Well, the Sheep to Shawl wasn’t really a Sheep to Shawl. It was part of a Small Farm exhibit put on by the state extension services to help small farmers. It was actually pretty interesting exhibit. A little of everything from lectures on West Nile Virus, composting, herding dog demos, and, of course, fiber demo. That’s where the Sheep the Shawl comes in. I did get a close up view and a demo of how a Triangle Loom works. It’s a lot easier than I thought — once you’ve seen how it’s done.

Of course, that motivated me to try my hand at a small weavette style loom that I’ve been meaning to experiment with. I stopped off at an art supply store and bought 4 stretcher bars, went home, and built me a 7″x7″ loom with some brads set at approximate 5 nails per inch (technically, 3/16″ apart). Here are my Woven Samples. Clockwise from the top left: double stranded Fisherman’s Wool (Lion Brand), kool-aid dyed; variagated cotton ribbon; single strand Fisherman’s Wool; hand spun silk; hand spun 2 ply wool (kool-aid dyed).

I like the way the hand-spun wool square turned out. Here’s what it looked like in roving form (see Experiment #2). I’ve been trying to figure out what I was going to do with all of this. Now, I should be able to make a lap blanket.

If you are interested in how I built the loom, see my project notes.

Spiral Socks

Here’s a picture of my current sock project. I really like the way the the spiral ribbing is working out. I just made it up as I went along … k2,p2 for 3 rounds; k1,p2,k2 for 3 rounds; p2,k2 for 3 rounds; etc. Notice how even the colors are spiraling around the leg, along with the rib. Let’s see if I can duplicate it on the second sock.

I doubt if I will get to the Timber Frame today. Sunday afternoons are usually reserved for volunteer time.