Seabreeze Spinners

Tropical Twister

http://Seabreezespinners.com/

I’ve just been given a heads up, thank you Jennifer, that Herrschners is having an on-line yarn sale. The yarn is heavily discounted but is apparently available in bags of 6 skeins only. But, if you’re hankering to start a large project, check it out.

Tropical Twister

http://Seabreezespinners.com/

If you haven’t been to Michael’s, go. They are advertising that the yarn is up to 70% off. Some of the yarn has but a modest reduction, but there are some real specials. I found wool/soy yarn regularly $6.99/skein now at 2/$3. I loaded up. Don’t know how I’m going to use it, but it’ll work into something. You’ll probably find that in your own stash, if you buys yarns you like, they’re probably in similar color families. In fact, I have to be mindful that I don’t need more blue, and prompt myself to buy colors I don’t usually but so that I have colors to brighten up my projects.

I need to reorganize my stash (is that an oxymoron?) and will be posting my progress in the next few posts.

Tropical Twister

http://Seabreezespinners.com/

I received the following questions:

Hi!

I have a friend who doesn’t weave but has inherited one of these looms. I’m not much of a weaver myself, but I might be interested in hers. I can’t quite tell how it works from the pictures….are you limited to the warp length as with tapestry looms? I’ve also seen a posting that says the brochure claims it can do 8 shaft patterns but she’s only been able to do 4 shaft. Were any of your patterns 8 shaft?

Thank you for your time,
Tabi Ferguson
www.therovingspinners.com

The original MasterWeaver Loom was more decorative with turned wood and had only one length it could weave. As the MasterWeaver evolved, it became the MasterWeaver III which allows for long warps. You can use it as you can see in photos here, which meets most needs, or you can warp on the warp and cloth rollers (they turn), front and back at the bottom of the loom. (I plan to demonstrate in future blog pages when I get the current project off the loom.)

I wondered about the 8 shaft patterns too. I thought perhaps because the weaving cylinder has 8 sides that was how you got 8 shaft patterns. Perfectly logical, but it doesn’t work. The pattern guides explain that you can also use the inbetween numbers positions. That is, instead of positioning the cylinder perfectly lined up with the cylinder bracket, you can position it inbetween. This creates one large and one small shed; you can use either. For instance, 1 3 5 7 across the cylinder and 1b 3 3a 1a 3 2b creates a dog legged check.

The fun of the MasterWeaver is its ability to create rather intricate color patterns simply. Most of my yarn stash is multi-colored or heathery. To really take advantage of the MasterWeaver’s strengths, I’m going to be looking for solid yarns. Yes, I got the Michael’s circular Sunday, all their yarn is on sale … my am I in trouble!

Tropical Twister

http://Seabreesespinners.com/

(Click on photos for larger immage.)

The MasterWeaver Project, wool/mohair throw is coming along…

You’ll note the fabric moves around the loom.

Tropical Twister
http://Seabreezespinners.com/

Thankful for my garden, tomatoes, herbs and chives.

Thankful for the doctors and nurses in the emergency room who in the early morning hours this morning cared for my husband. He’s doing fine now.

Thank you to all the nurses and doctors who care for all of us and for those we love.

Tropical Twister

http://Seabreezespinners.com/

I’ve started a new MasterWeaver project. This was warped from more of the same yarn used in the plaid tri-shawl. (Alpaca/wool blend, $1 per skein from Big Lots, my husband’s least favorite store followed closely by Michael’s.) I’m using light blue and light fawn for the weft. The heathery yarn doesn’t take advantage of the MasterWeaver’s ability to weave complex color patterns. I’ll be looking for some single colored yarn for the next project.

Tropical Twister

http://Seabreezespinners.com/

Saturday night and Sunday afternoon and evening, the West Bradenton Rotary sponsored the Taste of Manatee (for Manatee County, FL). While it threatened rain most of the day yesterday, it mostly held off and we had an amazing day. Their second year hosting the event, was a total success; to the extent that several vendors ran out of food at the end. The focus of the event was local bands and local food vendors.

Hats off to my husband and his fellow Rotarians volunteer; all the money over expenses goes directly to Rotary charities. Locally they support a number of not-for-profits including the dictionary project which puts dictionaries into the hands of all county fifth grade students, highway clean up (they actually pick-up the trash and bag it), Daily Bread (“soup kitchen”), homeless coalition, ; they also support international projects like the polio project which has all but irradicated Polio from the planet, shelter box which assembles all the needs of a family (food, water and so forth) and packs them with a tent and ships them to where ever a natural or man made disaster occurs, and the clean water project funding wells to provide clean water accross the world.

I worked as a “go for” and “manned” a ticket booth Sunday. The crowd was a delight, everyone seemed to be having a great time. The event went smoothly thanks to all the hours planning and organizing donated by the Rotarians. And we have a lot of local talent from crafters to cloggers and school drill teams & pep squads, and the bands … they were amazing!

Tropical Twister

http://Seabreezespinners.com/

I gave a fellow crafter some home spun to experiment with Kumihimo Braiding. The photos are three braids she created from Merino & Silk turquoise and green homespun.

For more information you can contact Jennifer Wiles at jennifer@jenniferwiles.com or visit her web site at http://jenniferwiles.com/ She is an amazing bead artist.

Tropical Twister

http://Seabreezespinners.com/