Nostepinne Madness

Just the beginning

Finished

My “nest” with a center pull

What was I thinking? Winding 100 grams of my hand-dyed, amethyst-colored, sock yarn on a nøstepinde is not a quick undertaking.  I guess I was trying to “feel-as-one” with my Norwegian ancestors. Been thinking a lot about my grandma, Grandma’s favorite gem was the amethyst and flower the violet. As mentioned in yesterday’s post, this month’s sock is based on the amethyst and violet. Grandma was a first generation American, her parents came from Norway. With her foremost in my thoughts while working on this project, it’s not surprising that I eschewed my swift and winder.

The nostepinne, also spelled nystepinne or nøstepinde, is a traditional Scandinavian tool for spinners, weavers, and knitters to wind a center-pull ball of yarn. Nostepinne translates to “nest stick”. It looks like a big dowel, a really fancy one.  Grandma’s sisters told me that it was the traditional engagement gift in Norway. A young man would carve one for his bride-to-be.  Some of them were very elaborately carved, lucky women who received them. How wonderful it would have been to have inherited one from my Norwegian family.  The nice thing about the nostepinne is that it’s easy to travel with, sturdy, not easily broken, does not need a clamp or batteries, or even a swift, and it doesn’t change the yarn twist. Picture this: I’m sitting on the couch with legs up and my feet are acting as a swift. Wind, wind, wind, rest, wind, wind, wind, rest, etc. It took hours since I was trying to be ergonomic, but, finally, success was mine.  I now have a wonderful, center pull “nest”. I’m ready to start on this month’s socks.

Antique Nostepinne

Carved antique nostepinne

Thanks for stopping by. Now go have a crafty day.

 

It’s Weaving Time

Weaving a scarf

Here’s my first attempt at weaving ever! Loving my new Glimakra ridged-heddle loom. I especially love that the turning knobs are a metal crank, much easier from my arthritic, right thumb. Thank you Arlene for bringing your warping board to spinning class and teaching me how to warp my loom. And, thanks to Ashford for the wonderful YouTube tutorials on beginning-to-weave. Woven scarf on the way! I’ll have to watch another tutorial for finishing. Such fun! The yarn is inexpensive yarn from Michael’s, for the first try I didn’t want to use my “precious” handspun.

How Warped Can I Be?

Relaxing with a cuppa

Cold, spotty rain, grey day, perfect for a cuppa and reading. I found a new “Cheese Shop” mystery series by Avery Aames and I’m reading the first book: The Long Quiche Good-bye. Although I was quite prepared to snuggle up and read all day, this kept “talking” to me:

Glimakra Emilia loom

This is too much! I swore I wasn’t going to take up weaving because I really do not need one more creative endeavor. Then, one of the women in spinning class brought in her Emilia and let me try her out. Instant crush! It was meant to be when I checked my emails and there was an offer from Paradise Fibers – spend $300 get a $100 credit. Now Emilia sits in my living room calling to me: warp me, weft me, let me make something beautiful for you.

Plying fingerling yarn

So, instead of curling up reading I’ve been alternating: 1.  plying together two 1200-yard skeins of fingerling yarn (that’s .681 miles), which I’ll never use for knitting but I’ll use for the warp and 2. winding the weft yarn onto the shuttle.

Loading the shuttle

Joined Weavolution and watched YouTube videos on how to load the shuttle with yarn and how to warp a rigid heddle. Don’t you just love the information on YouTube? Ah, what a day. A jillion new weaving terms: sett, sleying, beaming, shed, bubbling, draw-in, etc. Yikes!

We are actually expecting a huge rain storm the next couple of days. So Emilia and I might become better acquainted.

Can anybody recommend some great weaving sites?