The Pendleton loom came with 344 9.5" flat steel heddles. Too few to weave my kitchen towels. I decided to do a full replacement with inserted eye heddles (B-day present), keeping the old ones for backups after cleaning/oiling them. In a stroke of kismet the table loom takes...9.5" heddles! #weaving

On the day the Pendleton loom came to me my Wife happened to be heading out of town to visit her family for a few days. While there she got a chance to see her Aunt who in addition to being a fantastic human was a weaver for many years. Rae came back with a car full of goodies for me! #weaving

Update on the Pendleton loom refurbishment! It's progressing beautifully & today we started replenishing the extremely dry wood. Left is after cleaning but before conditioning. Right is after 2 coats of Howard's Feed & Wax. Replacement parts are on their way & then we can start reassembly! #weaving

Yesterday a dear friend passed along to me a 4 shaft 30" weaving width Pendleton floor loom!! She needs some TLC, a couple of small repairs & some replacement parts but my Parents are helping me with the refurb and we've already made a ton of progress! #weaving #slowcloth #floorloom #fiberarts

Weft yarns wound and away we go! #weaving #handdyed #fiberarts

Pickup stick & heddle rod are all set! Need to wind some weft & the weaving can begin! I haven't woven 3/1 twill since my first towel project in 2017. Luckily I still had all my string heddles tucked safely away but I remember them being a bit too long so I spent time shortening them all. #weaving

Front heddle is threaded and my shoulder says that's plenty for today. #handdyed #weaving #fiberarts

She's beamed! Threading the front heddle and tying on to the front will be a task for tomorrow if energy holds. 🤞 Yarn is a 55% hemp/ 45%organic cotton 8/2 that I hand dyed. Warp is 4.5 yards and I'm hoping to get 4 towels. #handdyed #weaving #fiberarts #slowcloth

A kitchen sink leak threw a wrench into things around here (ha) but today I finally started getting this warp on the loom. The back heddle is threaded and if I'm up for it tomorrow I will tie on to the back apron and beam the warp.

New scarf in the shop! 🧣I'm so happy with how these peacock inspired gradient colors played together in the clasped weft with the black warp. 🦚 All handwoven with my hand dyed yarns on a rigid heddle loom.🧶🍃🍂🍁 More details a www.LladyLlama.com

I met this little woolly bear friend with a reminder that the cold weather is creeping closer. I have something woolly of my own coming to the shop soon that could help out with that! 🍃🍂🍁🧣👀 #handwoven #handdyed #weaving #slowcloth #scarfseason

Wove a bit on the Cricket while I was heating batches of rinse water today. Last 3 skeins of weft yarn for the Samhain themed towels are now rinsed and hanging to dry. #weaving

“We are told by leaders that we are the future. But when it comes to the ongoing pandemic, our present is being stolen right in front of our eyes.” Incredible speech by Violet Affleck who warned about the ongoing dangers of COVID & Long Covid, & advocated for masks and clean air at the UN today!

Wound this wee striped warp yesterday for the Cricket. Yarn is a 6-ply hemp that I dyed a couple of years ago. Now the Kromski is flipped back over into loom mode so it's ready for the towel warp. Getting a stand alone warping board is one of my hopes for the year. #weaving

All of my hand dyed warp yarn has now been wound for the Samhain themed towels! Three of my weft skeins needed 2nd layers of dye which have been applied and they are now batching. The rest are rinsed and drying. Hoping to be on loom in the next couple of days! #weaving

Union that reps the musicians on Kimmel: “This is not complicated — this is State censorship, happening in 🇺🇸… a direct attack on free speech… we stand with all those who will be out of work because of government overreach.”

This month is just packed. Trying to cram in some face time with my people before the weather turns too cold to meet outdoors. Important health appts. I also have big work goals this month. As always the spoon math is maddening. Got some weft yarns dyed today but feeling pretty wiped. #chroniclife

Updated COVID vaccine accomplished and safely back home to rest. 👍

Vaccine appointment tomorrow for Wife and I! I'm still in the throes of my latest bout of PEM & being born with an overactive immune system means I've always gotten what you might call a rather...robust immune response from vaccines anyway. Worth it ofc but the next coupla days are gonna suuuck.

Slowly shuffling about the house today and hoping to manage a couple of small studio tasks.

Awake, breakfasted, showered and ready to head out the door appalling early considering I live on 2nd shift time. 😩Thank you coffee for all you do. Riding along in the cart while my Dad golfs today cause he is the best Dad and asks for very little.

Photos of the fully rinsed warp yarns for my towels. These had a run through the spin dryer and are hanging up to finish drying now. Pretty pleased with how these came out and I'm looking forward to getting the weft dyed this week. #handdyed #weaving

The grey speckle dyed yarn that I'll be pairing with the purple gradient for my Samhain themed towel warp also got rinsed today. Weft colors are planned but stilp need to be dyed. #handdyed #weaving #witchsky #pagan

It was a yarn rinsing day! These are the handpainted gradient warps I dyed on Thursday. Destined to be combined with some speckle dyed yarn for some special Samhain themed towels I will be weaving next! Yarn is 8/2 hemp/organic cotton. #witchsky #pagan #weaving #fiberarts #handdyed

BREAKING, from NY Playbook PM: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will sign an executive order allowing pharmacists to prescribe and administer Covid vaccines to New Yorkers who request them.

Warp dyeing goals for the day accomplished. Time to rest while these batch on the heat mat. Weft will be dyed another day. #handdyed #weaving #yarn

My headspace is pretty distracted today. Sept 4th is always tough. My Paternal Gram's B-day & my Maternal Grandma's death anniversary. I try to keep myself busy & hope that my distraction doesn't cause too much havoc. Hopefully the little coffee fiasco will be the extent.

"Well, I've never had one of THESE filters break on me before." The thought immediately punctuated by the all too familiar sound of a deluge of coffee slurry cascading through the pour over cone. Spent 7 years as a barista. Absolutely knew I was tempting fate by adjusting that crooked filter. 🙄😑☕

So I watch a lot of YouTube. Mostly fiber arts vlog style content and a lot of it is semi-background while I'm working in the studio or doing other things. A couple of days ago YT decided to forget all of the videos I've already watched. Years worth. Finding content to watch is now chaos.

Success in the studio today! The cone stand my Dad made me many moons ago worked beautifully to wind the rest of these warp chains from the outside of the center pull ball! I did end up moving it up onto my desk & that was the ticket. Hope to dye these tomorrow if energy allows.🤞 #handdyed #weaving

Going to Parents' house on Sat for 2-3 hrs (small outdoor get together for my Wife's B-day). From experience, I'll have a 3-11 day bout of PEM after & we have my Dad's B-day get together later this month. Trying to be strategic with my studio work the next 3 days to set myself up well. 🤞

My plan for the next towel warp requires handpainting some of the warp chains. The other part is being dyed in the skein. This is the 1st layer of dye for that skein. It will be overdyed later with speckles & then wound on the warping board. Yarn is 8/2 hemp/organic cotton. #handdyed #weaving

Had brain-full-of-bees insomnia last night. Not angry bees. Busy bees. Busy bees thinking thinky thoughts about creative process stuff. Definitely my preferred kind over painsomnia or anxiety spiral insomnia & I'm in a pretty cheerful mood today but hoping there isn't a crash coming. #longCOVID

Wound the first warp chain of the scoured 8/2 hemp/organic cotton yarn right from my skeinwinder to see if it would be a feasible option. As you can see-I have changed tack. You never know unless you try! Luckily developing SOPs makes my brain hum in a happy way. #fiberarts #weaving

Final hot rinse for the speckle dye samples. Yarn is 100% hemp 3-ply. #handdyed #fiberarts

I've had more than a few really bad days lately where the weight of EVERYTHING really got on top of me- crushing me back into the darkness and despair. Today was still hard but I got to spend it with my favorite human ever on her Birthday and I'm so grateful.

We are getting a taste of Autumn weather here in CNY & it rips me up that it now means symptom flares & increased daily pain levels. I'm determined to manage the #octoberslide better than the last 2 years but before Long COVID you would never have caught me hoping for a long Summer. #chroniclife

After batching about 24 hours the speckle dye samples have gotten a quick cold rinse to remove the soda ash and are now in their overnight cold soaks with textile detergent. Hot rinses on the stove tomorrow if my energy holds up. #handdyed #fiberarts

Fiber reactive speckle dye samples are batching on my heat mat. #fiberarts

I've taken advantage of the cooler weather & gotten 2 batches of scouring done! Some 8/2 hemp/organic cotton yarn that will be dyed & woven into towels & some 3-ply hemp for my ice dye sampling plans. #handdyed #fiberarts

My skeinwinder is back home! For years it lived at my Parents' house because our space is so limited. That just doesn't mesh with how my workflow needs to be these days. #pacing #chroniclife I'm slowly winding some 8/2 Hemp/Organic Cotton yarn for pre-dye scouring & eventual handwoven towels.

Blended up the rest of this targhee & hemp today. 2nd batch I dizzed off like the 1st one. 3rd & 4th I rolled off as batts which I'll strip & spin to keep the subtle gradient I laid out on the board. The dizzed batches have shorter color shift repeats. Kinda fractal spin adjacent...ish. #fiberarts

Source: tundrakatiebean on Tumblr

Ta-done! Vanilla double gusset on the bottom toe up socks with k3p1 ribbing on the leg (aka my default socks). Made for my Mom using a set of my Leap Shorty Sock Twins in "Lavendula". Contrasting toes and cuffs are from a Lleap Wee skein in "Crone". #knitsky

Been hearing this mysterious intermittent dripping/tapping kind of sound all day from the dye portion of my studio space. Couldn't figure it out. Even blamed the cat. So anyways...just finished mopping up a dye spill from a cracked container on the 3rd shelf of my wire shelving. 🤦 Purple black ofc.

With Tour de Fleece/Femme in the rearview I'm so eager to get something on loom! Spent some quality time transcribing my messy jotted-down-as-I-wove notes from the towel warp into semi-coherent form in my project book. Started the page for my next project & most details are roughed out. #slowcloth

My #wipwednesday project is a pair of impromptu socks! These will be gifted to my Mom who hinted at needing to retire some of her handknit socks soon. Yarn is my Lleap base. Using a set of Shorty gradient Sock Twins in "Lavendula" & a Wee skein of "Crone" for the contrasting toes & cuffs. #knitsky

Last day of #tourdefemme and I finished spinning the first bobbin of singles for this targhee wool/hemp fiber blend.

Finished the singles for my little spindle spin last night. Today I wound all the singles (some from before the Tour) onto storage bobbins, 2-plied them on my wheel & skeined up the resulting 142 yard skein. It will get stashed with my other random future-weft handspun skeins. #tourdefemme