Mitzi’s Yarns for Weavers and Knitters

About

Mitzi’s Yarns for Weavers and Knitters

Please email me at warpedweaver@hotmail.com, or use the phone # (208)340-9775 to contact me for all inquiries. Thank you. Mitzi

In High school my favorite Art teacher (Ms. G. Kendrick) had a large floor loom in the art department. Do not know if it was 4 or 8 harness or the brand but it intrigued me. We did off loom weaving where we made a loom with wood and nails. I still have a piece I made then. We used all kinds of weird stuff like panty hose, dog fur, twine, etc. I created a wall hanging. A few years later my mom got me a rigid heddle table top loom that I wove many more wall hangings and table toppers with. I was hooked. When I was 28, newly married and in a nice home, I decided I wanted a floor loom. A friend had a 4 harness, 4 treadle, 36” wide weaving width Harrisville in storage. She told me I could borrow it. For my 30 th birthday she said “enjoy the loom” I said “I am and have been”…she said “you can keep it”! I still love that loom. It is my favorite. In 2007 or 2008 I added 2 treadles and a tool tray. Adding the treadles was a very educational experience for me as I had to take the loom very much apart, change the way the harnesses hook up to the treadles, etc. and put it all back together. It is a lovely tool!

So many mentors helped me. Just going to meetings and seeing show and tell was wonderfully inspiring and educational. Now, in 2022 we have 4 Certificate of Excellence earners in this group! Yes, I said four!!! I wonder if any other guild can claim that? Most of them are definitely “structure” weavers; I am a “color” weaver; have played with some structures, especially like trying weaving stars and circles, but I believe I could be happy just on 4 harness and the triangle loom for life. If I do buy a new loom (have never bought a brand-new loom), it will be 8 harnesses just because if you are going to buy a new loom you should. Ha Ha!

In the fall of 2002 my friend Vila Cox (Warped and Wonderful, production weaver, look her up for beautiful handwoven gifts!) and I were at the “Wool Growers Day” at a local winery where we had our handwoven items for sale.

There were other vendors, food, wine of course, working dogs doing dog trials, and many spinner friends (spinning=making yarn with a spinning wheel or spindle! Not bicycling!) I was spinning in the back of our tent, when a man came along who said “Did you weave this?” Vila said “no, Mitzi wove that piece”. I had to ask what he was doing in Idaho with that North Carolina accent… Turns out he owned a mill and he had some yarn he thought I might be able to use. It was the first yarn I had for sale, 60/2 silk, still in the box from China, with original customs forms in the box. That gorgeous silk has long since been sold out. I was not looking for a business or a job, but my yarn business and this website were born when I met this nice gentleman.

In late 2012 I was contacted by a warehouse in Georgia that they had a large quantity of 100% Wool, Mill-end yarn for sale. 5,000 pounds were shipped to me at a reasonable price so it is also now listed on my site as of January 2013. This is VERY NICE weaving yarn in various natural colors, and some of it is very suitable for knit items also. This yarn is priced at a bargain, hoping to pass on my savings to all my weaving and knitting friends out there. Many of these yarns are not super soft, but work beautifully for rugs, jackets or coats, or other outer garments.

Eventually the shop received at least 4 truckloads (5000 pounds each) of yarn from a carpet mill warehouse in Dalton, Georgia, not far from where I grew up. At one time I believe Dalton, Georgia was the world leader carpet manufacture.

Please take a look at my Inventory of Wool Weaving Yarns on the Wool Yarns Page!

The 'Yarn Shop' is full of bargains with many different fibers, colors, and sizes to choose from. The prices are so wonderful because many of the yarns are "mill ends", meaning the mill,
carpet, clothing manufacturer or sock factory cannot use them anymore. Their loss, our gain. Because of this, when they are gone, that is it, so please order enough for your project. I hope there is something here that inspires you. Although many of the bargains are from mill ends, I have also been able to make a good buy on name brand knitting yarns to list them below suggested retail.

There are also new items being listed on the Handwovens page as I continue to weave on my three looms. I will also be listing some nice hand knit items, some of which are knit using handspun yarn which I spun on one of my spindles or spinning wheels. Thanks for looking.

Presently my goal is to continue meeting and talking to other fiber addicts, and passing on the savings I have found in yarn from my friends in North Carolina and Georgia, and now my nice knitting yarn inventory.

2022 update

This year the goal is to get the website more user friendly so that you can click and shop. I've hired a company that I highly recommend, Mad Hatter Techs LLC located in Meridian, Idaho to help me make this happen as I'm not a very computer friendly person.

I also have a small 16-inch-wide weaving width Van Cleves (an old, not very common brand) loom which was gifted to me quite a few years ago and needed work. It's a little funky and primitive; four harnesses, four treadle, loom but works fine once you get going.

The loom I love the most and have had the longest is my Harrisville four harness, six treadle, floor loom. It has a 36-inch-wide weaving width. I'm considering selling the little Van Cleves loom and getting a new 22-inch-wide Harrisville floor loom. I've done a lot of loom swapping or musical looms in my home. Once people find out you're a weaver looms, fiber, spinning wheels, other tools etc. seem to come your way! It has been productive and interesting but I think I'm easily distracted by different looms. Getting them working, and making repairs. Getting close to the conclusion that I'd rather just focus on the weaving itself and stop fiddling with all these different looms! My goal these days is to sell out of the yarn business in 10 years and continue to weave, spin, and/or knit daily. Hope you are sitting down at your loom, whatever it may be on a regular basis!

Weaving is a complicated hobby! Learning wraps per inch (WPI), setts (how to space the threads or yarn in the reed) or dents per inch in the reed, winding a warp properly and tying it to save the cross, attaching the warp to the front beam for threading, how to calculate how much yarn you have, and how much yarn you need for your project, the difference between plain weave and twills, then there is overshot! Threading the reed and heddles in the proper order, tying the yarns so if the cat decides the yarn is very interesting it will not get pulled out, causing you to lose the cross and making a huge mess, winding the warp on the loom with good even tension, ETC! The list goes on and on! But I do love creating beautiful fabric, scarves, blankets, shawls, and clothing when I am brave enough to attempt sewing.