Testing, testing

Sampling Now that I’ve put a new warp on the loom at a different sett, I’m testing weft yarns. You can see the testing above. I put string labels on the different bits so that I could remember what the yarns are later. Starting from the right is my regular Crown Colony from Henry’s Attic, far right is 2 strands used together, then 1 strand next to it on the left. I’m testing some Wilde Yarn double roving, Harrisville singles, my own mohair, some cottons, Mobelatta, and and another that I don’t remember what it’s called. After I finish with these samples, I am going to go ahead and start weaving–after I make a couple of warp adjustments.

The Great Yarn Hunt

Order from Henry’s Attic

I’ve been using Henry’s Attic Crown Colony 2-ply yarns for ages and buy it in huge quantities. And I like them. But I want to change the sett of my warp, which kind of requires a new yarn. Therein lies the dilemma. I want a single-ply yarn that I can use 3 strands as one. Blending gradations is so much better with three strands rather than two. I have found a few that might work, but at two or three times the cost! Yuck! Maybe I’ll have to spin my own, a way to while away and evening in front of the TV, I guess. Not sure I really want to do that. I did buy some silver mohair recently from Kai Mohair. She has beautiful angora goats on her place in the vicinity of Austin.You can see a picture of Persephone’s mohair here. I love it when you buy wool or mohair from the growers name their animals.

By the way, as I’ve said before, Henry’s Attic is the only company I know of that does not have a website, nor do they accept credit cards. Actually that’s not quite true. They have a one-page website with their contact info on it. But I love doing business with them. Very nice folks.

Also, I sent out my newsletter on Sunday. In looking at my records, the last newsletter I sent was a year ago. And this one was short with lots of pictures. If you want to sign up, there’s a form here on my website. I am hoping to have another newsletter out in about a month. Then there will be a hiatus again.

Yarn

Henry's-Attic-order

Here’s what one hundred pounds of yarn looks like. My estimate is that each of those bags weighs five pounds, since a rough count shows that there are twenty of them. Nothing slow about me! This is the first time I’ve received yarns bagged up like this from Henry’s Attic. At the bottom of the photo, below the paper, is how I have always received them in the past. Gee, wonder what today’s goal is? I’m just hoping they’ll all fit in the containers I have for them. It’s somehow comforting to know that there’s this much yarn available, since the dye gods don’t always smile, and I have to dye more.image

Above is a picture of a box that I store the yarns in. In my studio are three closets along one of the walls. Two of those closets are used mostly for weaving. Three of the above boxes fit on the floor under the bottom shelf in each closet. They came from the Container Store.

Currently washing some yarns that were dyed at 50% of the regular 1% dye formula. They look nice, just not sure how they’re going to fit in with the rest of the colors. Pics tomorrow, when I can actually walk through my studio again.