Thursday 26 April 2012

Looms, wheels and spinning

We managed to get to Ely to collect the rug loom from Jenny. I was also given 4 bags of rug wool to practice with and a Singer 28 sewing machine in good condition. The case had been restored at some time and it was very well done.

I now have a small childs' loom, a Spears loom which is slightly larger, a frame loom, also with a quantity of wool, a Weavemaster from the Big Sheep and the rug loom from Jenny which is also a Weavemaster. In fact it is a larger version of the one from the Big Sheep, so I can see what parts I need to make to get it going. I am going to start weaving with the childs loom as I can start off very small and simple. At the moment it's all a bit of a mystery to me.

I have started carding some Shetland from Sue Bailey's Beatrice. It is very dark, but I have found there are a lot of very small second cuts which is making the spun wool a bit lumpy. I will carry on spinning a couple of bobbins and see how it plys and knits.