I Forgot...

Really. I've been preoccupied and totally forgot until I saw Laura's FB profile this morning, April 2. So belatedly, for me, but not for everybody, April Spools Day. (Leave a link in the comment if you have spools shots, say until the end of April 2 your time?)

Laura 

Karen

Sampling

Ela

Margery

Karina 

Sandra

And I wove yesterday with these.

April Spools Day

My oldest set come from two sources, the first from the manufacturer of my heaviest shuttle, the second from a local man who wanted to start a woodworking business over a decade ago. Not sure what happened to him.

This is the hardest working set, naked for now.

And just a small portion of my handmade, recycled paper set.

And a set of tiny Japanese bamboo ones Sampling gave me a year ago for my tiny Japanese silk shuttles. I wanted to show these next to a set Mom gave me last week. I can't find them today, meaning, they are in the last box I packed for Mom to post after I left, the very box I asked her not to post this morning, because she was right and the box is not sturdy enough for the size/weight. So for the time being, they sit in Mom's closet. Silly me, I knew she was right Wednesday morning, but was too tired to repack even though a perfect box sat inches away waiting to be thrown away.

Coincidentally, Mom couldn't find her own set of slightly bigger bobbins. I eventually found them right where she reorganized and put them, but meanwhile I bought her a cheap set of plastic drinking straws. At first I didn't like that the straws came in five colors, but it turns out Mom has half a dozen boat shuttles that are almost the same size but not quite, requiring slightly different sizes of straw bobbins, so voilà, color-coded bobbins in a bag!

Here are Kaz's spools.

And Sampling's.

And Kerstin's.

And Desirée's.

And Sandra's.

And Laura's.

And Jeanette's here, here, here and here.

And Rose's.

 And Zeni's.

April Spools Day!!!

In appreciation of one of the least celebrated weaving tools, we proudly present to you our bobbins and pirns and whatever else we improvise to work with.

Happy April Spools Day, world!

My second set turned by a local turner to match the first set I bought. Every piece has a different wood grain design and looks and feels lovely. Because the shuttle which takes these is heavy and I don't weave with thick yarns too often, these babies tend to be stuck in a drawer.

My default prins. When I first got them in the mail, I was shocked because they were so ugly compared to wooden ones, but I got used to them and I mind less that they are made of plastic. 

Heavier-than-cartridge paper I intended to use the back of, wrapped around a pencil. I can get around three of these from an A4 sheet and I can cut the length to suit three shuttles of different sizes and weights. I never realized each one would last over ten years when I first made them.

Here's Dianne's basket.

And here are Sampling's.

And Cally!

And Kerstin!

And Margery!

And Laura!

And Geodyne!

Thank you for your contributions, weavers! (Anyone else I haven't spotted?)