For the first three days of SOAR I was a busy little elf, staying up to all hours with some classmates finishing my prescribed homeword from Joan Sheridan in her class “Intro to the Ridgid Heddle Loom”. The first day we spun the warp (whoever tells you that you can’t weave with your handspun, or warp with your handspun is a liar). The Second day we warped the loom and spun the weft and the third day we wove the bag and sewed it up. Did I mention that I am a pretty beginner spinner? And that I have never woven before? Ya, that means you can too!

Here is some rockstar handspun – see how its a bit thick and thin?  I meant to do that   Seriously though, it just shows you what is possible on a loom!  I never even broke a warp string!

This is the fabric after I removed it from the loom and before it was fulled.  I was pretty happy with the balance between warp and weft, as well as the stripes – I tried pretty hard to line up my colours in my plying.

Et voilà! The bag.  I’m pretty pleased with the colours in the rare moment of sun on the grass outside my room.

And the spindle.  When I get home I am going to line the bag with some yellow fabric (silk maybe?) and then the poor spindle won’t poke through the bottom.  Here are some specs for those interested:

Handspun Romney, mill combed and hand painted by Joan.  Spun in a wollen two ply, about a light worsted weight.  Plain, balanced weave, same yarn for warp and weft.  This will be my first show and tell at the guild.