Weaverly

Books About Books

I'm almost finished reading Arturo Perez-Reverte's The Club Dumas. It's hard to categorize this book. It's part crime novel, part adventure romp, part intellectual puzzle, and just a lot of fun. On second thought, I'd add it to my list of Books About Bibliophiles. 

I don't collect rare books myself, but I enjoy reading about bibliophiles. As a teenager I devoured the serialized version of Rumer Godden's romantic China Court in my mother's Ladies Home Journal, and I've reread it several times since. One of the subplots in that novel is about a book collector, and the resolution of the story ultimately hinges on her mania.

Another writer who deals with the subject of book collecting is John Dunning, a crime writer who is himself a book dealer. His first novel, Booked to Die, is one I especially enjoyed. There is an interesting biography of Dunning here.

And my favorite book about books is the wonderful 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff's memoir of a 20-year long-distance relationship.

Some of you will probably have other items to add to this list. I'd love to hear about them.

A Baker's Dozen, Plus One

Here's the recent crop of dishtowels from my Fellow Resident Weaver. I finally got to the sewing machine yesterday to hem them. I love the way they look all folded up and ready for gifting. 

Expect the Unexpected

Swimming laps at the Y is normally a very predictable activity for me. I go at a certain time, I know there will be lanes available, I greet the usual crew. But in the summer all hell breaks loose. For one thing, all the day camp kids are there, and the women's locker room is bedlam. Little girls scream a lot, and they love the way their voices reverberate in the enclosed space. And they lose their shoes. And they lose their underwear. And they use up all the hot water in the showers.

But this past Friday was in a class by itself. I arrived at my usual time to find only one lap lane available (I know, I should have checked in advance). The pool had been taken over by these guys:

They were very sweet, actually. They apologized every time they splashed the lap swimmers, and even offered me a turn at the diving equipment (I declined). 

A Contribution

I've long been a fan of Handweaving.net, but have never contributed a draft. It's time to correct that omission! Today I uploaded a 16-shaft networked twill named TrafficRotary16. The id # is 62748. You can get to it directly by clicking here. Enjoy.

This draft is fun to play with. If you flip the liftplan horizontally or vertically, or wrap it, or both, you get some interesting variations. Following are the original draft and two variations. The last variation looks a little like cat's eyes to me. Maybe that's because I've never had a cat.

Too Large for a Lunatic Asylum?

James L. Petigru's famous 1860 comment, "South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for a lunatic asylum," has special poignancy these days. Understand, I love my adopted state. But every now and then I want to strangle its leaders, and never more so than this week. Don't blame me–I didn't vote for our benighted governor. If you'd prefer that I leave politics and religion out of this blog (as a rule I do), don't read this.

Moving right along. I just cut Sand off the loom and put it up on the felt wall for a first complete photo. Please raise a glass of virtual champagne with me. 

Here's a detail:

Sand Nearing Completion, and Two Coincidences

Mornings now are devoted to writing; therefore, little weaving gets done. But today a milestone was reached. The first draft of the book is finished. It is very rough. There are some hair-tearing days of revision ahead. But still, it's a celebratory moment. So downstairs I went for some loom time. And the end of Sand is in sight, too! I've woven to the end of the file and the hem is in progress.

 

Yesterday I bemoaned the fact that I couldn't find a picture of Verda to show you, and in today's email I received this picture from Verda's daughter, the very picture I had been looking for! So I share it with you here. Thank you, Barb.

And be sure to read Bhakti's comment about Verda. Another interesting coincidence. Or maybe not really a coincidence.

Verda

By now you will have heard of the death of Verda Elliott this past Monday. Verda was a fabulous weaver and a generous friend and mentor to many of us.

I first met Verda when she was well past middle age, but at that time she was still a great creative force in the weaving world and continued to be so for many years. Her work on the seventeen basic pattern types and on moiré weaves will stand as an important part of the weaving canon. 

I wish I could find one of the many pictures I have of Verda, but they are proving hard to locate on my computer, so instead I will show you one of her drafts. In the 1990's Verda lived in Hendersonville, NC, just half an hour from me, and while she was there she started a study group which in its early days was a network drafting group but eventually morphed into a general investigation of all things drafting-related. Her energy was the inspiration and driving force behind this group.

In my study group file, I found the following draft, dated 1991; she created it in Design and Weave, a program no longer supported on present-day Mac and Windows computers. It uses a function called Ensemble, which Verda explains in her notes. Click to enlarge. It's a perfect example of her innovative thinking.

To say that Verda will be missed is an understatement. Of course her family and many friends will miss her. As long as there are weavers who delight in the mysteries of weave structure, and value the sharing of their discoveries, Verda will be with us.

More Pattern

More gorgeousness from the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Words fail me.

Stripes in the Natural World

A weekend in Atlanta was a great way to replenish my design file. I'll be posting some favorites in the days to come. These two are from the Atlanta Botanical Garden and the Georgia Aquarium, respectively. I challenge you to design a stripe any better than these!

What If?

Now that the 8-shaft loom is warped and threaded with 4-shaft blocks, I've been thinking about some other possibilities for this threading besides reverse twill.