My seven year old grandson visited me this summer and asked if we could make a blanket for his friend. So together we warped up a small rigid heddle loom and then he did all the weaving.  I've been meaning to share this image since then, but misplaced the picture.  It was so much fun to do this together!

Beginning Weaving Workshop

This past weekend I hosted a beginning weaving workshop in my studio.  We've been putting up signs around the studio grounds to point out where our individual studios are, so I thought in preparation for the weekend, I'd get mine up.  I wove this one and used a warp like the one for the workshop, but wove a 2/2 twill using plastic bags as the weft.  It's fun to see the bag edges blowing in the breeze!

 It is always lots of fun to help people get started weaving on a harnessed loom.  Most everyone used an Ashford table loom.  Those looms are so easy to tote around as they fold up flat and don't weigh too much so I really like using them for classes.  

As usual, the first day was spent preparing the warp.  Everyone wound a warp of 72 threads to be put on a 10 dent reed for a 7" wide sampler.  In this class, I teach front to back warping.  Most everyone used 3/2 pearl cotton so the warp would be easy to work with.  First, they wound their warps.  This is always more challenging for some people than it is for others.

Then by the beginning of the second day, everyone had sleyed the reed, threaded the heddles, and tied on the to back beam.  By the time we get to rolling the warp on the back beam, the fun really begins.  You can see the warp chain laying in front of the loom all ready to be tidied up and rolled to the back.

Here is a warp all ready to go.  It's always a good feeling to see all the threads lined up properly, with the tension just right and set up for good weaving.

Although most everyone was weaving plain weave and twill, a couple of students chose to thread a rose path threading and weave interesting patterns.

Here are a couple of samples that were finished and taken off the loom.

The final step in class is putting knots in the fringe to hold the weft in  After everyone goes home, they will wet finish the fabric and trim any overlapping threads.

Welcome, new weavers!

In the studio

Last week I did a live web seminar for Interweave on rigid heddle weaving and making a stash buster scarf.  The whole thing came together in about 3 weeks from the time I started working on it until giving the presentation last Thursday.  It was lots of fun in spite of how nervous I was and I was pleased with the final result.  If you'd like to check it out, click on the link above.

It seems my weaving life goes back and forth from teaching endeavors to production weaving, which keeps it interesting for me.  So this week I'm concentrating on getting things woven for the Contemporary Crafts Market in Pasadena on June 20 - 22.  Here are some things I'm working on....

Baby blankets

Narrow ruanas

Ponchos

Rayon and silk scarves

Shawls

Warping for rayon chenille scarves

Selecting yarns for more rayon chenille scarves

The Road to Teaching at Convergence

Convergence is a wonderful weaving conference that is held every two years.  Ever since I began weaving, it's been a high point for me to attend, hang out with friends, and see what's new and exciting in the weaving world.  As a weaving teacher, it is great to teach at Convergence.  I get a special thrill when I get my name badge that says "Leader" on it!  It makes it worth all the work it takes to get there.

When I've taken classes in the past, it hasn't occurred to me how much preparation might be involved for the teacher.  I thought it might be interesting for you to see the process for  presenting a class at a conference.

I will be teaching 3 rigid heddle classes at Convergence 2014 in Providence, Rhode Island. My classes will be a two day workshop on Pick Up Pizzazz, or using pick up sticks to create patterns in the woven cloth, a second 2 day workshop on Double Heddles and Double weave to explore patterns, layers, tubes and pockets in the cloth, and a 3 hour seminar on Taste of Rigid Heddle to introduce the curious to the wonders of weaving on a rigid heddle loom.

Pick Up Technique

Double Weave

Preparing a teaching proposal can be a daunting task and takes lots of planning and organization.  Here are some of the steps involved:

• Proposing an appealing class description with defined goals for the class
• Making a complete supply list for students
• Determining any audio/visual needs
• Setting materials fees for anything I supply
• Creating images for the project or technique being taught
• Planning for looms to be supplied or if students can bring their own
• Thinking about shipping supplies to the venue

Sometime during the next year after the class is accepted I need to:

• Write the handout for the technique or project
• Then go back and make the project or do the technique strictly by following the handout
• Clarify things, correct mistakes, and add anything I overlooked on the first pass
• Take pictures of my project so I can insert some in the handout where images are helpful
• Re-edit the handout and set it aside again
• Coordinate with the loom manufacturers to supply looms for the class

Glimakra, Schacht and Ashford rigid heddle looms

A couple of weeks before Convergence I'll need to:

• Print the handouts
• Gather samples
• Review techniques
• Ship everything

Class Samples

When I finally get on the plane to travel to Convergence, I'll be so happy that really, all the hard work is behind me. Teaching is the fun part, seeing everyone learn a new technique or get excited about what they are weaving is the reward and the thrill that makes all the preparations worthwhile!

Proud and happy students 

You can join my classes at Convergence by going to www.weavespindye.org, or see all the places I’m teaching by looking at my website at www.deborahjarchow.com.  On May 29th, I’ll be giving a live web seminar for Interweave on Beginning Weaving for Knitters which you can find by checking my website.

starting again

Seems like a long time since I blogged.  And even though I thought about what I wanted to say many times, I just never got around to putting it down.  Soooooo here we go again.

Last week I got home from teaching in Chicago at Stitches Midwest and then visiting my family in southern Ohio.  It was a welcome break from my normal routine here at home.  The previous month was completely taken over by working on the Grand Opening event for the gallery at Studio Channel Islands Art Center where my studio is.  The gallery moved from across the street to now be on the same campus as the studios.  A great move and the gallery is certainly beautiful.  Planning the gala celebration and getting the move accomplished was lots of work and I'm glad it's over and things are back to business as usual.  The gala event was sure fun....  

A couple of days after getting home I was off again to teach a one day workshop in Palm Springs to a lovely group of weavers.  This was on using double heddles, something I've been thinking about quite a bit lately.  It's a challenge to thread the rigid heddle loom for double heddles and there are several ways to explain it.  Seems tricky to say it the right way for each person to understand.  The class went well and the group is very enthusiastic to continue with more double weaving.  

Driving to Palm Springs I was reminded how much I love the desert colors.  They are so subtle and understated.  I enjoy the pale pinks, beiges and greens that you see there.  And once I got out of the Los Angeles basin, there were the many wind generators.  They are lined up like soldiers all in very straight rows.  I always wonder why some are spinning away and others are still.  Are those broken or turned off?  They seem to be facing the same way as others that are rapidly turning, so I am mystified.  

They are also HUGE.  Each pole is so much bigger than a telephone pole even though that's hard to tell in the images.  I don't think I could encircle the pole with my arms, but of course I didn't get out of the car and try that!

Between teaching, traveling, and helping out in the gallery, I did not get to spend much time in the studio actually weaving this month.  I'm looking forward to weaving this week!

Camarillo fires

It's been smokey

This week there's been a big fire near Camarillo.  The fire is referred to as the Springs fire and has received national news coverage.  The experience of a large fire nearby is hard to explain to people that don't live in an area that gets wildfires.  Sometimes you can see flames on the hillsides.  Most of the time there are just huge plumes of black smoke where the fire is burning and grey smoke all around it.  The plumes can be seen for miles.  I live about 20 miles from my studio and could see the plume of dark smoke while driving to Camarillo.  There have also been strong winds gusting and blowing that fan the flames and spread them quickly.

  

The studio is in an area that was never threatened by the fire, but the smoke has been very unpleasant.  The winds move the smoke around and soon the entire area seems overcast.  Yesterday afternoon I had the studio door open and realized that not only had lots of dried leaves blown in, but the floor was covered with grayish white flakes.  It looked like the carpet had giant dandruff flakes (about 1/4" in diameter) all over it.  I realized they were ash flakes.  Outside it looked like a very light snow was falling.

From the studio parking lot

A few people I know had to either evacuate their homes or get ready to evacuate.  So that means gathering up all important papers, photos, and the few possessions you consider most valuable.  What a difficult decision to make. Fortunately, no homes burned down in this fire and most everyone is back at home now.  But the fire is still burning and so many firefighters are still hard at work.  Fortunately, the winds are stopping, the weather is cooling and the onshore flow is bringing some moisture into the air.  All good things.

What is most frightening about this fire is that it's only the beginning of May.  The fires don't usually start until September or October after a long hot summer.  It makes me wonder what the summer will bring......

Warping the Loom

Getting the warp on

I'm working on a commission for a Methodist church in Ohio, making long green banners for the wall behind their altar.  After working on it for about a month, today I finally got the warp on the loom.  In early April I had all the cones spread out on the counter to select the colors.  And although I never actually think this takes much time, I do agonize over exactly which colors to put in what order.  In all, this piece has over 35 different yarn colors in the warp and getting them in exactly the right order did take a bit of time.  Then I went to Disneyland and was out of the studio for a week.  After getting back to work I got the warp chains wound and spread out on the front of the loom.  Then I had several teaching jobs that took time to prepare for and do.  Finally, today the loom is warped and I started weaving.  I hope to get the panels finished and on their way by the end of next week.  We'll see how that turns out!

Here are some images of the process...

Some of the warp chains on the floor in front of the loom.

Rolling on the warp.  Some of the warp yarns are in the bucket to the left of the loom.

Let the weaving begin!

It always makes me so happy to see a warp lined up neatly on the loom with all the threads in perfect order, under tension.  I want to pet the warp and admire all the colors before I begin weaving.  I guess I'm truly a weaving geek!

I plan to concentrate on weaving in the studio during the next month.  We have a Summer Market at the Studio site on June 1st.  Then the Contemporary Crafts Market is in Santa Monica on June 7 - 9 and I want to have lots of finished pieces to show and sell for both events. 

Meanwhile, my pillow pattern will be published in a about a week, so look for it on my website, the Yarnworker website, or Craftsy.

Learn to Weave

Beginning Weaving on the 4 harness loom!

This weekend, Saturday and Sunday April 13 & 14, I'll be teaching beginning weaving in my studio in Camarillo.  This morning I had a cancellation, so have a spot available if anyone is interested.  Don't miss this opportunity to learn to weave!  It is so much fun!!!

We'll be working on table looms like in the top picture, so don't be intimidated by the big loom on the bottom.  However, once you learn on a table loom, all the steps easily translate to a floor loom!

If you're interested or have any questions, please email or call me at 805-404-2090.

Vacation

Southern California....

Even though I live in Southern California, it is not often that I visit our popular vacation spots.  During this past week, some of my family from Ohio came to visit me and I've had the best time doing lots of tourist things.  We went to Hollywood, Rodeo Drive, Universal Studios and City Walk, and the Hard Rock Cafe.

We've also been to the Santa Monica pier and the beach...

Even though it's been what I'd consider cool (mostly in the 60s), it was snowing last week in Ohio.  I guess I've gotten really spoiled by the beautiful weather here!

And of course, we've been to Disneyland and California Adventure.

And today we took a whale watching cruise out of Long Beach.  Even though I didn't get a photo, we saw several whales - and one even jumped high out of the water while we watched.  What a treat!

I think it's really true that I've come to see Southern California through the eyes of others and appreciate it that much more!  What a great place to live.

Spring projects

Pillows...

The pillow I posted last month now has a couple of companions.  This is an easy project that is very forgiving of mistakes, so Liz at yarnworker.com is going to publish the pattern.  We wanted to offer some color options and so I got busy weaving up a couple of different color ways.  Here's a sneak peek at what I put together.  Of course, some good photography with decent lighting will help show what they really look like.

These are lots of fun to make and they do look great on the couch!  The Brown Sheep Lambs Pride wool felts beautifully.  And both the Trendsetter and Prism Yarns I used make a lovely fabric.  I've got one more color way on the loom that is purple wool and blue/green/purple filler.  It's a thick rayon slub yarn so I'm not sure if it will work or not so it will be interesting to play with.  After warping the loom I realized the slub yarn might just be a bit too thick in places to go easily through the holes.  Seems like every once in a while I do something like that when I know better, but there are some lessons that I guess I need to learn repeatedly!

One of my students, Carol Whitney, sent me some pictures of the log cabin scarves she made.  What a great job!

Also this week I've been working on a design for a woven scarf with a knitted trim.  It's a submission for a magazine, so I can't show images, but combining knitting or crochet with weaving is an area I'm going to be exploring more.  It's exciting to think about combining my fiber skills to show off the beautiful yarns in new ways.  

This Sunday at Anacapa Fine Yarns in Ventura, CA, I'll be teaching a class on making a scarf with a leno detail.  We'll be using lace weight yarns to make a very light and airy fabric.  If you're interested, there is still space!

Designing

Pattern for Sale!!!!

My first pattern with Yarnworker.com is for sale on Craftsy (click on Craftsy to see the pattern) and I'm so excited about it!  For the past few weeks I've been working with Liz Gipson to develop some of my designs into patterns.  Liz was the wonderful producer for my Craftsy.com class and has excellent experience in many areas of fiber, marketing, editing and lots more.  So when she asked me about working with her and her new venture to promote patterns for rigid heddle looms, I was honored to jump on board.  The official site for Yarnworker will be up sometime in May, but I'm just too excited about the pattern to wait till then to let you all know about it.  

Meanwhile I've been working hard on some additional designs so keep on the look out for those as well.

March begins

back to work...

Stitches West was a treat again this year.  I enjoy seeing friends, catching up with previous students, meeting new people and teaching weaving.  My classes were sold out so I'm delighted there is continuing interest in learning to weave!  My friend Julie Kornblum attended Stitches for the first time and helped me set up and warp the looms before class as well as pack them up after my classes ended.  No matter how much fun it is to teach, it really is a tremendous amount of work getting ready for classes.  Julie and I worked for about 5 hours getting the equipment ready for class.  

Julie warping looms

The room is ready!

I also got to do a demonstration in the Craftsy booth. I'm continually impressed with Craftsy.com.  They are such a pleasure to work with and offer such great classes!  If you haven't checked out my class yet, you can still get 50% off by entering the code www.craftsy.com/rhdj

It was over a week ago since I got home from Stitches West and I've been working hard since then.  The trip home from Santa Clara was lovely as we came down Highway 1 along the coast so I could visit The Coast Gallery in Big Sur.  They have been selling my handwoven rayon chenille scarves for several years and it's always fun to stop in and say hello.  And a new manager started on January 1, so I wanted to meet him.  This is a great gallery and a beautiful place to stop if you're driving on the Coast Highway.

Coming down the coast.

During the past week, I've been working on some patterns.  Within a couple of weeks, some of my patterns will be available on line at Patternfish and Craftsy through Yarnworker Patterns.  This is an exciting endeavor!  More information to come....

More log cabin

Log Cabin continues...

Both last Sunday at Newtons in Anaheim and today at Anacapa in Ventura, I taught classes on log cabin weaving.  This will also be the subject of one of my classes at Stitches West next weekend.  Each of the classes has been a bit different project, but all on the same general subject of how to weave the log cabin pattern.  I love this pattern because it really does look complex, but is fairly easy to weave.  It is after all, just plain weave.  

But the tricky part comes in because two shuttles are used and keeping the yarn from the two shuttles to act properly along the selvedge edges is sometimes difficult.  It's a real challenge for me to explain this in a way that's easy for everyone to understand.  But I've been working on it and think I may be getting a bit better at it.

Since there are two shuttles involved, every other pick brings the second shuttle out the same side of the weaving as the first shuttle, so they are both on the same side of the loom.  If the selvedge thread where they come out is in the up position, then the second shuttle should be placed up, or closer to the reed than the first shuttle.  If the selvedge thread where they come out is in the down position, then the second shuttle should be placed down, or farther away from the reed than the first shuttle (or closer to your stomach).     This sounds simple, but seems very confusing when learning this new technique.  I think there's just a lot going on when starting this pattern and it just feels like too many things to think about at once!  It does get easier as you practice it.

Pam Harwood took the class at TNNA in Long Beach earlier this month and was nice to send me an image of her finished scarf.  She used a variegated yarn for one color and so the effect is a bit different than when using just two contrasting colors.  I think it's lovely!

Yesterday I finished a sample for a new class I've been developing for a woven and felted pillow.  For the wool, I used Brown Sheep Lambs Pride because it always felts so easily.  It's combined with some of Trendsetter's Orchidea, which does not felt.  So the Orchidea gets puffed up in little "pillows" inside the grid of felted Lambs Pride.  I had lots of fun working on this project and plan to do several more colors!