weaving

DIY natural hand softener

Do you ever have problems with dry hands that become rough?

Gardeners are very familiar with this issue, but it can also happen if you frequently use soap for hand washing or are often in a heated environment.

If you work with your hands, dry skin can be frustrating – you will have threads catching on rough skin and if it gets bad enough it may become painful to use and wash your hands – not nice!

*This post contains affiliate links. For further information, please see my disclosure policy.

So today I am sharing with you an old embroiderer’s trick to smooth and silky hands in no time, using natural ingredients that most of you should have in your pantry. And, it really works!

2 tablespoons white, granulated sugar

2 tablespoons olive oil

Yep, that’s it!

If you want to really treat yourself, you could add a drop or two of essential oil. I use oils from Eco Modern Essentials and my personal favourites to use are lavender, peppermint or rose.

Mush the two ingredients together in a bowl until it comes together. Now, with both hands, rub the mixture all over the fronts and backs of your hands. There is not set time for the rubbing, but if you do it too long it may over exfoliate and start to hurt – less is probably more!

Wash your hands in warm water (you may need just a little soap or wipe on a paper towel or similar to help dissolve the excess oil). Pat your hands dry with a nice soft towel.

Follow up with a moisturiser if you wish, though I don’t find it necessary. Enjoy your soft and silky hands!

P.S. This towel is the underside of one of my hand woven Lux Hand Towels, the pattern is available in my Etsy shop.

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

Shop update

by Kelly 2 Comments

I don’t get much time to update my little Etsy shop these days, and I must admit, it’s not my favourite task and gets put off a fair bit. But today I have some new items and they are all beautiful, so please take a moment to browse!

My favourite first – my newest silk scarf, oh boy, do I love this one! A blend of 60/2 silk in purple, fuchsia and orange woven in an undulating twill. Pure luxury!

Next up, hand dyed tencel (you have my permission to drool) combined with mercerised cotton in advancing twill.

Love the colours, love the sheen.

Another scarf, this time in cotton and a beautiful diamond twill variation.

This beauty was a labour of love – woven from my hand dyed, hand spun local Australian merino. The colours remind me of Monet’s Garden.

Is that enough to whet your appetite for now? There are more than what is pictured here, you will have to visit my Etsy shop to see the rest!

Fear of Failure

by Kelly 2 Comments

“I’m scared I’m going to fail”.
A brief pause, a very slight sigh. My husband is used to this. He is strong, trusting and practical. Me? I’m prone to nervousness, flightiness and a sense that things won’t turn out.
It’s one of those late at night conversations, the children are in bed and we have some precious moments to ourselves before we have to sleep.

“Are you scared that you are running out of ideas for classes?” he asks. Oh no, that is not the trouble at all.
It’s failure that I’m afraid of. So often there is a voice in the back of my head saying “what is the point of all this work, you know you’re going to fail anyway”. Sometimes this fear has been strong enough that I don’t try something new or pursue a different idea, fear can be crippling. Many times I have made the decision to give up on trying to make a business, only to change my mind the next day.

I have put so much work into new classes. I have taken the risk of launching on a new platform, it’s a wonderful step to have taken, but it’s expensive and risky.

My sensible and pragmatic husband listens quietly to my concerns as he has done time and again. He points out that you never know unless you try. He reminds me that it’s all in God’s hands and if the business does not succeed, it is because He wills it not to – for His own reasons and because He loves and knows me best.

My husband reminds me what I already know, but find very difficult to live. It is not all about me. Everything is a gift, including my life, and that I must be willing to give back to He who gives so generously.

Launching on a new platform

by Kelly 5 Comments

After a lot of research and deliberation, I decided to launch my video classes on a new platform. My Youtube paid subscription channel has been going for a year now, and there have been a whole lot of headaches! Many technical glitches and inconsistencies, viewers being unsubscribed, not able to access after paying, not able to access from certain countries, and the list goes on! Almost daily, I get messages from subscribers having problems with the channel, I had to find a better way. So, you can now find my classes on Teachable. This is great news for a few reasons:

*You have the option of subscribing for a full year or monthly.

*You have the option of just purchasing individual classes rather than a full subscription. Each individual class also comes with a printable PDF pattern with full instructions and photos to compliment the video class. You can’t go wrong with all that information!

*You can subscribe or purchase a class from anywhere in the world.

*You can view your classes on a computer or device, it is available across all platforms.

The Youtube platform will continue to run for those who prefer to use it. Youtube has been the perfect viewing platform for many people, so that will not change. I will continue to upload videos to the Youtube platform as well. I just needed to give other options for those who need it.

How about you hop over and check out the new platform? Yes, it’s different to Youtube but I hope you find it easy to navigate and use.

I still have plenty of work to do there and will continue to update and improve over the coming weeks, so keep watching. It’s easy to keep an eye on my Teachable “school” by joining and logging in – you don’t need to purchase a class or subscription to join and be updated when new content is available.
I hope to see you there!

Overshot uh-oh!

by Kelly 1 Comment

I tried overshot on 4 shafts for the first time. I put on a massive 8/2 cotton warp (my first mistake – too wide, too long!) thinking I would have a couple of table runners or plenty of baby blankets by the time I was done.

The threading was somewhat complicated, but I got through that and started weaving.

I don’t know, maybe I just don’t enjoy weaving overshot or maybe it’s a bit of inexperience, but this project became a struggle.

Some threading errors became apparent and then the breaking warp threads started. My progress was slow, very slow!

The errors stick out like a sore thumb, but I still wanted to share these photos, firstly to share the disappointments and imperfections, but also in appreciation of the pattern, which is actually pretty cool. The above piece was woven with black bamboo for the pattern and white bamboo for the tabby.

The back of the same piece.

This was my favourite piece, I used a hand dyed, variegated tencel for the pattern and a mercerised cotton for the tabby.

The back of the same piece.

And this piece I quite like also. I used a thicker hand dyed cotton (8ply) for the pattern and a white bamboo for the tabby.

So, what did I learn from this humbling experience? That I’m not as good as I thought I was? Definitely. That my slow progress on the floor loom is starting to frustrate me? Uh huh. That I want to do something about it? Yes!

I’m not giving up, I’ll keep trying and I think that, for now, that is the best I can do.

Weaving suppliers list

by Kelly 14 Comments

This is certainly not an entire list of all suppliers, but I hope it’s a start for new weavers.

Thank you to my Facebook group weaving friends for your assistance in putting this list together. Please comment with details of other suppliers, particularly for countries not listed here.

Australia:

Petlins Spinning and Weaving Supplies, NSW, Ashford dealer, huge range of supplies.

BB Yarns Supply, QLD, Weaving threads and online correspondence courses.

The Thread Collective – (Affiliate link) Online supplier of threads and looms. Louet and Ashford dealer.

Crafty Frog, Canberra, ACT, Ashford dealer, looms, yarns, accessories, instore classes.

Glenora Weaving and Wool, NSW, yarns, accessories, magazines and books.

Knit, Spin, Weave, S.A, fibre arts supplies, looms, dyes, yarns, books.

Woolganics, NSW, Australian organic wool.

Aunt Jenny, Fibre arts supplies, weaving supplies, looms, Ashford dealer

New Zealand:
Ashford Handicrafts, New Zealand, large range of looms, weaving accessories, yarns and supplies.

Fibreholics, wide range of interesting yarns, classes

Wheels and whorls, Ashford dealer, huge range of looms, yarns and supplies

D.E.A. Yarns, Luxury yarns

Canada:

Jane Stafford, Louet looms, spinning wheels, yarns, workshops

Penelope Fibre Arts, large range of looms, weaving supplies, yarns

Maurice Brassard, Quebec, huge range of weaving yarns

Camilla Valley Farm, Ontario, Leclerc looms, weaving yarns and supplies

USA:

My Amazon Shop

The Woolery, Kentucky, huge range of everything weaving related! (Affiliate link)

WEBS, Massachusetts, Huge range also.

Revolution Fibers Looms, weaving yarns, craft kits, wheels, fibre supplies
Yarn Barn, Kansas, lots of yarn options Looms, weaving yarns, craft kits, wheels, fibre supplies

Paradise Fibres, Washington, huge range of yarns, looms and fibre art supplies

Weaving South West, New Mexico, Gallery that also stocks some small looms and varieties of yarn

Weaving Works, Seattle, looms, yarns, classes

Bountiful Weaving, large and little looms, yarns

Studio Thre3, AZ, Leclerc looms, yarns

Fibre Creek, AZ, range of looms and yarns

Heartland Fibre, Iowa, yarn (beautiful looking retail shop!)

Halcyon Yarn, looms, yarns, everything!

Lofty Fiber, weaving, knitting, spinning, yarn and classes

UK:
George Weil, looms, yarns, tapestry looms

The Handweavers Studio and Gallery, London, huge range of looms, equipment and yarns

Fibre Hut, Ashford dealer

The Threshing Barn, beautiful location in a converted spinning mill, looms, supplies and yarns

Wingham Woolwork, Wentworth, Ashford and Kromski stockist, looms, supplies, yarns
Colourmart, Online weaving yarn supplies

Hilltop Spinning and Weaving, Kent, Ashford looms, accessories, yarns

Frank Herring and Sons, Dorset, Ashford and Leclerc looms, yarns, supplies

Weft Blown, Ashford dealer, large selection of looms, weaving supplies, yarns and fibre art supplies.

Wonky Weaver , Located in Wales. Wide range of looms including Glimakra, Schacht and Louet. Spinning, dyeing and fibre arts supplies.

Spain:

https://tejoloquehilo.es/es/ – Weaving supplies, Ashford dealer, fibres for dyeing and spinning. This site is only available in Spanish or Catalan but can easily be translated with Google Chrome.

https://www.textilesnaturales.com/ – Ashford supplier but also sell Louet table and floor looms. Their website is in English and Spanish.

France:

https://www.artifilum.com/ – Ashford supplier, they also sell Glimakra, Toika and Leclerc looms. Their website is in French and English.

The Netherlands:

Stephen and Penelope – Beautiful range of knitting yarns from lace weight to bulky, big range of fibre to choose from.

Wools of Nations – Excellent range of natural knitting yarns

A little glimpse into creative family life

by Kelly Leave a Comment

I filmed this yesterday afternoon because it felt like a bit of milestone. In steaming hot weather, with a pedestal fan blowing on us, my 9 year old, set up and weaving mostly independently on the rigid heddle loom while I was weaving at the floor loom. It’s funny how things can happen so naturally and then you suddenly realise you’re living a dream moment. I posted it on Youtube, thinking it would probably be largely overlooked as viewers seem to prefer my instructional videos to anything else.

But what a response! Quite a few commented that the video had brought tears to their eyes, for different reasons. For one subscriber, it was that her parents had never invested the time in her that she craved. For another, the video brought back wonderful memories of her own creative homeschooled upbringing. Many commented on the simple beauty of the video.

Wow, was I surprised. And so pleased. It reminds me that I am so blessed to be able to share with others in this way. It encourages me that, even if I feel like I don’t do a good enough job as a parent, others think I do. And it gives me joy, that God has much work for us to do, if only we will co-operate, love and trust.

I hope you are all having a most blessed week, until next time 🙂

Project patience

by Kelly 3 Comments

I am working on the most beautiful shawl. After a run of towels I felt the need to weave something really beautiful. I love shawls, the drape, the practicality, the loveliness, so it wasn’t a hard choice. I had this stunning tencel that I had hand dyed ages ago and wound into a warp ready for a scarf.

But, I changed my mind and decided I needed it for the shawl instead! Plenty of time and unwinding later, I was ready to wind a shawl warp instead. The warp went onto the loom like a dream, in fact tencel itself is rather dreamy.

The threading is the part that takes me the longest and I’m hoping my speed will increase eventually. After pusing myself to work late one night, I finally had the reed sleyed and the warp tied on. I was ready to weave!
Except I wasn’t.
I had put the reed and beater on backwards. Yes, I actually did that! Untie the warp, unsley the reed, remove it, turn it around, re-sley the reed, re-tie the warp and presto, I really was ready to weave this time.

I chose another hand dyed tencel that I thought would contrast well and began. Uh oh. The tencel I had chosen for the weft was variegated. The pattern got lost in the busy-ness of the warp. I realised this was a possibility when I chose it as weft but decided to chance it anyway. It took me a couple of inches of weaving to realise it wasn’t going to work. Enter un-weaving (not nearly as fun as weaving, trust me!)

So…. (this is starting to read a bit like a drama and it sure as heck started to feel like one!) I chose a lovely mercerised cotton in Peacock as the weft and away I went. Ah, much better.
Then I realised. Some selvedge warp threads had broken and fallen away from the reed. When had that happened? I had no idea, but it was definitely a problem! My selvedge on that side was looking quite un-perfect.

Fortunately this was a fairly quick fix and I was back into the weaving. I’m about a quarter of the way through now, I wonder what other treats and surprises the next three quarters has in store for me!

Slouchy satchel bag – new lessons

by Kelly 1 Comment

Remember that gorgeous looking warp from my last post? This is the result! The whole project was woven on the rigid heddle loom with two heddles but different techniques. The bag was woven as a tube so it’s completely seamless, and the strap was woven as double weave, providing a firm and sturdy fabric.

A lot of people have commented on the yarn, and rightly so, it is wonderful. It’s called Bloom and is available from Bendigo Woollen Mills.

If you’re interested in weaving your own bag, the lessons are available on my Weaving Lessons channel and include all the instructions you will need from materials, warping, sewing and finishing.

I look forward to seeing you there!