Weaverly

The Healing Power of Textiles

I don't know about the rest of you, but when things are dicey I invariably calm myself by thinking about (1) a new draft; (2) a new yarn combination; or (3) both of the above. Textiles invariably serve as a distraction for me when I need a little boost. Such was the case yesterday morning as I waited with my mother in pre-op at the hospital. The curtain surrounding her bed was a soothing blue and green jacquard, and as I always carry a snap-and-shoot with me, here it is. Mom is doing well, and I hope she will be coming home today. 

Catching Up

Saturday we left Tampa and drove to Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, site of the Complex Weavers Seminars. On the way we made a stop at St. Pete Beach, where I had a chance to show off my knitting project: a couple of rows here, a couple of rows there - it really adds up.

Registration at CW went smoothly - Penny and her committee were super organized (or so it appeared to me), and the opening presentation by Richard Jeryan was wonderful. Richard and his wife Chris restored the jacquard loom at The Henry Ford, and he described the process and detailed some of the history. As I write this, seminars are about to begin. The Internet service here is experiencing some problems this weekend, so hopefully the post will go through OK. 

Back again after a day of no Internet. 

Sunday at a seminar on polychrome damask I snapped this picture of Carolyn Gritzmaker in her gorgeous drawloom-woven vest.

Sunday evening we were treated to an extraordinary video of an interview with Peter Collingwood. He talked about his weaving career, his philosophy, and some of his innovations, and showed the inner workings of his original shaft-switcher and his ingenious arrangement of small bits of rigid heddle for his macro-gauzes.

Unforeseen circumstances have caused me to leave the conference early, so I will miss the fashion show and the silent auction, two events I always look forward to at Complex Weavers Seminars. If any fellow conference-goers have pictures of these events to post, please send me the links. Let's help spread the word about Complex Weavers! I've heard the great news that 1/3 of the attendees at this year's conference are first-timers. Way to go!

Ondulé and Woven Resist

Friday evening after an early Tapas dinner we took a streetcar to Ybor City and saw the Weaving and Resist exhibition at Hillsborough Community College. The show was beautiful, and I especially loved two pieces by Vita Plume, a combination of woven resist and jacquard. They were haunting portraits with additional shibori patterning and text. Lynn Nickerson, one of the artists represented, happened to be in the gallery at the same time we were, and we enjoyed an impromptu modeling of her woven resist garment, pictured here. Lynn is a very attractive lady and doesn't usually make such funny faces, but she was intent on demonstrating the many ways to wear this garment, basically two strips sewn together with strategic openings. The fabric is wool, and after the woven resists were pulled together, the cloth was felted, which creates the crinkles. It's a bouncy fabric and drapes interestingly.

Yesterday in the vendor area, Sara von Tresckow demonstrated the use of her ondulé reed, pictured here. Note the fan-shaped configuration of the reed dents. By raising and lowering the reed, the undulations are produced in the cloth.

Dobby/Jacquard Connection

Thursday morning I gave my seminar on the dobby/jacquard connection. I think it went well, there were no computer crashes (my usual fate during presentations), and the class was enthusiastic and asked some good questions. I was very pleased. There were some old friends, some people I'd never met before, and a number of folks who will be going on the the Complex Weavers conference, so we'll have plenty of time to chat. After class I was still pretty revved up, so to relax I went back to the vendors' area and bought some more yarn. Here are a couple of pictures of my students before the seminar began.

Thursday Whirlwind

Thursday already! Last night was the fashion show, and as usual it was a combination of the good, the bad, and the ugly. On the plus side was the fact that the models walked VERY slowly so that we could see all the fabrics, and the video monitors showed the details with great clarity. I loved the models - some of them had very generous proportions, and you could envision the garments on real world bodies, not on size twos. Photography was not permitted, but I took a few snaps before the show started, with intentional camera movement to emphasize the light trails in the dark, caveronous space. Read: intentionally blurry.

Shopping Frenzy

As I write this late Wednesday afternoon, for posting first thing tomorrow morning, we are having a sudden violent thunderstorm. I should be used to this tropical display by now - we've been in Florida for a week already. Hopefully in an hour or two it will clear enough so that we can take yet another streetcar ride to a restaurant. We've eaten two nights in a row at Bellini's (fabulous!), and tonight will try something new. And after dinner is the always looked-forward-to Convergence fashion show.

This morning after prepping for my Thursday morning seminar, I strolled into the Vendors' area (again) and this time made some serious hits on my credit card, mostly for books and sewing patterns. But I did score some lovely handpainted merino roving to spin for some future lampas projects, and some 30/2 hand-dyed rayon/silk blend for warp. There is really too much to take in at this fiber heaven, and overload sets in quickly, but I did manage to snap a few pics of vendors booths, and with permission I share them witih you here. First we have some yummy hand dyed yarns from Knitting Notions.

Next, the friendly folks at the Saori booth. The Saori philosophy features plain weave with an explosion of free designing, color play, and textural variety. Their garments suggest an origami-like playfulness in folding and cutting. Here are Chiaki O'Brien and Yukako Satone. Check out their websites for some interesting information and links to Saori.

Finally, here's a peek at the clothing rack in the Saori booth. Lots of inspiration here for people who weave narrow strips and join them together.

Monday at Convergence

Some random pictures from Monday's events. First is Ginger Luters demonstrating mitered knitted squares, then Robyn Spady holding up an amazing sample of doubleface plain weave overshot on 4 shafts (!), and then a glimpse of a kumihimo workshop (the braiders here had just gone to lunch). Weather improving.

Knitting, For a Change

Sunday was the first day of a workshop with Ginger Luters, author of Module Magic. Ginger is a fine teacher and a talented designer. Her background includes tapestry weaving, and she is sensitive to issues common to weavers and knitters alike, such as repeat size, pattern orientation, color, appropriateness of yarn type to a given project, color, and (did I say color?). I've seen pictures of her work, but seeing the sample pieces in person is an experience of another magnitude. Today we worked on squares and triangles and other modules in stockinette, garter, and garter ridge, and practiced weaving in ends "as you go." Monday: more triangles. Here is Ginger explaining a fine point of knitting onto the side edge of a stockinette rectangle. The rest of the pictures are the neighborhood of the Tampa Convention Center after the rain.

Gallery Report, & Rainy in Tampa

Friday evening was the opening of "Threads" at Selby Gallery. I was thrilled to see my work of the past few years up on the walls at last, instead of stacked up in the corners of the guest room. What a high. It was also good to meet Jan Ru Wan, one of my fellow artists, and see her wonderful constructions. All the folks at Selby were so helpful and welcoming, and they did a beautiful job of installing this exhibition of six very different textile artists. Thank you, all.

The first photo is courtesy of Bruce.

And now a weather report from Tampa (at least this is what it's like on Saturday afternoon as I write.)

These last two were taken from the Tampa Convention Center. Bring your raincoats.

Here's Looking at You

As I prepare for my trip to Tampa for Convergence, I'm considering what to do about my blog over the next few weeks. In most of the places I'll be staying, while on the road and in Tampa/St. Petersburg/Sarasota, Internet access will be readily accessible. What is not entirely clear is how much time and energy I'll have left for blogging. My friend Cecilia asked how much time I spend on my blog. The answer is that I try to limit blogging to 20 minutes a day, but that's a bit misleading, because I recycle material in my files that I have spent hours, days, and years developing. It's like when someone asks, "How much time did it take you to weave that dishtowel?" and the answer is "All my life." But really, I do try to keep online time to a minimum so that I can put in quality Yarn Time.

I don't know how all of you feel about your blogging software. I like TypePad pretty well, although I find myself gnashing my teeth over their recent "improvements." One of the things I do like (and this feature may be present on other platforms, too) is that I can prepare several posts in advance in one monster session, and they will be published on whatever schedule I choose. I'm thinking of doing that next week so that I don't have to post news from Tampa in a hurry, and can take the time to report on my experiences at my leisure, Wordsworthian style. But in the meantime, the blog will continue to bump along on its own, like a small frog, and the wonderful chain of friends, readers, and commenters will also go on unbroken. I love looking at that little Feedjit map on the sidebar and seeing evidence of all my virtual friends, who check in every day, or every few days, and on occasion take the time to contact me. I want to be there when you are.

So what I will do is prepare a bunch of posts to fire off every morning on their own, and if something exceptionally blogworthy occurs while I'm in Florida I'll post it on the spot, but otherwise I'll report on my experiences upon my return. Meanwhile, the blog will go on. I hope you enjoy my choices. I have a collection of beautiful jacquard fabric samples from the remnant shop I'd like to scan for you, and I'll be posting some more of Uncle Potch's drawings, which so many of you have commented on.

Au revoir.