Finally!

Three frustrating days after deciding to join the masses in blogland, I've finally cracked it. It seems blogger doesn't like Netscape, for the set up part at least. After god knows how many attempts at creating a blog and not being able to get past entering a name and url I bit the bullet and switched to IE which obligingly let me do so. So here I am.

A bit of background on me: I'm a comparative novice in the spinning and weaving world, having only started spinning about 5 years ago and weaving a year later. The spinning came about when I realised that the fleece I got from my small flock of sheep (all 4 of them) was far too good to toss into the shearer's sack, so I held on to it, thinking I'd give it to a spinner - if I ever met one. I didn't, so the obvious move was to learn myself, and I joined a spinning group. I love spinning and once I'd got wool figured out, I delved into other fibres - silk, alpaca, mohair, etc; discovered dyeing, and pretty soon had a sizeable stash accumulated. But what to do with it all ...? I'm what could be called an adequate knitter, but I've never been passionate about it. It's always been a necessity thing for me - armed with a pattern and the stipulated yarn I could turn out an acceptable result, but knitting for the sake of it had never interested me. Someone suggested weaving, but since I'd never had any real association with a weaver that didn't spark any interest at the time, so I simply carried on churning out more yarn to satisfy the urge to create. Then one day I was prowling around a large used clothing store and tucked away in the corner was an old 4 shaft jack loom which had apparently been 'thrown in' with a collection of donated clothing. While it appeared a bit 'rustic' (ie. possibly homemade) the frame was solid, the reed and wire heddles were in good condition and the asking price was ridiculously low, so I bought it, still not considering using it myself, but rather that someone else in the guild might be interested in it. It sat downstairs for about 2 months until curiosity got the better of me; I got some books out of the library, searched out web sites, figured out how it all worked, and that was the beginning of the obsession. My current loom count stands at the original 4 shaft, a 42" 8 shaft Mecchia jack loom, a 24" 4 shaft table loom, and the most recent acquisition which was given to me, a 42" 4 shaft Loman countermarche (a New Zealand made loom popular about 25 years ago). I've yet to try out the latter as I first have to find a new home for the original jack loom so I can move the Loman from the garage.

I'm largely a self taught weaver as a result of the local weaving group having become more of a coffee and chat group; the majority of the aging members having disposed of their looms when they downsized their homes. While they're all very knowledgeable and generous with their advice, the days of hands-on weaving occurring at the monthly meetings are long gone, and workshops in the local area are few and far between. Fortunately I'm resourceful by nature and unlike many I know have no problems learning from books and websites, but I do yearn for the encouragement of and inspiration from other weavers, and fibreholics - all of which leads circuitously to why I started this blog. I've recently discovered blogs by the likes of Sara Lamb, Charleen, Terri, to name just 3 WeaveRing members whose blogs I've found contain a wealth of information and inspiration. In addition to the ooh-aah factor contained in these blogs, it also occurred to me that a blog was a great way to record one's own fibre journey, and to learn from and share with others on theirs.

So there - that's why.