Friday, January 30, 2015

been a while...

it's already been a long winter...     i've had a respiratory infection since the middle of december and it's been sapping my energy.  :(

i'm working on catching up on a variety of projects.  i have a bunch of dish towels that have been off the loom for a little while.   there are still a few waiting to be hemmed,  then the whole batch can be wet finished and pressed....      i'm thinking they'll go to the gallery, but need to run it by my boss.

i like to hem them by hand.  it takes longer, but if i'm going to the trouble of weaving them, it makes sense to spend the extra time to finish them by hand as well.   :-)
the weave structure looks a little loose in the photo,  but once it's washed, dried and pressed, it'll tighten up.    these are 100% cotton and get softer and more absorbent the more they are used.   i need to keep a couple for myself.  :-)

in other news, my friend, amanda, got a new (to her) spinning wheel.    she'd been wanting a canadian production wheel,  and found one on craigs list in upstate new york.   through the miracle that is ravelry.com, she connected with someone who lived near the wheel and who was willing to go look at it to determine whether it was worth the asking price,  and who then paid for it and helped amanda get it set up on the 'underground wheel railroad'.     it was fostered near niagra for a while,  and then this past weekend the foster mom was going to be in erie, so amanda drove up to meet her and bring her new baby home.    he's a beauty.   there is no maker's mark, but she's pretty sure he is a bordua, based on the style of the wood turning and several other features.   he has a lovely cast iron treadle, and a few other cast iron fittings.   the wood is a little dry, but there are no wormholes or other damage.  a nice coat of oil/wax will take care of the dryness.  :-)      this wheel has the largest drive wheel i've ever seen on a treadle spinning wheel.    he flies like the wind.     these wheels were made to spin a LOT of fine wool in a short amount of time.  i'd love to have one in my own herd.   maybe someday.   it's on my spinning wheel bucket list,  along with a norwegian double table, a super slanty (either or both of which could be blue and it would make me very happy), a leclerc (either tilt or screw tension, i don't care which), and a frank fell/mayville saxony (which is amanda's fault... i wouldn't even know about them if she hadn't bought one,lol)    sooo...   without further ado,  here is amanda's new fella.



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