Two Looms, Two Bands, Two Methods

Day 180: Obligations kept me away from home most of yesterday and I was unable to give as much attention to my weaving as I would have liked. Frustrating, when you have a new toy and can't find the time to play with it! But my mind was hard at work, and although science might pooh-pooh the idea, I think I was building muscle memory even without performing the physical actions. When I was finally able to sit down with Jutta, my treadle foot and hands seemed to know what they were supposed to do. The blue band is my "skill-building project" for Jutta. The mushrooms are krokbragd, and are being woven on the bonker (Glimakra band loom).

As a sidebar here, I have a little story to tell. Since I was going to be sitting in a waiting room yesterday for a couple of hours, I needed some handwork to occupy the time. I thought it might be a good time to conduct a social experiment, so I packed up the supported spindle, some of my Ice Caves wool blend, and two small skeins of the finished yarn I've made with it so far. I positioned myself in the room at a point where I could be clearly seen by the office staff and milling salespeople and began spinning. It took slightly over an hour before the first curious onlooker dared approach me. "What is that?" she asked. "A supported spindle," I said. "It's a technique for making yarn." There was a pause, during which I drew out another length of wool and set the spindle to turning in its bowl. "You're...making yarn?" she said. I pulled the two finished skeins out of my bag and handed them to her. "Oh, that's LOVELY!" she said. "What will you make with it?" I told her it was destined to become socks, and explained that I'd combined wool with rayon to make them durable. She went back to her desk and I resumed spinning. Over the next hour, several other employees went to her rather than approaching me. "What's she doing, anyway?" and she would explain, "Making yarn!" It was a subtle way to increase awareness of the craft, a "free demo," if you will, which I hope might lead at least one of them toward their own exploration of fiberarts.