I knew that my life this spring would be completely unmanageable and I was right, but I’m just trying to put one foot in front of the other and get through it. It will soon be May, and that will bring an entirely different set of challenges, and such is my life, though truth be told, I’m not sure I would want it any other way.
It seems like such a long time ago, the North Carolina trip was postponed a month because of snow in Raleigh Durham, and in fact I fly there next week. I kept a watchful eye on the weather for my trip to Colorado, and of course, another storm was brewing, affecting my area, and I hightailed it out of Dodge a day early. I called Maggie from Shuttles, Spindles, and Skeins in Boulder and said, “Put the kettle on, I’m on my way…”
I made it to Denver airport uneventfully, the way I like my life, (giggle… not possible), and that left me with a day to play. Coming from the airport, winter weary, Maggie and Judy took me out to eat at the Boulder Dushanbe Tea House [1]. There was green stuff. Both the kind you eat and the kind that makes lovely Oxygen.
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The icicles in Boulder were pretty awesome… (though they were actually gone completely after only a couple of days of sun).
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Maggie drove me around to all the area fiber haunts in Boulder, and there are many and one of my two favorites of course, was the tour I got of Schacht Spindle and Loom company. I can’t believe I’ve never been here. Barry Schacht couldn’t have been more accommodating, and I got a private tour of the facility. I am soooo impressed with their manufacturing operation. It was clean, and safe, and used the most up to date technology, and it ran like a tight ship.
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And of course, my favorite fabric store in the whole world, since Waechter’s Silk Shop in Asheville closed… Elfriede’s Fine Fabrics. [6] I did very serious damage to my credit card. Her remnant bins are too great to resist. I had to pay $50 just to ship it all home. All for the stash. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise… Now if I could be home long enough to sew some of it…
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And finally, I started my class in Boulder at Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins [8]. Which in itself is just the most wonderful fiber shop. The classroom space was ideal.
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The class was very social, even with those who were from out of town. We had two women fly in from Texas, and one come up from New Mexico.
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And they worked really really hard. Some of the fabrics were challenging to say the least… (Note to my readers who weave… Sett 8/2 tencel at 36 epi for garment yardage, NOT 24!)
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And slowly, we began to get real jackets. Full of pins and basting and tailor’s tacks, but they couldn’t have been more excited. These were all handwoven.
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Though these are commercial fabrics, I just couldn’t resist a photo of Jamie and Stephanie, they were too adorable!
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And dear Krista from Texas. Already an accomplished garment and pattern maker, she brought her grandmother, and they both were so much fun to have in the class. Krista would disappear to her hotel room at night, and rework her jacket, redesigning it, and figuring out ways to personalize, customize and make the rest of the students envious. Her latest plan as the class ended, was to remove the band, recut, and add in-seam bound buttonholes (after my closures lecture), and piping, along with welt pockets. And so she did… And yet, she told me that she learned soooo much. It was great to bounce ideas off of someone so knowledgeable. She reminded me of me when I was that age.
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The final class photo was amazing…
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I managed to squeeze in two guild lectures for the Boulder Guild before heading south to Pueblo. The night I finished up in Boulder, I didn’t sleep a bit, awake the whole night, sensing that something was amiss.
Turns out I was getting sick… 🙁
I haven’t been sick in so many years, I can’t even remember. Which is a really good thing, but boy did I feel like crap. Turns out it was just a nasty head cold, and I probably infected everyone in my next class, but they were good sports, as there is no calling in sick when you are a teacher on the road.
Another classroom space that was spacious and well lit. Makes such a difference. Thank you Handweavers of Pueblo…
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Many of the fabrics the participants brought in were from the woven fabric stash of a guild member who has since passed on to that yarn shop in the sky. It was a great testament to know that when you die, your stash gets absorbed by people who can use it and celebrate your life the whole time they are cutting up your fabric. I didn’t keep track of who wove what, but my lovely class of 13 made some pretty cool vests.
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The final class photo was also amazing…
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And so I’m home, starting to recover, not stopping to rest one minute because I have such a tight turnaround before I head to North Carolina for my rescheduled class, and then on to California, Washington, and BC for a month.
To top it off, my lovely fun and wonderful daughter came home a couple days ahead of me, for spring break. She has been able to help me somewhat, in between applying for jobs, internships and other opportunities, since she graduates in about 8 weeks. She is stressed out as well and I suggested she just put one foot in front of the other like I’m doing and she looked at me and said, “…in which direction would you like me to put it?” She started the process of bringing home what she won’t be using in the next few weeks. Which means most of her yarns, and stash and weaving equipment. Which all has to somehow fit back into my studio. We spent the afternoon moving things around to fit things I thought were actually gone. Sigh…
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Both of my children should be returning back to the nest in the next six weeks or so, with all of their belongings. I can’t wrap my head around where we will fit it all. Sigh…
Stay tuned…