I have been weaving about a year and I don't think I've posted any of my work actually on hatrack, so please look and tell me what you think.
Some of you have already seen this but there have been quite a few changes in the last few days. This is where i will be writing blog entries and posting my finished work. Feel free to register or not and comment. Content will be added most days for a while.
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Thankyou. It's pretty much what I'm doing other than school right now. I should get more blog entries up as time goes and I have things to write about, some will be geeky fiber stuff, others less so.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Oh dear maybe I am a spammer. If some of you have some free time could you look through my for sale gallery on the site linked above and post here or there what you think of prices or the actual pieces?
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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I would suggest that you add dimensions to the information about each piece. I had no way to gauge how large or small they were (and the length of the handles), which I think will make a difference to potential buyers.
They were really fun to look at - I enjoyed it! Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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I've added dimensions to most of (still typing) the purses in the for sale gallery, I don't have the others to measure but it matters less since they aren't for buyers.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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For anyone following my progress: I was in a fiber arts show this weekend and sold 11 purses and three scarves for $275 total.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Thanks. I'd like to sell the other purses in the sales gallery before christmas, but we'll see.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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That's wonderful about the show! Congratulations! I like the site a lot. The blog has made it so homey and fun. I love all the geeky fiber stuff. I just read the one about felting. Keep up the good work!
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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I was wondering if anyone has any ideas of topics they'd like to see me blog about. Obviously yarn, knitting, weaving related is great. But I also from my weaving and knitting knowledge have learned a lot about fabrics and clothing construction that can be quite interesting (ribbed shirts vs regular is fun to write about).
I added some pictures to the creations gallery. And I have moved more from for sale to creations.
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If you haven't checked my site out in a while you should. I'm doing a spring show on March 15th and will be adding new pictures before and after that. Also I will have a contest with a prize soon.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Wow! Congratulations! You could do a unit on weaving for your student teaching. Beautiful stuff.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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I'm really thinking about doing my webquest on weaving then doing some demonstrations on it for my lesson plans.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Thank you. I have some very inexpensive drop spindles but the CD ones are neat. Mine were made with "toy wheels" which are just wooden disks with a hole already in them at the craft store.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Your prices on those purses are really reasonable! I've seen the same basic style for about twice that much (around $40.)
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Have you considered listing stuff on etsy? I suspect you could reach a larger market that way, if you're really interested in selling things as a part time business - plus there's a bunch of like-minded folk there who are fun to talk to.
I particularly like the Suri Scarf...
Posts: 2409 | Registered: Sep 2003
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This might sound really odd, breyerchic, but would you be interested in some of my Alaskan Malamute's hair for spinning?
We brush off nearly a plastic grocery bag's worth every week from his undercoat, and it's incredibly soft stuff & doesn't have any sort of "doggie smell". It's also almost entirely white, so I imagine good for holding dye. When he loses his winter coat this spring we'll probably get a couple of brown bags worth of fur - it comes off in clumps. It just seems like a waste to throw it all away.
(For anyone interested, Malamutes' upkeep isn't really that difficult, unless you have one of the "woolly coat" versions of the breed. There's a fair amount of brushing, but they only need baths a couple of times a year, since their outer coat sheds mud and dirt magically.)
Posts: 2409 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Someone in my spinning group is spinning up four Samoyeds worth of hair and it's turning out really well. I can't spin Angora Rabbit hair, and dog hair is the next best thing, so I guess yeah I probably am interested.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Eeee! A fellow spinner! Do you only spindle spin or do you have a wheel? If so, what kind of wheel?
You're not missing much on spinning angora rabbit hair, I absolutely hated spinning some that I finished awhile back. You have to stay right on top of it because it's such a short staple length.
Also, I sell on Etsy, and am surprised to hear that you don't want to sell there because of paypal. Is it being too nosy to ask how come?
Your stuff is fantastic!
Posts: 701 | Registered: Jul 1999
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I pretty much only spindle spin, though I'm taking two wheel classes this summer, one with Patsy Zawistowski and the other with Abby Franquemont. I'm going to borrow a friend's Schacht matchless. Do you have a wheel? What one? I have a list of lots I'd want, and it changes daily.
Yeah I know that Angora has a short staple, but it's soo soft and pretty. Lots and lots of people in my spinning groups and guild have bunnies, so there would be lots of spinable fiber that I could know the direct source of, which I love.
My credit union doesn't reccomend using paypal, so I'd feel I'd need to get an account at another bank, and it would be so much hassle. I kind of like the low key nature of selling from my own low traffic site. I love your yarns, especially the orchid merino cashmere!
I should have a lot of new photos up on the site soon, I shipped a bunch of handspun and purses to a friend who is photographing them.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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You get to take a class with Abby?? I am so jealous!
I just acquired a Schacht Ladybug and have been bonding with it all weekend. I love it! It's so sturdy and quiet! I had a Babe's Fiber Garden production wheel before, and I was getting so annoyed with it; it was really rickety and rattly and loud, and it only had three ratios, one of which was too high for much of anything except plying, and it was bobbin drive and thus harder to spin the fine yarns that I like to do, plus it kept breaking on me (because I'd probably used it way harder than it was ever meant to be used). So nice to finally have a decent one to work with!
Posts: 957 | Registered: Aug 2002
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It's the current plan. Let's see how the one with Patsy goes first.
The ladybug is totally on my list, it's so cute. I think i want to see if Schacht will come out with a travel wheel.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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*swoon!* You get to take a class with Abby Franquemont! She's a fount of spinning knowledge. Soak up all you can!
That's kind of weird about the credit union. I agree that opening up a bank account just for that would be a pain in the rear. Thank you for the compliment on the yarn.
I have two wheels-a Louet anniversary edition s75, which is my work-horse wheel. I can spin pretty much everything on it and it doesn't complain. It's also fairly portable, and it buckles in the front seat of my car like a passenger when I go to spinning nights.
I also have a Kromski symphony. I use it a bit less often, since it's double drive and that 'drives' me crazy (ha!). It's my I'm-so-pretty-princess-wheel-that-has-to-stay-at-home.
I've seen the Schacht Ladybug-it is such a cute wheel! Schachts are really sturdy wheels, but the price kind of puts me off a bit. I have several friends who have Schachts and they <3 them, though! I'm sure it's quite different from a Babe wheel, however!
In addition to the Kromski and Louet wheels, I have an Ashford tapestry loom out in my garage gathering dust. I think I'm going to try to sell it shortly-I feel so bad for it that I don't have the time to use it.
Hey, are either of you on Ravelry? There's a large number of spinners running around in the forums there, and quite a few groups for spinners and handweavers.
It's so awesome to find like-minded Hatrackers!
Posts: 701 | Registered: Jul 1999
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All right - so if any of the spinners of Hatrack want my dog's fur, send me an email (in profile), and we can figure out details. We haven't been collecting it so far, so it'll probably take a month or so to collect enough to make it worth shipping (how do you ship fur, btw? Compressed?).
Posts: 2409 | Registered: Sep 2003
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I just got back from my first weaving conference. Midwest Weavers has been hosted every two years for 30 some years, this year it was in Grinnell Iowa. I had so much fun and met so many people, though some of them I shouldn't have met. I may be on the committee to organize the 2017 conference here in Indiana. I probably won't still live in Indiana, I'll be 31 and hopefully have had quite a few life changes but I can do it. The conference had about 300 registrants and 100 guests, vendors, and staff.
One joke made was so many of the weavers present got their first loom from their mother in law, when she was going to weave less. Several weavers came up to me telling me about their sons and their looms, so it would get passed down . Others would just ask how to get more of me, 20 somethings interested in the culture of weaving. Most of the registrants were over 50, with a significant number over 80.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Something I learned this week that I wasn't familiar with is Kumihimo. It's a braiding technique done on some sort of octagonal loom thingy. I just bought the cheapest loom, made out of craft foam, and did it with cotton embroidry floss. It probably took an our to make a 7 strand round bracelet.
I also took a class with Jane Patrick (Barry Schacht's wife) on expanding my weaving possibilities with a simple loom.
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my husband is in process of making me a marudai, supposedly it's faster than the foam dealies since you can do two strands at a time and not have to stop to unplug the thing. We have some cheap ones too, it's pretty interesting the designs you can do. I don't know if you do lucet cord, it's not really the same but you can zoom through it pretty fast.
Posts: 4089 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I have seen a Lucet used though I haven't done it, I might pick one up, they're cheap enough. I think I'm about to buy an inkle loom and a slightly nicer foam dealie for kumihimo. If I'm going to do it, i want to be able to do it somewhere else portably, it's less thinky than knitting or spinning. I made a necklace tonight and it took less than two hours.
I've also been trying out spinning wheels and while I don't think I'm going to buy one this year, I have the wheel picked out. Lendrum folding wheel, complete and double treadle. I've extensively tried a Schacht Matchless, Louet Victoria, Majacraft Suzie Pro, and done a little bit on a hitchhiker, and ashford traveller. I may wait to try a Schacht Travel Wheel, which should come out next year before Convergence in June according to Jane Patrick.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Have you tried the new Kromski travel wheel? The...Sonata? I haven't myself, but if I ever buy another wheel (because I need three, right?) I was thinking about that one.
Posts: 701 | Registered: Jul 1999
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I didn't. I can because I know a Kromski dealer pretty well.
You said your Louet is an aniversery, I recently learned that with S10s that means it's cherry, is yours, or what makes it special.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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With the S75 I think it's a cherry finish, too. At least that's what Adrian from Hello Yarn says. She owns the same wheel and is a Louet dealer, so I believe her. Posts: 701 | Registered: Jul 1999
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Cool. Yeah the person I know with a Cherry S10 is Beth from The Spinning Loft, so also knows what she's talking about.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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The tapestry is beautiful! I am amazed. My daughter is in love with your yarns. She would love to learn how to spin.
Posts: 3141 | Registered: Apr 2000
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Jenny, If she really wants I can arrange something and give her a spindle. It's not like you live in Siberia. I met a girl about my age this week that teaches spinning and weaving to home schooled kids.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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. Others would just ask how to get more of me, 20 somethings interested in the culture of weaving. Most of the registrants were over 50, with a significant number over 80.
