My first weave is finished

Yesterday I cut my first weave out of the loom.  Scary and exciting!  The results are 4 placemats in 4 different weave patterns, a tablerunner for my kitchen counter and 4 dish rags.

Woven linen placemats in different weaves

From right to left: chevron twill weave, a 3 treadle weave called "rackelväv" in swedish, a diagonal twill and a simple linen weave.

Tablerunne, four different place mats and dish cloths

Linen table runner

Now what?  I don't know... blankets with my homespun Gotland wool? Rag rugs for the kitchen?

Time will tell!

A gifted shawl

I have a friend at work who graciously gave me a loom. Yes, a complete weaving loom!

As a (very small) token of my appreciation i knitted a shawlette for her.  I used the lace weight mixed wool singles spun a couple months ago. If you're interested in how the wool was spun, check out this post.

Mixed wool hand spun singles

Mixed wool hand spun singles

The pattern is Mono's Darling, darling, stay with me shawlette (the pattern is free, just log in).  A beautiful quick knit, perfect for a gift.  I added small glass beads to the last two lace rows of the pattern because... well, because I just have to change everything!

Lace shawl

Lace shawlette

For help on how to knit with beads check out this article in Knitter's review.  I used a very small crochet hook to pull the yarn through the eye of the bead.  It was a bother because the beads are tiny, but I am happy with the results.

And I do believe my friend is genuinly happy with her gift.

New adventures

I've thrown myself into a completely new adventure.  A friend has given me a loom.  Now the truth of the matter is that I have never, ever, done any weaving of any kind.

The loom came in pieces.  Small pieces.

Since I am sucker for a new project, I got the thing put together with the help of a book and a very logically-minded husband.  It took me the better part of a week (well, I did work, and eat and sleep) but I've finally got her up and going!

Linen towels in the loom

Linen towels in the loom

It's a linen 16/2 warp and weft in a simple linen weave.  The plan is to make 5 towels in different patterns starting with the linen weave and continuing with different types of twill.

Flax

I've been having an adventure with a new spindle and flax fibers. The flax is probably from the beginning of the 1900's

Flax

My supersweet husband made this spindle for me, the "legs" are detachable to change the weight of the spindle.

Spindle

Spindle

It took awhile to figure out how to spin the flax, it acts very differently to wool.  With a lot of help from Knitty, and especially the towel trick I've stardet to get the hang of it!  This is the evenings results.

Spinning flax

Stitchmarkers

Spent an hour the other night making stitchmarkers with beads and cord.

They are very simple to make:

Carefully melt the end of the cord with a lighter, quickly form the end of the cord to a tapered end with wet fingers.
Place all the beads for one stitch marker on the cord:  ----oOooOo--------------

Make a knot on one end:  ----oOooOo----------&  
melt the end of the cord after the knot to a small ball of nylon.

Cut  the cord to the lenght you want, remember that the middle knot and the end knot will "eat" some of the cord length.

Make a knot on the other end:   &-------oOooOo----------&
melt the end like you did with the first knot.

Now divide the beads to two sides:   &oOo--------------------oOo&

Fold the cord in half and make a knot for the loop: