Weaverly

The first thing I did this morning, after thanking the weather spirits for preserving our electric power, was to take a few ice pictures. Full disclosure: I Photoshopped this first image severely. Couldn’t resist.

Back indoors I went to work on the two small warps I wound yesterday for the rigid heddle loom. These will be to add width to the strip-woven blanket. I used some Harrisville shetland for these, although the rest of the blanket is 100% handspun. I think it will be a good combination. of materials.

Here’s a little invention I’m working on for my Cricket loom. I really like to wind warps on a warping mill, and forego direct warping on rigid heddle looms, because I find it more pleasurable to design striped warps that way. But I really need something to catch the end loops of each pair of warps, without having to fuss with the cords that secure the warp rod to the warp beam. The metal bar on my quick-grip c-clamps fill the bill. I catch the first half of the warps on the bar in the following position.

The paperbacks in the following photo temporarily hold the bar in position, then I remove the paperbacks for loading the second half of the warp

Then I transfer all the loops to the warp stick, attaching the polyester cords to the stick as I go. I wish someone with a 3D printer would design some clamps to do all this more easily, similar to this system on the Kromski Harp, my other favorite RH loom:

Be that as it may, the warping went very quickly and here is the strip in process of being woven, with handspun wool and wool blends as weft.

While all this busy-ness was happening in the front of the house, my Christmas cactus by the back window was quietly pursuing her annual blooming cycle. For some reason, she only puts out a couple of blossoms a year, but each one is a gem.