On the Loom

The last couple of days I've gotten lots of weaving in.  Here's the latest piece on the loom.  I love how vibrant the colors are.

Then this evening I finished weaving and cut it off the loom and stretched it out on the floor in the studio.

After I got home I put it in the washer to felt (full) the wool.  I think the dye in the dark purple chenille ran a bit and maybe muted out some of the other colors.  Bummer.  But it's drying now and I won't be able to see the true colors until after it's dry.  It's a large piece of fabric, measuring 155" long on the loom, by 48" wide.  I'm pretty sure it will be at least 1/3 smaller after it shrinks up.

So tomorrow I'll be packing up my things in preparation for the Contemporary Crafts Market in Santa Monica.  I enjoy doing the show, but getting ready is lots of work.

Studio Time

Today was a productive studio day.  I got a new warp tied on the big loom.  It's 48" wide on the loom and 5 1/2 yards long.  It's a mixture of wool stripes and rayon chenille stripes and will be a felted/puckered effect when it's completed.  It was good to get it tied on and all straightened out.  Here it is going on the loom - 

And a little more straightened out...

I was so tired when I left the studio, I forgot to take another picture of it all neatly tied on, waste yarn in to even the threads out, and ready for me to weave on tomorrow.

My plan is to get it woven in the next couple of days so I can take it off, put it in the washer to lightly felt the wool, and have it finished by the middle of the week.  That's the plan anyway.  I want to have it ready for the exhibit at Fox in Ventura that opens on Saturday, November 10.

Later this week I'll be showing at the Contemporary Crafts Market in Santa Monica which is always a really beautiful show with around 250 artists.  It's a great place to start holiday shopping, but frankly it's been way too hot with the Santa Ana winds blowing to think about holidays.  Well, at least here in the west we don't have to worry about torrential rains and flooding.

Guild Activities

Today was a good day.  The Ventura County Handweavers Guild had their annual Harvest Sale at the studio so there were many weavers and possible weavers through my studio.  I love to see the look in someone's eye when they're thinking about learning to weave and they see all my looms and yarn and start to imagine what they can do.  Several people were really interested in taking classes and want to see a schedule for what's coming up.  This is a really good incentive for me work out my schedule for the beginning of the year.  

For sure I'll be offering a beginning weaving class for the 4 harness loom.  And a couple of people today mentioned that the rigid heddle log cabin class at Stitches West is sold out, so that might be a good one to offer at the studio as well.  If you have any requests for classes, please let me know so I can try to schedule them.

Redfish Dyeworks had a booth at the Harvest Sale so of course I was admiring their beautiful yarn.  Sandy and Elf talked to me about working with some of their yarn for an upcoming project which is really exciting!

After everyone went home from the Harvest Sale, I got to work on samples for my Craftsy class and was able to finish 3 using pick up sticks.  Then I made plans for a finished project for that lesson, so I felt like I got alot done.  But before I left I wanted to work on a floor loom  piece so spent another couple of hours tying a new warp on to an old one.  Didn't get as far on that as I would have liked, but it will still be there tomorrow.

So a good day - talking with friends and new weavers, planning classes and making samples, and weaving on a project!

Preparations

Today I stayed home from the studio to work on plans and samples for the Craftsy course I'm preparing.  Although I'm used to developing classes, writing handouts, and making samples, this process for the Craftsy course is an adventure.  For me it's a new and different way of thinking about how to present information.  I think the strangest part will be teaching the lessons with no real students to interact with, just the film crew.  But the exciting part is thinking about how many people will have access to the course, and the potential for engaging many new weavers!

I'm very thankful for my wonderful partner at Craftsy, Liz, who is guiding me through the process and helping me focus.  So my next three weeks will be extremely busy weaving the rest of the samples for the classes.  Today I finished a table runner and several samples in the log cabin pattern that will be a part of the course.  It makes me happy to see them now drying after being wet finished.

Meanwhile, Pat S., one of the students from Stitches East sent images of the bag she made in the color and weave class there.  After Pat got home, she lined her bag with some very pretty fabric and added a nice handle.  Thanks, Pat, for sharing!  I love what you did.

Stitches East Wrap up

I haven't posted anything this week because I got sick right after Stitches and have been on the mend this past week. So to catch up...

During the Saturday class at Stitches East last week, the participants wove a small bag using color and weave patterns.  The variety of colors and yarns everyone brings always makes for a beautiful array of finished pieces. I love seeing how they turn out.

I'm so lucky to get to weave and teach weaving!

More from Stitches East

Today I got to teach the Scarf from your Stash class and had some wonderful, talented people in the group.  With absolutely no experience, they made such pretty scarves and I think everyone had a good time.  Here's the class...

And here are some of their scarves...

It's been a good day! But my feet hurt a bit and I'm happy to have them up on a pillow.  I am looking forward to tomorrow and teaching a color and weave technique.

Stitches East!

Yesterday I got to Hartford for the fabulous Stitches East!  This morning we had the teacher a la carte lunch, a fun time where the teachers hop from table to table talking about the classes we'll be teaching.  It's like speed dating with students and is a treat.  Talking about weaving in general and classes I'm offering here in 3 minutes, about 10 times in a row is a challenge. Hope I made sense! 

Just outside is registration where you can feel the anticipation about all the things that are going to happen soon - classes, meeting friends, and looking for great yarn and supplies in the vendor hall!  I love being part of this - especially being around so many fiber lovers.  It's so easy to talk with anyone and comment on the cool thing they're wearing or project they're working on.

And of course, Hartford is beautiful, even looking out the window of the convention center.

Tomorrow morning I get to teach the stashbuster scarf class and I always have a great time with that.

Stitches East!

Tomorrow morning I'm heading to Hartford, CT for Stitches East!!

The Stitches events are so much fun.  I love walking around seeing all the gorgeous things everyone is wearing and checking out all the things they're working on.  And teaching weaving to lots of knitters is wonderful.  It's amazing when people in my classes get excited about weaving and I just know they've discovered something that will give them pleasure for many years to come.

What could be better?

I'm taking my computer so I can post some pictures while I'm at the conference, so stay tuned.....

Log Cabin

Today I've been weaving some samples for my upcoming Craftsy classes. I'm  using Tahki Stacy Charles wonderful mercerized Cotton Classic for the log cabin pattern. It gives great definition to the pattern. 

This sample is using the same 2 colors for both warp and weft to make even sized blocks.

This sample is on the same warp, but I used 2 different colors for the weft.  It really makes a different pattern.

These samples are helping me decide what pattern and colors to use for a project for the class.  It's such fun to work on things to see how they come out.     It will be nice to see how these look off the loom and washed... perhaps in a couple of days.

Meanwhile, Karen Tyner stopped by the studio this afternoon and shared the scarf she wove from the Stashbuster class I taught at the Ventura County Handweavers Guild a couple of weeks ago.

Karen's happy because she's finally a weaver!

Studio blues......

The last few days have been so busy with other things I haven't had any time to weave.  So I'm sad when I look at my looms just waiting for attention.

Maybe tomorrow....

Meanwhile, here's an image of Barbara's scarf from one of the Stashbuster classes.