Sunday, January 20, 2013

I Just Like the Learning

 I think my favorite thing about clay has been the learning. I enjoy that so much more than the making or the selling. I like pushing the clay to see what happens, doing things with firings and glazes that you aren't supposed to do and see what the results are. I have enjoyed learning different surface processes and learning about wood, gas, raku and electric kilns, learning what different clays will do. It's all interesting and it's endless.
Now I am finding myself as a beginner again, except with yarn. I seriously don't know what I'm doing! But I'm having a great time learning. I'm approaching this much like I did with clay. With clay, I took a class, then got some books and did a lot of reading, then just jumped in and started trying things. Now I'm doing that with weaving. Reading A LOT, trying a lot of things to see what works, what I like, what I don't like. I spent the weekend weaving quite a bit and trying different yarns and patterns.
 One thing I REALLY don't know is yarn management. Someone please tell me why this happens every time I unravel a rope of yarn!?!?! I spent several hours this weekend sorting out yarn knots, this is not a fun thing to learn about and it is seriously wasting my time! I just bought this yarn a few hours ago at a yarn shop in Hillsborough with my pal Laura, and look what I did in about a half a minute!
I know, weavers, stop laughing at me now!
Gerry gave me this great pattern book for Christmas. Rather than do plain weave until I know what I'm doing, I went straight to the back of the book and found a "point threading over 8, 10 and 12; 2/2 twill" that looked pretty cool. This could be written in Russian as well and I would understand what it means about as much as I understand it in English, which is not at all. But I got my other book, Learning to Weave and at least figured out the pattern draft and the treadle tie up and what I was supposed to do, sort of. Anyway, it worked, I got a nice table runner out of it!


 This is the twill, nice.
One of the other things I'm doing is experimenting with yarns to see what I like. I know I don't care so much for the $7.99 wool at Micheals. I know I DO like the more expensive hemp that I got today..... yum! It feels sooooo nice.

 It is, however, not the best yarn for a beginner, the warp threads that snapped because I forgot to release my brake, show up way more with the hemp than they did with the cheap wool, dang! Oh well, it's handmade, there should be some flaws somewhere.
I also bought some multi colored homespun that I thought I would like, but this one is too pale and boring and the other one that I ripped back out of the loom, (that also wasted way more time than I care to deal with again) was very bright and stripey and I didn't like it. This is my new bobbin winder, also a gift from Gerry, believe it or not I was hand winding my bobbins until Christmas. Not fun.....
So far, I like hemp (big surprise, right?). I would like to grow hemp and spin it and weave it. Also, Cindy at Handstories blog sent me some photos of some very pretty yarn she is spinning and I want to try that as well. Lots of testing right now to se what fits. I put on a very long warp so I am just weaving whatever I have, making samplers. So much fun! I like the learning!

14 comments:

Dennis Allen said...

If you are not screwing up you're not trying hard enough. Have fun.

Susan Wells said...

Ooooooo We! Looks like so much fun! blunders and all.

Michèle Hastings said...

I know nothing about weaving, or yarn... I didn't pay attention to my Memere when she was around... BUT, maybe you need a yarn bowl (omg did I just say that??) for your knotty balls... (did I just really say that as well?).

as you can see... I will be no help at all when it comes to weaving.

Mr. Young said...

Love the weaving! Looking good!
One of my students liked your work so much he made a birdhouse using your barns as an example. I put a picture of it on the blog ... thought you might like to see it!

cookingwithgas said...

just keep learning- keeps the brain sharp...

Lori Buff said...

I'm with you, that's why I attend so many workshops (and I can go to many of them for free, that helps). How do you feel about teaching?

Candace Thomas said...

Tracey,
I love the internet. You can find info on almost anything.
Below is info on unraveling yarn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmBZG9X7mLM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tr9zgmJqGA

Chris said...

When you buy a hank of yarn, which is usually tied into a large loop, you need to open it--perhaps around a chair back or a friend's wide spread hands--and then wind the yarn into a ball before you try to do anything else with it. Hope this helps.

Sandy Miller said...

and it's why some of us get up in the morning and cannot go to sleep at night :)!

Winter moves so fast with new stuff too!

Anna M. Branner said...

Have you checked out WEBS? Lots of good deals on quality weaving yarns, all on cones! :) No hanks to wind.

Sandy Miller said...

Also wanted to add The Woolery has really helped me out several times. My dye company went out of business and they helped me find a new company that worked great.
TheWoolery.com also have great used equipment.

Lori Watts said...

The learning, and then the sharing, are a huge part of clay love for me.
I've just started learning to make soap, and am also experiencing that "beginner" feeling: exhilerating and frustrating, both.

Vicki said...

That is a beautiful table runner - so love the colour and pattern. And those hemp yarns look lovely.

What wonderful pieces to show already as you weave your way on your new adventures!

You are gifted at whatever you choose to do :)

Tracey Broome said...

Hey! Thanks everyone for your comments, I have been awol for the past few days, sorry!