O-kay. It’s not just me. The sewing machine was filthy and I cleaned it best I could. I don’t know how it got that dirty when it had a cover on it - of course the cover was filthy too. It has a textured finish that made a tough job even for my Charlie’s Soap. It was already threaded except for the bobbin thread coming up, and I couldn’t get the needle thread to pick up the bobbin thread. I couldn’t figure it out and then I realized that there was a thread stuck in the bobbin mechanism and it was really dirty in there too. I could blame the dirt on our old attic or my old housemate but I think that I’ll tell the sewing machine serviceperson that I inherited it from some dead relative. Quick and simple lies are best.

One thing for sure is that a trip to the library for a book on basic sewing is in order. I don’t remember anything about this machine.

Does anyone else out there have a problem with Kenmore sewing machines and bobbins? My co-worker says that she got rid of hers and bought a Singer because the bobbin mechanism on her Kenmore drove her crazy.

ZhaK, I might be over for a sewing lesson after you get back.

I received my mill-end yarns today from R&M Yarns, and I am so happy! I misread the web page - the yarn was measured at 20 wpi (wraps per inch) rather than epi (ends per inch), making it perfect for what I wanted. Now I want to order a few more colors - told you that it was a slippery slope.

I finished weaving my set of kitchen towels and finished measuring off the warp for a new set. So it’s been a productive day. Now I have to hem the towels, which I’m NOT happy about and wonder why I made this choice at the beginning. My sewing machine hasn’t worked for years so now I’m considering getting it fixed and relearning how to use the thing or buying a new one and giving this one away. It probably just needs a tension adjustment but I know nothing about it. I’ve never been good with a sewing machine, and god only knows that I have tried to learn. It seems like it’s a good idea to try again.

From the Spannocchia blog, here’s a post about the class that I am saving money to participate in next summer: Organic Bookmaking. After reading about the fires in central and southern Italy causing tourist evacuations, I was glad to see this post!

Also, they link to a great article, Siena and Sustainability at Terrain.org - don’t miss the co-article about Spannocchia in the sidebar.

I may have started down a slippery slope. Yesterday I ordered some unmercerized cotton yarn mill ends from R&M Yarns. Sight unseen, other than the photo on the web site. $5 a pound!

This is good, and bad. Now I’m thinking - 20 epi. Do I want to do more fine weaving? And the main baddie is that I swore off buying new yarns until I could make a serious dent in my stash. Stash is barely touched. I need to save money to go to Spannocchia for the book making class. Yes, I am still planning to go back next summer!

In my defense, much of my stash had a serious cat hair problem, and I was fairly ruthless in getting rid of a lot in the house move and the recent studio reorganization. I had to wind a lot off the cones before I got to the layers that don’t have cat hair on them. I don’t consider throwing the stash out as fair play, and so that doesn’t count in my stash reduction goal.

And while I used to be completely in love with dyeing, I’m not really interested in it now. If I need a certain color, I’d rather buy it that way. Since I have had two weaver friends with terminal brain cancer, it makes me more aware of all the chemicals my skin soaked up during my dyeing phase.

The first crack in the yarn buying dam was going to John C. Campbell Folk School and the Yarn Circle in Murphy, where I decided I needed an 8-dent reed for the Baby Wolf so that I could use some bigger yarns without a lot of warp wear. Then I just had to have two cones of rich purple and golden perle cotton and a small cone of unmercerized black “carpet warp” cotton. If you are in the Murphy area (the far western tip of North Carolina), the Yarn Circle is a great weaving/spinning supply store. If I lived nearby I would surely go broke.

Then I ordered natural bulrush from H.H. Perkins to make hats, but I consider that a good purchase. I still intend to buy some different size hat forms from another supplier so that I can make a variety of sizes, and I’ll start using more cattails, which are free. (My brother: “You got cattails out of that ditch? There are big snakes in that ditch!”)

Then I visited Spinners Ridge (housed inside Yarns Etc. in downtown Greensboro), where they didn’t have much in stock as far as weaving yarn. She carries some Maysville carpet warp and Henry’s Attic yarns and can order yarn for you, but she’s not big enough to carry much in her inventory. The shop generally caters to knitters and has beautiful knitting yarns, and it also has basketry supplies. I bought one small cone of blue carpet warp there, and she’s going to get her husband to make me a new tension bar for my inkle loom. When I go back I may buy some more Maysville cotton, since it makes good dish towels.

Weaving can be an expensive addiction. It doesn’t have to be. In the early years when I had no money and no credit, I wove rags on homemade frame looms. But once you start down the road of letting yourself spend money on it, it’s so-o-o-o easy to run up that credit card.

I’m obsessing over weaving now because I’m in the middle of what I’ve come to think of as my “midsummer meltdown.”  Thinking about weaving is the easiest thing to do these days. Actually, I think that I’ll head out to the studio right now.

Unmercerized cotton. Nothing fancy, because I was ready for some relaxing mindless plain weave after the years-old complicated rosepath 8-harness dog I took off the other loom.

Besides, I like plain weave. Each one of these striped warp towels will be a little different. The next two will be plain twill.

I’ve been taking some time every day to work in the studio. I’m going to try to weave at least one thing a week, but I won’t berate myself if I don’t accomplish that. I’m enjoying myself thoroughly and I lose all track of time when I’m back there.

Here’s what I took off the loom yesterday. It is unmercerized cotton flake, log cabin pattern. You don’t see the log cabin pattern clearly because the light blue is too close in value to the variegated yarn, but it makes a nice texture. (You see it better here because it’s wet.) A high contrast such as black would have brought out the pattern more. This scarf will be lighter in color when dry.