Macomber Mysteries

A week ago I bought my dream loom. It's a 45" Macomber 16 harness frame with 8 harnesses. The perfect width (not too big, not too narrow). The perfect number of harnesses. And room to expand should I outgrow 8.

Unfortunately, Macomber doesn't have much in the way of documentation. I have the catalogs the original owner received. And lovely catalogs they are! Someone spent a lot of time and energy creating such beautiful marketing literature. I, and probably many other Macomber owners, wish they had put the same energy into providing supporting documentation. So far, I haven't even found someone with a mechanical assembly drawing.

So I come to the community of Macomber owners with some questions. I am fairly mechanically inclined and can figure out most things on my own. I also have some experience with looms (I own 5 not counting the Mac - 2 tables, a floor, and 2 rigid heddles). Sometimes, stuff just plain stumps you.

First, what are these parts?

The middle piece is used to connect the treadle to a shaft. I figured that one out because the previous owner left one still attached. I have lots of those which I assume you need to be able to set up complicated tie-ups. But I haven't a clue about the smaller wire-like piece. There are exactly 10 of those. Coincidentally, the loom has 10 treadles.

Next, what does this lever do?

The photos were taken from the back of loom. I think the black lever is used in conjuction with the big silver hunk of metal in the first picture. Threading the black handle into the slot and lining it up over part of the jack mechanism makes it possible to push down on a single shaft from the front of the loom. Is that how this is to be used? Why would you use something like that?

Last question: what is this for? And where should it be attached?

It hangs off the back beam near the warp beam. It consists of a small spring, some thin rope, and a chain at the end. I know it's not the warp beam brake because there's a ratchet contraption on the other end of the warp beam.

I hope someone can help!

Monterey Pronk's Fiber Art Competition accepts Mail-in and Check-in day entries!

Monterey Pronk's Fiber Art Competition accepts all entries containing at least 50% alpaca.

The premiums are $10 for First place and $5 for Second Place. We also have special awards for Judge's Choice and People's Choice.

If you download Monterey Pronk's forms the instructions have all kinds of deadlines that are looming near. Well.... if you can hand-walk your entry to check-in, ignore those deadlines and bring your exhibit directly on in! If you have to drop it in the mail, make sure it'll get to me no later than September 21st and I'll bring it to check-in for you.

The information on the website is mostly correct - we've changed a few things to accommodate more entries at the last minute. Here are the changes!

Modified Fiber Art and Skein Entry Instructions

1) Go here. Download the appropriate forms. Separate forms are used for entries in Fiber Arts, Handspun Skeins, and Mill Spun Skeins. Don't forget to fill out a “Fee Form” as well. In a nutshell, Fees are $3 per entry.

IMPORTANT: AOBA Show Division Membership is NOT required for a Fiber Arts & Skeins competition!

2) Fill out all forms. If you have any questions, please contact Kimberly Louie at (alpacas at humminghearts.com)

3) Exhibits must be placed in a clean plastic bag, whenever possible. The preferred plastic bag is a one-gallon size ziplock. One item per bag.

4) Fill out the Fiber Arts and/or Skein Entry Tag and place in the bag with the item. If you want the entry mailed back to you, in the "Pickup Receipt" section, please write “Item is being returned by mail”

5a) Place items, forms, and fees in a tyvek envelope or a box. USPS has free shipping materials. If you use a box, make sure that this box is in good, sturdy condition because it will be the one used to mail back your item(s).

OR

5b) Bring item, entry forms, and fees to the check-in on Friday, September 28 between 10am-4pm to the Monterey County Fairgrounds. As of this post, I'm unsure where we'll be doing check-in so ask someone and they'll be sure to direct you. Alpaca show people are very helpful!

6) Pick Up or Return Shipping: Entires can be picked up Sunday, September 30th between 5-7pm. If you want something returned by mail, you MUST include a return shipping label with postage or carrier label in the envelope/box. Since you may win a ribbon and each ribbon weighs 2 ounces, please calculate that added weight for EACH item.

7) Shipping Fiber Art Items To The Fiber Art & Skeins Competition Manager: We recommend that you ship your Fiber Art Item with a carrier which uses a tracking system (i.e. UPS, Fed-ex, etc). Ship to: Kimberly Louie (address found on the forms). The Monterey Pronk ’07 show management is not responsible for packages that are lost in transit or delivered late.

Note for mail-in entries: The actual Fiber Art items, forms and fees should be postmarked to Kimberly Louie no later than September 15th and needs to arrive no later than September 21st. Please make sure that you email Kimberly at (alpacas at humminghearts.com) to let her know that the items being entered in the show have been shipped to her.

Felted Soap

You couldn't ask for a more simple, enjoyable, and fun project! And I'm not just talking about something for the kids.

To use these fuzzy creations, you simply get it wet under running water and rub the fiber to lather up the soap. When you're finished, wipe off the excess soap suds and let it sit to dry.

Felted soaps are a gardener's best friend. Their fuzzy texture with its built-in soap dispenser makes cleaning fingernails a breeze! In fact, these soaps are better than a loofah.

So how does one make felted soap? Read on!

Step 1
Using a bar of soap, you're going to wrap it in fiber. I've used roving made from alpaca neck and legs that I dyed green (and in later photos it "magically" turns purple :-) but you can use any carded clean fiber. I wouldn't use uncarded fiber because it tends to create a lumpy fiber covering.


Step 2
Using a gentle stream of water, wet the fiber and soap. As you are doing this, scrunch the entire thing to work up a soapy lather. An alternative is to add some soap foam from one of those hand soap dispensers that put out foam soap. This will get things started faster. Be careful not to shift the fiber in a way that creates holes. I've found the fiber felts pretty quickly so be sure to cover any bare spots right away. If you do end up with bare spots, you can try adding some more dry fiber. Sometimes this works, and sometimes this doesn't. It seems to depend on the type of fiber used.

Step 3
Felt. To wet felt (and not all fibers will felt - be sure to start with a feltable fiber like alpaca), fibers must be exposed to soap and agitation. Another component often found in wet felting is extreme temperature changes. Thankfully, we don't need that component in this process. So once you have a soapy lather, rub the bar of soap along its edges. The more you agitate the fiber, the more it will felt making a strong covering for the bar of soap.



Step 4
Rinse off the excess soap lather.




And you're done! Let it sit out to dry.

Finished Projects

In an effort to start the new year off right, I've finished two projects I started last year. The first are the felted slippers I mentioned in a previous post. For the felting process, I washed them in our washing machine with a load of clothes using hot water. Because we have a front loading washing machine, things don't usually felt well so I took them out and hand felted them some more in the sink. Then they were popped into the dryer for the final step. I'm quite pleased with the felting and fit results, although admit they'd work better on someone's feet who lives in a fully carpetted home. I find they're a bit too slippery for our linoleum and wood floors. These were made using handspun Lincoln wool.


My second completed project is one I'm quite proud of. It is a dressy jacket made using dupioni silk and my hand-spun, handwoven yardage. The story of the woven yardage: I bought some black alpaca roving while at our very first alpaca show in Southern California around Fall 2003. We weren't showing - we were just interested in alpacas. I took home the roving and spun it but wanting to make it go as far as possible, I plied it with an Ashland Bay wool roving in fall colors. Beautiful yarn! In April 2004, I entered that yarn into a fiber arts competition at the Monterey Pronk, an alpaca show in Monterey California. It won a blue ribbon! The yarn then sat in my stash for a while as I tried to figure out what I wanted to do with it. Every spinner out there knows what I'm talking about - we have many yarns that sit until they "call to us". Well this one spoke to me when I had a black cotton yarn I had put on the loom to "play" with. That warp's purpose was specifically so I could experiment with different treadling and different tie-ups. But after I was "played" out, I found I had lots of warp left over. In a simple twill, I wove the 48" of fabric.

Back to "let it sit until it calls to me". In September 2005, I pulled out my pattern stash. I wanted to use the fabric to make a vest but didn't find any patterns I liked. Instead this dress jacket called to me. I made a "muslin" using the pattern pieces, adjusted it to fit me, cut the pieces apart to accomodate the handwoven fabric width and made my jacket. It helps that I've got a lot of pattern drafting experience (see the link for Kings and Sages Apparel, my line of boy's clothing) but it really was quite easy. My next project is a black corduory winter (well, California winter) jacket using some of my other handwoven stash.

Close-up of woven fabric:

Fun fiber stuff

My dd and I made some neat yarn yesterday morning.

A few months ago I won an ebay auction for 24 pirns that were loaded with string. I only wanted the pirns to use in a shuttle I had bought; I had planned to throw away the string. Once the items arrived, the string was actually kind of nice. And since I had a warp on the loom already that needed to be used up, I went about using the string and made some nice placemats. They were so nice that I used them as a Christmas gift to my sister, who said she loves them and is using them as doilies and end table runners. Even after I ran out of warp (remember my floor loom came pre-warped with white string), I still had about a dozen pirns filled with string. But these were not in as good a shape as the others - the string broke when pulled on with medium tension. I'd hate to make something and have it fall apart because the weft is too weak. So to the garbage these fibers were headed.

filled pirn

But it killed me to throw away all that string. And it was taking forever to pull off the string. Rotary cutter to the rescue! One quick pass over the length of the pirn and I had most of the string removed.

cut pirn

But wait! The removed string actually looked just like that stuff in the eyelash yarns. Oooooo!!! Card it into some wool, spin it up, and Viola! Eyelash Yarn

eyelash yarn

Monterey Pronk 2004

Competing in a show is exhilirating
yet nerveracking
and also exhausting
but most of all, awesome!

This weekend was our first show. It was held at the beautiful Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey California. Our yearling male, Autumn Heat, competed in a full fleece halter show. Here we are walking in the ring as the judge (in red) looks on.



In addition to the halter competition, they also had a Fiber Arts Competition. I entered 3 handspun skeins of yarn and my daughter entered 1 handspun skein. Between us, everything we entered won a ribbon. I won 2 First places and 1 Second place and my daughter won a First place on her skein. Here's one of my First place skeins with its ribbon.

Spinning Guild Day

I love today. It's the third Saturday of the month. I look forward to today all month long. Today is the monthly meeting with the local spinning guild. I get to hang out with fellow fiber enthusiasts. I always come away from the meetings having learned something new. Part of what I love is the time that I get to spend, doing something that I find very relaxing with other people who are doing the similar things and chatting about everything under the sun but usually about fiber stuff that just puts me in a place of comfort. Another part is the fact that I *always* come home having learned something new. And yet another part has to do with this activity being something I do just for me.

The guild I belong to is called Serendipity Spinners and they are located in San Jose, California. Their web site is

I borrowed someone's Lil Herbie wheel to spin up a yarn sample. Just yummy! Okay, you're going to have to trust me on that because this is a really bad picture.


Tomorrow we're headed to Southern Cross Alpaca Farm in Gilroy. Robyn Houts is a nationally known alpaca fiber judge so I'm eager to see what's she got available in her fiber store. We're also curious about the layout of the ranch they have since it sits on only 5 acres - a plot size we may well end up with ourselves.