Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Yarn Crawling and Weaving

Saturday after posting the Happy Birthday to MJ, I set out with my fellow Salem knitters and went on a yarn crawl in the Eugene area.

First we went to Ben Franklin, where I wasn't inspired to buy anything. They had a very nice selection of sock yarns, but most of them were things I had already. We went on to The Knit Shop which was really a nice store. They had a pretty decent selection of sock yarn (and a really great selection of lots of other stuff, but I'm not really an "other stuff" knitter). I wanted to get some Panda Wool, but none of the colors really appealed to me so I restrained myself.

Next we hit Soft Horizons where I found some Zauberball. This is a strange stripey yarn rolled into a rather lopsided ball - and in beautiful blues. :) I also couldn't resist a skein of Dream In Color Smooshy in Some Summer Sky. So pretty! I've been trying to pick semisolids or very lightly variegated yarn when I buy now, since I like to knit more complex patterns but don't like it when they don't show up.

Our last stop was Fiber Nooks and Crannies. They had a lovely store with lots of yarn and a small selection of spinning fiber. A huge amount of Koigu too! And a nice selection of sock yarn including some beautiful Arucania stuff that sadly had silk. I would have bought it otherwise.

It was a lot of fun to hang out with all the knitters, and nice to see so many new shops too. :)

As for knitting, I've been slogging along on a few different things, but nothing exciting enough for pictures except this:

weaving

I wove! After reading a book about weaving and doing a little experimentation with the loom - I had to figure out how to tie the heddles so they would move - I started a little practice weaving with the warp that was already there and some random scraps of yarn.

The tension is really uneven since I was too lazy to tie the warp on properly and it's been sitting on there for upwards of 15 years, so I think it's slipped sideways a bit. Also there were a couple of strings missing, you can see a thicker band of stitches (?) towards the middle.

But so far not bad. I learned how to make the heddles move properly, learned what kind of tension I need, fashioned a shuttle of sorts, and learned how to change yarn (you can see a bit of pink peeking out. I also learned that using a fuzzy single ply warp is probably not the best for a beginner - the strands sort of stick together and make it a bit hard to separate so there are a few spots where one of the "up" yarns stayed down and vice-versa. (Yeah, my weaving speak is so technical.)

I think I will go ahead with my sock yarn project, provided I can figure out how to warp the loom. And I've also discovered, already, that two heddles is not enough. With two you can only do a plain or "tabby" weave. That's what I wanted for my sock yarn scarf anyway, but if I was going to get into weaving I would want to be able to do stuff that was a little more complicated. I think I would definitely want at least a 4 heddle loom.

Listening to: Strange Machines ~ The Gathering, Muzzle, Smashing Pumpkins

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have your package all ready to go. Hopefully I'll have time to go to the PO this weekend. I'm working all day Saturday, so we'll see. Send me whatever address you want it sent to. Also, I found a new sock yarn that's not on your list. And in your colors, so you'll have that to look forward to, as well.

6:35 PM  

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Sock Yarn

    A quest to use sock yarns:

    Yarns I've had:
    * means I really liked it

    4-ply Soft
    A Piece of Vermont*
    Alpafina
    Artsygal*
    Artyarns Supermerino*
    Austermann Step
    BMFA Sock Candy*
    Black Bunny Fibers*
    Brown Sheep Naturespun Sport
    Chinese Mystery sock yarn
    Claudia's Handpaints
    Conjoined Creations Flat Feet
    Crystal Palace Maizy
    CTH Supersock
    Dicentra Designs
    Dorchester Farms
    Fabel
    Fearless Fibers
    Fixation*
    Gloss (KP)
    handspun
    Inspinknity*
    Interlacements Beibi Seda
    Interlacements Tiny Toes
    Interlacements Toasty Toes
    Jarbo Raggi
    JKnits*
    Jojoland Melody
    Koigu*
    Kona Superwash
    KP Essential
    KP Merino
    KP Palette
    Limbo
    Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock*
    Macek Designs
    Madelinetosh
    Magic Stripes
    Mega Boots Stretch
    Microspun
    Nature's Palette
    Noro Kureyon Sock
    Opal
    Panda Cotton
    Paton's Kroy*
    Peru DK
    Peruvian Quechua
    Regia Bamboo*
    Regia Cotton
    Regia Strato*
    Ruby Sapphire
    Sockotta
    Socks That Rock*
    Star (Classic Elite)
    Stitch Jones
    Sunshine Yarns*
    Three Fates Cauldron Sock*
    TOFUtsies
    Trekking*
    Wick
    Wildfoote*
    Wollmeise*
    Wool Ease
    Yarn Pirate*

    In Progress:

    Perchance to Knit
    Regia
    Vesper
    Yarns in the stash:

    All Things Heather
    Ancient Threads
    Apple Laine
    Araucania Ranco
    Artyarns Ultramerino
    Autumn House Farm
    Baby Ull
    Ball and Skein
    Baywood Yarns
    Bearfoot (Mountain Colors)
    Briar Rose Fibers
    Brooklyn Handspun
    Cavyshops Handpaint
    C*eye*ber Fiber
    Cervinia Calzetteria
    CTH Superglitz
    Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks
    Chewy Spaghetti
    Classic Elite Alpaca Sox
    Colinette Cadenza
    Colinette Jitterbug
    Country Classic Yarn for Sox
    Crash Into Ewe
    Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop
    Curious Yarns
    Done Roving
    Dream in Color
    Duet (A Swell Yarn Shop)
    Dye Dreams
    Ellen's Half Pint Farm
    End of the World Farm
    Fashion Trend Sportivo
    The Fiber Denn
    Fleece Artist
    The Flock Bransonas
    Fortissima
    French Hill Farm
    Froehlich Blauband
    Fyberspates
    geeyouknit!
    Gjestal Silja
    Great Adirondack Soxie
    Greenwood Fiberworks
    Jaeger Matchmaker
    Jarbo Mini Raggi
    Jawoll
    Jawoll Cotton
    Just Our Yarn
    Knit Purl Natural Collection
    Kona Superwash
    KP Dancing
    KP Essential Tweed
    Lime & Violet
    Lisa Souza
    Louet Gems Pearl
    Luxe
    Mama Llama
    Merlin the Cat
    Meilenweit Cotton
    Meilenweit Trend
    Mind's Eye Merino/Tencel
    Mirasol Hacho
    Misty Mountain Farm
    The Natural Dye Studio
    Neighborhood Fiber Company
    Over the Rainbow Twinkletoes
    Peterle
    Pigeon Roof Studios
    Pine Woods
    Posh Yarn Lucia
    Prism Saki
    Pucker Brush Farm
    Regia Surf
    Reynolds Swizzle
    Reynolds Soft Sea Wool
    Rio De La Plata
    Royale Hare
    Roz Houseknecht
    Schaefer Anne
    Scout's Swag
    Sheep Shop Wensleydale
    Shelridge Farm
    ShibuiKnits
    Sockenwolle Unipo
    Spirit Trail Fiberworks
    Spunky Eclectic
    Steinbach Wolle Sockenwolle
    Sundara Yarn
    Sweetgeorgia
    Tess Designer Yarns
    Twisted
    The Unique Sheep
    Universal Ditto
    Valley Yarns Franklin
    vanCalcar Acres
    White Oak Studio tvyarn
    Wisdom Yarns Marathon
    Wool in the Woods
    The Woolen Rabbit
    Yarn Botanika Radiance
    Yarntini
    Ysolda Yarn
    Zen Yarn Garden


    To check out:

    Pippikneesocks
    Sophie's Toes
    The Spinning Bunny Yarns BFL

WIPs and FOs