The Union Loom put to work, or how I spent the past few weeks

My new vow is to try and have something in the dye pot weekly. As usual, the photo does not show the array of color variations but hopefully you get the idea with the 2 colors that show up here. This is yards and yards of cotton slated for ripping/cutting apart for a rag rug.

















My first two rag rugs fresh off the loom. They actually look better in this picture than up close and personal. How refreshing for Photoland. The one on the left is from old sheets in shades of blue. The one on the right is from jeans...very underwhelming. I should have woven in more shots of very faded fabric to brighten the rug. Both rugs are in the downstairs bath which needs rugs that can be washed weekly. A lot of barnyard gets tracked into that particular room. I had some issues with the Union since it just made it's debut here at Chez Marie. I wrote to Rugtalk and got some feedback. I need to put another warp on to test out the suggested remedies. My big issue is advancing the warp. When letting off the brake I'm getting too much warp and must advance the cloth beam too much, so much so that the fell is at the breast beam. Not good. I can't figure out how to remedy this. Someone suggested releasing the cloth beam a few clicks. I can't really picture how this is done and have looked at the ratchet which only goes forward. I guess it's the back clickity click thing that can be manipulated. Putting on another warp is the only way to test this out.

This week's new spoons. The upper one is black birch....sure looks very white to me. I didn't name the tree. The off-kilter spoon is cherry. Can you tell I like wonky handles?

Note the grain on the back of the smaller spoon. Pretty cool, huh?







I thought the smaller spoon looked like a tablespoon measure but it holds 2 teaspoons. I wonder
if I could carve actual measuring spoons. Attempting it may throw me over the edge. Keep your comments to yourself, please. I'm fragile.


I'm sanding two more spoons and thinking about engraving at least one of them. There are at least a dozen more that have been rough cut and waiting to be carved out. These were to be Christmas gifts but now I'm thinking they're mine. All mine (evil laughter)!


We bit the bullet and have ordered satellite internet. It will be installed next week. It will be far better than the present dial-up and no, we cannot get DSL here in the Hinterland. I become paralyzed with technological change. How do I transfer my list of favorite sites? What happens to my address book? How do I change over the Bloglines notifier? Yup, I'm one of those people who plugs something in and expects it to work. I don't want to know how it works, I just want it to work!

Thanks to Ernesto we are having temps in the low 60's. Socks, jeans and flannel is the fashion of the week. I am not ready for cooler temperatures yet. My tomatoes are just ripening. Anyone need squash?