Avalanche Alpaca Hat Finished

 

Detail of the crocheted cables and popcorn stitches.

I started this hat a few months ago with a few rounds a week.  Some new stitches for me, or rather simple variations on the basics of single crochet and double crochet.  Reading the pattern was a little bit of a challenge, but I worked though it, and it does look something like the photo on the pattern.

The pattern is from Crochet Garden on Etsy  : Rugged Mountain Hat Collection for Men.

I spun the yarn last year from a bag of alpaca roving from Sabamba Alpaca Farm.  Really nice stuff! It' is unbelievably soft and warm.  It's dense, too.  Tested at -11 degrees F.

 What immense satisfaction to know that I could create this straight from the alpaca fiber to yarn to making a practical and useful item!

DH says he wants one, too.  I told him it would take a while to spin the yarn from roving again ... He's willing to wait for it.

Toasty and warm!

Mending

 My favorite pair of alpaca mittens -- warm and black.  They have tremendous sentimental value for me, as they remind me of my old (now gone) Newfie, Maggie.    Unfortunately, they are wearing out.

 Mending is not my favorite pass-time.  But there are times when it has to be done.  My 2 favorite pair of winter woolen mittens both had holes in them that made them less than efficient at keeping up the winter cold.  I've mended them before, just pulling together the open edges with thread, but that was leaving less and less fabric on the thumbs -- ie no room left for my thumb!

 Not pretty, but they will hold together for a few more months.

The palms and the thumbs always seem to wear through ...

 

Once I sat down to do it, it wasn't so bad.  Just think of the darning as a form of "spot weaving" and it doesn't really take as long as you think it will.

Mending has the taint of drudge work to it.  Thankless way to spend time, when you could just toss them, and buy new.  Well -- not with these mittens.  I buy a new pair of woollen mittens every year, but it;s not every year that they actually fit well, or are warm, or that I really wind up loving them.  I love these 2 pair of mittens enough to spend the time to mend them.

In truth, there is a tremendous amount of creativity that goes into repairing things like this.  I contemplated several ways to approach the repairs.  Even purchased some leather to use as patches, but then couldn't figure out how to hand-sew through the leather.  I also considered taking them apart and replacing the pieces that were wearing through -- but I didn't want to take the time to de-construct and re-build 2 pairs of mittens that way.   In the end, I settled on the most basic approach -- darning with wool yarn,weaving new fabric with the old.

 Good as new -- sort of.  This will get me through the winter.

New Tie-Up Chains on the Loom

Soon after I acquired my Kessenich Floor Loom, some of the tie-ups for the treadles gave way -- rusty clips, and tired rope.

We replaced them with a heavier and sturdier window sash chain and ...

... these S-Biner clips.

All together now ... new clips and new sash chain.

Should be good for another 100 years!

Color Gamp is off the loom

It's a big deal to take a project off the loom.  This color gamp has been done for a few months now, but I've been reluctant to do the next steps just because I wasn't sure how long it would be before a new project got warped and ready to go ...

There it was -- the moment of truth ...  cutting it off the loom, and opening it to see a double layer of fabric -- open and true, not stuck together in any place.  

This was a kit from The Yarn Barn in Kansas - Shetland Wool Color Gamp.  I turned it into a double weave just because the working weaving width of my loom is only 30 inches (or so).

There are few things to repair and correct -- a few warp strings popped and broke along the way.  I was getting good at repairing them as they happened, but some on the bottom layer were harder to see and fix. 

Then there's the wet-finishing.

I was also interested in seeing how the colors worked with or against each other in the warp and weft.  It was a worthwhile project as a color study.

 Here is is fresh off the loom.  Like magic, you open it, and the fabric opens and it's twice as wide.  Wow!  It worked!

The 2nd half looks much nicer than the first half.  By then I had figured out how to repair broken warp strings, and the tensioning, and beating.

The first half needs a few small repairs where warp strings broke on the underside, and I didn't realize it until too late ...   Once I get those repairs done, I'll be able to hem the ends, and then do the wet finishing. 

 Here are some of the sample color blocks.  Again, it's a color ctudy, so you can see how each color interacts with the warp and weft in all the other colors.  Pretty neat.

 Here's the fold.  I'm hoping this settles down with the wet-finishing.  

After a few minor repairs where I had to re-thread some broken warp strings, and hemming the ends, I was ready to do the wet-finishing.  It softened up nicely.

Very interesting to see how the colors interact and "play" together, or not.

"Sing a Sleying Song Tonight!"

Feels good to have a new project on the floor loom.  Did the slaying (pulling the ends through the reed) this morning.  Only 156 ends, so it didn't take long.  ;-)

In the Christmas season, "slaying" (not sleighing) takes on special meaning for someone who weaves.  I'm sure someone has done a weaver's version of Jingle Bells.

This was a kit from the Yarn Barn of Kansas.  I worked up the warp Saturday morning -- It didn't take long with only 156 ends at 3.5 yards.  My friend Lynda came in the afternoon to help warp the loom.  It didn't take long to thread the heddles either, with so many fewer ends.

 So much order from previous chaos.  I love this part of warping the loom - not so much the threading--unless my friend Lynda comes over to help.    Then it's a social thing.

This part also makes me thing of stringed instruments -- harps or pianos -- Like I should be able to play music on this "instrument."

 The yarn is a bulky core spun alpaca from The Yarn Barn of Kansas.  Very soft.  Looks almost like roving, but it does hold itself together.  Oatmeal, Heather Gray, and Cream colors.

It's so thick, I was worried we might not be able to use my standard steel heddles, but I think they'll work just fine. 

 I loaded up one of my ski shuttles in preparation for weaving. 

The loom is set up as a double weave (again) just like my last project (the color gamp), so I don't even need to change my beads to help me keep track of the "lines," or the the shuttle takes through the shed and what treadles I need to work at any given place in the pattern.  

Here's the pattern from the kit purchased through The Yarn Barn of Kansas.

I expect this to weave up very quickly.  Soon I'll have a lovely warm winter blanket to snuggle down with!