple and is a stunning wheel. It comes to me from my good friend, Gil Gonsalves of Robin Spinning Wheels. I stopped in and visited with Gil today at his workshop in Parsonsfield, Maine, to fetch my lovely wheel. I can’t say enough about the workmanship that goes into each wheel that Gil makes. One of the great things about purchasing a Robin wheel is that Gil stands by all of his wheels in the event that you ever have any problems. Customer service is A+!! My lovely wheel went in a few weeks ago for a tweaking and it was sorely missed here. I am fortunate that Gil and Robin live so close by that I could go and pick it up. They are both such lovely people. I am happy to have my wheel home where she belongs!! Shhhhhh………….I think Gil is working on a few new designs :-)).

Well, I have finished one of my socks for the Six Sock Knit Around,
and I have to say that I am dreading doing the other one. I love the pattern……it is fun and easy, but I HATE the yarn that I chose to work with on this project. It is an ecru shade of fixation and is very pretty, however, working on size 0 needles with the elastic cotton yarn has turned into a chore. A good friend suggested breaking out of the mold of knitting 2 socks and just framing the one cloverleaf sock. Hmmm………I am thinking how lovely the ecru would look against a nice warm wooden frame…LOL.

Weaving
I made my self a mental list of things that needed to get finished this weekend. Working on the cloverleaf sock, my stash of merino angora and working on the loom were all on the list. While a knitting or spinning project is one that you usually just purchase the materials and/or pattern and you are ready to get started, it is very different when it comes to weaving.

The weaving part is the easy part. The planning, winding, beaming and counting part of weaving is the biggest and most important part of weaving. My mother used to swear that someday I would use all that math that I complained about having to learn and boy…….was she right! Just look at all of these mathamatical hieroglyphics!!

I have decided to do some waffleweave dishtowels on 4 shafts. I took a pattern out of a handwoven magazine that I had done previously, but because I am using a different weight of yarn this time, I had to figure out the difference in the EPI (ends per inch). I have also chosen to design my own warp pattern, which meant some additional figuring as well. This is the first time that I have varied a bit different than a precise printed pattern, so we will see how it comes out…:-). I have chosen some lovely naturally colored orgainic yarn in natural and sage and am combining it with a soft unmercanized 10/2 lavender yarn.

Being somewhat of a beginner, I still find the beaming on process a challenge, as I have mentioned previously. Because of that, I have been using Peggy Osterkamp’s method of making 2 crosses. A traditional counting cross
as well as a raddle cross. I have found that doing the raddlecross helps to keep the yarn behaving better in the raddle. Big on my birthday wish this year is a sectional beam. My good friend, Nancy, from The Spinning Bunny, swears by her sectional beams, so we will see :-). I also use Peggy Osterkamp’s method of chaining in which she wraps the warp in a lark knot fashion around a slat of wood. This really does help keep the warp from getting tangled…….usually..grin.

Tomorrow it is my goal to finish winding the warp for the towels, getting the dogs (all 7) bathed and possibly tackling getting the warp onto the beam.