This time of year is very stressful and hectic, trying to cram holiday tasks and festivities into an already crowded schedule. My coping mechanism of choice this year was to run away from it all and join friends for a weekend of weaving, knitting, and creativity.
The site was Lisa’s house, and she has a weaving studio which is Fiber Nirvana, as far as I am concerned. It has lots of cozy spots to sit and look at books, wind yarn, knit and hand-sew, or just contemplate. There are also many looms, mostly warped and ready to play. Her organization is inspirational, and anything you could want seems to be there, and easy to find.
Tracy is planning to take the Nihon Vogue Design course, so she and Lisa spent some time drafting on large sheets of graph paper on the large table in the space, while I knit on a Christmas sock. This studio has everything, I tell you!
Koko thinks this bin of yarn is a cozy nap spot…hard to argue
Tracy showed us a cowl that she made, using Julie Weisenberger’s “Family Tree” motif. This motif is really great, and although Julie worked it into a sweater, Tracy’s cowl is an even better use for it, in my opinion. Looks great!
Family tree motif http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/oakleaf-family-tree
Lisa warped her 8 shaft Louet Spring loom for a Swedish Snowflake Twill. All we had to do was pick a weft color and weave! Wow. I was sure that I would screw it up, but the pattern wove up quickly, and we finished the warp over the weekend. Tracy took the towels home to finish the hems for us, because she is a sweetheart who enjoys doing things for other people. And she has time to hem on her long train commute to work. But mostly because she is a total sweetheart.
So, I am going to have two gorgeous towels because my friends warped the loom and are finishing the towels for me. You would think I would be satisfied with that, right? But, no. I wound a new warp and am planning to do my own set of Swedish Snowflake towels and do it all myself. I know that is crazy, but I want to see if I can do it all myself! I’m not sure what I will do with all of the towels, but someone will love them, I’m not too worried about it.
I brought a big bag of Pendleton scraps, which Lisa helped me turn into a rug. This was much more physical than I expected, as the instruction was basically, “Beat the s*&^ out of it” My legs, core, and shoulders got a real workout weaving this thing. But the 7 feet of rug wove up quite rapidly, and I love how the pattern emerged.
Koko and Mimi found the new rug right away, and appear to approve
Lisa helped me plan some other projects. I am going to do something called a “twill gamp”, where I do a sampler of lots of types of twill. I’ve ordered yarn from Jane Stafford textiles. Her store is in Canada and the shipping is a bit expensive. But her prices are good, and the exchange rate favors the US right now, so that covered the shipping. Jane is an amazing weaver, and we all should support her so that she can keep helping us all to weave.
This concentrated time weaving was extremely valuable, I learned a lot and was able to finish projects quickly. I feel renewed and refreshed, and inspired!
