Shadow weave bag

This bag, woven in shadow weave was inspired by a blog post at doni's deli, and is now being interpreted by many in our weaving group. I think that Barb is up to 4 different versions. It is a simple construction; all one long strip and folded cleverly, to magically be sewn into a simple bag. So magically simple, that I had to go to Doni's blog post again, to figure out just how to sew it. Sewing not being my strong point, actually I despise it. Imagine my surprise in returning to read Doni's blog (I'm addicted) and seeing our bags and other similarily addicted bag makers featured. It is fun to see the connections that can be made through this internet world.

I wove enough for 2 bags and they took me forever, weaving with 2 shuttles is a pretty slow process. The areas that are plain weave were faster except for the deciding what colors came next. Handwoven magazine has had several articles on kente cloth that I have always wanted to try. The fearless use of color in these african textiles will, I am sure inspire many more weaving projects.

So, can anyone explain to me how I can be weaving along just fine and then start to struggle with one of the treadles and finally look underneath the loom and see that one of the treadle cords is winding up with the cloth beam. One of my more creative, "how the heck did I do that".

All in all a rather rewarding project. There is nothing like walking around carrying something handwoven so you can oh so subtley say that...yes I am a weaver. I tried walking up and down main street with one of my rugs, but that got old.

The last 2nd monday?

Food and fiber; always a great combo at our 2nd monday gathering of fiber fanatics. This lovely shawl is one of Barbs recent finished projects. Carole's blueberry tarts were a rather elegant addition to a somewhat raucous group. Thanks also to Joanne for her yummy cheesecake

Joanne shared these lovely items that she has recently finished. The green wool purse with needlefelted flowers was something that she was working on at out last gathering. It turned out great. I believe that the sweet dolls in rag baskets are probably inspired by the new grandbaby. She is justifiably proud of her newest rag rug. It is doublewoven and one side has rags that she has braided together. Interesting to see how different the two sides are. The braided rag side has lots of depth. But oy vey the amount of time that added to the prep time; not my favorite part to start with. Go to Joannes blog to see how she created these incredible rugs.

The top 2 pictures are just a couple of Barbs finished projects. We don't even try to keep up with her productivity, we just shake our heads in amazement. Her beautiful hand dyed shawl and another strip purse ala Doni's deli, I think that this makes 3 finished purses for her. The bottom two pictures are some of Elin's naturally dyed yarns.Susan of Avalanche Looms has finished a scarf using linen and a knitting yarn from Berroco called Seduce. I am using the same fiber in a spaced weave scarf that is on my Glimakra. I am loving how it looks woven.

Linda Kennedy of Elk Run Handwovens has most generously invited us to her studio for our next gathering on July 20th. She wants to share with us what she has learned from a class she has taken at Sievers in diamond rag rugs. Her invitation comes at a good time, with the fate of our studio space up in the air. We are a few people short of being able to continue to pay the rent, so I have been hauling 5 years of accumulated fiber supplies and looms home the last few weeks. And wouldn't you know it, just the very day that I take down the sign and the window boxes a business comes forward, wanting to share the space. So we will see. The good part being that I now know that I can fit my entire weaving studio scattered about the house without anyone having to sleep in the treehouse. Although there have been some definite rumblings. I have banished the dolls from the "playroom" turned weaving room. They were kind of creepy, just staring at me from the corner. And the dollhouse is down in Jim's workshop "for repairs". Below is a picture of my new digs. When I finish taking over the loft I will post more pictures.

Elin's home and studio

Carole and I recently spent a lovely morning at the home and weaving studio of Elin and her husband Bob. Elin's studio is lovely and I can picture her many productive hours in such an inviting environment.

These are sample skeins of natural dyes. Elin teaches classes through the Driftless Folk School and at her home studio, in natural dyeing. She is such a fun and energetic woman that I would love to take a class from her.

This is one of Elin's many beautiful rag rugs, which is what she primarily weaves. I was amazed that she orders her warps pre measured and chained directly from Borgs Vavgarner and Blomqvist/Nordiska Textil-Garne. Who knew?

Thanks Elin for a wonderful day and for sharing your passion for weaving. I happliy add you to my list of friends that keep me inspired.

Spring fling

As usual our 2nd Monday gathering was a mixture of fiber , good food, laughter and world problem solving. It was great to see Joanne; and her yummy rhubarb bars almost didn't last long enough for a picture.

Kathy of Riverweave Studio, brought in one of her cat friends. More can be found at her shop on etsy. I love the funky handwoven leggings.

Evan joined us for the first time and I hope returns when things aren't quite so wild. I think she has lots of weaving experiences to share and wowed us with some samples of her work. She had done this color gamp in school and the book of samples is an incredible showcase of her grandmothers work. I hope to live long enough to explore weaving in such a thorough and scholarly way. Of course so far sampling doesn't seem to be my strong point.

Barb spent the day wowing us with her many finished projects, a sweet pink knitted baby sweater, another purse ala Donatella and the lovely rich brown fabric, below, woven with Bambu 12 and a variegated brown cotton from Blue Heron yarns. The pattern is a simple and elegant pattern named Jean Lilly from The Handweavers Pattern Book by Marguerite Davison. She will be making pillows and of course gifting them to her kids. Lucky kids. Barb was productive in that while we were all gabbing away she was handpainting some wool and cotton yarns. I don't know how she could focus with all the distractions going on.
The coned yarns in the background are some bamboo's and linen, that are sitting on the table until I am inspired by which color combo I need for my next scarf project. Sometimes I get stuck in this pondering mode for too long. Barb is a good example of "just get it on the loom and start weaving the bloody thing" school of thought.

Joanne showed off two lovely wool rugs. She has managed to do doubleweave on only 2 harnesses. The extra shed is made because half of the warp is not threaded through any heddles.
Her rug, pictured above; virtually blooms with rya knot wool flowers. During our get together she was working on needle felting flowers onto a beautiful green wool for a future purse; a woman of many talents. Go to Joanne's blog for a glimpse into her weaving world. Maybe we will get her to share her pizza dough recipe with us.
Linda Kennedy of Elk Run Handwovens and Joyce Kruger of Sunset Hill Studio, also joined us. Linda may give us a class in weaving a diamond rag rug. The pictures I have taken of her rugs are some of the most viewed photos on my Flickr site.
Jan showed off her impressive hanky collection and when I commented on cutting them up for rag weaving, vowed to not leave them here in the studio.
Susan as always brightened my day, both with her wry humor and her inspirational "flowery may" transparency weavings. None of my pictures turned out, because I had forgotten my camera and was reduced to using my phone to take pictures. Which is why a good many of them have my finger in the shot. I never did figure out where the camera lens was. Also, it is a minor miracle that I got them sucked out of the phone onto my laptop. Thank you to my daughter for figuring out that the bluetooth thing really does work.
Nan popped in briefly and showed off some intriguing multi-directional knitting. I would like to see a demonstration of this technique. Michelle was working on a couple of pairs of jeans and adding lots of incredible embroidery embellishments to them.
Susan's rya paper flowers are like a soft summer breeze and just made me happy to see them. Much like the feeling I get from seeing real flowers, there is something just so right about them. Go to Avalanche Looms on etsy to see if you feel the same way about them.
It was amazing the diversity of talents that we put on display that day. All tied together by a love of the fiber arts.
All in all a very fun and inspirational day. It was good to be a weaver among weavers!

renewal

Spring brings new beginnings, fresh starts, abundant life and hope for a better world.

Skjonsbergdalen Farm Angora Goats

This Sunday I had the honor of being invited to demonstrate spinning at Heidi and Randy Oversons angora farm near Coon Valley, WI. Although it was a blustery and rainy day, Heidis' Skjonsbergdalen Farm is in a lovely setting and her shearing day festival was well attended.
Guess I never realized that goats are horned and as you can see from the picture above the males are pretty impressive. As was the shearer, David Kier, he maintained total control of the goats during the process and used their horns to his advantage. This is a man of incredible strength and skill and he seemed to honor the history of sheep shearing and was great at sharing that knowledge with the kids and adults who were gathered there. It was quite a wonderful experience to see this in action.
I wish that my camera batteries hadn't died because the little black baby (kid) goat was sweet as can be. Go to Heidi's website to see some great pictures of her goats. Also in an effort to promote her farm and the sale of her lovely mohair, she has started a goat adoption program. Kind of like a CSA for fiber. It seems like a great idea, and a fun way to help support a local fiber producer. There is lots more info on her website or ask her to send out a brochure.
They do a shearing twice a year and hope to continue to share this event with everyone. It was especially fun for me to see because I so admire mohair as a spinning fiber, it has great lsuter and just takes dyes so beautifully. But even if you have no idea what to do with mohair, just seeing a shearing, seeing the care and respect Heidi and Randy have for their animals and of course watching that sweet baby goat frolicking around ; is well worth the drive to their lovely farm.

Looking for new members

Our cooperative fibers arts studio has been here in our small town of Viroqua, WI for the last couple of years. And although some members have come and gone, we have continued to enjoy the camaraderie and inspiration that our shared studio space provides. We have greatly enjoyed opening our studio on the 2nd monday gatherings, to fellow weavers and fiber fanatics.
Sadly, unless we find a few new members we will be closing our doors mid June. I have somewhat mixed feelings. I have invested a lot of myself into this space, from the three beginning years as a knitting shop and the last couple as our combined studio. I know every ding in the floor that I helped unbury from moldy carpet, tiles and tar; we certainly gave this space a new life, and it has served us well. So although I hope that we do find a few new artists to share our space, I am also ready to cut back on expenses for my business and simplify my life by taking my business home. However my husband is living in fear of how I am going to squeeze 3 looms and a shop full of fiber into our not that big home. I predict he will be hiding out in the kids treehouse till the dust settles.
This shop has been such a vital part of my being for the last 5 years that I am sure its absence will be missed. But as all things happen, when one door closes, another often opens. And I am excited for that possibility. So we shall see.