By far, the biggest thing to happen in August was this Circular Sock Machine. I’d been looking casually for one for a year or so but finally put the word out that I was in the market. The goal being to use up some handspun because I spin much more and faster than I knit or weave.
Within hours, an acquaintance said she had been thinking of selling hers. We talked it over for a couple of weeks while she finished up one more project and then on Aug 13th, we went and picked it up. I’d never laid hands on a CSM in my life but I have used a flatbed knitting machine that I had to refurbish before I used it and already hand knit. I also enjoy a challenge – which most people warned me this would be. Everyone kept saying “there’s a big learning curve!” and there is but it’s no more difficult than learning to service vintage sewing machines. In fact, a lot of the logic process transfers across especially when troubleshooting tension or dropped stitches. Continue reading Older and Better – antique sock machine and revisiting projects→
Part of July and sometimes August of most years in this house is dedicated to the Tour de Fleece. It’s a 23 day annual event where we spinners sort of mirror the Tour de France. We spin the same days, take the same rest days and have challenge days. It’s a great chance to dedicate some time to spinning and other related crafting. This year, there was the regular race and the women’s race so we spun from July 1 to the 31st. It’s a great opportunity to try to clear a few UFOs.
I also thought I’d post a few of my new “spinning hacks” and my new favourite tool off the lathe in this post.
A cotton sweater about half knitted. Some white, green and purple rolags and some silver and red cotton sliver and punis share a photo with some hand cards and a book charkha.
Here’s what I committed to working on for this year’s TdF.
From the top:
A cotton sweater with yarn I over-dyed last year. The original colorway was “Desert” and I added a Jeans blue to get this much more comfortable for me colour. It changes a lot in various lights. This is outside and relatively true to colour here. It was an unofficial goal but I’d had it on the needles for a year. It was time.
Some Merino/Tencel rolags in white/green/purple. I began calling this one “Grape Vines” somewhere along the way. These are the only rolags I’ve ever bought – usually I make my own but this was a few years ago and a great experience in spinning other people’s preparations.
Back at the end of June, I was contacted by the Edmonton Fibre Frolic asking if I would like to provide 3D printed cross arm (AKA Turkish) spindles for their first Fibre Soiree. I contributed to the Curated Spinner’s box. This is the colourway I had to work with.
It’s an event going on as this post publishes. So hello to all of the Fibre Soiree’s new spindlers/spinners!
On the tags I attached to the spindles, I said the following:
Some of you may have noticed I have updated Archaic Arcane’s banner at the top of the site. I’ve put it on a rotation with the old banner, so here it is again if you see the old one above.
This came about finally due to a project I’m working on right now but realistically, I’ve been wanting an actual logo for almost 10 years.
I let it marinate in my mind and would periodically think about it but nothing really spoke to me. Then at the beginning of July, I began a collaboration project. I can’t say much about it until later in the month but one of the things they asked for was a copy of my logo in PNG format and a transparent background.
