Spinning and Weaving Week

But mommy, I want him…

I’m continuing on my attic cleaning and making more stuff for the guild sale with my mother lode of scraps of handwoven fabrics from the archives. I made two more squirrels, from leftover bits of mohair, and while I was working on the second one, I plopped the other one on the ironing board.

Mulder the studio cat of course had to check out something that looked suspiciously like what he hunts in the middle of the night…

And typically had to check out the back end.

Satisfied said squirrel did not pose a threat, and being of a soft mohair and cuddly surface, Mulder decided to curl up next to him.

The face pleading, can I keep him, can I?

Sadly he can’t keep him, because the dogs would destroy the squirrels and anything else I have that’s stuffed in about 10 minutes. They gleefully dive right into anything with stuffing. So Mulder can’t have his little buddy…

I’ve been able to create another jacket from the mohair scraps of a different colorway. I had a well meaning friend tell me they were really ugly, and that kind of stung, I rather liked them, and they were fun to make, and super functional, I’m hoping there is someone who will appreciate them at the guild sale.

Almost ready for the final pressing…

I worked out an alternative to the white mohair stocking ornament tops. I ran out of the white mohair fabric, so found a soft white yarn and just crocheted round and round…

And I cut out a dozen little bear ornaments for the guild sale. I spent hours looking through my vast button stash, trying to find three of something that would work for each of the bears, and getting them sewn on, making little “kits” so I can sit and put them together while on zoom meetings or listening to a podcast, or Textiles and Tea, whatever…

Of course my trusty studio assistant had to leap onto the ironing board and keep everything in order… Sigh…

I managed to make two of them…

On Sunday, a local sheep farm, part of the NJ Fibershed, held a community dye day. A lot of work for the teacher Pamela Jenkins, a natural dyer from Maryland, and we had dyebaths to use with our pre mordanted yarns, (alum and cream of tartar) plus a station for botanical printing (results were disappointing, I think better compression would have helped) and a chance to use an indigo bath using Polygonum Tinctorium Indigo, which can grow in this climate. Interesting thing was using fresh leaves, and puréeing them in a blender with ice. This is appealing to me, since I never wanted to start a fermented indigo vat. I don’t have indigo on the property so I’d have to plant some. I waited to rinse my skeins which were 65% silk and 35% wool, for about 48 hours, a suggestion by the teacher. They are now dry, and some of the color did wash out, but I’m sure the volume of dyestuff vs the amount of yarn/fabric we dyed, really wouldn’t yield strong results. Still, it is a pretty palette. Willow, fresh indigo, butternut husks, elderberry, hollyhock flowers, and artemisia.

The day after I posted my last blog I got this gorgeous bench in the mail. Or rather shipped. I ordered my custom bench from Walt Turpening exactly a year ago. I wanted the gradation in the woven seat. Walt custom winds the cotton cordage to achieve the gradation. We spent a lot of time with measurements, loom and body, to determine the best bench height. Unfortunately the two looms I expect to use the bench with, are both empty. It is on my list this winter to get them both warped so I can try out the bench.

Meanwhile, I did finally clear the table loom with the Bateman blend. I didn’t get a lot of yardage, and it was really tedious. I’m happy with the results, and am thinking of designing a laptop slip case. I have one from Peru and want to copy how it was done.

The loom next to it had a 4-shaft doup leno structure threaded on 8 shafts. I wrote an issue of Heddlecraft Magazine, (Issue #19) on doup leno, a technique where using half doups on shaft two allows the loom to crisscross certain threads creating an open airy structure that is very stable. The warp and wefts were hand-dyed cashmere so this is super soft. It seemed like the warp that never ended, and I finally got up and looked at my original drafting notes and realized I put five yards of warp on this little loom. Nearing the end of the warp, and wanting to squeeze in a couple fat yarns for headers, I discovered this cool tool that now I can’t live without. It is called a “Poke” Shuttle. I never heard of such a thing, but they were selling them in a few lengths at Red Stone Glen for their open house last June, made by Bluster Bay Shuttles. They just felt so lovely in the hand I bought three. The yarn just grips around the end of the shuttle allowing it to be able to poke through the narrow shed. It may have a different purpose, but I loved it for this task, and of course all Bluster Bay shuttles just melt in your hand…

I managed to get a long scarf and a pretty cowl from the handdyed cashmere.

Meanwhile, my daughter is finishing up the edits in a video we shot last month, a one hour studio tour, which can be shown as a guild program. I wanted to recreate the studio tour I did for the HGA back in the fall of 2020 for Spinning and Weaving Week 2020, and wanted to document all the looms with warps. I am getting frequent texts with screen shots from my daughter down the hall with absolutely hilarious Transcription malfunctions. She first allows Adobe premiere to close caption the video, and then goes back and corrects. Textile terms in a transcription program are absolutely hilarious, looms become loons, and limbs, and lamps. Really, my diction is pretty spot on, you just have to increase your vocabulary sir! But the best Transcription malfunction I’ve ever seen is this…

It is supposed to read, “I would have sectionally warped 30 yards of mohair at a time”. There are no words…

And to wind up this blog post, I’ve had a lovely wonderful thing happen this past week. Something I can’t even wrap my head around, and keep pinching myself to see if I dreamed it or not. Long story short, assuming this all happens the way it is spelled out in the contract sitting on my desk, next spring, County College of Morris will feature my huge body of work both artwork and garments, dating back to the 90’s in their Main Gallery, a retrospective of sorts, along with video, audio, and a hands on component (aren’t you glad I have all those Structos) for about 6 weeks, transitioning to a smaller gallery for their year end student exhibition, and then back to the Main Gallery to coincide with the Morris County Teen Arts Festival in May, where I am to be the keynote speaker. Then the exhibition of my work will continue on until the end of August. It is especially lovely that this is my county college, and that both of my kids took classes there, and I even taught there for a semester way back. I have hosted two externs from there as well. So this feels like a perfect conclusion to a lifetime of work in the field. I’m especially touched that they asked me to give the keynote to the next generation of creative people. I have a lot of work to do on that address.

I hope the fall brings you beautiful colors, cooler weather, fun things to do with fiber, and friends to do those fun things with… And no Mulder, you still can’t have the squirrel…

Stay tuned…

Seems like old times…

What a couple of weeks. I knew Mid-September through Mid-November would be jammed packed with all kinds of cool events, teaching opportunities, guild meetings, and general calendar must do’s but this is really crazy. I have vague recollections of just three years ago where the calendar controlled my life, instead of me controlling the calendar. Back in the spring, and even last winter, it seemed perfectly reasonable to book a couple of weekend workshops, since I’m not leaving the house to teach anymore, how difficult could this be?

Nothing here is difficult. And don’t get me wrong… I chose to participate in everything I put on my calendar. It’s just that the world opened up all at once, guild meetings started up again, a music group I once played for asked me to come back, Spinning and Weaving week, which is a weeklong series of weaverly events, all online, but like a conference all day long; teaching remotely every weekend, three weekends in a row for the same guild, and of course theater events, because those seasons started up as well.

By mid-November, this should all be quieting down, but for now, I’m tightening up my seat belt and hanging on tight!

Meanwhile, I taught remotely three weekends in a row for the Chattahoochee Guild in GA. A lot of old friends were there, and we had a great time. Last weekend we did a remote hands-on workshop and Leigh, a friend and workshop participant took this shot of the classroom, and there I am, larger than life. I of course couldn’t see what they saw, as I was viewing the classroom from multiple cameras strategically placed around the room. It was sweet when someone had a question and wanted to show me what they were working on, and they would go up to the screen to talk to me… We are all still getting used to this technology.

Meanwhile, I did manage last week, before the start of Spinning and Weaving Week, sponsored by the HGA (Handweavers Guild of America) to actually make a couple of pieces. I wove a fabric last year, all rayon, and it was sitting on the shelf just calling to me. There are a lot of competing voices in the studio, and sometimes the cacophony of who wants to be noticed more gets a bit loud!

So I wanted to see if I could draft this swing vest, based on a commercial pattern, using one of my own patterns. And I’m really happy with the results. I used my 1000 Swing Dress pattern and created this variation. I wanted to be able to use the selvedge of the cloth for the center front edge, and have it fall away in lapels. And fringe the bottom edges, so no hems. Eventually I’ll take my notes and recreate what I did and see if I can document it in a video.

I had extra fabric, and I thought it would lend itself to a bias top, so my 900 Bias Top pattern came in handy.

I still had extra fabric, and so I made this tote bag using my piecing technique, which I documented in a four-part video on my YouTube channel, The Weaver Sews. And there is still a stack of leftovers…

Meanwhile, while I had some free moments in the studio, I took a leftover section of the towel warp I showed last time and made this zippered bag.

So Spinning and Weaving Week is/was a lot of fun. Events all day long. Some really great speakers and studio tours. They featured me in my studio during Spinning and Weaving week two years ago. How I wish the re-play was available. I often meant to film my own version to put on YouTube myself. It is on the list. Which is growing exponentially…

I was one of the panelists Tuesday night, for a session about getting into juried shows and the basics. It was great hearing the other panelists and their perspective on things. Friday night was really really special. There was a viewing party of the Convergence 2022 fashion show, where I had five garments as an invited artist, but I did not actually attend the conference, for many reasons, mostly because I was at a wedding in Virginia for the son of someone who has meant a great deal to me over the years. I had hoped the fashion show would be recorded, and I wasn’t disappointed. Seeing my five works walk the runway was just the highlight of my week!

And this morning, I set up my messy office, because I have sixty different things going on at once, into a video studio because this afternoon was the Strut your Stuff fashion show, and of course I registered for that. Meaning I would be modeling one of my garments for it. I pulled out the video lights and set up the good webcam camera, the one we use for taking videos.

And I was first up for the actual fashion show. So here I am modeling my double weave jacket I made earlier in the year. I included the second image because the running transcript was just too hilarious, Artificial intelligence just doesn’t get textile terms. “Devil Weed” should have been double weave, but Devil Weed works… I sort of got that vibe when I was trying to weave off the sampler last January with one arm…

And Friday, in between sessions from Spinning and Weaving week, I took an online class through my guild with a weaver from AZ, Deborah Jarchow, on Clasped Weft. For some reason that technique has never crossed my path. It was fun, I sort of felt like I was dancing with the shuttles. I had set the loom up on Tuesday while watching Textiles And Tea, an online weekly interview, also sponsored by HGA.

And remember I mentioned the cacophony of looms and fibers and fabric and yarns calling to me? I had cleared all of the floor looms I’d been weaving on except for two. They reached out every time I walked by in the studio, as if to say, “Please won’t you sit down and weave with me?”

So I did sit down, whenever I had a few minutes. This is the ice dyed fabric I started earlier in the year, and I have no idea how much there is still to weave, because I started with 10 yards and it doesn’t look like anywhere near that on the cloth beam.

And my favorite loom (don’t say that too loudly, there will be a revolt) has a fabric I spent a long time working out last year, and I think I put on 8 yards of 10/2 cotton warp. So I’m probably over half-finished this very cool pattern called “Drunken Squares”. It has been that kind of a week.

Don’t cry for me dear readers, I’m having a blast. I just wish the blast was a little more like a pop, and less like an explosion! This will all calm down as the winter draws near. I have someone working on my yard clean up, nice to have people for that, and I was finally able to get my alarm system company to come and upgrade/replace and add additional smoke detectors, especially in the garage weaving studio. They had rate of rise detectors, appropriate for a garage, but not appropriate for a weaving studio with yarns stacked to the ceiling. So those finally got upgraded, but there have been workers in and out for the last week, and they will be returning yet again on Tuesday. We all just step around each other…

I teach next weekend for two days in Canada, again remotely, I’m still so amazed that this technology even exists. So it will be a busy week prepping for that hand’s on workshop. Wednesday night I have two different fun events happening simultaneously, which is unfortunate, but I can still do both, because one will be recorded…

Stay tuned…

Everyday feels like a year…

This is the weirdest year I’ve ever experienced, and there have been a lot of them. You’d think by 65, especially having lived through the 60’s and 70’s that you’ve seen it all. Hahahah!

I’m not going to comment on any of the current world situation. You don’t need one more voice in the cacophony of voices and events and situations screaming at you for attention. Because you all know or should know that the world is imploding like some sci-fi novel and that we just all have to buckle our proverbial seatbelts and hold on for the ride. A bottle of wine or something more powerful would help for fuel.

That said, my last couple of weeks have been wild and crazy, and that has nothing to do with all the drama and sturm und drang happening in the world.

In case you missed it, I did finish my Confetti vest, lined with a vintage leopard coat. It makes me smile in so many ways when I look at it. I’m ready for winter, this will be warm as s**t!

So this week is Spinning and Weaving week. It is a big deal in the fiber community, usually full of events, and gatherings and all sorts of fibery happenings. The Handweavers Guild of America is giving it the valiant try of doing a bunch of fiber related events virtually. While not ideal, in essence it allows participation by anyone, anywhere, in the comfort of your own home. I know our homes are getting too comfortable and we are looking to get out and go anywhere, but inspiration comes in odd packages, and basically all this is free and all you have to do is register for a specific event.( I think it helps if you are a member, because everything is free, but there are modest fees if you aren’t a member.) All this coming week, the HGA is sponsoring studio tours of various fiber artists they have selected, whose studios they think might be of interest to the fiber community at large.

And guess who is featured Thursday at 4pm EDT. Yeah, so there is that hanging over me. In preparation for a virtual studio tour, I mistakenly said, when they inquired if I would be willing to be a part of this, that sure, I’ll even have something on every loom that I can talk about and explain, and fill up space for an hour. I need to learn restraint!

So, in anticipation of Thursday’s live virtual studio tour, filmed by my daughter who will be tethered to the laptop, camera and sound system, we will walk through my wonderful new garage space, and then on to the basement where I have my cozy sewing room. But all the looms had to be warped…

So, my 8 shaft 36″ loom was unwarped and very lonely. I still had a couple of cones of Silk City Fibers yarns to test out, one was a Cotton Bambu, in Silver, and the other was a Chenille Tapestry variegated called Japanese Red Maple. I envisioned a light dark shadow weave, something sett well enough to keep the chenille from doing silly things like worming out of the structure. Some day I’ll recount my early experiences with chenille, but with a lot of experience behind me, I thought I’d give it another go.

I used the Powell book for inspiration, but since I’m aiming to publish the draft and specs for this fabric, I needed something that was mine. I started out with this 8 shaft version, and wasn’t completely happy. (Actually I started out with 24 epi, alternating the CottonBambu and the Chenille. Resleyed to 20 epi, and then resleyed again to 16epi. Don’t ever be afraid of changing course mid stream.)

The change might not be obvious, but I redesigned it to reverse in a more pronounced way, and to better square up with the sett. I’m pretty happy with this. Now I just have to weave it off, but not before Thursday…

And my big loom, the 45″ 8 shaft Tools of the Trade, my first loom and first love, still with me after all these years, purchased in 1977, delivered in 1978 was also naked and really not happy. Since every fall I put on a run of dishtowels for holiday gifts, I decided that that would be an appropriate thing to put on the loom, and then at the end of October into November, I could weave it off and have my holiday gifts.

Social media can be really challenging and full of untruths and misinformation and a lot of passionate people on both sides of the fence no matter what the subject. But the social media sites dedicated to fiber and specifically weaving has some very dedicated moderators and some very talented contributors and every morning when I wake up I feel like I have just been to a fantastic inspirational gallery opening.

The Facebook site Strickler in Color has been a tremendous source of inspiration. Carol Strickler wrote a lovely book, now considered essential for every weaver with 8 shafts on their loom, full of patterns, all black and white, and you could spend a lifetime with this book and not make a dent. So this Facebook site has talented contributors who post what they’ve woven, but in color, with a nod to the draft. Strickler 728 keeps coming up, and if you looked at it in the book, you would have just turned the page. It really is rather boring and not very inspiring. But I’ve seen so many people use this draft in eye catching ways that it was on my list to try.

In keeping with the need to stash bust, because I’ve acquired a lot of 8/2 cotton in the last year or two, I pulled a length from all of my cones and sat with weaving software until I was happy. I decided to put 15 yards on the loom because turns out, I can never have enough dishtowels. I’m always needing one as a gift, and I’m tired of running out in July. (I still have two left from last year because I haven’t been anywhere since March, but hey…)

My table top warping mill technically holds 10 yards. I’ve successfully pushed it to 14, but I decided that my AVL warping mill, now 20 years old, would probably serve for this purpose. I rigged up way to make a cross, and I wound 15 yard bundles in 2.5″ widths.

I threaded the loom. My ott-lite magnifier has changed my life!

I beamed the 15 yards.

And I started weaving. I am completely in love. This is why we do this. I am so thrilled to have been forced to fill up my looms, because now, after Thursday, I can walk in my studio and just weave. A lot. I have a whole fall’s worth of looms to clear. Which will mean, except for the dishtowels, a lot of sewing this winter. I can’t wait when we reemerge from this protective cocoon to wear half the stuff I’ve made this year.

Speaking of…

In addition to studio tours and virtual vendor halls, the Handweavers Guild of America is also sponsoring a virtual fashion show next Sunday. Not the same as sitting in an auditorium at a conference and watching cool handwoven garments strut across the stage, but they are trying to put together a virtual fashion show. That would be next Sunday at 2pm EDT. Of course I’ll have a piece in the show, but I hear they could use more participants. WHERE ARE ALL MY STUDENTS, AND WHY ARE THEY NOT SHOWING OFF THEIR WONDERFUL GARMENTS! This isn’t like where you have to be juried. Just sign up! You need the ability to Zoom, log in and they will tell you what to do. The rehearsal was today, but I think they still want more participants! Come on guys, you have some great work! The link to enter is here. I know the deadline has passed, but I believe they are still looking for participants. The link to view the virtual fashion show next Sunday is here…

And finally, there is my new Youtube site. We now have four episodes of The Weaver Sews. Every Friday we film a new episode on something related to sewing handwoven fabric. Four are launched with Closed Captioning, which my daughter writes, so it is accurate and synced. Two more are shot and I’m planning the topic for next Friday as I write. I will create a script, which makes it easier for my daughter to write the Closed Captioning, and then I work all week on creating the samples and supplies I need for the video shoot. We are having fun with this and I hope it is helpful and informative. Sales of my patterns are certainly picking up!

So my head is spinning with all that is on my plate. I’m old enough to remember The Ed Sullivan Show, and the guy from some Baltic country that did plate spinning. He would keep 10 or 20 plates spinning all at the same time. I remember watching with fascination and thinking, “How does he keep them all going at once?” Well now I know. Somehow that skill managed to rub off on me and I’m doing that every day. And I wouldn’t wish for anything different. My days are full, I have plenty to keep me busy. I am lecturing virtually almost every other day, somewhere in the country. It is so great to log in and see familiar faces. I can do this… (though sometimes I wish I could redesign the plates).

Stay tuned…