Happy Bunday

Kisses

I hope you are all having a wonderful May bank holiday weekend. We have spent most of the weekend with friends and family and having a wonderful break. The bunnies have been on their best behaviour and only came out of their cage long enough to eat, cuddle and spread some bunny kisses. So I thought I would share one of their kisses with all of you.

Happy Bunday
N

Textile Thursday *ahem* and Weaving Questions Answered

Ok so this Thursday kind of snuck up on me, I have been sick for most of the week so most of my work is still exactly where it was a week ago. My weaving scarf still isn't fixed and my knitting has not progressed an inch! So I will leave you with a short post and a wonderful picture of my loom FULLY warped!! 

Warp still attached to dowel

and on the loom

Isn't she gorgeous????? This yarn is an alpaca boucle yarn in blue, navy and grey. When this grows up it will be a toddler blanket of 32" x 42" and snuggly to boot. I am however a bit fearful that it will be too much like a towel but we will see. The yarn has been sitting in my stash for about a year now and its time to shine has come. (I was going to use a Logan's Run phrase here but I figured my sense of humour is an acquired one and I don't know you guys well enough yet!)

I guess I should use this post to answer some of the questions I have been getting about looms.

Is it really expensive?

To buy the loom like anything else it can be budgeted to what you can afford. You don't have to go for a 32 inch or 42 inch loom. Mine was around 190 euro but its the second biggest Rigid Heddle you can buy. The smaller looms are cheaper.

Weaving itself is as expensive as you make it. My Brown Sheep scarf was under 10 euro with the beads. the Noro scarf was 17.95 and done in an afternoon and my Opal scarf was just under ten. Yes my Christmas this year is sorted :)

Is it really difficult? 

No not really, I completely agree with most people that if you can knit you can weave. The thought process is similar, instead of using maths to size a garment to fit you, you size a rectangle or a square to what you want. Mostly its time, patience and logic is all you need. If your looking for a particular type of math or calculation for a project, I will do my best to point you in the right direction, remember Excel is your friend.

There are some great blog posts out there on weaving math and calculating warp and weft so I really don't want to take away from them. Haley Studio has an online calculator here and of course Weavolution has one here. Feministy has some Excel spreadsheets here just to name a few :)

I have a loom but I just can't put it together....

There are many manuals on the internet. Most importantly you need to find the manufactures mark, name or brand of your loom. All Ashford looms come with step by step instructions and then some YouTube videos just in case you *loose* the instructions, so I really can't recommend these guys enough though there are other types of looms out there. In this case search engines are your friend and you can always throw a post up on the forums of Weavolution, these guys are great. 

 Here in Ireland its hard to get your hands on a supplier so this is generally the limiting factor. Kromski (harp), Schacht and Cricket are all different brands of looms and obviously different prices. If your interested there are many comparison sites out there from people who have woven on a few looms for example spinninglizzy has some great pictures on the Kromski and Schacht looms. 

Can I weave with any yarn?

Well this depends on your loom, in particular your heddle (or reed) the dpi indicated on your reed with tell you the thickness of yarn (wpi) that you can use.  The knitters loom in particular comes with wide dents so that knitting yarn can be used, though some worsted weight and chunky yarns are going to give you an almost bulletproof fabric. So yes you can use your stash if you want. I know Master weavers will say that RH looms or lap looms are toys and in comparison to their art they are but your loom is either your profession or your hobby and how you use it is up to you. Craft is all about trial and error and don't let anyone tell you any differently, as long as your having fun and enjoying your project then keep on loomin'.

Are there Weaving patterns?

Yes they are called drafts and you can download some free ones from interweave from http://www.weavingtoday.com/. Ravelry has not opened up on drafts yet (crosses fingers and wishes really hard they will soon) but there is a section on peoples project pages where you can see what drafts they used. Again I'll point you in the direction of  Weavolution for some more drafts. 

Reading weaving charts is another matter entirely so I suggest taking a class if your really interested.

:) And that is it for today folks...

Please leave a comment if you have any more questions, I'll be more than happy to point you in a direction if I don't know the answer. 

Happy Bunday - Bonding

Last week I mentioned that I would write a post on how I bonded my bunnies. Bonding (for those of you with no rabbits) is a process where your rabbits go from not knowing each other at all to bunny dating and then finally and hopefully blissful bunny love.

In hindsight, bonding my bunnies was like introducing two tigers into a small space. But like any other naive first time bonder, we started out with the hope of this taking about a month. We were very, very wrong.

Bunny dating - yip, I hate to tell you its real and you have to do it. I had Berry for about a year before we got Ninja, so she had the run of certain rooms in our house and we assumed that she would defend these places. So we followed all the normal rules of bonding. We set up a gate in our sitting room and let the two bunnies meet each other for the first time and by the end of the session we had a complete success. Each bunny was so excited to see another rabbit that there was lots of binkys, smelling and positive signals.By the end of the session this is how they looked:

Their first meeting

We kept this up for about a week and we did some bathtub sessions where they could smell and hopefully groom each other. Everything was going so well we couldn't believe it. Then we went away for 10 days (there was nothing we could do about this) and we came back to 2 bunnies who hated the sight of each other. We had to start at the very beginning with the room divider, bathtub sessions and about 30 minute introductions. 

They would not stop fighting. I can't describe what it was like to live with. I have a day by day document of my life at that time over on binkybunny.com and reading back over it now to write this post I have no idea how we still have buns. Our lives where a ritual of bonding sessions, cage times and coaxing treats. I tried every documented bonding I could get my hands on. In the end after 4 months (yip, 4) which included 3 vet visits, I managed to get the buns into the same cage for a night. 

Ninja's first grooming of Berry

The bonding that worked was space. Any bunny owner will tell you that space during bonding is a no no. This is because rabbits fight like tigers and they are lightening quick. They can go into death spirals nipping at each others tails or necks and rabbits skin is paper thin and their teeth are incredibly sharp so if they fight at the other end of the space away from you, injuries will happen. However in my case at the end of my sanity (and wallet!!) I decided to give my buns space. It was like 2 different rabbits where in my house. Ninja needed to be able to feel like he could flee from Berry, he was comfortable in the hall with lots of running room. This allowed him to settle down and not attack Ber every time she came over to smell him. Berry was very patient during these bonding sessions and she would only move to strike Ninja after his behaviour irritated her (this is apparently normal). We followed the  social bunny rules of placing their hay and food together and had one large litter tray so that they had to share. 

The buns first night in the same cage was spent like.... well I imagine like most people are when a newborn has been brought home for the first time, sleepless. We had a torch just in case they would fight and we jumped at any noise but there was just some scuffles and settling. From here our buns just settled into a routine with each other and over time the space between them when they flopped out closed, until we ended up with the two bunnies in love that you guys see every week. 

I am trying to keep this post short but if there is anyone who wants to read the detailed day to day posts you can find them over on binkybunny.com and you will need to register to read the forums. 

Till next week

N

Textile Thursday - The Weaving Terror

What my scarf should look like, all 70 inches of her

Ok so that moment has arrived, you know the one. You start to get that sick feeling in your stomach, a tingling in your spine that keeps on growing. Yip, you f***ed up badly and now there is no going back.

So its Monday night, I was taking my new lovely handwoven scarf out of the sink and I snagged it on the chain for the stopper. Do not ask me how on earth I did it but I did. I went through the motions of any craft person who looses a piece......... anger, sadness, grief and then finally and bitterly, acceptance. I messed up and now I have to fix it.

 A couple of deep breathes later, I scoured the internet for ways to fix a woven textile to no avail. I came up with the idea of searching for alternative finishes to my scarf but where the rip occurred will not allow me to work some magic. I let the now broken scarf, dry. I knew this would allow the weft yarn to fluff up and create more stability around the area. I had this idea that I could create a new hem and then sew the new fabric together to form a circular scarf. Well they are on trend at the moment but it somehow did not make the loss of the rest of my fabric, that I had worked hard on, any better.

What she does look like, all 35 inches of her :(

Tuesday, after the piece dried, I rolled the new loose ends in on themselves and cross stitched them for support. I know they won't unravel as some textiles are finished this way. Two very tedious hours later I had two finished hems which needed to be sewn together. The only thing niggling at me is that the scarf is now too short to be a scarf. It has to be a circular scarf or a child's scarf and there is no way that this twenty euro a ball silk garden scarf, was going to a child that is certain. Also if I sew these ends together they will be lumpy and the knitter inside of me is screaming (honestly throwing a tantrum) because seaming should not take away from your finished object. There has to be some way of attaching these two pieces together without forming a quadruple layer of fabric. 

Right back to mulling it over and an idea sprung in the back of my mind that I instantly dismissed. Wednesday morning came and the idea was still there and after my second cup of coffee I said "Ah, why not it can't get any worse" Yes, yes I did. I said that to myself. I think I must be the only person who thinks that things have hit rock bottom and in fact you realise that there is a whole bottomless pit beneath the "bottom" you think you have smacked your head off............

Yes I'm going to make you wait till next week to find out more ;)
N

Happy Bunday

The Buns

Well readers, it finally happened. Ninja (the smaller) of our buns has decided after a year, that he does in fact like me! Yesterday I got groomed, some snuggles and I was even allowed to stroke him. For those of you who have rabbits you know how independent they are, everything is on their terms and to make matters worse Ninja has had a terrible start in life. 

This time last year we "rescued" Ninja and we noticed after neutering and bonding him that he had contracted pasteurella. This meant 3 weeks of antibiotics in which an injection was given to Ninja in the morning and one at night into the side of his mouth. As soon as he was able, we bonded our bunnies which I can only describe as horrendous (a post for next week) in which Berry managed to take a chunk out of his jaw. Ninja developed an abscess and back to the vet we went which meant more injections for Ninja. 

Another 2 weeks went by and Ninja was finally better but had huge fear of humans and would only bond to Berry. He would hide behind her and would never come to us (no matter how tasty the treat) or allow us to pet him. This meant that the monthly grooming was an ordeal for everyone. 

Slowly over time Ninja has come around with Berry's help. Berry has no fear of anything, she has even managed to take on J's collie and won!But even now if we stand up to quickly Ninja will bolt and he has amazing hearing so any sound at all he doesn't recognise he bolts back to his cage. 

Over the last 9 months we have spent hours on the floor with him watching tv, letting him come closer to smell us. We have friends who have kindly looked after our buns a good few times now. They are patient and wonderful, caring people who also took the time to move slowly around him and in his eyes (and ours!) never did anything bad to him. I think the fact that Ninja got to meet other humans (that wasn't the  vet) in this way helped him, because after these visits, Ninja would be a little more daring and come a little closer to us. Recently when J was ill, Ninja lay next to him on the couch and groomed his leg. He stayed there for 40 minutes, this was our first proper breakthrough with him.   

I know some people think we are crazy for the amount of time and effort you put in to make an animals life better. But the rewards far outweigh any effort put in. Both of us take such joy out of cuddles or binkies that this little man does now. His fear is still there but to a lesser, more manageable extent. His life is better and as a result so is ours. We spend less time on the floor. He pops up to say "Hi" to us. He follows Berry in her binkies to the 'big white box' where the veggies are kept. This little guy went from a cowering bundle in the corner of the cage, who boxed you every time you put your hand in. To a bunny with a personality, who accepts us and  now is showing love and affection towards us. For those of you still in the middle of helping a rescue, hang in there, there is light at the end of the tunnel along with a whole bunch of cuddles and slobbery kisses.

Happy Bunday
N

   

Textile Thursday -Weaving

Textile Thursday - have a peek at the fibre I'm using this week....  

Nature Spun Woven Scarf

This week I have been completely engrossed in anything to do with my loom. The project I am most proud of is the above scarf which is woven from 2 skeins of Nature Spun Blueberry (Warp) and Nature Spun Cresting (weft). Which means even with the beads this scarf only cost 10 euro to make and she is GORGEOUS!! 

Warped Loom

For this scarf I used a 4 x 4 leno lace on the ends which I beaded by placing the beads on the weft yarn  and knocking them in place during the lace row. I continued in plain weave until I reached 4 inches and worked a 2 x  2 leno lace twice. I had to be careful not to allow the beads to make holes in the weaving as I went a long but she is definitely worth it and I think for my next project I will weave the beads into the larger lace work area. 

My other weaving project this week was with Elfen Opal Sock yarn. Opal was interesting because it contains 25% nylon and I wanted to calculate on my loom how much the finished object would shrink by after weaving. As there is so much tension on the loom you can often misjudge the length of a garment especially with a stretchy yarn like this one. It is also harder to weave and harder to keep tension even. But I think she is worth it no??? And this little gen only took 1 night to weave and cost 10.95e. 

Opal Scarf

Don't worry I'm still working on all my other knitting projects and Loomy has been put under the bed in preparation for tomorrow's onslaught of house viewers. So Its time for a coffee and some breakfast and off to This is Knit. 

Happy Bunday

There is love....but just not for you, pesky hoomin!!

There is only one way I can explain the above picture, pure hatred of me. I spent yesterday weaving and generally lying about feeling slightly sick (stupid cold) and the bunnies did not get their normal amount of free roaming time they normally do. This on top of spending friday in their cage in a friends house = 2 unhappy bunnies.  Being the lovable buns they are, they aired their 'grievances' by display all kinds of affection towards each other, like in the above picture but just not to myself or J. 

They turned their back on us when we tried bribing them with raisins (oh yes, you have to bribe a bunny for some love sometimes) but no dice. We tried sitting on the floor with their favourite toy (a cardboard box we turned into a bunny house) nope still nada. We tried kale and basil and nothing not even a slight binky. Our bunnies are telling us that we hoomins i.e. the food and space vendors are failing. It has been two whole days now...TWO and I want some bunny love people!!!! At this stage I'd even take a clothes nibble.

I have even tried custard creams and rich tea biscuits and nothing :( 

Today is not a happy bunday for me, lets see if my buns turn a corner this week  

Loom Day!

Today, Sunday the 15th of April was Loom Day and for me I have been waiting for a long time for today. For my 30th birthday (which is in May) J asked me if there was anything that I would like. I was thinking hummm spinning wheel and J said no we don't have the space so jokingly I said loom and he said "huh, erh ok I guess" Those where the famous last words.

We looked online to see what was available and I love Ashford products and I was looking at the knitters loom that folds but it only goes to 20 inches and I was thinking 'Well if I get a loom I'm probably going to want to weave not just scarves but cushion covers and more textile home things out of my stash' so in the end I decided on the Ridgid Heddle 32 inch loom. Mostly because we were thinking that it would fit under the bed (and just in case your wondering it does!!)

Loom from the box

I very nicely asked Lisa in This is Knit if I could order the loom and two weeks later I was bringing home my loom. It was meant to be, prefect timing as I was at my lowest with everything going on. As soon as I got home I shoved the furniture in the living room aside and ripped open the box. The above picture are the contents of the box and 45 minutes later I had this beauty:

32 inch loom fully assembled

I have absolutely no problem recommending an Ashford loom. It came with very detailed assembly instructions, weaving patterns for 4 types of loom and for some handspun yarns, a buyers catalogue for wheels and looms and most importantly a card with the name and photo of the person who packed and made my loom! Another lovely touch is on their website Ashford have a series of tutorials on how to use their products so you are not left with a wheel or loom that you got as a present and can't use.

Saturday evening I set up a warp with Silk Garden Sock which you can see in the picture below isn't it beautiful!

Silk Garden Sock

It was so addictive J had to have a go (I know it was my present but J was fascinated with how it worked)

J Weaving

Sunday I sat in my PJ's watching T.V. and just wove. I used silk garden as both the warp and weft yarn. Now at this point I would like to say that I mis-calculated *ahem* the amount of weft yarn I would need. I had assumed that I had 400 meters of yarn but silk garden is 300 meters. So I ran out of yarn with about 50 meters to go ( I had taken into account the waste from the fringe process), so I dived into my stash and found some pure hand spun wool that I inherited from a friend's mum. It was perfect!

Scarf pre - washing

I finished weaving after about 3 hours, I wasn't weaving constantly. I stopped for lunch and tea breaks but I was pulling a scarf off my new loom pretty soon after I started!. I let it soak in warm water with a little bit of conditioner and out came this beauty below. I am thrilled with my loom and my new scarf! The silk garden was a perfect choice the texture is amazing and the colour changes are subtle and light. I can't wait to try another colourway.

Scarf post - washing