And the Party Continues…

What a crazy and fun couple of weeks.  I feel like I’ve been on an extended vacation, and I now need to go on vacation to recover from this one.

I drove my friends Ginnie and Cindy to Newark airport on Tuesday, and picked up John Mullarkey, card weaver extraordinaire, who would be staying with me for almost a week, while he taught a card weaving workshop for my guild.

The workshop was wonderful.  I have developed quite an interest over the years in small looms, just because they are portable.  They produce wonderful trim for things like garments, and because I am primarily a garment maker, I don’t feel like I’m stretching too far outside of my medium (which is in itself not a bad thing, but for a textile artist, space and equipment can become oppressive when you try to dabble in too many areas…)

And I can store a lot of small looms in very little space. (Note: I am teaching a class called “Weave Your own Trim” at the American Sewing Guild Conference in Arlington VA in August along with a class called “Weave your own Cloth”.)

Tablet or card weaving is a pretty old technique.  Like thousands of years old.  And John Mullarkey is pretty good at it.  I’ve done card weaving before, even back in college in the 70’s.  I never grabbed a hold of it for the simple reason that I was taught to warp using the backstrap idea, where I was tied to something, a doorknob or a tree, or the warp was stretched between a couple of C-Clamps mounted on a table.  It didn’t appear very portable, and I have enough looms that aren’t portable, I can assure you.

John has developed a small loom that is more suitable for card weaving, it is about the profile of the Ashford Inklette, but that loom isn’t suitable for card weaving.  He had them available for the class to use.  Obviously the class loved the loom because he sold them all. 🙂

We learned variations on the Ram’s Head, on threaded-in cards.

And we learned variations on Egyptian Diagonals, easy warping, more concentration required for weaving.  I struggled during the class to keep my focus.  I don’t play well with others when I’m trying to concentrate, and I think I was sort of a bitch a couple of times, but once I get the structure, and can see it and not freak out when I lose my place, I’m a happier camper.  When you organize a workshop, and have to collect monies, and make sure everything is working properly and that students are happy, it makes it a little harder to concentrate on your own success in the workshop.  All of you out there who have ever organized a workshop for me, you know who you are and there is a special place in weaving/sewing heaven just for you.

And John is so much fun to hang out with.

We spent the day Saturday pouring over my collection of messenger bags, John wants to make a few, maybe design one for toting the loom he sells, and I’m more experienced at construction than he is.  So we stood at my cutting table for hours taking notes and discussing sequence of construction, design ideas, gussets and pockets and boxing and straps.  It was a great exercise for me as well.

Then John helped me prep for my all day demo on Sunday at Peters Valley, for their open house.  John warped an inkle loom while I warped one of my little Structos with a pattern gamp.

I finished my little pink sweater just hanging out in the evenings, finally, and though I should have listened to my instincts and made the smallest size, I like the sweater and think it will be perfect for the summer.  The yarn is Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool (color 12), and the pattern is Jemma from C2Knits.  This was my first exploration in top-down, and those of you who are in my knitting group know how much I struggled with this puppy.  Including snapped circular needle cables.  Although it was endless stockinette stitch, it made for great social knitting.  If I’m going to isolate myself for intense textile work, I’d rather do complex structures on an inkle loom.

Sunday was glorious, the weather here has been so perfect I’m sort of afraid of what the summer will bring.  The gardens are spectacular, and my husband is making changes and reworking areas as I write.  I eat outside every opportunity I get and find myself just sitting and watching the fish in the ponds and my stress level as gone from 100% down to almost nothing.

So John and I packed the car, and headed out to Peters Valley, a craft center near the Delaware River, in the northwest corner of New Jersey. My husband followed  a bit later in his car. I love the Valley.  I’ve been associated with it off and on for nearly four decades.  I first visited it around 1975 as part of a textile class in college.  I’ve done a stint on their board of directors, I’ve done the craft fair many times in the 1980’s, exhibited in their store and gallery and taught many many workshops in their weaving and surface design studios.  And I’ve taken some pretty amazing workshops there as well.

Sunday was their spring open house, with studio tours, and I was there to promote my two classes this summer, a fiber boot camp of sorts in July, multiple techniques over five days, from spinning on a drop spindle, dyeing wool with food grade dyes, plaiting, felting, Japanese Kumihimo, Tapestry weaving, Inkle loom weaving and Shaft loom weaving.  It is a fantastic survey of fiber and no experience is necessary.  The other workshop I’ll be teaching in August is a garment construction intensive.  John helped me set up the table displays and got me lunch, and helped sell my classes.  And he of course was a bit of a celebrity as well especially with his handwoven jacket trimmed with card woven bands from a class I taught a few years ago for the St. Louis Guild.  And my wonderful husband was there of course taking lots of photos.  He has also spent time on the board of directors for Peters Valley and built their very first website.

I talked to so many people, and enjoyed the entire event, Jenny our guild president came along as well and demonstrated spinning.  There was a lot of interest in raising sheep, which is way out of my league, but Jenny, who raises Icelandic sheep was eager to take over those questions.

And so ends another week of friends, and creativity and grand adventures.  I dropped John off at the airport yesterday morning, and came home and did a complete collapse.  Of course, there is no rest for the weary, and my lovely daughter called me in a panic last night, could I proof a 10 page paper for her on gender issues and sexuality in literature?  I’m not at my best at 11:00 pm, but I tried, and though not perfect, I think the paper read well, and she’ll be OK.  She finished up her last exam this morning, was hugely disappointed she couldn’t be here for John’s workshop, and will be moving to an apartment up near Deerfield, MA towards the end of the week.  I’ll be packing up the furniture in her room and a bed from the basement and connecting with my step sister who is also moving her daughter to Massachusetts after graduation on Sunday, so we will share a truck and get both girls relocated.  It sounds like a lot of heavy lifting and yet in my head, my first priority is  to start a new sweater or at least a new sock since I have nothing in my knitting bag at the moment.  I know there will be some down time in the next week, and I’ll need something to keep my hands busy.

Stay tuned…