Gearing Up

The new year has officially begun and it is time to gear up and start getting ready for the upcoming crop of deadlines/events!

Looking at Twills Workshop with Laura Fry ~ April 7^th & 8^th

This round robin workshop (weavers will move from loom to loom to try the different threadings/warps) will take a close look at the weave structure we call 'twill'.  Participants will dress their loom (or get assistance to get it dressed) prior to the workshop.

Laura will accept 'new' weavers if they have at least taken Janet Dawson's on-line Craftsy class to familiarize themselves with some of the language of weaving.  Local 'new' weavers should attend several drop ins prior to the workshop to get hints and tips and try their hand at the demo loom(s) in the guild room.  This is not a 'beginning' to weave class but will be geared towards helping those who know at least a little bit about weaving to move on to the next steps.

Time: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm - bring a lunch, beverages supplied.

Place: Prince George Fibre Arts Guild Room, upstairs at 2880 – 15th Avenue

Fee: $200 members or $250 non-members (includes Guild membership) - materials supplied

To register or for more information please contact Birthe at 250-964-6454 or birthe_miller@telus.net. Deposit of $50 by the February 20th, balance at the workshop. Billeting may be available for out of town students.

The above draft is a reduced version of the 8 shaft Swedish Snowflake.  But not everyone has 8 shafts, and after taking a close look at the threading I realized that it could be reduced to four.  Obviously it is not as large a design, but on the other hand, the treadling is also much easier than trying to treadle a very long and fairly complex sequence.

Twills are quite fascinating.  The more shafts, the more complex the design can be.  But a great deal can be done on four shafts, as well.

The twill workshop in April will look at primarily four shaft drafts, but the guild also has a couple of 8 shaft looms - plus participants may have 8 shaft portable looms, too.

But if you want to kick off your new year, you might find this workshop interesting.

Currently reading Dead in the Dark by Stephen Booth

Grand Forks, BC

Grand Forks, BC is nestled in the south east 'corner' of the province.  It is a lovely little town with a vibrant arts community.  And a weaver's guild.

I have been asked to teach there this year.  The only dates that worked for both the guild and me are the Nov. 28/29 weekend.  Which doesn't give a lot of time to get things organized, so I'm putting a head's up here in case anyone in the area is interested.

Topic is to be determined, although they are considering Mug Rugs and More with a Friday evening lecture A Good Yarn.

Contact Sue at clausensfibregarden@gmail.com to get details as they are decided upon.

Concentration

Concentration was pretty thick in the air in the guild room this weekend!

Eight enthusiastic students, exploring the nature of lace weaves.  The guild room was stuffed.  If there had been one more person, I think the room may have burst.  As it was we were, um, cozy.

Such a delight to see people understand the concepts and even go beyond to design their own patterns.  Looking forward to seeing what they do with this knowledge.

Complementary

I think this photo shows off the iridescence in scarf  #83 quite well.  As usual, click to biggify.

One of the ways to get iridescence is to cross the warp with a complementary colour - in this case a red violet weft on a mostly turquoise blue/green warp.  This is one of the 'test' colours the dyer did for me.  I told her I didn't necessarily want completely 'level' colour and I think she nailed the ever so slight variation perfectly for weft.  :)

The scarf isn't wet finished yet, and I am hoping the iridescence intensifies after a good hard press.

I didn't sleep well again last night.  For so many years I slept poorly that I've been rather enjoying the fact that 9 nights out of 10 I do actually sleep.  Last night appears to have been number 10 and it took ages to get to sleep so today I'm sleep deprived.  Therefore I'm beginning to really feel the stresses and strains of the last while.  The only 'down' time I've had this year were the 3 days after a trip when my back went 'out' on me and I was literally forced onto my back to let it rest.

As I peruse the calendar, I don't see any time in the near future for any sort of 'holiday'.  Even the trip in August is by way of being a working holiday, as enjoyable as it will be and as much as I am looking forward to it.  :-/

So I am thinking that the weeks between Boston and my departure for Departure Bay I'm going to have to crank back the dial and not set my daily goals quite so high.  Because as soon as I get back from the August trip I will be back to looming critical deadlines.

On the other hand, if I don't work at least a little bit during that three weeks, it will make the pressure in September and October even worse.  So perhaps any sort of 'holiday' will have to wait until after John C. Campbell in January, after which I will go to Florida to visit with friends there for a few days.  And this time, Doug will get to join me there.

Perhaps there is good reason for my calendar next year to be so empty?

Registration for Weaving Boot Camp should open in the next week or so.  Check the folk school website for details.

Sweeping Cobwebs - Still

Obviously I wasn't thinking clearly when I set up my schedule for the end of this year.  Generally I can cope with the myriad deadlines that peak throughout the year, but who thought it was a good idea to have so many things all come to a head the last couple of weeks of the year - after a very busy craft fair season?  Well, I guess that would be me!

However I have continued to work on getting the details of the trip sorted out (embarrassingly forgetting to check one of the contracts for information I wanted!), writing the rough draft of the text for A Good Yarn: Rayon, typing up and copying my mom's 'seasonal' letter, getting my books balanced, receipts sorted and everything boxed up ready to go to the accountant, drag my suitcases out and start piling up the things I want to bring with me.

In two weeks time I will be leaving - given the weather co-operates! - staying overnight with friends in Seattle so that I don't have to try to get out of this town on a 6 am flight.  I will stay with friends for a few days to recover from jet lag (and get over the crush of deadlines here!) so that I can hit the ground running upon arrival at the folk school.  From the 20th of January until Feb. 12 will be a very busy time and I have been aware enough to not book anything for the week after I get home.  So far.  :-}

I will, however, leave the small loom dressed so that when I come home there will not be two nekkid looms to greet me. I am not sure what needs to go on to the AVL next, so a short towel warp on the Leclerc will allow me to enjoy some weaving time right away.

Sitting at my loom and weaving is, after all, my happy place.

The Gift

Who else but another weaver to appreciate a handwoven gift?  Got these mug rugs and bookmark (because Sheila knows I still read 'paper' books!) which will go into service immediately.  The mug rugs are a nice generous size and delightful motifs.  Thanks Sheila - the mug rugs will actually be going with me on my trip as examples of multi-shaft Summer and Winter!  :D  (And your gifts will be late this year - sorry!)

This morning I finished getting the last of the workshop materials ready.  I forgot the demo warp for Memphis in their box and since Chattanooga is before Memphis I will add it to this box so I can pick it up en route.

Working on Christmas Day you say?  I say, why not!?  Being able to weave and teach about weaving is the greatest gift I have received - the gift of life.  For all it's ups and downs, life is the most precious thing we have and since my work is my joy, why not work on Christmas?

Sending my best wishes for a joyful life - this week and the coming year.

No More Messing About

As suspected, both the yarn orders had gotten caught up in the Christmas mail volumes and today I received not just the first notification of arrival but the last notice!  Anyway, no matter, both orders are here and now I really feel the pressure to tackle the rest of the job list.

The hemp yarn is actually what I hoped, not what I expected.  Obviously I made a crucial math error somewhere when I was converting metric count to imperial.

The singles is about a 2/16 grist by looking at it and the 2 ply is about a 2/10 size - somewhat smaller than a 2/8 but bigger than a 2/16.  I'll drag my scale out and weigh out a gram and see how many meters are in it and then re-calculate.

Either way, both will work for my intended purpose.  Now I just need timed to wind and weave off a sample warp.

In the meantime progress is being made on the southern tour.  Two boxes of yarn were mailed for NC and TN this morning.  I also stopped in to the travel agent - the mall wasn't horrible at 10 am so I was grateful.  The travel agent is working on the best routing/price she can find and will issue the tickets Thursday.  Then I can put the final touches on my end and let all the organizers know my eta(s).

Today I'm working on the Memphis workshop.  I had to re-tool a couple of the warps because I was out of the specified yarns and had to make substitutions, but I think I'm about ready (now that lunch is over) to fire up the photocopy machine and start getting the handouts and yarn packages ready.

Today is a lovely day - a little overcast but the sun is trying to shine.  It's cold but not terrible - and we will have a white Christmas.

Time to get back into the studio and put the finishing touches on this one so I can begin the next.

Block Weaves

One of the things I've had on my to-be-done one-of-these-days list is to revamp the workshop handouts for Mug Rugs and More.  I have been teaching this topic for a very long time and the handouts were very, um, crude, compared to what is available now in the way of weaving and word processing software.

The impetus to actually do this has come because Chattanooga chose this topic for their workshop.  I also wanted to provide an 8 shaft variation, so I spent some time today re-doing this and other of the drawdowns.  The 8 shaft draft will be used in the Focus on Block Weaves workshop at Memphis.

It was a good exercise because I really had to dig through the old grey cells and think about double weave, which I haven't done for a very long time. You know what they say - use it or lose it!  I knew the effect I wanted, but I had to twist my brain into a pretzel to get it.  A good reminder that some concepts are easier than others and to get myself back into 'beginner mind' mode.

Currently reading Quietly in their Sleep by Donna Leon

Nashville

The Nashville workshop, Focus on Lace, is full.  This afternoon I've been photocopying handouts and selecting the yarns for the drafts.  Am running short on some so I've had to kind of jockey things around and make a few minor changes.

They want some of the dry finishing techniques from the Mug Rugs workshop so that required a bit of jockeying around, too.  Just waiting for the cone winder to break some large cones down into smaller ones - don't need a pound of 10/2 cotton and don't want to pay the postage to ship something that isn't needed.  As it is I always send more than enough to go round.  :)  Or, at least, I try to.  Nothing worse than running short!

As soon as the cones are wound I'll start bagging up the drafts and yarn.  I think I've got a box big enough.  Still have to make up the list of warps/yarns with the number of shafts for each and the welcome letter, but this ought to be done by dinner time if I just keep at it.

With the trampoline laid out so I can do at least one, preferably two, short sessions every day (I'm still building up muscles and stamina) it became a handy 'table' to lay out some of the yarns and drafts.  The rest went onto the floor because I just don't have enough flat surface anywhere else to do this job.

I am still waiting to hear from Memphis how many people are signed up.  I was told to plan for 6 in Chattanooga, but I will confirm with them before I ship anything.  Christmas festivities are a distraction!  :}

We will have brunch tomorrow with my cousin who is visiting from a nearby community for the day and my mom, and then mom, Doug and I will have dinner on the day.  In between I'm still trying to knock stuff off my to-be-done list - things that absolutely must get accomplished before I leave.  I'm hoping that I can get them all done plus some of the jobs with 'soft' deadlines so that they aren't waiting for me when I get home again in mid-February.  Being away for so many weeks means I have to be super organized about stuff like bills to be paid (cheques written out for Doug to fill in and deal with) and so on.

I am really hoping that there will be nice weather in NC/GA/TN while I am there!  But I will bring my snow boots and winter coat just in case because last time I was in NC in January it was cold and the snow was several inches deep at the folk school!  It is winter, after all.

Static

silk warp for Magic in the Water

My camera was intent on focusing on the wall behind, not the warp, which is the point of this photo.

The temperature dropped overnight and with the cold weather comes low relative humidity.  As I wound the warps for Magic in the Water at the folk school today, the silk became very charged with static electricity.  The threads were determined to stay as far away from each other as possible.  My solution?  A quick spritz with some water when the static seemed about to take over and start causing problems with the winding.

The warps for the workshop are now all wound.  I may toss in a bonus warp I wound for another workshop and made a mistake - something I didn't want someone else to have to deal with but won't faze me - it's just samples, after all.  :^)

I still have to do some photocopying but otherwise that workshop is about as ready as I'm going to get.  One demo warp for the Boot Camp is done, and I'll wind one more for that class.  The rest of my 'spare' time during Boot Camp will be dressing the looms for the weekend workshop.

As I dealt with the silk threads I thought about how life always hands us static in one form or another.  Christmas holidays can be particularly fraught and I, for one, would be happy to just ignore it.  We don't have any kids, therefore no g/kids, there is just us - and my mom.  I have no desire to cook a huge meal and have turkey leftovers for days afterwards so we booked a reservation at the one eatery that will be serving a buffet Christmas dinner.  I don't think mom is too anxious to cook - and clean! - either as she didn't protest too much when I told her the reservations were made.  :^)

But life will always present us with challenges - we just have to figure out how best to deal with them and not get overly anxious about them.  There is always a solution, after all.

And remember when the metaphorical oxygen masks drop in front of your face, put yours on first before you try to help others.  Sometimes the solution to static is simple - we just have to be willing to use it.

Solstice

As a kid I longed for Christmas.  As an adult, I long for the solstice.

The solstice is the pivot point for the sun and today is the shortest day of the year.  It also happened to be overcast and the flurries that were predicted turned into a steady dump of fine snow that was more sleet at times than snowflakes.

The official time of sunrise today was 8:27 am.  The official time of sunset was 3:51 pm.  The above photo was taken at 3:15 pm.

These short days are why I am looking forward to take off south in January.  By the time I get home the days will be significantly longer, especially for this upcoming trip which is about 2 weeks longer than I usually schedule.  And of course the days in NC/TN are longer than ours are anyway.

On Feb. 15 the official sunrise will be 7:30 am and the official sunset 5:35 pm.  I should be recovered from the jet lag by then.  :)

Today I finished the last of the warps to illustrate the article for Handwoven.  I will set those webs aside and start on the warps for the Magic in the Water workshop at the folk school.  They need to be into the mail by Monday.  Then the workshop in Nashville, which is now full.  Chattanooga will be a smaller class with around 6, I think she said.  I'm still waiting to hear from Memphis how many people there will be and if they will do a short Efficient Weaver on the Monday and/or Tuesday.  As soon as they confirm I can buy my tickets.

But in the meantime I have a lot of prep work to do.

And oh, yes, I ought to do something about Christmas.  I'm sure my mother is expecting something!

Deadlines - Just In Time

One of my 'failings' is that I tend to treat deadlines as a way to procrastinate.  Deadline is two weeks away?  I've got a week before I have to actually do anything about it.  Which can then turn into 5 days.  Then 3 days.  Finally when there is no more room to procrastinate, I find a surge of adrenaline energy and tackle that deadline to the ground!

Well, that worked - sort of - when I was younger and had more energy to burn.  But working on adrenaline all the time is wearing and I must be growing up or something because I find myself looking further ahead, starting work on a large project sooner and ultimately trying to get a large project done ahead of time instead of just in time.

Doug is going to start stapling the samples for AGY:Rayon today, which means I really need to finish weaving them.  I'm still waiting for the yarn from Silk City, but these can be 'finished' so today I taped and cut apart the 'before' samples and will wet finish the rest of the cloth, possibly today, possibly tomorrow.

I also want to clear the decks because I will need to start working on the workshop handouts.  The two day Magic in the Water workshop at John C. Campbell needs to have the yarns not just pulled, but the warps wound too.  The added attraction of this workshop is that participants don't have to bring a loom - I will be dressing the warps during the Boot Camp.  Doing double duty by demoing how I dress looms and getting the warps for the workshop onto the looms.  The folk school has more than enough looms for the 8 registrants in the Boot Camp as well as the 8 or so warps for the workshop.  :)

Atlanta, Nashville and probably Memphis are all a 'go' - Chattanooga has until Saturday to give me the go/no go word and Nashville and Memphis both have to have drafts and yarns mailed to them.  It takes a day to review the drafts and choose the ones appropriate for each class.  For example I don't send a lot of wool to southern climes, which sometimes means a bit of rummaging through the stash and re-tooling the drafts.

I also need to wind demo warps for the Boot Camp and Atlanta.  So, lots of details to be taken care of before the end of the year.

In between I'm waiting for the go-ahead from the designer - do I weave fabric for her or finish that warp off in tea towels?  Which ever, I need that loom for the last AGY:Rayon sample.

Then of course, there is the text to be written, edited, copied and the packages collated.  If I'm going to get them done before I leave, there isn't a day between now and January 14 to waste!

So, in spite of my trying to get everything done in time, I really don't want them to be done just in time but in a timely manner!

Maturity.  Something to be said for it.

Breaking the Ice

Breaking the ice with the no-thinking-required white place mat warp last week I've been able to start to tackle my to-be-done list.

Since I am deadline driven, especially when several deadlines are looming (pun alert!), once I got back at it I was able to see more clearly what needed to be done and begin to do it.

The good news is that both classes are a 'go' at John C. Campbell albeit with only 3 so far in the two day workshop.  The class sponsored by SEFFA in Atlanta is a go, although they have more spots available.  The workshop in Nashville is a go with 11 (more spots available) and I think Memphis is also a go although I'm waiting on numbers from them.  Not positive about Chattanooga but they have until the 15th to get back to me.

In the meantime I am making headway on A Good Yarn: Rayon with sample #6 on the loom and weaving up nicely.

Doug is going to go to the annex to get the room ready to begin stapling and also deliver the 5 buckets of samples ready for stapling up there - and out of my way in the studio.

The prototype fabric has been mailed to the designer.  As soon as the sample above is woven and the before samples taped and cut apart I will begin preparing the yarns and handouts for the tour in January.  By the time those are done and in the mail the yarns will (should?) have arrived from Silk City and hopefully the AVL will be empty.  I put a 10 yard warp on for the prototype and am waiting for the designer to say yay or nay.  If it's a nay I'll weave the rest of that warp off as tea towels.

As for Christmas, is that soon or something????  I'm actually a lot more interested in when the solstice is happening because that means the return of longer days....

Learning Opportunities

potential place mat warps....

When I finally made it to the loom progress went clipping along.  Of course it doesn't hurt that the mats weave up at around 12 picks per inch - really helps grow that cloth!

Once my feet re-learned the choreography (broken twill, not straight twill) I had time to think. 

Of course the internet is not ideal because not everyone has high speed connectivity.  I know this all too well as I joined the internet in 1994 with a dial up Free-net account with a maximum of one hour at a time.  I only recently got high speed when we changed over to fibre optics for telephone/tv and of course, the internet.  I well remember not having high speed and waiting and waiting for websites to download and oftentimes just plain giving up.

So as I thought about learning opportunities I itemized them and examined them for feasibility.

The best option is to learn directly from someone, person to person.  (People can come here, one at a time, for 3-5 days to study with me.  The rate is $100/day if they stay elsewhere, $125/day if they stay in our modest home - shared bathroom facilities.  Meals are provided although I only cook dinner - student fends for themselves for breakfast/lunch.)

Another person to person option is to take a class at a facility like John C. Campbel Folk School or other 'schools' or shops that have classroom areas.

Guilds can sponsor workshops (usually 2-3 days) for another person to person option.  That means only the teacher travels (generally).

But not everyone can travel - students work full time or have family obligations or they just plain can't afford it.

Books are another way of learning.  Frankly if I'd had to learn from a book I'd never have managed it, but I know plenty of people for whom this is the only option.  In the 21st century we also have DVD's, (and/or video tapes although they are obsolete now).

Many people urged me to make a video tape (or DVD) but I'd done just enough video to understand how difficult it is to make a really good video and opted for CD Weaver instead.  This format combined the best (in my opinion) of books and video/DVD's.  There was text for people who can learn by reading.  There were lots of colour photos to enhance the text.  And there were video clips for people who need to really see what's happening.

I'm not sure why this format never took off and eventually I gave up.  (That said, I have 8 CD Weaver's left - I'll sell them at the bargain basement price of $30 including shipping.)

And now we have the internet and on-line classes.  Again not ideal because of the isolation of many and the difficulty of participating in on line events.

But Heidi asked a pertinent question.  Would I advise people if they sent video clips of themselves.  After mulling this over I realized that this need not happen on the internet at all.  People could make a video of themselves weaving, burn it to a cd or put it on a flash drive, mail it to me and I could observe and make comments, either via email or return mail.  Obviously if the person has internet connectivity difficulties, snail mail might be the best option. 

Lastly there are the chat groups and blogs.  People with slow internet connections can usually manage to participate in these but they are primarily a text based medium and not everyone learns by reading.  Also, there is You Tube but a slow internet connection makes this a problem, too.

Anything else I've missed?

Reflections/Decisions

quick snap for blog

photo sent for promotional purposes

Quite often people comment about how much I blog and how much time it must take me.  I have to confess - I am not trying to write 'literature' when I post - I'm just jotting a note to my friends and it rarely takes more than 20 minutes or so to write up a post.

Today I wound up doing more 'catch up' - it's 4 pm and I've barely spent 20 minutes in the studio and that was to choose yarns for one more towel warp and start winding it.  I got about 1/4 of it wound and then had to stop and roar around town - again.  It also became necessary to do some photography for sale and promotional purposes, which required a lot more thought and time than the usual snaps I take for the blog.

My general rule of thumb is to drape or scrunch the textile to convey - at least a little bit - the drape of the cloth.  To make the tactile come alive as much as possible.  I don't claim to be a great photographer, but digital photography has really helped a lot - I can snap as many shots as I like, ditch 95% of them and not be concerned about the cost of developing them, only to be disappointed and toss the photographs aside.

Towels shown above are now available for sale at my Art Fire store

One of the things I've been doing the past few days is reflecting on the course I will (should?) take for the next few years.  Now that I feel so much better - and had a successful teaching tour last month - I'm thinking I ought to work a little harder at promoting myself as an instructor.  (A little positive feedback is dangerous for the ego!)

Along with that decision comes the realization that I have not increased my teaching fees for a very long time.  I intended to raise my daily rate last year and then when the roof fell in in terms of my health, I decided not to bother.   But I've been told by several instructors that my daily rate is too low.  So I've decided to give myself a birthday present and increase my daily rate to $350/day (plus travel and accomodation).  Any bookings made before July 9, 2012 will be at my current rate of $300/day.  So my next task is to remember who all I spoke to on my recent trip and let them know.

And now, back to the warping board, music courtesy of Diana Krall (fellow BC native)

Sarasota, Day 1

Today we looked at fibre characteristics.  After lecturing all morning (never did break for a coffee break!) we took a long lunch to let the info settle and then after lunch reviewed a bit then the participants did the hand's on part where they had to apply the knowledge from the morning.  It was a bit of a challenge, but I think most people did fairly well.

Tomorrow and Saturday morning we'll look at issues of efficiency.  One gal is going to bring a warping wheel, which is great because I don't use one and everyone will get to see how that works.  :)

Currently reading Reader and Raelynx by Sharon Shinn

Durham, Day One

Great group - enthusiastic and friendly.  :)  They made good progress today.  One person has nearly finished weaving all 12 of her samples!

It's really nice to have 3 days for this class.  Hopefully not too much stress re: the weaving.  Monday we'll dive into the magic in the water.

Weather is cooler than I'd hoped - but no snow on the ground and Tuesday is supposed to be good for my flight to Sarasota.

Food For Thought

Simon Winchester seems to have a talent for finding interesting 'characters' and telling their stories in an informative and engaging way.  I've read several of his books and will look for more of his titles.  I'm fortunate in that my local library has quite a few of his books.

In this one we meet Joseph Needham, scientist, researcher, writer and ultimately, historian.  His fascination with China turned into the opus Science and Civilization in China - a task so monumental that it continues long after his death.

In the Appendix of Winchester's book he has a list of some inventions developed by Chinese minds and their approximate dates - some of which far pre-dated similar developments in Europe.  Unfortunately it is only a partial list and doesn't have weaving inventions but does include these:

Silk, earliest spinning of:  2850 BC

Silk reeling machine:  AD 1090

Silk warp doubling and throwing frame:  10th century AD

Spindle Wheel:  5th century BC

Spindle wheel, multiple spindles:  11th century AD

Spindle wheel, treadle-operated:  1st century AD

Spooling frame: AD 1313

Trip hammers, water-powered (as in a fulling mill):  AD 20

In other news, I've received confirmation of the workshop at the Sutherland Weaving Studio in Asheville, NC (A Good Yarn) and Sarasota is still looking for more participants for their two workshops (The Efficient Weaver 1.5 days and A Good Yarn 1 day). 

The trip is shaping up nicely and I'm looking forward to visiting with a friend on the way home in Seattle area and attending the March meeting of the Seattle Weavers Guild.  I'll be gone a month, which Doug isn't terribly happy about, but I'm looking forward to very much.  If nothing else, spring should be arriving by the time I get home and the days, which are lengthening nicely, should be much longer.  Although we have had a few brilliantly sunny days in Janurary, there have been all too few of them.  Today we are back to overcast, blustery wind and blowing snow.  And temperatures that are far too mild!

A good day to stay home and maybe finish that towel warp? 

Refining Technique and Weaving Boot Camp?

Weavers learning my 'method' of beaming sometimes get very nervous about the part where the loops of the warp need to be transfered from the 3rd stick to the apron or cord at the back beam.  I realized that it would be a very simple matter to utilize the 'angel wings' as a 3rd hand.

3rd stick with warp loops - stick is tipped upright so that it is easier to see the loops

apron rod being interleaved with the loops of the warp and the apron

apron rod fully inserted into the warp loops

3rd stick removed - warp is now completely installed onto the apron rod

a couple of minutes (at most) and the pigtails in the loops are smoothed out and the warp is ready to be beamed

warp travels under the breast beam, over the valet and each chain is weighted with a jug of water - elapsed time from inserting rough sleyed warp in the beater to the warp completely beamed and ready to thread - about 20 minutes - the warp is 9 meters long, 544 ends at 24 epi (about 22 1/4 ")

Purrington's angel wings are not required for this - any method of supporting the stick would make the job of transfering the loops much less stressful.  I just happen to have the angel wings installed on this loom.

Pam Howard and I have been discussing my returning to the John C. Campbell Folk School next year in January.  She has suggested another week long course but a different topic than The Efficient Weaver, which we will have given twice after my trip there in March of this year.

Thinking about what I could offer I wondered about a Weaving "boot" camp where people could come and rather than have a set curriculum, they would let me know ahead of time what they wanted specifically to learn and I would act as a weaving coach.  Lectures would be given to reflect the needs of the students.  For instance, perhaps people wanted to know how to read and design with profile drafts.  Or there was interest in fibre characteristics and how to choose yarns wisely for the intended purpose.  Or there was interest in wet finishing, generally, or for shrinkage differential (more commonly known as fabrics that go 'bump').  Or people wanted to know more about how colour acts in woven structure.

The week long class would allow people to hone in on where they wanted to improve and give them an opportunity to focus in a concentrated manner on working towards mastery.

What do you think?

Method/Madness

I know this looks rather a jumble but there is method to my madness.

Although I still have not had the A Good Yarn one day workshops confirmed at Sarasota and Asheville, doing the prep work is going to be time consuming so I figured I'd better get started on it.  I'm winding a whole lot of skeins and my neck isn't best pleased if I do too much of that all at one go.  On the other hand, I can't use my work table for anything else until I get the winding done, so I do feel somewhat under the gun to get it finished and cleared away.

Normally I bring the box of cones, balls and tubes with me but with so many topics, such great distances to travel and airlines being the way they are with limiting luggage and weight, I decided to wind off small skeins - two of each fibre for the two workshops.  This will give the participants some options as they go through and attempt to identify the yarns during the hands on part of the workshop.  They can then cut up one of the skeins and everyone can have a sample of the yarns for their notebooks.

With so much photocopying to be done I'm thinking of just taking all the master copies to Staples and getting them to run the copies rather than me stand over my photocopy machine breathing in the toner fumes.  :)

And if the classes don't 'go', the skeins/handouts will be ready for the next time I do this topic.

The place mat warp is nearly done - 3 more mats to weave, I think - the next mat warp is wound and I need to get back to the AVL as I want to have some of the towels I wove cut off so they can be wet finished on Saturday and pressed on Sunday.  Not to mention the editing that still needs to be done.  For that, though, I need to be in the right mood and lately my distractibility has been a little too high.  Editing requires that I be able to focus and concentrate. 

And of course, with company coming next month, I really, seriously, need to get my house tidied so that they will have a bed to sleep in and a place to sit in the living room!