New Things

New thing number one:     Improvised Raddle

A raddle is basically a long piece of wood with posts sticking up to spread the warp when warping a loom. Proper ones are silly prices so I tried this thing that I bought at Dunelm Mill some time ago. I can't remember what it's meant to be used for but I think I found it in the kitchen department. Anyway it only cost a couple of pounds and it worked. You could cut out the middle bars and use both sides next to each other for wider warps too.

New thing number two:     Bobbin Winder

This one is the real thing, made by Ashford. Again, you can improvise with drills and suchlike but I decided to go for this one. I got fed up with always having to reload my stick shuttles when weaving with thin yarn so decided to try a boat shuttle. Which leads me to the next new thing.

New thing number three:     Boat Shuttle

This is an 8" shallow Swedish style boat shuttle, made by Bluster Bay and supplied by The Handweavers Studio. Here it is in action at the start of a new scarf. It's definitely quicker and easier to use than a stick shuttle. I bought some paper quills to go with it (these take the place of a bobbin) but I think I shall make my own too. I did read somewhere that you can use drinking straws ...

See that stitched edge above the paper? That's my first attempt at hemstitching.

New thing number four:     Curtains

These aren't at all exciting but they took me three days to make and hang so I'm glad to have finished them. The windows are triple width - think of a bay window flattened - so I had to use two lengths for each curtain and then I lined them with blackout material (having discovered that you can get it in cream as well as black). The worst thing about making curtains for this house is adjusting the length. It's all very well measuring from the floor but my floors aren't level and nor are the windows. This time there was only a few inches difference from one side of the window to the other; when I made floor length curtains for the front room there was a 6" height difference across the window.

See that table in the corner? That's not at all new, being a Regency Card table from the early 19th Century but I only bought it last year. The top opens out to make a big square table, just right for cutting fabric on. I was looking for a desk to fit that alcove when I found this one at Brackley Antiques Centre for about the same price that a new table of that size would have been. I do love old things.