Work at Hillside Cottage

Shadow Weave Project On the Loom

Lots of work going on at Hillside Cottage.

For January, work started on our cottage renovations. A new heating and hot water system has been  installed powered by a air source heat pump to run along with our solar panels. 

As you can imagine it has been a major upheaval to get this all fitted, every room needed new radiators. New piping and water cylinder fitted, all the floor boards up and dust and mess a plenty.

However this in itself has been so interesting, to see the "bones" of our cottage, beautiful solid oak beams and floorboards, they certainly knew how to build solid long lasting houses in the early 1800's

While all the cottage was full of workmen busy fitting the system I retreated to my studio and got stuck into some shadow weave projects. I put an extra long warp on my David loom and played with colour, pattern and texture.

The first scarf off the loom I used a muted colour palette it feels very vintage. I'm so pleased with it!

Shadow Weave Loom State

(Fresh off the Loom

unfulled or unfinished)

Old to New Radiators

It was so good to be weaving every day. for one thing it kept me warm! January is not an ideal time to manage without heating and hot water for a couple of weeks. My little studio is snug and warm, a little haven of peace and order while our cottage was in such a muddle. We do have a wood burner so that was wonderful source of heat and warmth in the evenings in the cottage, but in the day we were busy so we were fine.

Shadow Weave Twills 

 Now we are all cosy and snug. 

Having done an early Spring clean, tidied and put furniture back in place we are planning our next big renovation. (will tell you more in a later post). First we will be decorating the shower room (doing a little project) as we know very soon we will be out in the garden getting things ready for the Spring growing season.

Look already the snowdrops and daffodils are peeking through.

  

 

Lambs in the Fields

New Lambs in the fields at Quarr Abbey

Just spent a wonderful two weeks at Quarr Abbey holding our first exhibition and Craft show since December 2019 (due to Covid 19 restrictions).

It has been so good to be back and to meet some lovely customers, sell our work and catch up with our regular clients and friends.

The weather was cool and sunny, ideal for selling our hats, wraps and scarves for the Spring season.  It was pleasing to have new stock to offer in wood and wool along with organic cotton items.

Great to show off our new logos for Woollen Tree with each purchase and be able to share a little of what we do with the visitors. I took my spinning wheel to do some spinning demos which always interests young and old alike.

Families come to Quarr Abbey and enjoy feeding the piglets. As for me I'm always drawn to the fields with the sheep and new lambs!

Aren't they just adorable? and so full of mischief, curiosity and fun.

Doing our craft event has really given us a boost, we feel inspired to grow our Woollen Tree business. Selling our work means we can keep doing what we love and develop our designs and ideas.

Do pop over to our YouTube channel where we plan to show you more videos of our crafts in wood and wool.

 

Spinning Wheel Repair

It is great that Skipper is a Wood Turner.

I have been running some "Learn to Spin" workshops and this Ashford Spinning Wheel belongs to one of my clients, she bought it along to learn on but it required some repairs, so a little visit to  "WrightTurned" workshop was needed.

As you can see in the photo, where the treadle connects to the main leg of the wheel the wood had  become chewed up allowing the treadle pin to keep falling out, it was held in place with some cord.

First the hole was drilled out to make a clean purchase for a new piece of wood. The new wooden plug was hand turned on the lathe.

Shaped to give a perfect snug fit and hold firm. Then cut to size and rubbed down.

This is called a visible repair. It has strengthened the working part, is functional and looks in keeping with this lovely old wheel. 

The wheel was then given a service, buffed, oiled, fitted with a new double band and was all set to keep spinning for many years to come. As you can see it spins a treat!

Room For A Loom

 Of Course! There is always room for another loom. This Ashford Rigid Heddle Loom needed a new home, it was looking very sorry for itself with an old woolly warp tied on and a gathering of dust and dirt to clean. But as a weaver I saw the potential in this old loom. It is in very good working order and all it needed was a little TLC to get it up and weaving again.

 A good wash and clean with wood soap.

 Then a visit to the WrightTurned work shop, where Skipper got all the working parts running smoothly and  gave it a wax polish treatment and buffed it up to a beautiful sheen.

All warped up and happily weaving once more 

An Ashford Rigid heddle Loom is a perfect loom for the beginner. It is simple to use. Using one is a great introduction to weaving and as I intend to offer "Learn to Weave" sessions in the future this little loom will be very useful. It will certainly find itself busy once more.

Meanwhile I shall use it for small projects when they come up.  

Mid Summer Splash of Colour

 Well it's Mid Summer's Day today- the longest day of the year and it is promising to be such a lovely bright, sunny day too! I have lots to do, time to get outdoors to work and enjoy the weather. Taking my inspiration from the beach and our garden where everywhere is vibrant, colourful and full of energy.
 

 I have a Shetland fleece to work on. I shall get it carded and then hand spin some, as well as grab my dye colours to make some unique yarn.

 The rambling roses on our old cherry tree stump have mixed themselves up in a pleasing jumble of pale pinks and magenta, add in the shades of fresh green and a summer blue sky- a feast for the eyes! giving me a template colourway for weaving some cloth.
   

 Deep purple with red is bold and looks great in a hand knitted accessory. Remembering green  (as in Nature) balances the combination.

 Soft greens and whites makes for a soothing colour palette, great for knitted and woven homeware.

 Natural tones with highlights of neutral shades are perfect to use when wanting to pay attention to detail and textural structuring.

Using photos is a great way to quickly note, collect and capture an idea for a project.

Sailing on the Tide - Dinghies

A View of Wootton Creek at Low Tide.

With better weather finally arriving on the island, our sailing season begins.
But we are not ready!!
This winter we had to leave our two dinghies down at the river's edge on their plots in the dinghy park as our road trailer has broken, so we were not able to tow them home to overwinter in the shelter of our garden. This isn't usually a problem as we have left them down to overwinter at the river  before in case we wanted to use them.  But this winter has been particularly bad and it has taken it's toll on our poor little boats.

Peewit (left) Red 5 (right)

 They both look very sorry for themselves. Our Mirror dinghy has the added problem of it's launching trolley wheel has a puncture, along with it being full of rain water and generally soggy.

 Poor little Peewit had to be turned upside down  mid winter as her boat cover ripped in the winds. This has meant her paintwork on the hull has cracked and is flaking off, but thankfully she is sound.

 So Skipper has his work cut out to get these two back on the water.

Rigging, sails, boom, gaff and all the bits and bobs to fit out both dinghies are safely stored at home. I shall gather everything together, check the sails and sheets and make some sandwiches, add a flask of tea, a slice or two of cake and together we will spend some time down at the riverside getting our two little boats ship shape for the season.  

 When the tide floods in and the sea breeze calls, our two little dinghies will be ready to unfurl their sails and dance out on the wavelets of sparkling water...

 Crew's View As The Sails Fill 

Organization And Tips

 In my workroom I have my yarns, wools and materials stored on shelves that go around the top of the room rather like beach hut shelving. I love to be able to see all the colours and find it much easier to select items for a project whether it be weaving or hand knitting with this system. It also frees up floor space for my looms and spinning wheel, allowing room to work.

However things do get untidy especially when I'm working on several projects! so it is good to get organized and have a good sort out. I now have all my cones in one area rather than stored by colour. I have my handspun and hand dyed yarn ready to use for my next project in wicker and hessian baskets. I always have dried lavender sprigs from my garden and homemade lavender sachets to keep my wools naturally stored and fresh.

 My commercial yarns surround the room with a net of colourful and textural oddments for Saori weaving ready to grab and mix.

 This is a view of the heddles on my Saori Weaving Loom Ready to start to warp up once more.

A couple of tips I would like to share with you;
 Tip One
 twist the little wire ties that you get with sandwich bags in place at every 10th heddle. I find it makes it so easy to count the number of heddles needed for a weaving this way, it works so much better than pieces of yarn or cotton for markers as they don't get tangled and you can hold the "wire twist" and slide the heddle along the shaft with ease.

 Tip Two
I use large headed pins when sewing my hand woven and hand knitted items. They are easy to see in the cloth and are larger than normal sewing pins.

 I write how many pins I have before I start sewing on the underneath side of the pin cushion.

That way I know exactly how many pins I have used and when sewing some of my textural cloth it makes sure I haven't accidentally sewn in a pin or two!

Small Projects and Preparation Work

 To start with, I want to show you three little pouches, two handwoven Saori style and one hand knitted. Small projects in colour and design in a mix of wools, silks and handspun detailing.
An enjoyable task while larger activities are on the go.
 

I have been washing fleece and spinning plenty of skeins in preparation for some Natural Dyeing.

I lit my new Fire Pit.  

So as I could Mordant all the wools ready for my Dyeing of the colours.

It was so much fun being out in the garden slowly working through all the collection of fleece and skeins I had produced over the weeks.

I used Alum for the mordant.

Another small project I'm working on is Hand Painting Silk Hankies. I have chosen colours inspired from the garden. The silk will be handspun on its own as I want it to be delicate and light, so as I can add it to my Saori weaving. 

Meanwhile, in the garden I have gathered my woad seeds from last year's crop (to store for next season) and look how well this year's woad plants are doing!

So preparation work is done, now ready to start Dyeing some yarn.

A festival of colour to come!

Weaving Baby Blankets, Follow The Process - Part 1

April came and went and we are well into May! and I haven't got around to writing my blog so - before I show you the weaving process for some baby blankets I told you about in my last posting,  I want to do a quick catch up with the hand spun yarn I was working too. It has been washed and  is now being woven up Saori Style.

Okay sort of caught up, let's get blogging...

 

Baby Blankets Part 1

In my previous post I told you about the inspiration, planning and practicality of these blankets. Now I will try to give you a snapshot of each stage in their making.

Before I start there is always a bit of maths to work out such things as length, width, density and of course the exciting bit yarn, colour and pattern. Once I have got this sorted I start to wind a warp.

Here is my warping frame, note the centre pegs where the cross is formed as I wind the threads. 

Once I have my warp made, I need to remove it without it getting in a tangle! to keep the cross in place, I secure it with ties of strong cord ( shoe laces are brilliant for this). then I chain off the warp which also keeps all the threads in an orderly bunch.

I can now transfer my warp to  my weaving loom. I tie it to the top frame so as it doesn't slip or pull while I'm sleying the reed.

I hold all the threads of the cross in my hand as the photo below shows, this keeps the threads in the correct order and I'm able to take the topmost thread each time and put it through the reed.

This is the loom's reed and my reed tool 

Here you can see the sleying of the reed.

Come back soon  I will show you what happens next.