Wednesday, November 4, 2009

It Worked!


I wasn't sure that I could make a rug work on my loom.  I shouldn't have worried!  It wove just beautifully.  I used an 8 dent reed but only warped it for 6epi (thread 2 dents, skip one across), and for a  2' x 3'  rug using the strips of cotton t-shirts I had cut up and wound into balls a few months ago.  I must admit I did miss the shuttle throwing because I had to use the shuttle sticks for the fabric but it did weave up faster than the fine threads!  It required one t-shirt for each of the stripes, about 5-6" per shirt so I  used 6 shirts for this rug.  ( I cut the shirt off at the underarms and then spiral cut it to the hem for one long strip.)  It is now recorded for my notes and future plans.

I finished one sock and started the second last night.

I dyed the sock ribbing-it turned out much as I had expected-since these are for me, I will have this happy reminder each time I wear them!

 I dyed 2 more skeins for another pair of socks-I left these in the wound balls instead of skeins-it took up the dye very differently, of course, but it looks just as mottled as I had hoped.  It will be fun to knit with something besides the natural I have been doing.

We have had 2 warring families of sandhill cranes in the yard.  They are very loud when they are stating their territories.  This is the couple that won the turf war-we have had them around for quite a while and they are very relaxed around us but very demanding-they have a soft spot for white bread tossed out to them and come right to the door and ask for some!  It is still fun to have them ask-Nyki is impressed with their size and nearness-but I hope they won't become a bother-they are persistent.

6 comments:

  1. The rug turned out great!!! Where are you planning to put it?

    All of the socks are pretty -- and I think your ribbing turned out fine.

    If the birds become a nuisance, we'll just have to bring David down for a visit...I'm sure his ministrations would convince them to back off for a while. :)

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  2. Nice rug, I bet it turns out to be Nyki's.

    The socks came out wonderful, I like the color even better now.

    I can't wait till the day the birds come up and knock on the door.

    I've been getting you turquoise and peach colored bags by the way. I have quite a few for you.

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  3. That Tshirt rug is great! Thanks for including the stats about how many shirts it takes. Somehow I imagined it would take a ton of shirts....we're always amassing shirts and it would be cool to make a rug out of them when they wear out!

    Great socks!!

    That's amazing that you have those cranes right in your back yard!! We saw some on vacation - they were beautiful!!

    Sue

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  4. And I see the rug is getting inspected!

    I'm glad to know you can weave a rug on a normal loom because I want to weave a rug for Scott's "den." Also, the idea of using old T-shirts is great!!

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  5. cool rug - I have been planning to make one for ages and have collected a large bag of t-shirts - but putting up the warp is still a bit frightening:)) maybe I need to pass the border to pain with my collection of rags to get going?

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  6. What a novel way to dye yarn - never thought of that!

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COLD FOR CHRISTMAS!

Yup, a cold snap already which I hate for my flowers' sakes  but the fire sure makes a good consolation!