half-assed fiber projects

I've been thinking about documenting the way I got into fiber. I don't have the right pictures for every aspect, but it looks like I do have a lot. Some people want to learn a thing so they do a bunch of research and then get instruction and learn the right way. They probably end up better than me. I'm a lot more likely to just see some blog post and decide to try that, and then with only 25% of the knowledge needed, start. I make a lot of crap, but I noticed as I was paging through my old photostream that I stop having any half-assed stuff to show off around 2015 -- all the stuff after that is too respectable to add to this thread, even where it's maybe a little more rustic than you would prefer. So I did end up with some skills.

Anyway, someone posted about loom-construction, and it inspired me to finally compile this.

So, I found a post on some maker blog -- maybe Make magazine about a dude who was back-strap weaving in parks using little laser-cut plastic looms. It was maybe 2006. And I decided I wanted to weave something. But I was at work, and buying things seemed lame -- like learning what I was doing, apparently. So I made a loom with what I had and wove something.

I also started out interested in "plarn" as a way of upcycling plastic bags. I spent a couple years on plarn, but now I'd rather just get plastic out of my environment.

You also get to see my first half-assed spindle -- a unit block, a dowel, an eyelet, and a screw. Oh yeah, and my chopsticks and rubber bands knitting needles!

This is at the same job where I made that loom. I think I had some of the unspun plarn lying around and wanted to put twist into it and also show a coworker how it was done. Simple is how!

For crude knitting, crude tools work fine.

I ended up getting two three-foot dowels and cutting one end down to a point and using super-long straight needles instead of circulars for this practice.

This is just an assortment of some of the weird things I knitted along the way to learning that craft.

What is this called? A tea cozy goes over a pot to keep it warm and this goes on my cup to prevent my hand from burning. There are can cozies to keep your hand warm from a cold can. Anyway, I made this by double-stranding yarn and jute twine or something -- probably before I knew that double-stranding was a legitimate practice. I just tried a lot of stuff.

For a while, I was mending sweatshirts with yarn because it seemed like magic. Using cotton for this is a much, much better idea than wool that felts....oops!

my wife and I gave a king-sized quilt to my best friend and his wife as a wedding present. It was a hell of a project. And she's the seamster, so she led with an iron fist to make sure nothing was done half-assed. But when we were done, there was a grocery-bag filled to the top with little selvedge strips that I just knew could be used for something. Eventually I sort of spun them together with enough twist and other junk fiber to hold, and then I knitted a...thing -- I know, a rectangle! It was a nice spash of color in the otherwise dull office.

This is mostly to show off the crude DIY setup. I was using a paper-towel roll as a nostapine and spool, and I fabricated reels for doing this plying out of a stool and some clamps and other junk. But you know, it worked! And adding beads to the stuff I'd tried was fun.

This isn't really half-assed but I wanted to include it anyway. There's this thing where people crochet coral and other reef-critters. The corals are said to be hyperbolic because they don't exist on a plane, or modified cylinder, or other relatively simple shape. Increasing increases cause the manifold ripple as the live edge gets bigger and bigger. I didn't like that people thought you couldn't knit it so I custom made a pair of circs with a twelve foot cord and that allowed me to make corals through knitting. :-)

I collected maps for forty years. They were treasure. And then I realized I was crazy. So I started making things out of them. I think I saw an example of someone making paper yarn but there wasn't much info so I just tried it. It sorta worked.

Inspirational, Christopher This is an excellent way to say don't be held back by what you don't know. . . the fingers soon learn what works and what doesn't.  

Yes!
These are great examples of creative experimentation!

I think many folks are intimidated and influenced by 'how to' videos selling things.  
Viewed as having to buy these certain things to learn how to make exactly 'this' has many afraid to jump in and play.

I especially love the apple weighted drop spindle 😊

Fun thread, Christopher! Great way to prove out that having the 'perfect' equipment just doesn't always matter, in getting started. In fact, I think improvising & building one's own equipment usually gives a better understanding of how things work, which in turn can lead to better skill.

Your picture of your first loom reminded me of mine.  But mine was a wooden box with nails across 2 ends as pegs to hold the warp.  First I wove a rectangle the size of the box.  Then I wanted a longer piece of weaving.  I figured out how to get longer warp threads, and how to wrap and “store” them.  You went way beyond me though in your discovery and innovation process.

Thanks for posting all this.