Twining loom

On By CarynIn Craft

I finally made myself a twining loom, after returning my neighbor’s to her. I tried other shorter methods, but having the warp hang freely makes it so much easier to twine.

Photo description: bag twining loom made from 1×4” boards and two 7/16”dowels

The boards were in my scrap pile and 18.5” long. I used my band saw to cut one board down to 1.3”, then clamped them together and drilled seven 7/16” holes, four on one side, three on the other so I could always tell how the boards line up. The wider board on the bottom gives stability. The multiple holes give me options on bag width. Ironically, the dowels have a slight bend, and line up with nonparallel holes. Hm.

Photo description: twining two colors around free hanging warp threads in twos

My eldest gifted me some pretty green wool blend yarn for Mother’s Day, so I thought it best to make something for myself. I can never have too many project bags, and I like twining, so I just needed a loom. I had some synthetic rug yarn in my stash that was a pretty rich brown, so I used that for the warp to maximize the variegated green yarn available for the twined weft.

This will not be a quick project, but it will still be an enjoyable one.

Another patch

On By CarynIn Flora

I found a different patch of four-leaf clover in the yard!

Photo description: straight down look at two four-leaf clovers and two three-leaf clovers with sparse grass and brown leaf litter

And that’s what I have for today. We are rolling into summer which for me means a massive schedule change. There might be more plant and pet posts, or I might actually finish some projects and have something crafty to say. Hm.

Throwback Thursday: viking knit

On By CarynIn Craft, throwback

In July of 2014 I was experimenting with making “viking knit” wire chains. I did a number of trials with different metals and gauges of wire. I stumbled across this picture that also showed the time it took to get a small section of work done.

Photo description: wood dowel with looped brass wire, a spool of wire, side cutters, needle nose pliers, awl, book, and ID card

I like viking knit chains, they have a nice feel and drape. The technique is looping, which years later I learned to do with yarn in a method called nälbinding. I still love nälbinding too. Neither are fast crafts, but they are satisfying.

Alpaca hanks

On By CarynIn Craft

My parents-in-law recently took a trip to South America and brought me back three hanks of beautifully spun and dyed alpaca yarn. I immediately set to opening up the hank to put on my yarn swift and use my ball winder to make a center pull ball, which is easier to use for knitting and crochet. I was met with resistance.

Photo description: beautiful teal twisted hank of alpaca yarn in a familiar twist and tuck storage configuration
Photo description: gray-blue hank of yarn opened up from the storage twist with familiar strands of yarn tying the loops of the skein together at the ends

The hanks looked like what I was familiar with buying in the States, a large circle of wrapped yarn, twisted and tucked end in end for storage, but when I opened up the skein I did not find a continuous circle and it dawned on me that the wrap was different. I employed the arm power of my eldest to investigate.

Photo description: olive green alpaca yarn held on two arms showing figure 8 wrapping

The hanks were not wrapped in a loop, but instead used a figure 8 style wrap. Easy enough to handle with an extra pair of arms, but definitely not compatible with my yarn swift. My eldest obliged me by holding the yarn while I wound onto a wool winder.

Photo description: Wool winder mounted on the back of a chair (I’ve never tried this before, and it actually worked very well)

Once I figured out how the hanks were wrapped, I was impressed with the way the figure 8 kept the strands in decent order. I am a firm believer that there are many ways, and I love finding out about other methods.

My mother-in-law also brought me a spindle; the spin on it is beautiful and it also is slightly different than what I’ve seen.

Photo description: working spindle with bottom whorl. The shaft is square below the whorl but rounded and long above the shaft. The shaft shines where it has been rubbed smooth by fingers turning the spindle.

P.S. Sometimes I get my terminology swapped. The original post used the word “skein” in place of “hank”. I think I have fixed all instances.

Distracted bonus

On By CarynIn Craft

I spun two spindles of Black Welsh Mountain fiber then moved on to other fibers, because with a 40 gram bag, that is about all I get. I actually had 4 ounces, and had tucked the bag up on a shelf and forgot. Finding it again (a black shadow at the top of a shelf) was better than finding money in the wash! So I wound the singles off of one spindle and into a center pull ball.

Photo description: nostepinne style ball of yarn on a card stock tube, empty spindle to the right, small intent black dog in the background with her red ball

I had actually spun about 2 ounces (about 50 grams, so my estimate wasn’t far off), and since I had 2 ounces remaining I decided to spin some singles the opposite way. This challenges my brain and hands, but doesn’t result in the smoothest yarn, yet. The idea is that I can do some experiments with the opposite twists.