Beth Smith's Blog, page 10

A Christmas Carol

I have a hard time choosing favorites but I can tell you that A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is my favorite story no matter who tells it.

I didn’t read the book until I was an adult but it’s been my favorite movie since I was in my early teens. Yes, every version. The musical one with Albert Finney. Scrooge McDuck. Alaister Sim, Reginald Owen, Henry Winkler, Kelsey Grammer, George C, Scott, Patrick Stewart, Jim Carrey, Vincent Fegan…All the Scrooges.

[image error]

Then we move into the modern interpretations with Bill Murray, Susan Lucci, Cicely Tyson, Vanessa Williams, Tori Spelling, Robert Guillaume and that one with Carrie Fisher who does not ply the Scrooge character but she’s awesome.

I own most of them and watch all of them.

Guess what? I cry at the end of all of them. They make me so happy.

And I commit to myself that I’m going to be better, more charitable, think moe of others, be kinder. All of the lessons the story is meant to teach I see them and I promise myself to improve.

Th[image error]en by February I am slacking a little and November comes and I watch them again and make the same promises.

This year November came and I began to watch them all and I was disappointed in myself. That lasted for a little while this year but then I started to look back and I realized I am better than I was 5 years ago. Every year I decide to be better and I am a little better every year.

I bet you are too. A little better every year. That’s all we need to do. Tiny improvements. Small adjustments.

My point is, keep making resolutions because even if you don’t fully get there this year the small improvements make a big difference.

 

A Look Back

Today’s look back is a darling of a post.

So many cute things. Maggie got some awesome sneakers, Ryan made a goal at the University of Michigan hockey game during an intermission and I am worried I have too many spindles because I own 13. LOL!

[image error]

It was 2007. 10 years ago. That means Maggie was 6 and little did she know that she would be getting that spinning wheel for Christmas just like she wanted. Ryan was 4. So crazy. He’s a giant kid now. Taller than me and I definitely can’t pick him up anymore.

It’s so weird. I feel so nostalgic and sentimental this year. I’m not usually that person. Maybe it’s too many viewings of A Christmas Carol or too many Hallmark Christmas movies. I don’t know.

But while I compose myself…did you see I’m hosting a retreat in October? Super small (only room for 10) and all inclusive!

Also, I’ve launched a Patreon page and I hope that you will support me and join me in this community I am building.

Building a Community

I’m not sure if you’ve been paying attention but I have been doing and announcing lots of new things over the last couple of months. I have a goal. That is to build a community. Lots of conversation. Lots of learning. Lots of fun. I have a vision in my head.

Yesterday’s newsletter talked about the next 3 things.

One of those things that will help build the community I have envisioned is Patreon. If you are unfamiliar with Patreon, it is a platform that allows artists (like me) to build relationships and provide exclusive experiences to their subscribers, or “patrons.” It allows artists to receive funding directly from their fans, or patrons, on a recurring basis or per work of art. It was founded in 2013 and now I’m joining.

You can check out all of the details on my Patreon Page. There are many levels of giving and there are rewards for each level. There will be spin alongs and weave alongs and live videos and live video question and answers and eventually I will have some online classes and there are things that my patrons will have access to that won’t be available anywhere else.

I hope you’ll join me there as I work on building this community that I am imagining and all of the great things that will happen as it grows.

[image error]

 

Tape Loom Follow-up

Way back on November 1 I posted about wanting a tape loom. I had seen my first in person tape loom in July at MAFA. That’s also where I bought my first book about tape loom weaving right from the author who was there.

[image error]

In July I began shopping and researching and looking for a tape loom and I was pretty sure that I wanted a loom from Mr Seidel but I had only seen them online. Then I went to SAFF in North Carolina and saw one of Mr Seidel’s looms in person and I was fully convinced. They are well and beautifully built.

Right around the second week of November after hearing me go on and on and on about these looms my darling told me to go ahead and order the loom from Mr Seidel as my Christmas gift. (I’m almost sure I’ve gotten several gifts this year this way so it’s been a great Christmas so far!)

Anyway, before Thanksgiving the loom came in the mail but I’ve been soooooo busy with bunches of other things that it has just been sitting there all naked and alone. Yesterday I had a thought. I cannot take my Baby Wolf with me to any Christmas celebrations because of too many people in the car, but that little tape loom can go! It’s super portable. Well, the 3/4 size or mini ones would be even more portable and if the tape weaving goes as well as I expect it to I may have to add an even more portable size to my collection. I also haven’t given up on finding an antique one.

So this week I am going to rush through lots of my list so I can get this thing threaded this week so it’s ready to go for Christmas. I’ll take some step by step photos and let you all know how it goes. I’m going to start with some cotton yarn I have on hand but I have big plans for trying it with handspun wool to see what can happen.

Mr Seidel also makes paddle looms, rigid heddles and card weaving looms so check him out if you love weaving with small looms.

Now if you are curious about all the busyness there will be a newsletter tomorrow with three ginormous announcements. If you aren’t signed up for my newsletter, today is the day to do it! The form is at the bottom of the home page of my website.

Pick of the Week

It’s Christmas and I feel less Christmasy than usual. Most people seem to feel overwhelmed by all the Christmas stuff but that’s what gives me happiness and joy. The shopping for gifts and decorating and special food and traveling to Pennsylvania to see all my people.

This year, I’m out of it. Most of the shopping is done and we do have a tree in the living room thanks to Brittney’s decorating skills. But if it weren’t for the tree in the living room this house would just look like January. So I went back into the recesses of the blog to find some Christmas and I found this post about my favorite son Ryan from 2010.

You might be thinking, doesn’t she have only one son? Yes, that is true but then he wins the title easily. A little while ago I told him he was my favorite son and he protested with the only son thing but I told him if he were a girl he would be my favorite overall. He’s skeptical. Which is ok because I tell them all they are my favorite.

Anyway, look at this kid.

[image error]

He got a shaving kit that year along with a money clip.

[image error]

He’s 14 now. Almost grown. A talented saxophone player who doesn’t practice enough and a wrestler who plays too many computer games.

Only 10 days til Christmas. I’m getting it together. Prime Rib for 11 on Christmas eve so that’s exciting….if I can remember the best way to make it. Cross your fingers.

Warp Winding

I had a big plan. I was going to make a whole bunch of kitchen towels for gifts for some friends from church, my mom, maybe Brittney and Chelsea (the grown daughters). Then I went and spent ten days in Pennsylvania with my parents not too long ago. So the towel warp didn’t get wound. Well it shouldn’t be that difficult I said to myself. LOL

I had on hand one come of 8/2 natural cotton and a couple of cones of a couple of colors. The plan was to wind an all natural warp and weave colored stripes on each end of each towel.

Today I’m just going to tell you my first mistake.

The warp length needed to be 13 yards to get the number of towels I need. I had one cone of natural on hand.

Years ago when I had that weaving week with Sara Lamb she taught me to use a paddle when winding a warp. She explained how fast it is. Back in July, when I was winding the warp for that dress, I realized that it would be faster with a paddle.

[image error]

Three days ago….well I didn’t listen to Sara Lamb or my experience. I have a warping mill that can hold up to 15 yards. It’s awesome.  I needed 440 ends and I decided to do 4 chains of 110 ends each. Each chain took about 2 hours. Because I had only one cone. Imagine if I had 4 cones. I could have knocked that down to only 30 minutes per chain. Two hours total! Instead of the 8 hours over 2 days it took.

So my advice to you today, if you have plans to do solid color weaving, get yourself a warping paddle. It’s a miracle time saver. Remind me I said this next time I’m going to wind a warp. Don’t worry, I bought 4 new cones from Gist Yarn Last week plus a little extra..

[image error]

 

A New Spin on Color

I met Alanna Wilcox at the end of 2016. We had a great time at dinner along with Jillian Moreno and Cal Patch who I was also just getting to know although I was familiar with Cal’s work. But as usual, I’m getting off topic.

Alanna asked if I would be willing to read and review her new book called A New Spin on Color. I told her that I would be happy to read it and I would review it if I liked it.

Well, I liked it!

I’m going to be honest. I didn’t expect to. The main reason is it is self published. I have seen a lot of self published books and many look amature. This one does not. Also, let’s face it, everyone isn’t a writer and it is often difficult to explain things on the printed page that take 10 seconds to demonstrate in person. Alanna doesn’t seem to have that problem. The writing style is friendly and the instructions for how to get the techniques she describes are very clear.

I have spent 90% of the the last 10 years focused on raw fleece and undyed processed wool. I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about hand painted fibers. When I sat down with this book I suddenly had a desire to start playing with some of those painted beauties I have been collecting for years and then just admiring on the shelf.

There is a ton of great information in this book focusing on all sorts of things that I have and haven’t thought about. She even shows how pre-drafting fiber changes the look of the dyed yarn and why you might or might not want to do it.

[image error]

I love love love the parts throughout the book about how to make color change lengths on sleeves match the lengths of color changes on the body of the sweater. Do you hate barber poling? (I don’t) Take a look at how fabulous the knitted fabric is from purposely barber poled yarn. Interested in weaving? Well, even though this book does focus on knitting, there are some lovely woven fabrics with explanations about how to get the color effects shown.

Have you taken my hand carding class? You know, the one about blending? Well Alanna takes you to the next step. I won’t give it all away you need to see it for yourself.

I think this would be a great book for a wide range of spinners. Most people aren’t like me and so they want this color in their lives. Everyone, beginner and experienced spinner alike, could benefit from working through this book from front to back as a text book.

Alanna has done her homework and now you stand to benefit from her pursuits. You can get her book on her website here.

I have one more thing to say. This book is available both as a download and a physical book. The physical book is worth all the money. The paper is beautiful, the printing is top notch, the photography is clear and beautiful, and the cover is good and heavy. You’ll want this in your library.

Pick of the Week

Yesterday and today were spent working on new projects. One of them you know about – it’s the spin and weave along. I’m working on getting all of the newsletters for January ready to be sent out, I’m working on another sample scarf and taking photos as I go to include in the newsletters to illustrate just what I’m trying to explain in words.

The second thing that I have been hard at work on will be unveiled in the next few weeks. There are lists and lists of things I want to do and I’m trying to be very methodical about it.

The reason i’m thinking about this is because I came across an old blog post from October 2012 called “3 More Days”. It is about the last three days of the Spinning Loft when it was a physical store in Howell, MI. Well, I looked at the date and realized that I had the shop for almost exactly 6 years when I decided to shift my direction to teaching and writing. Now here we are a little over 5 years later and I am excited about another shift in direction.

[image error]

That’s a picture of the overflowing wall of fleece when the shop was open. I generally carried about 65 different breeds and often had around 300 fleeces all the time. It’s a similar situation in my garage currently…but less organized.

It’s funny because as I realized about the time frame of the shop today and now 5 years later I’m readjusting, it brought to my memory something that my darling said to me a long time ago. It was something along the lines of, “I’m not surprised. You change your mind every 5 years.” Evidently he knows me better than I know myself because if I remember correctly, I disagreed vehemently at the time. I guess this is another case of LouSmith is right as usual.

And on a different note, 10 days ago I was driving my way from home to my parents’ house in eastern Pennsylvania. Today everything is back in the car plus some Christmas gifts I picked up while I was visiting. It’s a long drive. Usually about 10 hours if I’m by myself. I’m quick at the potty breaks. Don;t worry, I still have at least 8 hours to go on the current Poldark book I’m listening to. I’ll check in when I stop.

Even Weave

For the Spin and Weave Along that’s coming up I’ve been doing plain weave for my samples which isn’t anything new. For the 3 skirts I made I used plain weave and for the dress I used plain weave. I like it. It’s utilitarian and doesn’t take any thought at all during weaving.

[image error]

This dress fabric was sett at 24 ends per inch (epi) but the weft was about 14 to 16 picks per inch (ppi). If you look closely you can see the there are more warp threads than weft threads per inch of fabric.

The difference for this project is that I am doing an even or balanced weave for this scarf project and for the yardage I made I set the warp yarns closer and so it was difficult to get an even weave.

Even weave means that there are the same number of picks per inch (ppi) in the weft as you have threads per inch (tpi) in your warp. This is not necessarily easy to achieve for me. I like to beat the weft a little harder than what is called for for this project. But what you look for is that the open spaces are square. This requires that instead of just pulling the beater with all my might and banging into the newly thrown weft thread I move the beater with purpose and place the new thread where it belongs.

[image error]

Her’s a closeup of the scarf fabric on the loom. You can see that my beat isn’t really even but this is an extreme closeup. Nobody’s face will ever be this close tp check out my weaving skill in real life…I hope.

If I decided to beat harder I would end up with a fabric that has a bit less drape and is more weft faced….or even completely weft faced. What that means is that the weft yarns would be the only thing you could see and since I a using dyed yarn for the warp and white for the weft all of that lovely pink would be covered up by the beautiful white.

In my early weaving years I was a heavy beater and I made a scarf once from reclaimed sari silk that was so heavy….well, let’s just say I used it as a table runner because my nec couldn’t support it.

The only way to decide if you want a more warp faced fabric like my clothing fabrics or a balanced weave or a weft faced (which is what  most tapestries are) is to sample and see if that fabric gives you the drape or structure or hand that you are looking for. And sampling means trying different setts and different beats and taking those fabrics and finishing the way you intend to finish your project fabric.

If you want to learn more about sett there is this very nice article on the Schacht Blog.

Have I talked about sampling enough on this blog this year? Well, I’m not sure I have so it’ll probably be a theme for next year too.

Also, the kits for the Spin and Weave Along will be available through midnight Thursday the 7th of December. That’s tomorrow. Get your’s now. Sometimes, if you are new, using the same materials as the instructor can be helpful.

Spinning Classes….or any classes for that matter

I’ve been thinking about classes a lot recently. Not about teaching them as much as taking some. I think the last time I personally took a real class it may have been 2013…

I love taking classes. Really, I love being in a class. I’ve taken a ton of classes about spinning techniques that I never thought I would use but I grew and learned and applied a ton of what I learned to the yarns I do make and use all of the time. That class on Boucle and the other one about making beehive yarn that I took with Jacey Boggs years ago…well, if you are a subscriber to Ply Magazine and have th Boucle issue, you know my boucle skills are not where they could be, lol…but! I learned some new ways to hold my hands during drafting, some tiny adjustments that made a giant difference. I took a three day class 10 years ago now with Stephenie Gaustad all about spinning cotton. I almost never spin cotton but my long draw improved about 300% because of that class.

So, since I haven’t taken a class in over 4 years and I am not teaching all the days at PlyAway in March I signed up for 2 classes. One is with Deb Robson who is a fabulous teacher and I love her and her approach to sheep/wool is different than mine and so it’s good to get a new angle sometimes.. The other is a photography class with Bernadette Emerson who is the photographer for Ply Magazine. My photography skills need some help and so here was my chance.

Here’s where I get a little preachy. I was scrolling around Facebook and then the Ravelry Forums this past week and there were a lot of people asking questions. Some of the questions were complicated and some were a little easier. Often I want to advise every single person to take a class. It is so much easier to see how to do some of these techniques than to explain them in writing. Something that could be shown in less than 30 seconds sounds so complicated in writing. It sounds so flip but I really mean it. The knowledge you gain from one class with a teacher who knows her/his stuff is worth every penny and every moment.

[image error]

So many times I’ve been in the first hour of a six hour class and I show a little trick to someone and they say “that was worth the money right there!” Those little tricks can’t be explained often because it can be the difference of moving your yarn a quarter of an inch up your finger or turning your wrist an eighth of a turn. You can’t get that from a video either.

If you can’t find a class get to a guild meeting even if you have to drive an hour each way once a month. It’s worth it!

I’m serious. Take a class.

In the meantime, let’s spin and weave together. The kits for the January spin and weave along are in my webstore now. You can place an order for them through midnight on Thursday the 7th. And if you haven’t signed up for the Spin and Weave Along Newsletter yet you can do that now. And here’s a link to the one that went out on Thursday the 30th of November that talks about what’s going to be happening.