With Love.

Which is absolutely spot on.

Over a year in the making, I have finally completed a project that started with roving from sheep fleece, spun it into yarn, then wove it into a blanket.

This is my ‘practice’ blanket.  I have another one planned for the alpaca I am still spinning, but this was a test to see if my handspun can hold up to the high tension requirements of loom weaving.  It is comprised of rough, lumpy, bumpy yarn that were mostly spun a year ago, which I then spent last summer experimenting with natural dyes and dyed a variety of yellow/gold/pale orange shades from 10 skiens of yarn.

Once my tea towels were off the loom (which languished for 3 months, but in my defense, Christmas/life/cottage was hindering my loom time), it was time to prepare the warp for the blanket.

Warping a loom is time consuming, it can take anywhere from 1-2 days for thicker yarns to a week for thinner ones, luckily, all my practice yarn was roughly the same size.  Nice, thick and quick to wind on the loom.

Once the yarn was on the loom (special thanks to hubby for his help!) it was time to get down to business.  In just 3 days, it was finished and cut off the loom.  I knotted the fringe last night and just need to trim to an even length, then into the washing machine on a wool setting for the final finishing to plump up the fibers and soften them.

Simple, Satisfying and Useful.  This is what people HAD to do before the days of the cheap cr@p made in China that filled our store shelves.  I know that there isn’t a lot of folks out there that are able to do what I do (either in need or want) but we have a choice to either buy the overseas garbage or make our own, I choose to make my own.  Yes it takes time, but in the end, I have an item that will stand up to a lot wear for a very long time.

Deborah