Outsourcing revealed - a guest post from Mr. Tinks and Frogs

What's all this "outsourcing" I've been hinting at over the last few weeks? Mr. Tinks and Frogs kindly agreed to make one of our xmas gifts this year - a scarf for my grandfather. Plus, he also agreed to write a blog post about his adventures with weaving this year. So, without further ado, here it is:

Last March we decided our household needed another fiber habit, so Rue presented me with this:

(That's a Kromski rigid heddle loom.  With a scarf on it.  My scarf!  Which has just come off the loom and is soon to be my first handmade Xmas present of the season.* Not that I'm proud or anything.)

This is actually the third project to come off the loom.  The first was an experiment in texture and learning the loom - a project only the creator could love.  But the second turned out a bit better.

Let's take one more look at that, shall we?

That's Noro sock yarn repurposed for weaving a scarf, but it does OK for weaving projects as well.

So, three projects done so far.  The goal is one more for the holiday season.  Which brings us to point one about weaving (point zero being: can't you make amazing things?!) - starting is the worst part.  Or perhaps more nicely put: once you've got a project on the loom, it's all downhill from there.  But, after an evening of warping (often helped by some wine), you get something like this: 

That knot brings us to point two about weaving: yarn does break.  Particularly when you're keeping it under tension.  Maybe sometime I should try weaving with some of the yarn meant for weaving, rather than simply helping Rue work through her stash.  Certainly the Noro, with just a single ply and varying widths which at times got caught in the heddle, was at times somewhat frustrating to weave with.  But with results like this, how can I not keep working with it?

 *Rue reminded me that I did knit a scarf for my father a couple of years ago.  So this is not my first handmade Xmas present. But it is the first woven project.

A break from your regularly scheduled programming

The DH celebrated his birthday last week and we welcomed a new fiber hobby into the family: weaving.

This is a 24" Kromski Harp rigid heddle loom with its accompanying floor stand. We dug into my sock yarn stash and pulled out three colors of Louet Gems Pearl for him to get started.

Pretty nifty, no? I tried a couple of passes with the shuttle and can see how this would be a fun hobby. That said, I think I'd much rather receive handwoven items than actually do the weaving myself. 

Sounds like a good division of labor to me.

The arrival of the loom doesn't mean that I've stopped knitting. Quite the contrary. I've actually been knitting on all sorts of things. I just don't have any pictures to share.

My one knitting pic of the week:

We took a sock to this week's taping of Wait, Wait . . . Don't Tell Me on Thursday night (also part of the birthday celebrations). It was a lot of fun and I would highly recommend it if you're in the area.