Little Green Sprang Bag

Another little sprang bag was finished this week. This is done with cotton crochet yarn. 60 threads are being worked on this bag. The thick white and blue strings are used as spacers for the rows.


As the space gets tight I use this afghan crochet hook to work the yarn. This hook is longer than the average crochet hook and is very useful for this project.



The middle row gets a long thread to hold the shape of the bottom, then the sides are sewn up and knots are tied. bag is turned inside out to hide the knots. Double loops of single yarns are used to close the bag, making a less bulky top hem than a three strand braid would have.

There is five rows with Z twist, switch to 4 rows S twist, switch to 4 rows Z twist, close up the middle. I will definitely work this yarn again. These small bags will be handy for practicing different patterns.


I modified my cardboard loom with a hole and tied a loop of string through it so I could use it to anchor a three strand braid I was making for another bag. Just a simple idea to pass along to help work on the bus.

Have a good day!

December Saturday Group

Dec 10 2011 - Here is the Saturday Group of Sacramento Weavers and Spinners Guild, which meets once a month on Saturdays. The group was started for fiber arts fans who can't get to the other Guild meetings which are held on weekdays.


Compared to the large meetings, we have room to spread out and spin and knit. Linda has a turkish drop spindle, Linda in the middle has a spindolyn in her lap, which is a supported spindle. Sue is knitting.


We also do a little bit of "show and tell." Jan is showing off her kumihimo braiding that she has been working on as Betsy looks on. Jan and Betsy are members of the committee organizing the Guild Open House in February. The Saturday Group is invited to have a table display at the Open House and they had suggestions for the display.


At the larger Guild meeting it was "Mini-workshops" month and Betsy brought her nuno felting piece that she learned at the Guild workshop.



Betsy also has been very busy and is showing us some scarves she finished. The piece on left is a four harness piece with yarn dyed with a mushroom! The piece in the middle is "birch bark" style weaving, and the piece on right is a sort of "mourning cloth" scarf with black beads although it has a few color threads to indicate about six months into mourning.



I showed off my sample from the Mini-workshop on rigid heddle weaving. I also showed some of the little sprang bags I've been working on.


This month the subject is fiber preparation and Susan brought her hand cards to show how she cards wool with it. Arlene also brought some hand cards and a box of multicolored wool (not pictured) from a sheep named Spot. She got some help from Susan on how to use the cards.

I also learned some carding technique from Linda who showed me how to do the little rolags (rolls of carded wool).



Betsy and Linda brought their drum carders to show us how they work. I would also like to draw your attention to the carpet with the cartoon critters reading books. We're in a public library and "Reading is fun."


Betsy brought her Shacht Petite (left) with fine tooth carding cloth that she purchased to blend some angora rabbit wool that she bought at Dixon Lamb Town. It can also process sheep wool and other fibers if you take your time. The brush on top helps keep the fine angora from flying away and smooths the tops of the batts.

Linda brought her Louet (right) drum carder with medium tooth cloth that she uses for wool. The stouter teeth allow her to feed more into the carder.

In 2012 we will be moving to afternoon time slots and having up to 4 hours at a time so we can do more involved work. We tend to run out of time with the 2 1/2 hour meetings so hopefully we can get more in depth in the next year.

Next meeting is Jan 7 - St Distaff Day, bring your spindles and spinning wheels!

You can visit the Guild website for more information.
http://www.sacweavespin.org/saturday


It was a good day!