[Blackbird]

Happy New Year to all TAS-ers, and I hope 2018 is good to all of you. I'm not usually a big one for resolutions, but there are a few things I'd like to accomplish this year and wondered if anyone else had any to share?

1. Learn to spin longdraw - my sheep are medium-to-long staple (Shetlands and Longwool cross) and my go-to spinning style is a short forward draw (prep either woollen on a carder or worsted with wool combs). I've had a go at longdraw and made a right old mess, but I was given a free Jacob fleece with a shortish staple to practice with.

2. Have a go at weaving - possibly on a rigid heddle if I can borrow one - a smallish project such as a scarf, belt or bag.

3. Err..... just spin more (after all, they'll be shorn again in a few months!) 

[Fleecewife]

I've made a couple of NY resolutions, but not crafty ones.  I find that I will suddenly decide I want to start something and get going, rather than planning so far ahead.  There are things I intended to do last year which I haven't started yet, so I suppose just take the time for myself to do something, anything, crafty will be what I do.


Good luck with your plans 

[Lesley Silvester]

I've had a rigid heddle loom and a peg loom for ages so I really much get round to using them. Actually I have two peglooms or different sizes.


I also need to rehome my four shaft table loom and warping board that I bought thinking I could take up weaving again. I did a bit but it makes my shoulders, hands and arms ache so much and gives me a lot of pain in my back so I've not used them for a couple of years. I could do with the money for more crafting things and I hate them not being used.

[Louise Gaunt]

My resolution is to try to get through 2018 without adding to my stash of yarn, stuff to spin etc. And to use up as much of my stash as possible by doing more knitting and weaving. Lesley there is a thriving market for second hand weaving equipment - Ravelry UK marketplace is a good place to advertise.

[Buttermilk]

Blackbird to spin longdraw you need a very short fibre.

My resolution is to spin enough singles to knit two shetland haps.  I thought that I had done this and then discovered that I need much less twist than if I was plying the singles.  I either respin to remove a third of the twist or ply what I have and start again.

[Blackbird]

Louise - Good luck with your productivity plans - adding to my stash of fleece is inevitable with the six to be shorn!

Buttermilk - the Jacob fleece has a pretty short staple (certainly shorter than any of my sheep's fleeces) and I figure as it was free it won't matter if I mess it up at first. Also it's a bit coarse so a bit of looseness and air in it will be a bonus. Are you going to felt your singles for your hap?

MGM - an elderly local lady I know gave up weaving and I sold her four shaft table loom on her behalf through our local Guild where there was keen market for it. I also looked at some on ebay so I could get an idea of price - and Louise's suggestion of Ravelry is a good one.

[Buttermilk]

Blackbird, I intend to semi felt the singles by running a wallpaper steamer along them.

[SallyintNorth]

Definitely make more time for weaving and spinning, now that i finally have the setup to use them

When the last bit of my accommodation is sorted (being the fleece washing and dyeing room, aka kitchen/utility) get into a routine of washing fleece, so that I make a dent in the mountain of fleece I brought with me, plus those from 2017, and those to come this year!

And yes, @MGM, there’s a very healthy market for used weaving equipment.  Best Ravelry thread probably the UK Weavers Sales thread. Linky

[Lesley Silvester]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Unfortunately procrastination keeps getting in my way. Keep nagging me and I will get round to doing it. I really would like it to go as a job lot.

[SallyintNorth]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Unfortunately procrastination keeps getting in my way. Keep nagging me and I will get round to doing it. I really would like it to go as a job lot.

So give us the info, and some pics....

[Lesley Silvester]

I'm not very successful with getting photos on here but I will give it a go. The loom is a table top loom, four shaft with string heddles and in very good condition as it's been renovated. No idea of the make. I also have an Ashford warping board. https://threshingbarn.com/craft-supplies/weaving-supplies/warping-frame/ and various sticks and shuttles. Also a raddle and weaving books.


Not sure what I want for them. Any ideas?

[Dogwalker]

What size is the loom, what make?
There's usually plenty of people on fb wanting to move up from a rh.

My resolution - to catch up, or at least not get any further behind.

Last year I felt really overstretched. Having added in more animals and activities over the last few years I've realised I've reach capacity and some things I used to enjoy doing are getting left out.  So I need to decide which things to keep on and which to drop.

[Lesley Silvester]

If only we could squeeze more hours into each day, DW.


My loom is 24 inch weaving width so slightly wider than that. It's similar to Harris looms but the levers are all on the right and the beater is fixed not swinging. At the moment, my craft room is impossible to get into, but I will try to dig my way through to the loom and photograph it.

[Dans]

My only resolution is to pick up something crafty once a week. I used to do so much, learning to spin, knitting like a fiend and a bit of crochet. Since I had my daughter I've hardly done anything. 1 hat and 1 scarf for my daughter in 2.5 years *Sigh*. If I could pick up even for a couple rows of something, or get something going on the wheel at least once a week it would be good!

Dans - I did make 2 thick peg loom rugs, shouldn't forget those. Some more of those would help me get through my fleece collection. I do have a cat that seems intent on eating them though...

[SallyintNorth]

My resolution to try much harder to get to Guild meetings - we have two a month, a general (usually spinning) one and a weaving one - and to do more spinning and weaving is going well so far. 

Two Guild meetings so far this year and I attended both, albeit I arrived late morning for both. Tick.

And I stopped over with my spinning and weaving pal (who lives near to the Guild venue), so over the course of the two days we wound and beamed the warp for her Janet Phillips Sample Blanket.  We bought yarn together and will both weave the blanket, but I’ve got to finish the colour gamp tea towels before I can start my own sample blanket.

This was the fourth warp I’ve done without expert assistance / support, and I’d made such a hash of the tea towels one (my first wider warp) I had hoped I’d have learned enough through those mistakes to have an easier job with this one. In the end, it is wound on and looks to be in much better shape than the tea towels one, so I suppose that did happen.  But for long periods yesterday I was almost in despair! 

The pic was taken early on in the long long day (which we called “a comedy of errors” and “the blind leading the blind”!)

Never mind, it’s on now and I wrote copious notes of all the things to do differently when I do my own warp, so hopefully I won’t repeat too many of the same mistakes. I’m sure I’ll find some new mistakes to make, though!  Lol.