Knitting Spinning Weaving

Yes I have been doing a little of knitting, spinning and preparation for weaving in the last few weeks. None of these tasks are finished yet, but if you are like me, the process for me is as enjoyable as finishing the project. 

Since I started weaving a few months ago I was given a home-made four shaft loom by a colleague. He and his father built it over forty years ago. I think it's working, but I need time to clean and study it before I begin to use it. 

I brought out my Asford spinning wheel. It is a compact model called 'Traveler'. I learned how to spin over 10 years ago when I lived in country NSW. 

Winter always makes me want to knit or spin. My knitting peoject is a tea cosy from Loani Prior's new book How Tea Cosies Change the World. I'm not a competent knitter. I have a problem reading the pattern, but Loani's pattern is simple to understand and easy to follow.

I'm knitting the Wood Fungus tea cosy on the cover. I started last weekend, and so far I knitted 2 mushrooms. The body of the cosy is in blue and I'm using the same blue yarn for the underside of the mushrooms.

I completed two mushrooms and I am on to the third one. I'm very thrilled that so far I managed to follow the pattern okay. Thanks Loani...

This spinning wheel lives after it's name, 'Traveler'. It has been a well traveled wheel. It went to Abu Dhabi from Australia and back again. When I was in Abu Dhabi I met Debbie who had the same type of wheel. To think that both of us took our spinning wheels to the desert country, it was strange... 

Here is how much I have spun. Over the years I was given wool roving by friends. I knew that one day I will get around to spinning it. I will be using it for weaving, my first project in the home-made loom...

I would like to introduce you to the loom. Home-made and hand-made by my colleague Peter and his Dad in 1960. It had been sitting in his mum's garage for over 40 years. The loom still has the project he started on it. I will try to work it out and finish it. 

In the mean time I started warping thread on the new warping board I bought at the Sheep and Wool show I went to last month. You do need a lot of equipment for weaving. Remember I mentioned the Saori loom here. I fell in love with it when I saw it at the show. It's very expensive. The question I ask myself is whether I am going to stick with weaving to make it worthwhile getting one. I will just keep working on the home-made loom and see how it goes...

PS: I love photography and I'm very active on Facebook with my photos, but recently I came across some great 365 photo-a-day blogs so I started one myself. I called it 'Daily Life Inspiration'. It's purely a blog for photos with a short caption for each photo. Hope to see you there soon... 

Until next time

Nat