Order of Magnitude

I've been talking about my fine silk yarn. So, just how fine is fine? The technical definition has to do with the number of times a strand of the particular yarn can be wound around a one inch measure. But I don't have time to do that this morning. I need to be out the door in under an hour, and the place is a mess. I glanced around the living room this morning to find something to give an idea of scale. Ah ha--a pin! Unfortunately this is one of my quilting pins so it's a bit bigger than the average pin, but hopefully you get the idea. Anyway, that will have to do for now.

Today we're spinning silk noils and silk waste--translation: lumpy, bumpy, interesting stuff! I have to admit, I'm a bit over fine white yarn for now.

Free is Good

I was given this little travel iron yesterday: It can go in my portable quilting kit along with a tiny ironing board I picked up a while back--also for free.

So, what's with all the free stuff? I'm a member of an online group called Freecycle. Their slogan is, "changing the world one gift at a time". The idea is that instead of throwing away things you no longer want or need, you offer them to the group. Someone who does want or need the item can ask for it. And the basic rule is, it's for free--hence "Free-cycle". Technically I guess it's more like re-using than recycling, but what the heck, it's free.

Now I am a great believer in Op shops, but it seems that they are more and more restricted in what they can offer for sale. A terrible lot of donations end up in landfill. And looking for a particular item in an Op shop is very hit and miss. The excitement is in the thrill of finding an unexpected treasure. Whereas with the online group all I have to do is scan a daily list of offers. If there's something I'm interested in and it's nearby, I can send off an email to ask for it. When I have something to offer, it's the same deal in reverse. And when I've offered an item as a gift to some-one in the group, they come to collect it from my house, usually with smiles and thanks. So, I like it! And this little travel iron is a gem. I can keep it in my quilting box and press my tiny little patchwork seams anywhere, any time.

Still on the Silk

The trouble with spinning fine yarn is that a small amount goes a long long way! I guess in the end that's a good thing. I spent more time yesterday on my silk and to my great satisfaction, I got as far as plying it off. I even had a visitor in the evening who could point the camera for me, so here's an action shot: There are two tightly twisted singles of spun silk tops coming from my bobbins to the left of the picture. They are twisted together in the opposite direction and wound onto the bobbin on my wheel. My right hand is controlling the twist. So there you go. Now I need to wind the yarn off the bobbin, give it a little soak and let it dry. All going well, it should be ready to show off to my group on Saturday.

Ouch

I spent several hours yesterday spinning silk tops. My aim is to spin them so fine that the yarn can be used for embroidery thread. Very fine means lots of twist so that the thread will hold together. I'm achieving my aim, but it's hard work. I'm literally wearing a little groove in my finger as I spin the yarn: I've backed the tension off as much as possible, but even so I need to stop periodically to give my finger a rest. And no, I can't protect my finger with gloves or a thimble, because I'm relying on the sensitivity in that finger pad to control the thickness of my yarn. Oh well . . . they say that women will suffer much for beauty! I'm not one to suffer for the sake of my personal appearance, but for the sake of beautifully fine glossy silk? Yep! I'm happy to suffer a bit for that.

Pique

This is the Pique sample I did on Saturday:The padding effect comes from trapping a soft thick yarn between two layers of warp. Finding the right sort of yarn to give a good padded effect was part of the weaving challenge. I ended up with the green yarn which you can see peeping out at the selvedges. The warp and weft is a very tightly twisted wool furnishing yarn. It's so tightly twisted that it really didn't feel like wool to my fingers.

Now my word challenge is "pique". I want to know, what is the connection between "pique weave" and English expressions like "pique my interest" or "a fit of pique". You could say, "the word 'pique' has piqued my interest". Suggestions please . . .

Fish and Chips

After weaving on Saturday, my friend R and I headed over to Williamstown to have a look around. R has just got the go ahead to move into a unit over there in a few months time. Checking out the local fish and chips shop was a priority. There are several. We found a good one, even though they didn't have any of my favourite, blue grenadier.

And of course, the inevitable sea gulls: I had a crazy idea and implemented it before I had time to think . . . I can verify that these gulls will do just about anything for a chip! They dive bombed to catch chips from the air; they took chips from my hand and they even plucked chips from on top of my head. Putting a chip on my head and holding very still while a gull grabbed it was my crazy idea! What can I say . . . ? my brains were fried after a day of weaving.

Performance Enhancement

Yesterday was a day of Extreme Weaving! Thankfully, even though it's sometimes referred to as a "round robin" exercise, it wasn't a knock out competition, but nevertheless the students were under some pressure to achieve a "personal best". I caught a shot of our teacher with her performance enhancing drink: . . . the story behind the picture is that Gerlinde's daughter is an extreme skier--the kind who gets filmed jumping off the Materhorn and doing similar death defying feats. And she is sponsored by Red Bull. So Gerlinde persisitently brings in cans of Red Bull for her morning tea and lunch drinks. And somehow on days like yesterday, it fits!

My preference for performance enhancing stimuli comes from Filou's patisserie around the corner. Their chocolate flourless muffins bring out the best in me. As for the weaving, I had a good day. Having completed two of the compulsory exercises beforehand, I didn't feel too pressured. As it turns out, not feeling too pressured brings out the best in me more than anything else! I got through colour and weave, undulated twill and pique samples. I've brought home a loom with another cell weave exercise--similar, but different to the one I did last week. I'm also hoping to get hold of the tartan double-faced twill weave before our next class. We've got a three week gap in classes because of other events on at the Guild, so it's going to take a bit of communication betweeen students to coordinate swaps during the break. I think we can do that. So, you can expect to see various of those samples popping up over the next few weeks.