Hackles 'n' Looms

There are hackles on dogs and hackles on hats but this little hackle is clamped to a table and used to comb and blend fibre.

Hackles are very difficult to find and very expensive to buy but I really need one to comb out the fleeces that I have had hanging around for the last few weeks. The above is a rare valkyrie hackle and is about $150 US. I don't think so. Not when my clever husband can take a piece of scrap wood and a few 5" nails and make me one.
And he has. I have no picture as yet but it is rather more savage than the one pictured above. In fact I think the baddie in Enter the Dragon had something quite similar strapped to his wrist/stump in order to gut Bruce Lee

Okay, maybe it's not quite that bad but it is still a big piece of wood with nails hammered through it and it looks an effective bit of kit for a bar room brawl.

Yes, it has been a very productive day today as V has also made me a new peg loom. My dad has been promising to do this for some time but unfortunately he has been quite unwell for the last few weeks and it is getting to the point where I really do need to get moving on the children's sleeping mats*


Again the above is not mine, but it looks very similar (can you tell that the camera has gone awol again?)
Needless to say tomorrow will be spent combing and weaving. I will try to get a few pics of what I am doing. I am sure the camera will turn up somewhere. In the meantime, it will be a true pleasure to use something in my crafting that my husband has made for me!

*for camping I hasten to add, they usually sleep on beds like everyone else.