The dust won’t settle…

Here it is Tuesday and somehow I thought by now I’d be unpacked, house would be in order and I’d have a relaxing couple of days to myself.  On what planet was I living?  I finally finished unpacking from  my very entertaining but draining week, and this morning I scrubbed the orange mildew from my shower stall, with a toothbrush it was that bad, and so my house is finally safe to inhabit, but really, the list keeps growing…

It all started last Sunday (now a week ago), when I packed up and left for Peters Valley.  I got called to do a four day fiber experience with a group of high school kids from Pennsylvania, through a National Park Service grant, held at Peters Valley.  It was a great tie in with Park Service Rangers from the Weir Farm National Historic site in CT.  I must visit sometime.  Two of the rangers were from Weir, and gave a presentation to the students the first morning after they toured Peters Valley.

We started with frame loom weaving, speed tapestry as I call it.  I have them quickly cover the warp with wool roving and then go back in and add color and texture using tapestry and pile techniques.

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Even the park rangers got in on the fun.  They had to leave early to get back to CT and were really sorry to have to stop.  I hope they can figure out a way to continue adding to their pieces.

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The coordinator from Peters Valley, Linnia, loved the technique and spent that evening and all the second day working on hers.

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Day two had students working on warp face bands on the inkle loom.  They were quickly set up and finished the first band by lunch time.  They all had time to set up and weave off an additional band.

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Day three I brought out the shaft looms.  I was originally told there would be 12 students and two park rangers who would be participating but as with enrollment in anything, that is subject to the whims of the day, and though I brought and prepped 14 of each type of loom, I only needed 6 and the occasional extra for a participating staff member.  Easier on me, but a  lot to haul.

They warped quickly, ready to weave just after lunch.  Some were content to follow the draft, and others just did their own thing.  It was fun watching them explore.

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In the evenings I worked frantically at Hilltop doing the final prep of all the looms for Kathryn Weber’s class coming in on Friday morning.  There were suppose to be 10 signed up with a loom for the instructor, which would put all the new to us Macomber looms through their paces.  Armed with pizza and a couple bottles of wine, we finished up late Tuesday night reorienting all the heddles, and reinstalling all the more than 100 shafts on the looms.

Wednesday afternoon I packed everything up and loaded up the car, drove home, threw everything on the floor of the garage and ate dinner.  My  husband moved our theater tickets from the end of the month, to Wednesday night, which I would never have done, except he got called for a job in Istanbul Turkey and was leaving Saturday for a month.  No stress here.  By the time I got back from the theater, a classic piece by Ben Johnson, a contemporary of Shakespeare called The Alchemist, I was so bone tired I was beyond functioning.  I still had to pull everything and repack the car for Thursday’s fiber adventure which was all about felting.  I was so tired I couldn’t remember where anything was in my studio.  My daughter was there to assist, keeping me standing…

I put the last thing into the car, and staggered into the kitchen ready to fall into bed, and my husband walked in and said my son was on the phone, it was his last stateside phone call since he was leaving Texas in the morning for the middle east.  I don’t remember much of that phone call except I laid awake the entire night overwhelmed by it all.

Somehow I managed to drive myself Thursday morning back to Peters Valley, and left my phone on the counter.  Which means no photos.  Which was really a shame because the kids did amazing work.  There were a number of photos taken, from the park service and from the photo resident, but I haven’t received any of them yet.  So you will have to wait for the update on that.  If I had it to do over, I’d limit all the techniques I taught to only three hours, high school kids have very short attention spans and work very very quickly.  Of course that would have meant having to pack even more stuff so maybe what I did was OK after all.  By lunch time they had completed two felted panels each!

Photos will be inserted here when they become available!

I packed up Thursday night and drove back home (Peters Valley is about an hour from my house) and I was stunned to find my lovely daughter had put away or at least brought up to the studio all the looms and bags from the first three days I had just hurled into the garage, and I could have kissed her.  I once again, hurled all the felting debris into the garage/studio and laundry room (there were about 20 wet towels I couldn’t leave), and then I repacked for Friday.

I had already been asked to demo for Peters Valley on Friday at the state fair, which is up near the valley, so I wasn’t able to teach the 5th day of fibers, someone else did that, but I had to pack up all the demonstration stuff, inkle looms, shafts looms, and bobbin lace pillows, along with my work and a clothing rack and assorted things to sell.  Since I don’t have a computerized list like I do with classes, I had to rely on logic to think what I’d need, and considering my exhaustion, I’m not surprised that I arrived at the fair, without a shuttle or yarn for the demonstration loom.  A quick call to my husband who had left after us, showed he was almost to the fair grounds, and God bless him he turned around, drove all the way home to fetch me a shuttle and some rug warp.  Good thing too, it was the most popular thing in my booth.  I taught a number of kids to weave on my trusty Structo.

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And I taught a woman named Marge the basics of bobbin lace.  She was over the moon.  She stayed for a good half hour, so excited to understand how lace works.

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There were a number of  photos taken, but they are probably in my husband’s camera and he is now in Turkey, and I don’t have the energy to go hunt for them.  I did get a great one posted on Facebook from Gary McNabb, my wonderful friend and woodworker who was demoing for the Valley as well.

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Brianna left for Maryland for a week, to observe on my cousin’s dairy barn, and I drove Kevin to the airport on Saturday afternoon.  I wish I could say I just collapsed for a couple of days but that wasn’t to be.  There were pounds of tomatoes and beans and cucumbers from the garden waiting for me and I made spaghetti sauce, canned a dozen jars of refrigerator pickles and dried a couple trays of cherry tomatoes in the oven. I’m still hauling in produce.  I have to freeze a bunch of beans left on the vine too long.

I drove out to Passaic yesterday to pick up some yarn that had been donated to Peters Valley, so that is in my garage waiting until I next travel out there. And I spent the day packing and shipping a guitar and some care packages to my son in Qatar.  The house is finally presentable, and everything put away where it belongs from last week’s adventures, but there is no rest for the weary.  I was hoping for some lovely violent thunderstorms today, so I wouldn’t have to water but alas, the storms have split, moving around either side of us and so everything is still bone dry.  Somewhere in there I have to mow the lawn as well.

This too shall pass.  Soon it will be fall and I have six weeks straight of teaching, in six states,  followed closely by my guild sale in November.  By December I’ll be ready to sleep through the long winter.  Stay tuned…

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Sheila Carey
Sheila Carey
August 12, 2014 10:04 pm

Just reading this makes me tired. Take good care of yourself!
And best wishes for your son.

Marilyn
Marilyn
August 13, 2014 5:21 am

Whew!! Your myriad fans (and friends) worry you will wear out that body and mind too soon! Block out a day to relax and sleep now and again. But thank you for reminding me to use my own time more wisely, and pass on the fiber love to a new generation. School starts next week and it is time to register again as a volunteer and mentor.

Joan Ahern
Joan Ahern
August 13, 2014 7:02 am

I don’t know how you do it all. Don’t forget to take some time out to energize yourself. Oh my guild sale… Perhaps this year I’ll get some things done for it. My prayers are with your son. I’m sure this is a stressful time for you both. Long distance hug!

Susan
Susan
August 14, 2014 5:02 pm

Mother of God!!! NO rest for the weary and the just don’t need it…………OK, don’t throw anything at me 🙂 Good thing you are young………..
What a great job you did with the kiddos, thank you for introducing them to something that can take them through the rest of their life.

Nancy
Nancy
August 14, 2014 5:44 pm

Keep up the fantastic opportunity to teach the younger generation how their clothes have been made and the history that is there in each and every item they put on every day. And, make sure you get some rest, and, of course, sit with a glass of wine and some chocolate every night on your deck! Hugs,

Jenny
Jenny
August 15, 2014 7:52 am

Sheesh…I’d be ready to crawl into bed with a bottle of wine after all that.

Those sturdy little Structos certainly do their bit in the enlightening of the public to the joys of weaving! I will never again stand by and let anyone poo poo them as a silly toy.

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