tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66869270207710628492024-03-05T03:08:08.054-08:00the treadler dot blogspot dot comThe Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.comBlogger90125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-59717581925692867782013-08-26T18:50:00.000-07:002013-08-26T19:36:11.372-07:00Biolite Campstove Review
So, what business does a fiber enthusiast, who only (mostly) ever writes about textiles, have reviewing a camp stove? Well, simply put, I love this little thing!! I also think it is being marketed to the wrong crowd. The Biolite camp stove is not necessarily the end-all for the packing-light backpacker who doesn't want to carry fuel and wants to charge a USB port device while The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-26979143429253645492013-07-22T18:20:00.001-07:002013-07-22T18:27:25.415-07:00Barista-ville
When a person lives in NW Wisconsin they can become mighty attached to wool-related study activities, as a matter of practicality. After all, wool is quite the warm and cozy fiber. But, even up here next to Lake Superior, for about 4-6 weeks, summer arrives in earnest - and, sometimes the breeze isn't off the lake! It can get sultry and we who The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-15474947530094653492013-03-08T09:05:00.002-08:002013-03-08T09:13:41.223-08:00Tentacle Pouch
Well, there's something you don't see everyday. Kind of looks like a little chameleon octopus leaning up against a tissue box. Eh? (I'm so proud.) It's certainly nice and "matchy".
Guess we lose an hour of fiber time this weekend. We may be "springing forward" but, winter is still good and handy right outside the door (and me with only 8 lbs of white wool left). Best start dying The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-90738822704116432722013-02-10T13:06:00.000-08:002013-02-10T13:06:00.387-08:00Inspired by a Nose Hankie Box
(or: What Cabin Fever Looks Like When You're The Treadler)
Ah, February in northwoods and this weekend we're enjoying gusty breezes off of Lake Superior with pounding flecks of snow. It's pretty, (pretty dang cold), and it's very white out there, too white.
I need some color.
Guess I can't look to nature to inspire me over to the dye pot in a fervent The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-4684415720266867322013-01-11T06:44:00.000-08:002013-01-11T06:48:14.914-08:00Unfinished Projects
Hard to fall apart when you haven't been put together yet. The photo at left illustrates how far I've gotten with my first ever attempt to make a doll out of cloth...5 years ago. It might be, just maybe, possibly, time to decide whether to move forward with this project, throw it away or, my personal favorite, bury her back in the pile from whence The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-9211832213876995362013-01-05T08:42:00.001-08:002013-01-05T08:42:02.563-08:00Crazy Bird Woman
Dusty Bluebottoms
Suffering seagull feathers, it's another New Year. 'Tis the time to think about TIME specifically, this new calendar year and what might be done (I mean to say, "accomplished") over the span of these 12 months, before yet another New Year declares itself.
It is tricky business setting goals when my main focus is to be more present in the moment at The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-36996452393401628292011-10-06T07:17:00.000-07:002011-10-06T07:17:28.634-07:00Grazie Tanto!
Over the summer months I was contacted by Gaia Gualtieri with Dyeing House Gallery in Tuscany requesting use of my Autumn Leaves Yarn for their web site's Fall Banner http://www.dhgshop.it/
Awhile back Claxton was learning a few phrases here and there of Italian so I asked him if he'd peek at the site and let me know what it was about. He reminded me of what our cute, 6 year oldThe Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-66265870303618823142011-10-05T11:40:00.000-07:002011-10-05T12:21:42.974-07:00Felt United - Third International Day of FeltNo fever. No injury to report. Claxton didn't finally gather the family together for the dreaded intervention. Of course there's no room to gather family as I just received shipment of a bump (21 lbs) of wool (yahoo). I placed it right in the center of the living room where I can gaze at it from various angles because why even bother to try and hide the stuff The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-3793180065248936302011-09-07T06:49:00.000-07:002011-09-07T06:53:24.047-07:00Fun Little Felting Class Coming Up!I've been having a lovely time preparing for an upcoming class I'll be teaching on October 8th and snapped the above picture of our most colorful clothes line after a dying session. Lively colors of cotton gauze were drying in the warm breeze just begging to be photographed. They'll be used in making 3-D projects of wool during the class. I wanted to be sure that I had plenty of colors for The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-78783282472336714582010-07-25T13:17:00.000-07:002010-07-25T13:17:08.955-07:00Feelin' Groovy
And, here she is! My painted silk warp, the very one I've been yearning to finally harness onto the loom and she (for certainly this warp is too pretty to be a boy) is, at last, settled in and ready to be woven! I threaded in three long scarves worth of hand-painted silk! (Oh how that painting process took forever).
The previous project hung around for a bitThe Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-81560909286051615242010-07-10T15:20:00.000-07:002010-07-10T15:29:17.028-07:00Death WarpI have hundreds of pairs of knitting needles. Consequently, I have zillions of unfinished knitting projects. But, there is room for only one 8 harness floor loom in my house so, there can be only one unfinished weaving project at a time threaded throughout this contraption and residing therein...and gumming up the whole works until it is woven off The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-75521041316767700902010-06-13T13:25:00.000-07:002010-06-13T14:04:19.170-07:00I'm in Love with My LoomWhen I was in the 6th grade I would sit in my room and listen to Queen's, A Night at the Opera over and over and over again on my record player. I loved Bohemian Rhapsody. It was very popular at the time but, my most favorite song on the album was The Prophet's Song. (That one would get stuck in my head for days on end.) The first concert I ever went to was Queen at The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-51281648775085889942010-05-23T11:05:00.000-07:002010-05-23T11:12:10.017-07:00Well...There's a lot to write about but, I don't have time because I've gone even crazier. Poor Claxton. He's so very kind and good to me and for 4 days last week the only way he was able to get from our living room to the kitchen was to go out the front door, around the house, then into the kitchen through the back door (it's been raining, by the way).
Why has Claxton had such a The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-81149476679063107452010-03-21T09:21:00.000-07:002010-03-21T09:44:24.094-07:00Spring Equinox in Northern WisconsinBefore we moved from Kansas City to northern Wisconsin I was seriously into gardening. That interest has faded a bit over the years. It may be, in part, because I had a hard time adjusting to 6+ months of winter. In all fairness it is a bit of a climate change. (Last year we didn't even have a summer season, just extra helpings of winter and spring.) It might be that, after all those The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-4241282310179893752010-03-19T08:47:00.000-07:002013-02-10T07:42:36.757-08:00Free Knitting Pattern Tissue Box Cover CozyAs is customary of "The Treadler" I do have my yammerings to share but FIRSTLY, Let's have a go at this pattern shall we?
MATERIALS NEEDED:
One upright, (squarish) naked tissue box in need of cozying.
U.S. size 5 / (or 40 cm) 16" Circular knitting needles OR a set of 5 double pointed knitting needles OR well, you know, there are a great many ways to knit The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-56198775808836785012010-02-14T10:13:00.000-08:002010-03-19T11:00:24.941-07:00A Valentine For ClaxThis rhymey poem, dear Claxton,Holds a special thanks from me.I'm grateful that you tolerate, My fiber odd-yssey.
You could have me commited.
It's not that hard to do.
It's not like there's no evidence,
to push the verdict through.
For, if you chose to testify,(and thus incriminate)A quick commitment hearing,would securely seal my fate.
It was you who found our crock pot stuffed,with&The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-69082386341827862542010-02-05T07:25:00.000-08:002010-02-05T07:25:04.302-08:00Secret StashLast night I was oh-so despondent and this morning I'm oh-so very happy. Last night I thought I was almost out of wool. When I say, "almost out" I don't really mean all the wool on my multiple shelving units, or the wool in the big box that is for sharing when teaching classes, I mean I thought I was almost out of undyed wool. When I say "undyed wool" I don't mean the two raw fleeces I have yet The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-4677728601974516672010-02-02T22:19:00.000-08:002010-02-02T22:53:43.579-08:00Scouring a Raw Fleece ~ I Love You Mini Spin Dryer!Well, last post I was dying wool and might have mentioned how I had a bit of a strange urge to bite into the colorful fibers. I figured, "O.K. That's odd but, not surprising. After all I am stricken with the chronic fiber fever that plagues so many, many knitters, hand spinners, weavers, etc., (we know who we are)... Perhaps if I dye wool for all the rest of the day I'll The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-92151429206014625232010-01-31T09:54:00.000-08:002010-01-31T09:54:46.309-08:00Results of the Evil Dye Lab ExperimentWell, the fiber addiction has reached a new low. I could eat this 4 oz. blend of wool and mohair.Imagine the fur ball I would have to cough up if I did.
Still, part of me thinks it would be worth it. Is that odd?
I'm not going to eat it. And, (heavy sigh here) I'm not going to spin it either. I've placed it in my little Etsy shop...for now. We'll see how long I can last before I The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-83973276144197704222010-01-29T16:20:00.000-08:002010-01-29T16:35:34.802-08:00Dying Wool in the Evil Laboratory ~ Microwave DyingThis posting will not be a tutorial. There is no method to the madness here. In my last post I demonstrated how to twist a nice length of prepared wool top into a compact and manageable braid without dividing the fibers into three strips. That happy braiding process is the starting point of this most evil experiment.
Aren't they lovely? Five fantastic, 4 The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-39298551956680379332010-01-29T09:37:00.000-08:002013-02-10T07:44:09.742-08:00How to Braid Wool Roving or TopFor this little demo I am working with Merino Top. I love to purchase wool in this particular preparation. The word "top" refers to a particular type of preparation. To me it means that all the work has already been done. The sheep have been cared for and given their hair cuts for the season. The fleeces have been sorted and skirted. The fibers have been scoured clean and commercially combed out The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-34728513748622778272010-01-15T15:56:00.000-08:002010-01-18T10:34:08.188-08:00More Wet FeltingHere are a few photos from a small wet felting project where the wool was felted around a plastic jar. This little piece was completed the same way as the tiny felted bags I've been making by wet felting wool around golf balls.
First picture above: I prepped 5 different colors of wool using my small, Louet drum carder. I carded the colors side-by-side as I did not want them to&The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-85453606419848080102010-01-10T10:29:00.000-08:002013-02-10T07:44:09.744-08:00Tutorial: Wet Felting a Woolen Vessel
Ingredients needed:
Watered-down Dawn dish washing liquid. There's no special ratio. Add just enough water to make the liquid thin and runny yet still able to suds up.
Access to hot and cold tap water. Wool felts more quickly when it is subjected to sudden temperature changes.
Wool. The amount you need will be based on the size of the vessel you desire. I photographed an The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-24814302081044399452010-01-07T05:36:00.000-08:002010-01-07T05:39:25.701-08:00COCOA COZY!
I think this row-by-row, decide-as-you-go knitted cozy looks a tiny bit like either a broccoli or an asperagus spear. Anyway, it's intended to give off a gardeny vibe.
The top is crocheted from some of the coily novelty yarn I've been unable to stop spinning. Turns out it is not only great fun to make crazy yarn but quite intriguing to play with in projects asThe Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6686927020771062849.post-86006574537237376542010-01-05T17:18:00.000-08:002010-01-05T17:18:49.853-08:00Surprise Giftie For Sister LauraMy sister Laura always calls presents "gifties". She's due for one from me because her birthday fast encroacheth. Laura is a fabulous painter. She does beautiful things with blue and yellow. She is also the Garden Goddess. (I used to be crazy for gardening myself before I became a total textile addict and no longer had the time for anything non-fiber related.) She The Treadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10515266084457118166noreply@blogger.com1