These mittens, while the second completed pair, are actually the first and fourth mitten I’ve made, so they differ noticeably – I can use them when using the snowblower. Another pair is underway.
Note in particular the mismatched dye lots. I also neglected to use two sizes of needles. C’est la vie. I get to use the rejects 😁
One of the members of our weaving guild (North of Boston Handweavers) is also a docent at the James House Museum in Hampton NH. Benjamin James was a weaver at the turn of the 18th Century, arriving in Hampton to learn the weaving trade circa 1690. The house was initially built around 1723, after James learned his trade and accumulated some wealth.
Three generations of weavers plied their trade in that house. The Museum President, Skip Webb, gave a tour of the house and the (many!) ongoing renovations. The current project is reconstruction of the house’s facade, including period-appropriate exposure for the clapboards. All of the nails for the project were manufactured by hand to ensure period authenticity for all materials and methods.
The demise of the American Textile History Museum in Andover MA provided a collection of fiber processing tools for the James House Museum. Among the collection are a number of flax wheels, yarn winders, swifts, and other linen tools. The collection also contains a flax break and a (much larger) hemp break. Hemp was a very popular fiber in the early years of the United States. It’s falsely rumored that the Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper, but the real document is on parchment, not paper at all.
Additionally, a brace of “great wheels”, or “walking wheels”, along with more weasels (winders) and swifts, occupy the wool room. One of the wool wheels has a “Miner’s Accelerating Head“, a system of two pulleys that spins the yarn spindle much faster (4-5X) than a standard wheel, allowing yarn to be twisted, and therefore completed, much more quickly. The yarn winders present all seemed to have in-built counters, typically a worm screw on the winder axle driving a worm gear which in turn drives an indicator dial on one side of the winder. Often, there will also be an audible click or pop when a predetermined length of yarn had been wound. Believe it or not, this is one theory regarding the origin of “Pop Goes the Weasel”.
The centerpiece of the entire exhibit, however, is a rather large barn-frame loom. I didn’t measure the piece, but it’s at least 8 feet long, 5 feet wide, and nearly 6 feet tall. Our weaver, Diane, has to climb into the loom to weave.
The loom originally came with reeds made of rattan, not steel like modern reeds. The reed is that part of the loom that keeps the warp threads spaced evenly across the loom. Rattan reeds are much more delicate than steel (go figure!), so a temple (seen next to the beater in the right photo) is used to keep the fabric’s selvage edge straight to avoid stressing and breaking the reed.
Much thanks to Diane for arranging this tour.
This is my third season of the New Hampshire Wool Arts Tour. I’m starting to recognize some of the dirt roads. NHWAT has been running for 35 years!
New Hampshire is getting gorgeous this time of year – we’re before the peak of fall color, but gaining on it.
New Hampshire is lovely this time of year.
The tour this year was hosted at these four farms within quick driving distance of Hillsborough, rather the center of the whole thing. (The directions all stem from the McDonald’s in Hillsboro, where I did get a cup of coffee.) I used Google Maps to plot a route starting (and ending) at home. Be mindful if you do this, sometimes Google Maps on the phone gets really confused if you are not within cell coverage to let Google talk to the home planet.
There was an interesting variety of vendors this year. From wooden items for working with fiber, beautifully crafted shawl pins, soaps and honey, there was a lot on display. Oh, and there was a fair amount of fiber! Fleeces, roving, dyed braids of top (I succumbed to one), and lots of other fun stuff.
The Corriedale top had such gorgeous colors I had to pick it up. I think I’m going to spin it “fractally“. That will allow the colors to mix and “barber-pole” as the colors intertwine and play off of one another. I’ll post about that adventure when I get to it. (I would not hold my breath.)
That Electric Eel Mini Spinner is very cute, but it only holds an ounce of yarn on its bobbin. My regular wheel holds 4 ounces, and my new eSpinner holds about 8 ounces – half a pound of yarn. But it’s only $70 and it’s wicked, wicked, cute.
The socks were beautiful. I’d have taken them if they were in my size, but I passed. Peggy would have loved the colors, but she’s not a fan of Argyle. (She has subsequently admitted that because they were so pretty, she might have gotten past the Argyle bit…)
I strongly suggest a spin around the circuit next fall.