Banjo strap details and hoar frost

With the inkle strap off the loom, I've been playing around with ways to turn it into a banjo strap.  The ends need to clip or tie onto the brackets around the outside edge.  With the commercial strap I have for the resonator banjo, I'd noticed the snap clips were starting to scratch and dent the wood and finish where the two met.  I switched them out for boot laces, which are quiet, hold the banjo securely and look okay.

I'd decided on leather ends as we have some veg. tanned leather sitting around from a previous project.   I could get Chicago screws locally but only in silver/chrome and I couldn't find the slider or strap end loops in silver.  I tried them anyway, but they look wrong, one went in crooked and I put them in backward,so the screw end was on the outside.   If I didn't need the hardware for the strap, the colour would be fine but I didn't like the look of them.   I found a packet of snap rivets in the leather tool box, which looked great but were too long.   I ended up ordering some from a eather supply place, in two colours, both a little bit too long, but workable.    I installed one on a scrap and it worked perfectly.   I got the holes slightly uneven on the second try, but the third was a charm.  I have two strap ends which look pretty much the same.  Yay me!
I wish I had some brown leather dye, but these will work just fine. I still need to get or make laces and decide where the lace holes need to be punched.

I finished spinning and plying the pink and blue superwash roving which I'd found in my stash.   The colours ranged from dark blue to a fairly light pink.  I rather like the colour progression in this.   I just split the strip of roving down the centre to spin two singles and hoped they'd sort of match while plying.   I knew that with the random placement of colours, it might not happen, but it happened enough to not muddy up the colours too much.


Our weather has been so variable lately.  We've had record highs and record lows within days of each other.  Then one morning, I looked outside a little too early, and there was hoar frost.  The whole world sparkled as the sun rose.   I grabbed my camera and started taking random shots, first while the early morning was still foggy and then as the fog lifted.   It only lasted a short while before the skies became grey again, but it was lovely while we had the glorious sunshine and blue skies.  Usually our winter skies, even when it's sunny are pale, watery colours in various shades of grey.

Off and on the looms...

The overshot fabric is finally off the loom.   I'm certain that it must have some sort of cat attractant woven into the fabric as there always seems to be at least 1 cat perched on it at any time.  The piece is 5 yards long, with a width of 16 inches, with a pattern width of 14 inches.   It's very pretty fabric and I don't know whether I like the front or the back better.   It's a bit on the heavy side, like an upholstery fabric.

I actually considered putting the inkle project on the big loom, but decided against it for 2 reasons.  First, the amount of loom waste which I'd not accounted for when I was dyeing the yarns and second, I really wanted to try to figure out this inkle loom.  It's so pretty and it looks exactly like it should be fully functional, so I was wondering what I was doing wrong.   I changed up the heddles a bit, but the string, while better than the last attempt,  isn't quite as sturdy and slippery as I'd like.   They are a bit sticky.   I still think the heddles are just a bit too long.  This means they migrate down towards the front peg, making for a very small working shed and small weaving area.  Still, it's weaving a fairly nice band.   My selvedges are awful, because not only was I trying a few different ways of sitting/standing/holding the loom etc, but the cats (mainly Dion) decided that it was a "purrrfect" toy, with all those strings.  So I was also combating little paws and curious noses much of the time. 

I broke a shuttle.   I actually liked using this one as the thread didn't slide off quite as automatically as the one I am using now.   But the depression in the centre is just too thin and the wood feels light, like cedar, so while pretty, also not very strong.  It broke when it was about 1/2 loaded with thread and what a mess that was.   I'm not certain if gluing it together would make it useful again, or just lead to another tangle of threads when it broke again.

Well, listening to a little Trampled by Turtles should cheer things up!

Small projects

 For the Master Spinner level 6 dye day we needed to dye a multi step gradient colour scheme using fibre reactive dyes on wool  yarn.   I spun a 3 ply yarn, and dyed it two different sets of colours.   I started these shortly after the class but just finished them today, because with this stupid, freezing weather, my hands are cold and there is only so long I can bury my fingers in a cats fur to warm them up.  All I had left to do was sew in the ends and cast off one thumb.

I've spent days untangling dyed cotton yarn.  The cats had decided that the skeins were fabulous cat toys. There were enough ties to keep most of the order in, but lots of weird pig tailing, twists and crossed fibres, made it much harder to wind into balls.   I ended up winding the turquoise one by hand and then running it through the ball winder.   Amazingly, the skein that Kevin had gone crazy with, that looked like a pile of green spaghetti noodles, wound off with the least trouble.  Eventually, this should become instrument straps.

This however has taken up a lot of my time.   My 1st banjo is a resonator banjo, loud and proud.   I kind of mentioned that it would be nice to have an open back banjo, for several reasons, including less weight and the ability to stuff a bit of cloth in the back and just pick quietly, with virtually no noise, so people could do other things while I practiced.

Mainly I was having a mental issue with clawhammer style and the resonator banjo, which was all in my head because either style can be played on any type of banjo.  Turns out I'm still having issues with clawhammer style, but because of a previous injury, not the style.  However, I've found thumb/index lead style, which fits in with my 3 finger picking, so it's all good.   The tone on this instrument is different than the resonator and with the dark fret board it's sometimes easier to play.   At any rate, I sort of fell into the trap of 2 instruments, means 2 times the practice.   It's been eating my time - not sure it's productive, but it's fun.  And maybe by the SCA event, FOOL, I'll be able to play Horses Bransle on it.