Summer Fun

Summer went by so fast. I spent a lot of time spinning. The first thing I spun after my year of not spinning was cashmere. What was I thinking? But, I'm happy enough with how it turned out and it made me keep picking up the spindle. It is the darker brown skein in the photo.

 We had a wonderful time at Pennsic. Of course I bought roving - Cheviot, a breed I hadn't spun before (the white wool in the photo). I like it very much. I had to buy a new spindle, too, so I could spin it right away. Since  I am always busy at Pennsic, most of my spinning was done around the campfire at night. I don't recommend it. While it was enjoyable, it was difficult to see what I was spinning, so the result is not a consistent gauge. The small skein is Shetland, spun for embroidery thread. The tan is a Romney/Corriedale mix. I've started to S-spin/Z-ply it to use for twine knitting, which I learned (again) this summer.

The other fun things I learned at Pennsic were a cutwork embroidery technique, cooking Viking-style food,

 how to drape a dress so it fits perfectly, 

and making medieval stained glass.

We ended the summer with a trip to Cape Cod. Here is the moon rising over the harbor in Provincetown:

What I did on my summer vacation

The days at Pennsic went by so fast this year! I had more responsibilities this year, participating at Court, volunteering with hospitality, teaching a class about spindle whorls. I had hoped to have some free time in camp to card wool, spin and nalbind, but as usual, I filled all my hours with classes. There are so many new and interesting things to learn! Unrelated to textiles, I took classes in medieval math, the history of labyrinths, architecture, and dancing. I suppose that's appropriate for a meanderer. And of course I took as many textile classes as I could. My favorites were taught by Barbara Klessig. She taught a class on the textile tools found on Gotland, Sweden. I found it interesting that the whorl shapes were mostly disks and spheres - quite different from the whorls found at Ribe, Denmark, although many were a similar size.

The second class she taught was reproducing weave structures found in medieval textiles. After learning about the different weaves, we were able to weave our own samples. I was rather slow and only completed 3 of the 4 samples. But I am very pleased with how they turned out:

Tabby, in the style of Coptic tunics woven as one piece.

This "waffle" pattern was found in a 10th century textile from Coppergate.

The rosette was fairly easy to weave. The complicated part was threading the warp correctly.

All of the samples were made on a rigid heddle loom with 3 heddles. I had so much fun with this project that I bought myself a little loom. (Yes, despite my insistence otherwise, I am turning into a weaver.) I want to make a larger piece like the Coppergate textile, and play with twill patterns.

I also took a class in 14th century nalbinding. This is very different from typical Norse nalbinding - simpler and more complex at the same time. Many of the artifacts are gloves made with the buttonhole stitch. The complexity comes from the fineness of the threads and the hole patterns made with the stitches.

I think I will put making a silk glove on my project "to do" list. But don't hold your breath - it will take a long time to finish.