Category Archives: Outdoors

2026 Christmas Towels

Equipment, Festivals, Outdoors, ParaTassels, Spinning, , , ,

With the bobbins all full the next step in the process is to transfer from the bobbin rack to the warp beam. On ‘Big Mac’ this is a sectional beam with 2″ sections which equates to 36 warp yarns. I clamp the bobbin rack to a heavy chair which does two things – keeps the rack from falling over and lifts it up to keep the yarn a little more centralized. I can then slide it along as I move from section to section to keep it lined up

From the bobbin rack the yarn goes through my Leclerc Tension Box (note the 3rd peg which pushes down on the yarn is not in place in this photo). I used to have one peg on the warp beam covered in blue tape and I’d use that to count the rotations. As you can imagine, one little lapse in concentration and I’d be out by a rotation (or two). This problem was solved by buying a small counter which relies on a sensor and a magnet. 100% accuracy now!

I couldn’t find my winding handle this morning so the alternative is a ring spanner. Once the required rotations are made the yarn is taped to itself temporarily, the yarn is cut, a knot is put in the end to be attached to a leader and the tension box is moved over to align with the next section and the whole process is repeated to fill 11 sections

Yesterday we had our Weaving Guild meeting and the presentation was on Hybrid Weaving or combining tablet weaving with loom weaving. I had been meaning to try this out at some stage so it was a natural to prepare some background information and have my loom all set up so I could actually demonstrate how it is done. I’m obviously no expert on this. There is however an expert in the form of Inge Dam, who lives in Canada and is the recognized expert on the technique. I had some short you tube videos of her work and also showed the others her web site gallery which has world class woven cloth and garments made from her work. The web site is https://ingedam.net/gallery/ and is well worth the visit. She appears to still offer 3 day workshops on this technique and other tablet weaving. She has also published a book ‘Tablet-woven Accents for Designer Fabrics’ Available from her web site or Amazon or The Woolery.

This sample was just a test and demo, I will have to re-sley the reed to get a proper sett for the twill loom woven portion. I’ll also add more warp to build it out to a table runner size.

After the guild meeting I set up with Phyllis to demonstrate at the local ‘Blessing of the Buffalo’ in Georgetown. I was spinning and Phyllis weaving. It’s held annually – this being the 17th. There was a good crowd turn up – the event is totally free and along with the entertainment there is the Cherokee Nation connection, vendors, informative displays, a vintage car line-up and free food. It’s hosted by Greg Vital (TN House Representative) on his Buffalo farm.

I managed to sell 6 towels and some para-tassels, so despite the bitter cold at the end of the day, it was a fun afternoon.

Storm Season

Outdoors, Weaving

We have hit our ninth day in a row with a severe storm warning!!  Typically the day starts out with pretty humid conditions and fog through the valley.  That transitions into sunshine which burns off the fog and bumps the temperature up into the nineties!  Like clockwork all this energy comes together to produce a whole lot of potential energy which is released as thunderstorms and heavy rain.  I’ve been working outside and in the forest a lot, but generally have to head inside to the cool of air conditioning after lunch.  This has been good for the weaving – I have completed another 12 inches of the scarf.

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It’s progressing pretty well and I have the pattern repeat down pat so now the only thing to concentrate on is keeping the beat consistent and the selvedges neat.  Neither are quite perfect, but are getting better and the good news is I haven’t broken any warp/selvedge threads since the two mentioned previously.

My forest work has been fairly focussed in the last 36 hours as we have lost two oaks.  One (in photo’s below) was dead when we moved in so we were not too surprised when it came down.  Luckily it didn’t take out any other larger trees. Unluckily it fell across our main path into the forest!!  Just in the branches alone we will have a nice stack of firewood for the hot tub and the bonus is it is ready to burn straight away.  The other tree was at the front of the property and fell down across the valley access road!  It had been leaning across the road since we moved in.  Unfortunately the daily rain (an inch plus most often) has saturated that lower part of the property and it just gave way.  The council was quick to clear the road and some neighbors who helped clean up, took away some firewood as did we.  We have saved twenty plus feet of trunk that I will have milled and store away to season/age.

The other work has been a daily blackberry pick.  Just from our front yard bushes alone we are getting over a pound a day.  We are freezing them in pound lots until all the picking is done (another week perhaps).  It has been a bumper crop this year, better than any other year and perhaps IMG_9412makes up for the abysmal tomato crops we’ve had.  I was speaking to our neighbor yesterday – he’s a wonderful gardener – and he confirmed that this is the worst year he has had for ‘maters’.  As he has lived here all his life that at least makes us feel a little better.  Oddly, the chillis we have are all doing really well.  From banana peppers right up to ghost peppers.