Weaving, Spinning, Staining and .. yay.. spinning some more...

This past week has been spent being busy, without huge amounts of concrete evidence of it.   Sigh..  First it was bitterly cold, so there was fire building, stove cleaning and checking the chooks to make sure they weren't turning into chooksicles.   They are fine, obviously minding the bitterly cold weather much less than I.  They have reduced their egg laying though, but we're still getting enough for personal use.

I've been weaving.  I'm still using it as a reward for doing homework but I'm getting a tad tired of the log cabin design.  However it does make one slow down and enjoy the process which is rather nice as well.   I put on a warp for 5 towels.  I added a few inches to the loom waste because it was easier to wind off that way.  I'd rather have a bit of excess and be left with some sampling space than to find myself short.  Yesterday, I finished towel number 5.  I must have put on a bit more warp than I'd thought because I have enough left on the loom to get another towel woven.  It might not be the full 34 inches long, but it will be usable.  I'd hoped to be able to cut them off the loom today. That won't happen though as I have homework projects to work on first.

I spun up yarn to use for a needlepoint project.  I combed it.  With over 50% waste, it took a while to process but in the end, the roving was very nice to work with.  I spun about 80 yards of it plied and have divided it up into 10 - 15 yard skeins because I'm not sure I want to do a plain white needlepoint sample, even it if is just for homework.  Will that show the yarn off properly or would coloured variations do better?

The Mazurka has been sanded and stained.  Two coats of tung oil were applied and after a 24 hour cure time, okay, 20 hours.. the instructions on the tin say 6-24 hours.  For the last couple of hours I brought the pieces into the living room, near the fan and air flow so it would cure a little faster.  Then I finished assembling it. 

I put on a drive band and carded up some Dyer's Knotweed roving.  It was a tad compacted so needed carding before use.  I spun up a sample skein.  It was  enjoyable to spin on, spun nicely and my skein was perfectly balanced after wet finishing.   I will have to spend a bit of time on it though as the single treadle requires a slightly different foot action and a whole lot more work on the one leg, than the other.