 Garden Report: Growing Color!
There are actual, true-life blossoms on my strawberry plants. These plants survived the snow and deep frost of winter 2021-2022 and the frosts of April. The rhubarb is high. The consistent cold and damp have helped the tulips last longer this year, disguising the weeds. There are tiny worms of an unknown type, eating a few of the leaves on my apple trees. I have been picking them off, but a more serious approach may be called for. A solution that won’t discourage the bees. This is the third year for those two tiny trees. Year one: 12 blossoms, 11 apples. Year two: 5 blossoms, 3 apples. I learned I should have thinned the baby apples down to one per fruit spur the year before. This year: 56 blossoms! My darling husband pointed out that if I can count the blossoms on my apple trees… Let’s just say there is no need to learn how to weave my own bushel baskets just yet. Also coming back in the garden are some very robust dyers’ Chamomile plants, given to me last year by another Guild member. The Weld has self-seeded and has grown about a foot in the last week. A new friend with farm connections has offered me boxes of onion skins! Temperatures have warmed up enough to be comfortable in the dye studio, for review some of the lessons from Last year’s Maiwa natural dye workshop. A warp, and small sample skeins have been dyed, in Cutch, Madder, Cochineal, Sappanwood, Lac, and a combination of madder and lac exhaust baths. The April meeting Show and Tell included a rug made of black wool, with pattern bands colored with natural dyes, and dying and block printing are happening in the Jansen Center Dye studio as well, or so I hear. Here's to the color in our lives, whether it’s tulips or yarns! Carol Berry WWG President To read the entire newsletter please click here. To see details about our upcoming meetings and events please click here. To see who our board members are please click here. To browse through our "Resources" page please click here.
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 New Beginnings
Daffodils are blooming, Rhubarb is poking up. A brown bunny has been visiting my garden. He or she is welcome to nibble on the leaves of the emerging dandelions and the weedy strands of grass I haven’t gotten out to clean up. (It’s been chilly!) I am always happy to see dandelions because they provide the first food in spring for ground-dwelling bees and other pollinators. And my bunny friend. Tulips are getting ready, and a friend gave me Dahlia tubers and seeds as a birthday present. Anticipation of color keeps me going. Tulips soon, Dahlia and Zinnias later. Planting Japanese Indigo again this year, too. The colors of the Double Rainbow workshop were knockout! The workshop was a stretching experience, I am inspired to continue and overjoyed with the tools I now have for color combinations in cottolin. I want to do the workshop exercises all over again, in other color options. Speaking of inspiration in Double Weave, the March Program with Anastasia Azure was another knockout. Double Weave sculpture and jewelry, inspired by the shapes and colors of flowers and the sea. And who knew acid dyes will color nylon yarns and monofilament?! The Conference colors for ANWG 2023 are giving me ideas too. Goal: Plant dyed yarns in the conference colors. I just this minute got out my dye journal for a look at the samples created in last Spring’s Maiwa online workshop. Excited to discover I already have samples and the recipes for plant dye versions of the conference colors. A few degrees warmer weather means getting out into the Dye Studio (AKA garage and garden shed) to see if I can coax these colors out of plant material and into yarn again. Joy of color! Carol Berry WWG President To read the entire newsletter please click here. To see details about our upcoming meetings and events please click here. To see who our board members are please click here. To browse through our "Resources" page please click here.  Crocuses, daffodils, Inkle Weaving! That is what’s coming up around here.
The upstairs room that has been a catchment area since December’s wrapping tornado got a cleanup tornado last week. Because a few of the Inkle weavers scheduled a warping date, and… table space for four people* and looms… you get the picture. Spring Cleaning Gets Real. Making space to learn and practice. *Yes, four of us decided we can meet in person, in a small group indoors. Masked and vaccinated, with a hepa-filter air purifier going. Andean Pebble Weave on a four-shaft floor loom is a revelation. Not sure how to do it, I started with a narrow band and followed the instructions carefully. That worked! Next, a project with three objectives: 1) use my plant-dyed yarn. 2) try a wool warp and weft. 3) go wide, hopefully wide enough to sew a little pouch. Starting with blanket-weight wool dyed with Marigold, Cochineal, and Madder, paired with three shades of natural gray, I measured a section for a patterned stripe, and border stripes that I hoped would give me a five-inch-wide band. Learning as I go: This is a very warp faced weave. 140 ends weave up just under 3 inches wide. The pattern is coming out well though, and this experience will support planning of the next piece. Eventually, I hope to weave an Andean Pebble Weave pick-up patterned cloth on a backstrap loom. Tracy Hudson, a textile artist living in Port Townsend, weaves all her cloth using a backstrap loom, after spinning much of the yarn she weaves with! Tracy’s loom rolls up and goes where she goes. The photo here shows Tracy’s loom on display at the Quilt and Fiber Arts Museum in La Conner. Her exhibit, titled “Yarn, Cloth, and the Pull of the Earth: Spun and Woven Interactions” will be up until April 30. On occasion, Tracy will be there in person, weaving and answering questions. Tracy has presented her collection of Ladakhi textiles in a Program for the Whatcom Guild a few years ago, and it was lovely to see her again at QFAM. I hope you can get out and see the show! For information click here. Warmly, Carol Berry WWG President To read the entire newsletter please click here. To see details about our upcoming meetings and events please click here. To see who our board members are please click here. To browse through our "Resources" page please click here.  Do it Yourself & Do it Together
No matter what fiber medium(s) we prefer, we are makers. DIY is us. DIY sourdough, preserves, gardening, socks, hand towels, yarn. This is how we manage and even savor the time, while avoiding more crowded activities we might have done, back in the day . . . Side note: The Seattle Art Museum was not crowded and provided a lovely experience on a long-delayed day trip recently. While at SAM, I was introduced to a new term: D.I.T., for Do it Together. The D.I.T. abbreviation was included in text information with a display of contemporary Ndebele Beadwork. When a woman is preparing to marry, other women in her community gather together to create a set of beaded necklaces, bracelets, headpieces, skirts, and capes for the bride they respect and care about. Memories and good wishes are stitched into finery for their loved one, who will take it with her when she goes to live with her new husband’s family group. And, on a recent Saturday, two of the Whatcom Weavers Guild Tapestry group warped “Big Bob” the Guild’s large, semi-portable frame loom, to lend to an elementary school for a class project. The tapestry weavers’ expertise and patience doing a challenging task, even while communicating in masks, was fun to be a part of. And none of us could have done it alone. After measuring and setting up the warp, the loom was taken apart, to be put back together in the classroom, so the fifth graders can work on it for a month. Their teacher and two parent volunteers will work with the students. Our Tapestry Weavers will not be part of the classroom experience. As a guild, we can still do outreach and support education, providing equipment, logistics, preparation, and guidance. Women working together, with sticks, string, and a cordless electric screwdriver… The power of D.I.T. The Dreamweavers Group gathered via Zoom on a recent Monday, in answer to a call for help planning and troubleshooting handwoven baby blankets. There are so many books and videos available that sometimes we think we are supposed to be able to learn how to weave without a teacher. It is easy to think, in the middle of a tangle, that everyone else weaves without a mistake. When “one of those” questions came up during our conversation – we all raised our hands. And we could offer more than one way to fix the problem. Even if we couldn’t examine the samples in person, what a joy to see each other’s faces, and share our experience about yarns, setts, weave structures, books. If instructions in a particular book of baby blanket designs are maybe a little lacking in detail, there are other weavers to ask. When I visit a museum, it is the objects and artifacts I gravitate to, more than the paintings. Being a visual person, I don’t always read the text panels. This time, I’m glad I did, because it helped so much to establish the contemporary context the objects belong to. In the description of another group of objects was the proverb “When the thread gets tangled, use both hands to untie it.” Meaning that a problem is best solved together, or “two heads are better than one.” In matters of string, as in most of life, Doing it Together is better! All the Best, Carol Berry WWG President To read the entire newsletter please click here. To see details about our upcoming meetings and events please click here. To see who our board members are please click here. To browse through our "Resources" page please click here.  Finished! And beginning again…
Finished. Towels, napkins, scarves, and even a vest for my husband, out of my own handwoven yardage! Wrapped, given, unwrapped. Ok, the vest turned out a little too big, and has to be altered. And a pair of pajamas was a little late getting hemmed, but those are now done too. The last chocolate truffle in our house has been consumed. Soup is simmering on the stove. The plan for this afternoon is to spend some time with the 2022 Big Seed catalog and finish off the stollen. After all, somebody has to do it. In between these important tasks, I’ve cleaned ice off the inside of the windows! Not going anywhere until it thaws a bit. The last week of December and the first week of January are traditionally when I look back, assess the year’s accomplishments and think about the year to come. 2021 was a year of learning, through online workshops. My first and overall goal for 2022 is to review and put what I have learned into practice, dyeing and weaving. The second – to move past the considering stage and get going on my piece for the annual Guild Challenge! Another annual goal, ever since I can remember, has been to get organized. I reach an age this year, where I probably need to re-think that goal, and accept what is. It is just possible that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing, in the way I am meant to be doing it. This may be as good as it gets. And, looking around, I see friends, color and fiber. It’s a good life! Thanks so much to all of you for being a part of it. According to the Almanac, Winter ends on March 20, 2022. From January 1, that’s just 79 days until Spring begins on March 20! Outside, though it’s frosty frozen right now, according to the ten-day forecast, the snow will be gone by the time you read this. I hope you are all comfy, cozy and content. All the Best, Carol Berry WWG President To read the entire newsletter please click here. To see details about our upcoming meetings and events please click here. To see who our board members are please click here. To browse through our "Resources" page please click here.  (Fiber) Community Connections
Last week, three awesome and lovely Whatcom Weavers Guild members spent the morning sorting magazines upstairs in the Maple Street Studio. The Guild has an extensive collection of Handwoven Magazines, dating from 1981 through 2019. Moving them from the church had upset the chronological order quite a bit. We now know fully what we have, have a list of which issues are missing, and the collection is shelved in order by year! We have a printed index for every article published between 1980 and 2000. Online indexes are available for the years since then. Of course, the four of us did take short breaks to look at an issue when a cover caught our eye! Tapestry, twill, music as inspiration for weaving. Variations on the infinite themes of fiber, color, structure, surface design and embellishment. Even though we have the internet as a resource now, many of us prefer to look at the printed copies. As a Guild, we can support and share this resource! A question of what to do about the older magazines, preceding Handwoven, came up. We have Handweaver & Craftsman Magazine from 1960 through 1970. The photos are in black and white, and the articles rather different from the mostly project-based publications we are used to. Are they of any interest to our generation(s) of contemporary handweavers? Flipping open a random issue, an article on designing double weave advanced both my understanding of the weave structure and our connection with mid-20th century handweavers weavers, quite serious about advancing and sharing their craft. It’s fun to look at the historic advertisements too and think that these publications were the weavers’ information network of their day. Another member dropped by to donate three cones of weaving yarn for our monthly giveaway “goodie Bags” and left with a book from the library. She also recommended a book to me, which we have in the library, that I was not familiar with, and promised to write a review for the newsletter! After almost two years of caution and restrictions, I am so proud that our Guild has not withered but grown! Thank you all for sharing your skills, your questions, your enthusiasm and photos of your work. Our December program will feature what we all have been doing, and I can’t wait to see it! Warmly, Carol Berry WWG President To read the entire newsletter please click here. To see details about our upcoming meetings and events please click here. To see who our board members are please click here. To browse through our "Resources" page please click here.  Sharing the Warmth
Eighteen half-pints of applesauce, stored in the pantry. Thanks to a guild member with an orchard, who gifted me with apples! Two towels and four napkins, off the loom, washed, and ready for hemming! This particular red, orange, and green striped warp went on the loom at the beginning of summer … in my favorite weave structure, turned twill. It waited patiently through the summer, but had to come off, to clear my 8-shaft loom for a new project, in my other favorite weave structure, deflected double weave. The study groups I’m a part of are keeping me motivated. Planning my next weave means, I gotta finish the one on the loom; finishing a set of towels means I gotta finish the band that matches them; and working on a group project means when I get stuck, there are five other people working with that same weave structure to ask for advice. I love seeing what everyone else is doing. Our October program with Tapestry Artist Rowen Schussheim-Anderson is inspiring me to use paint, markers and colored paper collage to design in a playful and intentional way. Color play, the warmth of fiber, creativity and the satisfaction of making our own things is comforting and healing. We can see progress in one row of knitting, one spindle full of yarn, every inch of weaving. Weaving, sewing, knitting and embroidery, even mending are all therapeutic for me, especially when times are uncertain, weather is wet, windstorms, Monday happens… We are fortunate to have our crafts to share and community to support us. Most Guild outreach has been curtailed for safety reasons during the pandemic, but we can still share resources. One of our members is a High School teacher and leads a weekly Fiber Arts Club at her school. Knitting, crochet and weaving supplies would really help, as many of the students don’t have money for supplies. I hope you will read her request below, and perhaps you can help out. The Snow Hat and Scarf project is underway again, providing a way to move some of our extra yarn out in wearable form to littles and adults who need the warmth. Having a small project to pick up and knit or crochet is a pleasant retreat from worries and bigger projects too, a win-win! Warmly, Carol Berry WWG President To read the entire newsletter please click here. To see details about our upcoming meetings and events please click here. To see who our board members are please click here. To browse through our "Resources" page please click here.  Which way does the wind blow?
September can fool us with off-again on-again rain or sunshine and warmth. October is not fooling around. Blustery and nippy are the words for today. The everbearing strawberries have gifted me two last sweet pieces of fruit. The volunteer sunflower made it through two storms. It’s looking ragged, but I’ll leave it for the squirrels for as long as it stays standing. Fall and winter are filled with comforting activities, especially those involving fiber, friends, books, and food. The slow cooker comes out, for cooking and weaving at the same time. There is a new warp on the big loom, and it’s getting dark long before bedtime now, so weaving at home in the evening is on the agenda, and the books that have been piled up during the past few months are beckoning. One of the books I read and re-read last winter was Welcoming the Unwelcome by Pema Chodron. The book was a gift from Nancy Bjerke to many of her friends. It was so like Nancy to be thinking of the feelings of others, in the face of a nasty diagnosis. Nancy truly brought new meaning to the term “Living with cancer.” In whatever she did, Nancy Lived! May we carry that cheerful and loving spirit into and through all our pursuits. Grateful for all of you, and yarn too, Carol Berry WWG President To read the entire newsletter please click here. To see details about our upcoming meetings and events please click here. To see who our board members are please click here. To browse through our "Resources" page please click here.  Feels just like starting over…
September, to me, more than January, feels like the ending and beginning of the year’s cycle. This week, ripe plums on a neighborhood tree and a bag of spring rhubarb from the freezer resulted in 16 half-pints of garnet-red jam! Then, a bit of time in the pantry, bringing the last jars of preserves from 2020 to the front so we can be sure to eat them on yogurt or toast before we get into the freshly made stuff. Another colorful “harvest” is the completion of a full range of yarn and fabric samples from plant dyes. After the weeks of intensive dye work of this summer, it is time to measure warps, scour, mordant, and decide on colors! Time to start the planning, set-up and weaving cycle again, using what’s in the “pantry” of undyed yarns in cotton, wool and silk. Our August meet-up was a small but lively sharing of recent work and discussion of study groups. It was fun to welcome Jan Nilssen, a former Guild member now living in Eastern Washington, who brought materials and books to contribute to the Library, and shared stories of her weaving career. Several members were there who knew Jan from that time, newer members enjoyed learning about those early years as well. Not to boast, but the 2021 Wool and Weaving Entries at the NW WA Fair looked very nice this year. Sheila Atwater’s woven tapestries took home several prizes! I know more of you entered and took ribbons. I am eager to see photos. The judge provided excellent feedback on the evaluation card for each entry. A few members demonstrated weaving on a floor loom during the Fair, and next year it is hoped we can all participate more. In the cooler weather, I still must remember to water the garden between the drizzly days we are getting at last. I’m hoping for a few more ripe tomatoes and cucumbers before the season is over. Bumble bees are still visiting the blooming plants, birds are going after the seeds on the nine-bark and fennel. I have a volunteer sunflower that is over six feet tall, and, as always, plenty of weld for yellow dye. It’s time to plant some spring bulbs, spread mulch, and enjoy those intermittent sunny days in September! There is still time to get out and see the Fashion show and other exhibits at the Whatcom Museum and enjoy a treat at a sidewalk café. With the September meeting, the Guild year opens. Many exciting programs are planned for this year, starting with Kris Bruland and Handweaving.net on September 18. The meeting and program will be online, via Zoom. Look for the link in an email message the week before the meeting. I look forward to seeing you soon! Carol Berry WWG President To read the entire newsletter please click here. To see details about our upcoming meetings and events please click here. To see who our board members are please click here. To browse through our "Resources" page please click here.  The Colors of Summer
Pale yellow-green lemon cucumbers, a blush of red on a green cherry tomato, brilliant pink zinnias with tiny yellow crowns, red Canna lilies. It was a joy to come back to the colors in my home garden, after a road trip through Yakima to Boise, Idaho. This was a work trip for my husband, on a tight schedule. We were rolling with the Big Rigs! As navigator, I got a great view out the passenger window, but sadly, no yarn-related stops. Still, there was plenty of inspiration. Near Richland, we saw truckloads of onions – think of all those onion skins for dyeing. Once in Boise, we had a rest day, strolled through the Simplot Plaza – a city block of indoor and outdoor event and play space, liberally decorated with complex, brightly painted antique tractors – and visited the Boise Art Museum. Textile works by Artists Marie Watt, Lisa Kokin, Rudy Kovacs, Kathryn Spence, and prints by Gee’s Bend Quilt Artists Louisiana and Mary Lee Bendolph thrilled and inspired me. The textile-based work of Suchitra Mattai, installed in the large hall, is stunning! Visit the Museum website to see for yourself! Back home now, catching up with my Natural Dye workshop homework. The colors of summer, indeed! I had not done iron shift before, and the changes are amazing. Next is indigo overdye, then labeling every sample for reference. By the time our August meeting rolls around there will be a complete set of color options to share for show and tell. Study Groups are the program for August, and you will not want to miss it! We will meet in person at Fairhaven Park again with the opportunity to stay after the meeting to spin, knit, weave with small looms, talk, share and plan what we might like to learn and do during the indoor days of Fall and Winter. Starting up or joining a study group is simple, and a great way to expand your options for fiber connections, learning and fun all year long. Warmly, Carol Berry WWG President To read the entire newsletter please click here. To see details about our upcoming meetings and events please click here. To see who our board members are please click here. To browse through our "Resources" page please click here. |
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