Get to the Studio and Make Stuff…

With apologies to the late Fred Babb…

I was chatting with Jenny yesterday.  Jenny is our weaving guild president.  We were moaning that there were too many things on the calendar, and too much to do in the gardens (she has it worse, she has a sheep farm) and no time to actually get to the studio.  I’ve had a couple of fantastic weeks of interesting adventures, involving many friends, and all swirling around fiber.  And yet, all I can do this morning is fast pull something to start knitting, balling up a few skeins first, since I’m leaving in a couple hours for Massachusetts to help move my daughter to her apartment, via Pennsylvania, where I’ll attend my niece’s graduation, and help her and my step sister pack up as well, loading a truck, stopping by NJ on the way to Mass, loading up my daughter’s things, and eventually ending up in Mass, where the fun begins…  (Did I notice this morning in my email that WEBS is having a tent sale?  Shoot me now…)

I’ve acquired so many gorgeous fabrics over the last couple of weeks, in fact the last shipment of yardage I bought on my NY buying trip arrived earlier in the week.  I fondled it and photographed it, and kicked myself for not noting the fiber content of the Ombré Jacquard on the right, what was I thinking…  But the colors are glorious and I sit longingly looking at my dark and still sewing machine and sigh heavily, since this is not the season for sewing, nor is it the season for weaving.  At the moment, I am just putting one foot in front of the other and checking off the events on the calendar and soon it will be conference season, and I’ll be off almost every other week in the summer teaching, and I’m thinking that I won’t accomplish much of anything for the next foreseeable future.  Sigh…

Anyway, this group came from Stylecrest Fabrics Ltd., a wholesale fabric warehouse in Hoboken, NJ.  On the left is a colorful rayon, in the middle is a gorgeous cotton lawn, and on the right, an Ombré Jacquard of undertermined fiber content, probably wool and yes, I know how to do a burn test.  It’s on the list of stuff to do…

Thursday I drove to Bucks County PA, the place where Washington crossed the Delaware a number of years ago, that was the key turning point in the American Revolution, and I gave a one day workshop to a group of eager weavers, on Advanced Inkle Weaving techniques.  I pulled out the small loom that had the sampler for the class, and decided it would be a good idea to reconnect with it, and actually weave a bit.  Small looms are so portable and I find I can jump in with little fanfare and feel as if I am accomplishing something.

I graphed out the words, “Keep Calm and Carry Yarn”, which under my current circumstances represents about all I can do, just have yarn with me to feel like I’m still connected to the studio.  I’m hoping to trim a tote to carry my knitting.  The words are done in a 1:1 pick-up technique, over five blocks, and the center is a supplemental warp technique.  The right side is a 7 thread 2:1 pick-up.  No matter how many hours I have in a workshop on topics like this, there are never enough.  We barely covered the second technique, the name draft, hardest of the three, was mostly just discussed and I could tell by faces that everyone was brain fried.  Still, there were some beautiful bands happening, and I photographed not one.  🙁

And now, I’ve checked my route into Western PA, to make sure I’m not going through the mess on I-81, and it looks like I’m OK.  I’ll throw the rest of the things in the suitcase and head off.  I’m not use to packing clothing for social events, dinners, graduations, packing for teaching consists of black pants, assorted tops and a handwoven jacket.  I suppose I could do that this time, but it is nice to be in “street attire” and not have to look like Daryl Lancaster, fiber artist.  I’m just Christine’s step-aunt.  And I like that.

Stay tuned…

ed. Noted that WEBS tent sale starts next weekend.  What a relief…