Odds & Ends...or what do I do all day?

I am always behind, but this year I feel more behind than ever in the weaving department. I read the blog of a production weaver I know and she commented that any weaving she does now through the end of the year is "extra". Everything for this season's sales is finished. What? I should have woven my scarves and blankets LAST January? I thought about it. I also thought about it in March and July and August and September. I knew that I'd get to it in October. What have I been doing when I should be weaving? Here are a few examples beside the obvious sheep farming, Lambtown, etc. Last week I hosted a field trip of middle school home-schooled kids and their families. We spent a couple of hours in the barn and at the shop. After lunch I guided them through a needlefelting project.  They all made up their own designs. This is one student's work. Cute, huh?

I taught a Learn to Weave class a couple of weeks ago.

Here is the scarf woven by a brand new weaver. She used Zephyr Jaggerspun yarn and doubled it in warp and weft. It turned out great!One of the students couldn't come back on the second day of the class and she finished her scarf today. This is a close-up. She used Jaggerspun Maine-Line yarn. I taught three students in a Rigid Heddle Scarf class, which, by the way, I will offer again once in December. No more other classes until January.  This is the blackberry jungle growing (for those of you who know the farm) just north of Faulkner's pen--in fact part of this IS the fence-line for Faulkner's pen. There is an engineered septic system under those shorter blackberries that is supposed to be maintained and inspected every year.  This is what I did on Sunday after working another several hours on the final Lambtown reports and finances. There is still a lot of blackberry work to do but at least the septic guys can get to the valve covers. Farm Club was here all day on Saturday and helped with the list of chores on the clipboard. We didn't get to all the barn cleaning, but did a lot of other stuff. Maybe I'll ask Rusty to write a post about that since he hasn't done much writing lately.It's the time of year that the pomegranates need to be picked or they will split (if we ever get any rain that is).

When I take the dogs for a run across the road I see all the black walnuts going to waste. Here is what to do with them. Boiling black walnuts. 

Add white yarn.End up with brown yarn.

Maybe I'll get to the loom tomorrow...after I take my kids to the airport.

Multiple Warp Twills-class with Sheila O'Hara

The sub-title of this workshop could be "I think my brain is about to explode". At least that is how I felt at the end of the second day after I had woven only this much: My friends consider me a prolific weaver, but this was a humbling experience. In my defense, I had a lot of distractions because the workshop was at my place. So I was looking for the right height benches, setting up lights, finding an umbrella (for the journey to the porta-potty in our first storm of the year), and I did my share of chatting with the other weavers. It has been years since I have taken a workshop and I jumped at the chance to take this one from Sheila O'Hara, whose work I have long admired. I was glad to host the workshop because it meant that I could stay home and not drive to Sacramento three days in a row. In addition, Sheila stayed here so I had the chance to get to know her a little better. On the fourth day I did go to Sacramento where Sheila presented a great program to the Sacramento Weavers and Spinners Guild.

Our pre-class instructions were to wind two warps of different colors, using multiple colors in each warp and we were given the threading draft (order to thread the loom). We had seen photos of some of Sheila's work using this method.These are Sheila's scarves. Each scarf has two completely different sides but in some the yarns from one side show through to the other. Using a 16-shaft loom you can have 4 layers of color and the compu-dobby (computer interface that I have on my big loom) can aid in keeping track of where you are in the weaving. We used 8-shaft table looms for the class because a floor loom doesn't have enough treadles to accommodate the treadling required for this.

Here are photos from the class:Thanks to my expanded space we were able to fit enough looms in the room. Gathering around a loom to talk about this sample. We wove a series of sample treadlings that showed varying amounts of each of the two warp layers and then we learned pick-up, changing sheds (opening between threads) three times in each pick (row of weaving)... ...where the lower layer showed up as a distinct design in the upper layer.Evening walks helped clear my head. This first rain of the season cleared the air and washed the dust away from everything. I welcome fall.   --   Back to weaving.  We spent some time with graph paper and colored pencils learning how to create other designs.  This task was to draw a design and, using 4 differently colored warps (horizontal in this photo), fill in the shapes using threads from the different layers. Yes, these designs could be woven on the same warp...if the brain can handle it. We looked at everyone's warps and discussed the weave structure and color interaction. Weaving paparazzi?  More of Sheila's weaving samples.She has recently woven images using photographs taken by Edward Curtis in the late 1800's to easy 1900's.   These images are woven using a Jacquard loom in which each thread is individually controlled. Sheila used to rent time on one of these looms but now has her own.   Autumn in St. Helena.

Sheila has a wonderful sense of humor and incorporates it into her presentations as well as her weavings. Make sure to look at her weavings on her website. You can contact Sheila or me to purchase them.

I am glad to say that I added to my Sheila O'Hara collection. I already had the Spring Flockettes.Now I have the Winter Flockettes as well.

Epilogue:Back home by myself I started weaving again. I think I have figured out how to do it right.

Art as Inspiration for Weaving

At the request of a nearby weaving guild I developed a class about using favorite artwork and photos as inspiration for weaving designs. This was based on the show that I had at the Artery a few years ago and that was the subject of a Handwoven article. This is the publicity photo we used for the show. Our model is wearing my Red Canna (Georgia O'Keefe) chenille shawl and Julia's felt hat. Participants in the class brought favorite photos or artwork to use as a basis for designing weaving projects and used......colored pencils and...rayon chenille for their designs. Here are some of the plans:   Won't it be fun to see these projects when they are finished?

A Few of the Week's Accomplishments in the Shop

 Baby blankets still on the loom. Baby blankets off the loom and finished. I put on a 21 yard warp and wove 14 blankets.  I hemmed some this time instead of leaving short fringe. I'll be interested in seeing what buyers like best. The rest are shown on this page. I taught several classes this week. This is WWW (Weekly Weaving Workshop), sometimes known as Wednesday Weavers Workshop, or Warped Women Weaving, or....It could go on. It is a drop-in class and we usually discuss any questions that people bring up about anything weaving and yarn related. (Some people come for a therapy session with friends.) Last week I said that I'd teach how to read weaving drafts. Those are the "recipes" for weaving patterns. This week we'll look at drafts for "color and weave" effects.On Friday I taught a rigid heddle weaving class. This is Tanda with her beautiful new scarf woven of Jaggerspun Zephyr yarn on her rigid heddle loom.

On Saturday and Sunday I taught a spinning class. I can't believe I didn't take photos. That was followed by an interview about Fibershed for a well-known (in the fiber world) magazine. You'll hear more about that when it's published.

When I'm working in the shop or at the computer all day, instead of in the barn, I try to make sure I go for a walk or a bike ride with Rusty. That's good for both of us. I'd probably get more exercise if I didn't take my camera because I always get distracted by the view... ...whether it's close-up or......in the distance.