Seabreeze Spinners

What fun Halloween night. Our church sponsored a “trick or trunk” event. Notice Lacy went as a “watch dog”. Lots of fun.

Tropical Twister

http://Seabreezespinners.com/

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My first project. The yarn is of unknow composition; I think it may have some wool. I found the big cone secondhand locally for $5, so it was the perfect first project experiment. The width of the scarf is uneven, but that attirbutes to the weaver not the loom.

In future posts, I’ll demonstrate the simple set-up. In successive posts, I’ll demonstrate (I hope) the more complex “yardage” set-up.

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http://Seabreezespinners.com/

THANK YOU JANET MEANY!!

Janet Meany of the The Weaver’s Friend/The Loom Manual Library has an amazing collection of loom and spinning wheel manuals. If you are lucky enough to score a wheel or loom second hand at an estate sale or off eBay but with no manual, she may be able to help you. The Masterweaver Loom is no longer in production. As I posted earlier, I located one on eBay, then picked it up in the North Carolina mountains from where I carted it home. I cleaned it up but have been waiting for instructions which I was able to order from Janet. They arrived Tuesday.

I poured over the information. It saved me hours and much frustration. By inspection, I “kindda” had the idea of how the loom worked, but her information provided instructions and patterns which have turned me into an “expert”.

Janet graciously allowed me to provide her complete contact information here. Her site is fun to visit even if you’re not looking for information on an orphan fiber widgit.

Thank you again Jean,

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http://Seabreezespinners.com/

Janet Meany
The Weavers Friend/The Loom Manual Library
5672 North Shore Drive, Duluth MN 55804
Tel: 218-525-5778
jmeany@weaversfriend.com
http://weaversfriend.com/

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Using Bernat “Glow in the Dark” Acrylic(70%)/Polyester(30%) I wove a long, narrow scarf which could be used as a scarf or belt. Difficult to photograph but if it is saturated with day light, it does glow. What fun. While this scarf is created completely with this yarn, in future I plan to weave with but a bit of it for the fun of it after dark. Sadly, the colors are in the range I reserve mostly for children’s items.

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http://Seabreezespinners.com/

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I had a bobbin of mixed fiber which had been created by demonstrating spinning and having people try their own hand at spinning. I decided to try a dying project.

I soaked the skeined yarn. I then sprinkled it with brown and blue dye crystals. Then wrapped it in plastic wrap.

I placed the wrapped yarn in the microwave for 8 minutes. When finished, I removed the dyed yarn from the microwave and flushed it with tap water to remove excess dye. I then rised the yarn with “Soak Wash” to remove any remaining chemicals.

Dye Disaster: I had tied the wool skein with some inexpensive synthetic yarn rather than waste good wool. WRONG! The synthetic yarn melted and burned in the microwave. When the synthetic yarn melted and burned, where it was tied it burned through the wool yarn.

It was a disaster, but I’ll try the technique again. But I think I’ll try it on rooving before it is spun. I think I’ll avoid the microwave. I’ve cured dying projects in a trash bag before and I think I’ll do it again. Will post my experience in future posts.

Tropical Twister

http://Seabreezespinners.com/

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Introducing a new fiber imported from Italy. It’s called “Sea Cell”. The fiber is created from seaweed. The created fiber is reported to posses the health properties of seaweed for example increasing circulation and even is said to retain them after washing. The rooving looks something like silk. I carded to blend turquoise merino and silk and green merino and silk with the Sea Cell. The yarn spun up beautifully. I’ve dubbed the spun yarn “sea mist”. If you’d like to try it, I’ll soon be posting an exotic fiber trial kits which will include Sea Cell Top on my Etsy site.

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http://Seabreezespinners.com/

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My Louet Table (kindda) Loom. The loom is a “table loom” which came with a stand. It is an older model which could be fitted with up to four treadles. I got the loom off eBay before I went to Stecoach and set it up when I got back.

With the same set-up, “German Rosepath” I was able to do several patterns. My first set-up was with khaki colored 8/2 cotton. On one scarf, I used a white and cream cotton/wool blend yarn; on the other, a turquoise colored 8/2 cotton.

You’ll notice the zigzag pattern near the fringed ends. Both scarves have the same pattern for the body of the scarf.

The four harness, four treadle loom has it’s limitations. If I were to get a “real” floor loom, at a minimum I would get a four harness, six treadle loom. That configuation allows the weaver to set aside two treadles for tabby or plain weave and the other four for the pattern. Insead of having to treadle two treadles with each pass (which can get confusing), you only need to treadle one treadle.

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http://Seabreezespipnners.com/

Check it out … Grand Opening of the Seabreeze Spinners Etsy Yarn Shop.

I’ve been preparing yarn for sale … skeining, weighing and measuring. I’ll be continuing to add more.

Thank you for visiting.
Tropical Twister

http://Seabreezespinners.com/

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I toted the Ladybug and the Spinolution to the office/studio so that a new spinner could try them out. She’s hoping to add a wheel to her bridal registry (a lot better idea than a toaster!).

I haven’t been blogging because I’ve been finishing projects started like this De Colores knitted shawl. (Note that the shawl was knit from commercial yarn [same one as warp for De Colores scarves], not from hand spun shown below.) It’s the bottom up pattern with one stitch and then the yarn over instead of three stitches.

I’ve also been doing some spinning. More faux (in two weights) and some blue sparkle. I’m planning to start listing hand spun on my Etsy site next weekend. I’ll be including the purple beaded yarn and some complementry yarn without beads. Watch for the grand opening of the yarn shop!

Thanks for visiting http://Seabreezespinners.com/
Tropical Twister