Teaching

teaching....

Last week I attended and taught at TNNA in Long Beach.  I got to stay at the Hyatt that is adjacent to the convention center.  This is the view from my window!

Nice view from the hotel!

 This conference is for the trade, so all the yarn shop owners and employees come to see what new yarn and tools the yarn companies are offering this season.  Teaching to shop owners is really a treat because I know there will be a ripple effect as they share what they learn with their customers and students at their shops.  And they always come up with great questions that allow me to improve my own techniques and how I teach.  Foxglove Fiberarts Supply (Ashford distributor for the US) sponsored the two full day classes and provided looms for the students.  I think it's always nice to take a weaving class and not have to tote a loom along when you travel.  

When I got to the classroom before class started, the tables weren't set up the way I wanted them, so I started moving things around.  Shortly, a nice man came to the room and advised me I couldn't move the tables, only the convention center people could.  So after several phone calls, they finally got the ok and the tables were moved.  Seemed like a bit of a production, but those are the rules they have to follow.  It just seemed very interesting.....

The tables waiting to be moved.

On the third day, I taught an introduction to rigid heddle weaving class that was sponsored by Foxglove, Schacht, and Glimakra looms.  During this class people get to weave on the three brands of looms to see how they differ and what features each one offers.  It's lots of fun and interesting to see how different people favor one loom over another.  Sometimes it's the weaving width, or the finish, or the carry bag, or how cute the loom is that speaks to them.  And of course, sometimes it's the price.  

We had lots of fun in the classes and there were some beautiful pieces woven.  Here are some happy students!

Everyone did such a great job.  Thank you all for making my teaching so easy!

After teaching I walked around on the convention floor checking out all the beautiful yarns that are available.  It makes choosing yarn difficult when there are so many fabulous fibers to see.  

And the Craftsy team was there and so I had a chance to talk with them some more.  I'm very happy with my class Rigid Heddle Weaving Beyond the Basics.  If you haven't gotten it yet and want to, you can get a 50% discount by entering www.craftsy.com/rhdj

Stitches West is coming up in a couple of weeks and I always enjoy teaching there. My classes are sold out, but I think there is a waiting list if anyone still wants to sign up.   I'll also be demonstrating at the Craftsy booth on Friday, February 22 at noon.

Oh my, time flies.....

I see it's been two weeks since my last post and I can't believe how the time got away from me.  Last week the entire week was so much fun as we had adult art camp at Studio Channel Islands Art Center.  In the afternoons, I had a wonderful class with 5 new rigid heddle weavers and 3 new 4 harness weavers in the evenings.  Generally my classes are much larger so it was a relaxed atmosphere and we all got to know each other.  Everyone took to weaving and it was a great time.  Being away from the normal routine at art camp was like a vacation!  It was a special treat for me to spend time with these creative people and help them discover weaving.  Here are several images from the rigid heddle class.

Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures in the evening class, but they worked on samplers.  It's so interesting to me the way the same stack of yarn can come out looking so different depending on who is using it.  Each person uses the color and texture in a unique way to produce an individual piece.  Some favor thin smooth yarn, while others like sparkle or fuzzy or fat and stretchy.  So many choices!

I'm already thinking about what to offer at the next adult art camp.  If you have any suggestions, just let me know.

So now this week I'm getting ready for TNNA.  It's in Long Beach so I don't have to fly anywhere, just get up really early on Thursday and drive down to teach a class starting at noon.  I love teaching at TNNA because it's mostly yarn shop owners or employees and they're always wonderful to have in a class.  And I'll get to see many friends and check out the new yarns for the summer.  I love my job!

Scarves

Ok, here are the images.  I tried to post them before from my iPad, but I obviously don't have that completely figured out yet.

Scarves!

All the scarves for the order for the Coast Gallery in Big Sur are on their way.  So the warps I showed hanging on the loom in my post from the January 2 post are all woven!

I'm so happy with how they turned out.

Where does the time go?

A week ago, a group came up to my studio from Anaheim and Los Angeles to hang out for the afternoon and have some informal instruction on the rigid heddle loom.  Helen from Newton's Knits is great about arranging classes and field trips and I certainly thank her for putting this group together.  A couple of ladies were finishing their their stash vests from the class we had at Newtons in December on that. The class project is the stashbuster vest that was published in the September/October issue of Handwoven magazine.  But Mary Still had finished not one, but two stash vests!  Here are her beautiful pieces.  The pictures don't do them justice as she incorporated lots of mixed yarns to give the fabric great texture.  What a great job.

The last week went by in a blur.  I stayed at the studio most evenings until 9 or 10 pm getting lots of weaving done.  Tomorrow I'll take pictures of all the scarves I finished and post them. It's been a weaving frenzy, but I finished 25 rayon chenille scarves during the week!  Tomorrow morning I go up to Ventura to pick up my pieces from the exhibit at Fox.  They had several of my scarves for sale in the window, so between getting a few of those back and the new ones I finished last week, I will have some scarves for sale in my studio again.

Saturday and Sunday I taught a beginning rigid heddle class at the Southern California Handweavers Guild.  We had such fun.  On Saturday afternoon everyone made an open weave felted scarf for their first project.  The project for Sunday was the stashbuster scarf.  I'm always amazed and delighted at how beautiful and different all the pieces turn out.  We had 17 in the class and each piece was unique.  It's wonderful to see the creative ways each person interprets the same project.  Here is an image of some of the class members and some of their projects from the open weave felted scarf class.  The stashbuster scarves were mostly still on the looms at the end of the class on Sunday, so I didn't get an image of those, but hopefully I'll get some photos emailed to me.

My course on Craftsy.com is giving me the opportunity to interact with weavers from all over!  It's so exciting to answer questions and chat with people I otherwise wouldn't have had the opportunity to meet.  And people are posting projects on the site so I can see what they're working on and how they're using the lessons to make their own designs.  The more interaction I have with Craftsy, the more impressed I am.  They offer a great way to learn things in the comfort of your own home!  If you are interested in my rigid heddle weaving course, remember you can get a 50% discount by using the link www.craftsy.com/rhdj.

This week I hope to get more samples done for the Great Wall of Yarn at TNNA and for some new Trendsetter Yarns I have.  And I'll be preparing for Adult Art Camp at the studio January 21 - 25.

Leno with silk

Working with some of the Trendsetter Yarns has been wonderful this week.  For one project I used a ball of their Lotus Yarn "Silky Cashmere" to make a scarf with some leno detail on the ends.  Oh my, I just love  it.  The yarn is 55% silk and 45% Mongolian Cashmere, so the piece has a fabulous hand.  It's light as a feather, soft, and has a beautiful luster.  It's such an easy project that is mostly plain weave with just one row of 2 x 2 leno a couple of inches from each end to create a bit of a border.  I used a sett of 12 ends per inch in a balanced weave structure.  This is one of those projects that gave me a lot of result for minimal effort.  

I enjoyed this one so much, I decided to weave another one using a ball of silk I also had on hand.  This one is using Sweetgeorgia yarn "Spun Silk Lace" 100% silk in amethyst sett at 20 ends per inch with 13 picks per inch.  It has the same leno detail on each end for a border.

There might be several more of these so I can use them both as class samples and to wear myself!

A New Year

This afternoon I spent a few hours in the studio getting organized.  I was able to get several warps wound for rayon chenille scarves and lay them out in preparation for being put on the loom.  The first one I'll be working on is purples and it's now on the loom ready to weave.  The warps are all long enough to make 5 scarves.  Generally I weave each one with a different weft color so the scarves are all unique after they're finished.

I wound 4 additional warps and draped them over the front beam of my biggest loom which isn't being used right now.  It is so satisfying to see the warps all lined up, waiting to be worked on.  For these scarves, I've wound 5 warp chains for each total warp.  The buckets hold all the cones of yarn that I used in the warp so if I break a warp thread, the replacement is handy and I don't have to search for the right color.  And there is a nice sense of completion when I put the cones away after finishing working on that warp.

I'm also looking forward to working on a warp I put on the loom right before Christmas.  The customer wanted a ruana with colors suggesting a Monet painting.  Here's the warp on the loom.  I did get the ruana finished and sent off before Christmas, but still have more to weave as I put on enough warp for an additional 2 garments.

So part of getting organized is deciding what to work on first!  I'll be weaving the chenille scarves so I can get a dozen shipped off to the Coast Gallery in Big Sur during the next week.  At the same time, I'm working on some patterns with some beautiful new yarns from Trendsetter Yarns.

I love my job!