Spun

My kind of mess!  I took a yarn spinning class last weekend and it was too-too-too fun!  (I didn't bring my camera, so these...pretty...iPhone pictures are all I have.) 

I went with my friend Monica.  She had her own spinner and used to spin a lot, like, 20 years ago.  Like falling off a log, though, she was soon enough on her way.  Spin, Mo, Spin!

Unlike me.  Here I sit, cranking away.  There were six of us, and we went to this woman's house off Grand Avenue in Oakland.  She was such a kooky hippie, and I really was grateful for her!  She knew so much, and like anyone who loves her art, she had such a gentle way of bringing us along in something that, quite frankly, is an experience of about 90% frustration.  (Yes, Kelly, I'm looking at you, too!)  It was only at the end of the three hour class that she sort of reflected out loud (and apologized) for putting on me on the hardest spinner to use.  Everyone else had essentially brand new, double treadle spinners...I had the hoopty version, wobbly wheel and all.  To be fair, it hardly mattered, as the ultimate outcome was unavoidable. 

So.  Which pile is my spun yarn, and which pile is a bunch of leftover fiber?  haha!  I know you know my "skein" (harumph) is the one on the left, but it's pretty clear that a perfectly good spinner would have been little improvement on my mad skillz.

It was so fun, and I was so jealous (in the best possible way) of her wee little log cabin, perched on the hill behind her house, that was her studio.  Oh, swoon!   And, as much as I loved the spinning experience (and will definitely have more to share, soon, on that front ~ no, I didn't buy a spinner, though!) I was especially grateful to meet her because of this:

Right there in her living room (no way to get this beast up that hill into her studio!!!) was a gorgeous leclerc loom.  And, wait for it...she gives private lessons!  Oh, yeah, and she'll come to my house to give the lessons on my own loom!  I just can't wait.  Every month or so, I try to look up the community colleges and see if anyone is offering a class on looming (or even textile arts) because I know that Kelly's college is where she did a lot of weaving.  But no, nada.  So I am so HAPPY to have found her, because I so desperately need a class.  And being a class of one?  I can tell you from experience, that works for me. 

Here she is, modeling one of the jackets she wove.  My sights are set considerably lower, honestly.  But spinning reminded me so much of looming (right down to the sore back, oh my bad posture) that I just can't wait to get started.  Make that re-started.

Bargain or "Why I Drove 500 Miles to go to a Thrift Store"

While in Ashland my friend Deb and I managed to visit a little thrift shop. It was between work and our hotel, and we passed it every day until Thursday, when we could take it no longer, and we headed inside.

I love this rose painting. I have no idea why it didn't come home with me. I had forgotten about it until I was uploading these pictures, and now I'm just kicking myself. Oh well!

It can't be the 'one that got away' though; that honor was bestowed upon the sterling silver, hinged clamshell butter dish with serving knife. It was funky and sweet and it was only $4.00. I handed it to Deb, knowing she would think it was hideous, and said, "I'm getting this, what do you think?" And then I walked away, so I could check out her look of horror at my leisure! About 10 minutes later, as we were wrapping things up and getting in line to purchase our treasures, she came up to me, giggling, and said, "Hey, that lady is buying your butter dish!"

"How did that lady get my butterdish?", I asked, beginning to laugh.
"WHAT?!? OMG, were you serious? I feel terrible!" she sputtered.
I could not stop laughing. Unbelievable! She thought I was kidding so she put it back! I had to stand next to that lady in the checkout line, and I couldn't resist.

"You going to get that butter dish?" I asked.
"Hells yeah! For four bucks? Who wouldn't?" she bleated.
Who indeed?

My mom had these exact kitchen chairs in our house in Fremont when I was in first grade. I think it costs more today (at $25) then when she purchased the set new in 1973.






We also made it to the yarn store. "Wearable art" and yarn, to be exact! Look at these giant felted balls! (Calm down, google.) They were irresistible, to be sure.






Two walls of yarn. Oh gosh. Do you know what? I didn't buy any yarn. I got a skein of pima cotton at the thrift store, for $1.00, but other than that I practiced great restraint. It was beautiful enough to enjoy on it's own, and I happily did, burying my face into the wools and running my fingers across the silk blends. Sigh. Heaven!



They even had a weaving and loom section! I bought a new shuttle, as Kelly warned me I would. She generously left me with a shuttle when she came to show me how to weave in the spring, and she pointed out that the ends weren't beveled at all, they were quite blunt. I got a new beveled edge that will glide between my warp lines just a little easier. They had a spinning section too, and I'm lucky I got out of there without a wheel. Yikes!


They had a little loom going, and I really liked the warp on this one. It was all different colors, and then the weaving yarn was a very wispy, pale cotton mix, so the warp showed through. I was looking at this little loom, and I have to say I could not figure out how it would work! My floor loom has the different shafts that drop...this one was so different!







And this is why I love a yarn store. Fiber folks are so willing to share! If you need help finding the perfect pattern, or the elusive lightweight yarn, or if you need help picking a pair of needles for your very first knitting project, you needn't look further than the customers themselves at any yarn store. Love!




So, while in Ashland, I purchased: a skein of yarn, a wooden squirrel, a lace tablecloth, a glass bunny jar, a cotton and crocheted hankie, and two folk art salt and pepper shakers from the thrift store. ($10) At the yarn store, I bought two felted pouches (purple flower for me, blue swirls for Mo), the shuttle, a pick up stick (yes, Kel, you heard me right! Loomed lace is in my future, for sure!), and two shawl pins, one wooden and one pewter. ($79)


I'm glad I'm so easily pleased! And I'm also grateful that the big splurge on my shawl pins was an easy decision to make. I've been wanting them for a long time, I just finished a shawl earlier this summer, and I think they make a lovely remembrance of my trip. A two dollar rabbit balances it out, I'm thinking.

Looming Disaster

This is my cousin and his wife. They are adorable. They drove up this weekend from Salinas to go to the Giants FanFest (fun!) and to help me learn all about....






This! This is the Big Surprise, the big impetous behind the Great Purge and Reorg of Aught Nine, the lovingly crafted Christmas present from my mom and dad. Kelly and Moose (see cousins, above) came up in December all stealth-like, and helped my parents turn a box of sticks, purchased off of Craig's List from some hippie in the Santa Cruz mountains, into this beautiful piece of practical art. And I love it. I love that they figured out how to put it together. I love that my dad then took it apart and spend every night for two weeks in his workshop, sanding it and staining it until it is barely recognizable from it's original form. He replaced all the pullies and levers. My favorite? A welded wrench as a crank. He might as well have spray painted "Dad" on the thing! A signature piece, indeed.

Does it look complicated? Don't worry. It is. Seriously! I learned so much from Kelly, who has multiple looms and even spins wool into yarn, and now I know not just how to work it, but also how it works. Truly a gift.


And here's my very first project! A sampler, where I'm just learning how to use the foot pedals to drop the shafts in creative ways to make different patterns in the weaving. It's changed a lot since I took this picture....did I mention the addictive quality of weaving? Oh my. This is the most basic pattern, using two pedals attached to four alternating counterbalanced shafts, and it's called "plain weave". I spent most of the weekend learning. I learned about things like "heddles" and "shuttles" and "warps" and "wefts". I learned how to read a pattern. I learned that I have a lot to learn! And I learned that if you sit at a loom? For like, four hours? It's going to take you a minute to unkink your back. Ouch.

Oh, I needed another fiber hobby like a hole in the head! But here we are, and I couldn't be happier. Prepare to be inundated with placemats, as, apparently, it's the beginning project of choice.