2024 Deliveries & Stash Acquisition

[Serinde]

I remember my first few meetings with my present Guild, and feeling like I didn't really want a lecture on a Saturday morning. But each session's programme is different. Ours is now a better balance of hands-on and talks, especially because tech allows us to tap into interesting professionals whom we couldn't afford to entice up to the Frozen North. Have a look around.

My spindle spinning = Art yarn (still) mostly because I don't have time to practice. It is fun, though!

I suspect the break band is there for a reason...

[Mabel Figworthy]

His father made Arrietty??? Wow

[Steam.Jo]

Spinning Wheels are a nice turning job to work up to after you have got bored with doing the usual bowls, spindles etc (assuming you like working in the brown stuff ) Here is a plan for a European wheel: https://www.woodworkersjournal.com/wp-c ... -Wheel.pdf

A couple of my model engineering friends have knocked ones up using metal

Jo

[richardandtracy]

Much easier material to work with, metal.

At work we had a machinist who hated wood. His complaint: You couldn't weld a patch on, if you got it wrong, and then carry on as if nothing happened.
There was another old designer who always asked 'Do you want it from metal or aluminium?'. Err. Aluminium is metal... (well, for him, Aluminium was 'Light Metal' and he never got past that.)

Regards,

Richard

[Roland]

After 6 weeks my order finally arrived today. And, I did know it would be delayed, I just didn’t expect quite this long.

These are the specialty items I cannot buy in a brick and mortar store. The look on my husband’s face says he thinks they are my “you paid how much for that little order”.

[Mabel Figworthy]

If they are just what you needed, then it is worth both the wait and the outlay. As hobbies go, ours is hardly a very extravagant one, so the odd bit of indulgence is quite defensible!

[Roland]

If they are just what you needed, then it is worth both the wait and the outlay. As hobbies go, ours is hardly a very extravagant one, so the odd bit of indulgence is quite defensible!

He didn’t say anything. He never does. But the look on his face was funny because the box was sooooo small. lol

[Steam.Jo]

My friend who is now 80 has been teaching me to spend my money: He complains he is sitting on over three times as much cash in his bank account than his house is worth with no one but the tax man to leave it to. He is very complimentary that I retired at 51 as he made the mistake of working to 62 believing that he might need the money.

I remember my ex-husband complained bitterly to my parents about me getting a friend to buy me a bottle of perfume cheap at the airport. This was the second bottle of perfume I had had in the 8 years of our marriage. He never mentioned to them that he would spend £200 a week (this is back in the 90's) on VHS Tapes and CDs.

Jo
(Very happily divorced and still forcing myself to spend my money )

[Mabel Figworthy]

Your friend's story made me rather sad - I hope he is enjoying what he has as much as possible now!
DH is always happy for me to spend money on my hobby, or books, or he likes to take me out, but I grew up on a very tight budget being raised by a single mother in a council flat and I still find it difficult sometimes to realise that I can actually afford things. Having Mabel as my own little business-on-the-side does make me feel a bit better about it as I don't feel I'm spending "our" money, which always makes him roll his eyes

[Serinde]

Seems reasonable to me...

[Serinde]

I thought these would be interesting to have. The "loom" is obvious, but the little darner was intriguing especially in light of a possibility of helping out at a repair cafe. Thank goodness for YouTube is all I can say, as the instructions were, let's say, totally unhelpful for the darner!! The needle, a very useful size, might find its way into my weaving kit, replaced with a set of darning needles, however. Still to figure out the loom...

[Mabel Figworthy]

I am completely mystified by pretty much everything in that picture so I applaud your sense of adventure and wish every success to you and all who sail in whatever it is!

[richardandtracy]

I have to go with Mabel. Utterly baffled by the beech block * the mechanism at the bottom.

Regards,

Richard

[fccs]

Yep, I’m with Mabel and Richard. Baffled.

[Steam.Jo]

I think I have worked it out:

The round piece of wood goes inside what ever you are going to darn, with the bit with the hooks on the outside, the curve matching the round piece of wood (I assume it has a groove round the round piece of wood to help hold it and the elastic bands would go round one of the ears, round the round bit then over the other ear). That would provide a set of hooks that you could stitch from the lower fabric, on to the first hook, down through the lower fabric, up onto a hook, and so on to give you a set of warps.

Then you could manually stitch in the weft. The engineer in me is immediately looking for solutions to get the warp to aid the stitching in of the weft. I think the simplest solution is a comb which could be used to push down every other warp thread, lifted up then push down the other set.

Very interesting. Not sure it is fast enough to use in a couple of hours at a repair cafe.

Jo

[Serinde]

Pretty much describes it, so well done. The size of the site for darning is limited by the size of the wooden block, which is 6.5cm. Actually, any darn can be done relatively quickly once you are set up. The block goes underneath the area to be darned, and the metal mechanism fits into the groove which circles the entire block on top of the material, both material and mechanism are then held in place by the elastic band. it's actually very cunning. Warp goes over the hooks. The weft is inserted by the long needle, side to side. The really clever bit is that the shed is changed simply and easily by pushing the little hoops over the other way. No guessing with "over, under" with the needle.

[Steam.Jo]

"The shed" a new term on me, thanks.

Yes I wondered why the pins were bent and thought that it must be to turn the pins from side to side. Obvious if they are bent it would pull the warp up and down as you turn them from side to side.

Jo

[Steam.Jo]

This turned up on Fleabay the other day:



I was the only person who bid on it so I got it for £5 It is missing the base pieces and there are a couple of chips out of the threads. I will give it a quick polish with some wax to get rid of the dryness and I may use some beeswax on the threads.

You may know I already have one of these Elbesee floor standing frames so this gives me a spare top or something to use on my table clamps

Jo

[Serinde]

What a bargain!

[Mabel Figworthy]

Great buy! Looking forward to seeing you spruce it up