I sat down tonight to finally write this blog, but my entire website was down, including the blog. Technology. Eye Roll… So I went into the studio and designed my annual dishtowel warp. Everything seems to be working now, after I contacted the hosting company, so settle in, I can assure you already it is going to be a long one. I thought about writing it in a couple of parts, but really, I’m just going to plow through it and if you don’t want to read to the end, no problem.
About a year ago, Kathrin Weber of Blazing Shuttles [1] social media fame approached me about team teaching a back to back retreat in the Outer Banks of NC. Kathrin is an amazing weaver, dyer and teacher, and the idea was that participants in her workshop could then make a garment in my workshop the following week. We ended up keeping the two classes separate, though a couple of students stayed right the entire two weeks with some down time in the middle, but they brought their own fabric for my part of the retreat. Kathrin and I hadn’t ever actually taken each other’s workshop, so we weren’t really sure what happened in each other’s workshop and I can assure you, as a result of these amazing 10 days for each of us, we do now.
First off, Kathrin is incredible. I do not know how it can possibly be that we don’t really know each other. We are only about 6 months apart in age, both started our weaving careers in the 70’s. Though she is from the southern parts of the country, and I’m from the north east, we were at many of the same shows, many of the same conferences, even at the airport together at some point I understand. We roomed together for the entire 10 days, and I feel like I found a long lost sister. It was a privilege to spend time getting to know her. And I went down to the retreat a few days early to catch the tail end of Kathrin’s workshop, to see what the students made with all of her gorgeous hand dyed warps. OMG!
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Linda Ihle was the organizer for the retreat, held at a beach front resort of sorts, called the Sea Ranch Resort. The workshops were held in the event room, with a fabulous restaurant right across the hall (killer sangria) and all sorts of vacation destination things to do. Linda was at times too busy being the organizer, so I sat down and wove some of her warp, getting a feel for the structure and the weft color rotation. Kathrin had all sorts of projects the participants could make with their warps, lots of rep weave, turned taqueté, twill variations, and log cabin.
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One of the projects was a Japanese Market Bag, it opens out flat as a mat, and has numerous drawstrings which form it into a bag. I made one up for Linda the last day of Kathrin’s class, and she let me bring home the remaining fabric to make one for me! Way too much fun.
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The weekend between the two workshops was really like a vacation, a mini getaway. First off, our condo was on the third floor and ocean front. I would lay in bed in the morning and all I could see out the windows was water, gently lapping or angry waves pounding the shore, depending on the weather, typical of the Atlantic coast.
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Every morning I woke to this… I kept thinking I died and went to heaven.
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On Saturday, Linda’s brother, who is a helicopter pilot and gives tours of the Outer Banks, took a few of us on a helicopter ride, Linda, Kathrin and I went in the first trip up. Wow. Just wow…
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On Sunday morning, Kathrin and I went to the Wright Brothers Memorial, just down the road, and we got there one week before it shut down for two years for a complete restoration. The plane had been removed and sent off to a museum in Raleigh, but the guided tour was amazing. The guide was brilliant and I found myself tearing up at the end when he talked about innovators who never gave up, comparing them to innovators of today who are determined to find a cure for cancer, get to Mars, and do things that no one ever thought possible. My husband and I came here back in the 70’s. I felt like he was right beside me. I remembered all of it. I took no photos. Didn’t need to.
My workshop started Monday morning, and I had 13 students plus Kathrin, who stayed on for a few days to get a sense of what I taught, how the silhouettes worked and how we could work together in the future, given the limitations of workshop yardage which tends to be narrow with heavier yarns for speed. In fact, because most of the class brought yardage from hand dyed warps, it was the most challenging layout segment I’ve ever had. Some of the hand dyed warps that were not purchased from Kathrin had little or no predictable repeat, which made cutting out a garment super challenging. Kathrin has repeats in all her warps, and after talking realized that smaller repeats would be advantageous for garments like jackets.
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Because I offer all kinds of silhouettes now, not just the classic jacket, we had all kinds of challenges as well, especially with those who chose to do longer garments with hand painted warps. But the facility was amazing, there was plenty of space to work.
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We had participants making jackets, some with a standard band and some with the new shawl collar.
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We had participants making swing coats. It was fun to watch them twirl! Linda finished her coat with a felt collar within the week and had it posted on facebook! Many of them still needed sleeves in these photos, but most had them in by the end of the class.
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And we had participants making the long walking vest.
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Of course everyone wanted more time, even though we worked many nights until after 10pm! Two of the participants had to leave before the class photo, so they are included separately.
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I loved this group, and this experience, and I’m really looking forward to next year. The class may already be full! Thank you Linda!
Stay tuned…