 A Weavers Valentine
Almost 40 years ago, in a tiny yarn shop in Victoria, four skeins of fine silk yarn were purchased by a young man for his new bride. Soon after, in a small apartment in Seattle, she measured a warp from one of the skeins, tied some resists, and dyed the yarns. She intended to use four colors, but never got further than the first dyebath. Later on, the warp was unwrapped and the web woven. Pale and disappointing, her weaving and the three remaining skeins were kept with other textile treasures, the glimmer of a dream to make Ikat. Within a year, the young woman’s activities changed focus, with the necessary intent of contributing to the costs of rent and groceries. Time went on. Thread and ideas continued to accumulate, even as the days were filled with other worthwhile work. Money was saved, plans were laid, looms were acquired, dye pots materialized…. This morning I measured a warp, tied resists, and prepared to scour the yarns, before preparing an Indigo vat. 2021 is the Golden Anniversary year for the Whatcom Weavers Guild. Our group started in 1971, as the Whatcom Textile Guild. The name changed in 1998 to Whatcom Weavers Guild, due to the majority of members being weavers. The WWG textile community continues, welcoming anyone with an interest in fiber/textile arts. When I joined in 2009 or so I was not sure if I could still remember how to weave, but persisted, inspired by a spinning, knitting, basketry, felting and weaving community. The Guild keeps going this year, as we manage pandemic precautions, organize zoom and email study groups, sign up for online courses, weave one at a time at the Jansen Center, make appointments to check out books from the Guild Library, and touch base with one another through phone calls, emails, social media, Zoom meetings, and this newsletter. For me, Ikat Dream 2.0 is assisted by a book and an online workshop. Artist, Dyer, Weaver, Professor Mary Zicafoose, interviewed in the first “Textiles & Tea” program aired by the Handweavers Guild of America, has written “Ikat, The Essential Handbook to Weaving with Resists.” This new book provides the guidance I needed so many years ago – when I didn’t have the space, the time, or the focus to fully realize my Ikat dreams. And the Maiwa School of Textiles has transitioned to offering workshops online. “Journey Into Indigo” is leading me through all the steps necessary for successful Indigo vats for dying, on silk, wool, cotton and linen. My textile practice commitment this year is to planning and follow-through, attention to all the necessary procedures, learning from the experts, keeping track and keeping notes. Giving it the time it takes. Taking breaks to look around, be inspired, touch base with friends. Perseverance, Patience. Yarn, Dye, Weave, Textile. Commitment. Practice. Fifty Years of the Whatcom Weavers Guild. I am so glad to be here with all of you! 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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 Endings, Beginnings, and a year that has been “A Bit Wonky”
The January Newsletter heralds not just a month and season, but also a New year. Every year we look to the turning over, what’s been accomplished, what events have passed, what are our goals, what do we anticipate? This little time between the two mid-winter holidays is more than ever, a time for some reflection. Gratitude: I am well, with enough food, a warm, dry place to live and plenty of string! Gratitude for the work I am able to do with my hands, which occupies my mind, pleases my senses, and keeps my loved ones warm or dries their hands when it’s finished. The past month has seen the passing of two long-time weavers associated with the Whatcom Weavers Guild. Linda Rees, a founding member and career tapestry weaver, passed away in December. A few of Linda’s remaining tapestries, including one simple and charming piece titled “A Bit Wonky” are looking for homes. Rowlanda Hughes, limited by a life-long disability, found satisfaction in weaving, assisted in recent years by Weavers Guild members who dressed her table loom regularly, passed in December also. Gratitude that there is still some warp left on my loom(s) figuratively, and literally. I received two lovely weaving books as gifts recently, and I am inspired by what I am reading to approach familiar weaves in a new way! But First… Two looms have the remainders of scarf warps on them – in each case, the first scarf has been woven, cut off, finished and gone to a happy recipient. Now, time to re-tie, and weave the second half of each. Nice to have some weaving to do without having to make big new decisions before getting started. But then…I get to start a new program of color and cloth for the year. By the time you read this, I will be finished with a 12-thread Andean Pebble Weave band, and have a wider, more ambitious band on the inkle loom. A small portable project is a welcome break, and I am so pleased to have braved the world of online learning this past year. It’s something I would not have done if I didn’t have to – and I am so glad I tried it! With my new-found tech-ish confidence, I have signed up for two new projects in 2021. The Maiwa School of Textiles Indigo Course – taught online for the first time ever. And FiberWorks Weaving Software. Yes, I’m getting started with drafting software, thanks to the gentle persuasion and awesome support of a wonderful mentor. Also still learning in the old-fashioned way, looking at new and old weaving books, and experimenting with “what-if’s” on the loom, adapting known structures to try them out in new ways. Looking forward to seeing you, via Zoom – and maybe at the front porch or garden gate – remember, you can request a book from the Guild Library, anytime, and pick it up curbside! Between online resources, mentors, ongoing projects, and the books and videos in our Guild Library, the Public Library, and on your own shelves, I hope there is inspiration enough for all of us, to keep our spirits up as we enter into a new and hopeful year. 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.  Some years ago, possibly during a previous administration, I put 25 yards of 16/2 cotton at 60 epi on my big loom with the Drawloom attachment and 20 pattern shafts. It is a magical loom, and I love it, but it does not weave itself. Last week, I finished that warp! It will get a new warp in December, or maybe January, but for now I have draped it with colored twinkle lights for some winter cheer and I’m letting the sock monkeys play on it. This warp produced numerous quirky Damask tea towel experiments including birds, flowers, little dogs, and a copy of a Swedish ladybug design. I worked these designs out on graph paper, because, although I look up weaving drafts and project ideas on the internet, I still don’t have weaving software. Pencil, graph paper, and a big eraser from the art supply store. At some point, I will take the plunge into the advantages of weaving software, (this will require a new computer) but for now I have everything I need, even if it is slower and a bit messier.
This year I broke my own rule about not decorating the house before Thanksgiving. A pandemic calls for extra measures. Colored twinkle lights on the porch in early November. LED lights, so they can be left on 24/7 without running up the electric bill. I also made molasses sandwich cookies with cream cheese frosting. Weaving patterns aren’t the recipes you can find on the internet. Our Zoom meetings and programs continue, with popular approval! A first for me this month has been taking a weaving workshop online! Laverne Waddington’s Andean Pebble Weave Pick-up on Inkle Loom workshop was awesome! I didn’t think I would be able to do it, and I can. Laverne sent out handouts ahead of time, we pre-warped our looms, and she went through the techniques step by step, on Zoom – with video slides and in person instruction. This works. Our Zoom visit to the Ikat workshops in Uzbekistan in November was beyond inspiring. I am grateful for the roof over my head, friends and loved ones staying sensibly safe, plenty of string waiting to be transformed. As we head into the darkening winter, I am also thinking of those in need. I am embarassed to realize that our Guild “Snow Cap” project had fallen below my radar in the pandemic. There is plenty of need, and plenty of time before spring, to make use of the extra odd bits of yarn and keep hands busy making scarves and hats for folks who need them. Read the announcement in this newsletter for where to drop off contributions for local distribution. Need yarn – or have too much? Ragfinery is open again, by appointment only for drop off, and socially distant shopping! Or list your fiber-related extra stuff in the WWG Newsletter Classifieds. My “extra” 8-shaft table loom found a good home with a new weaver, who is now a new member of our Guild! And finally, believe it or not, spring may be sleeping but it will soon be on its way! Neighbor Joan was out planting last-minute daffodil bulbs this morning. Wendy saved seeds from her gorgeous fluffy Salmon pink poppies to sprinkle in late fall, for blooms next year. Mine are spread in the garden now, and I still have more, if you would like some! Hoping you are warm and safe, with just enough of everything you need, Carol Berry 2019-2020 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.  I am so relieved to have the temperatures “warming up” to the 50’s (Farenheit) this week! That bracing blast of freezing temps was a wake-up call. Where did I put the gloves and mittens when we cleaned out and re-painted the pantry/coatroom last summer? I found half a pair of fingerless mitts and two different halves of those dime store one-size fits all glovies. Luckily, the rights and lefts are interchangeable, but really! I am a weaver, but I knit some, too. It is time to get out the sock yarn remnants and get some mittens made, because we are going to need them full-time, soon!
Another benefit to the (brief) weather warm-up: I can dig up the Madder roots. I have been putting it off so the seeds can mature on the plant. I have a lot of seed this year and will share, whenever you are ready. Madder is a gangly plant and takes three years for the roots to mature into dye-quantity and quality. If you have a spot where it can be propped up on a trellis and grow for three years, contact me for seeds in early spring. I’ll also start little plants to put out again in 2021 and am sure to have extras to share. A pair of deflected double weave scarves came off the loom earlier in the month. The yarn is Harrisville Shetland and Highland wool, which I had not used before. I worked up the nerve, and after soaking one in the sink overnight, agitated it in the washing machine for 3 minutes (set the timer, like they say to do) then, moved the dial to SPIN to extract the water. I laid the damp scarf out on the laundry table, and gently pushed, pulled, and patted it into shape. When it was dry, I gave it a good steam pressing. It worked! What came off the loom stiff and somewhat fragile (though in lovely colors and patterns) is now thick, soft, and cuddly. The deflected double weave patterning is even more distinct, and the angles have turned into curves and circles. Lots of treadling variations to try out with this weave. Did I mention that the Shetland has a quick to thread sett of 12 EPI in this weave? I am not the only happy weaver around here. You will enjoy the photos of Sophie, a protégé of Sharon Allen, who is learning to weave – or I should say, burning up the warp – on a structo loom! Sophie will be done with her set of mug rugs by the time you read this and is graduating to a larger artcraft table loom. Maybe a Twill Gamp is next? I can’t wait to see what Sophie, and all of you, will have to share with us next month. I am getting used to our Zoom meetings and programs, and looking forward to joining all of you in the coming months without having to brave icy streets in the bitter cold! – Having presenters from far away, without the travel issues is awesome! I may be a little late getting to the (virtual) party, and I am still more of a hands-on person – but more and more grateful for online communication. I hope it is working for you as well. Gift-giving season is getting close. I hope you will all remember to shoot photos of your work as it comes off the loom, needles, felting table… and share them with all of us via the newsletter. Warm woollies to all, Carol Berry 2019-2020 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.  Well, Fall is officially here. Pulling out the woolly sweaters, making soup, waiting for a dryish day to sprinkle the poppy seeds that Wendy gave me. Pink peony-blossom poppies will be such a joy when they show up in the early summer, rain or shine! We have tasted the first ripe fruit from my little Florina Apple tree. Though this variety is reputed to be a good keeping apple, I don’t think they will last long. Sweet, tart and crisp. And don’t they look nice on a handwoven cottolin towel?
The madder (red) is setting seeds, and the roots will be ready to dig up in a few weeks. I have discovered just how easily weld (yellow) will take over the garden, and gave weld to Mary for her Eco-dye group. There is more, if you want some! My japanese indigo plants (blue) are a little sparse this year, but I have seed for next year. The local harvest this year includes flax grown by Jane and Yvonne, with seed saved from my Fairhaven plots of a few years ago. Jane and Yvonne are experienced spinners, used to working with wool, so this is a new venture for them. Flax is having a resurgence among fiber folks across the country, and it grows well in our climate! A large part of my Covid-keeps-us home-and-working-around-the-house this summer has involved renovating a small outbuilding for secure storage and a dye studio for me. It’s done. My dye pots, hotplate, drying rack, plant material, and supplies obtained from Maiwa Supply over the years, now have a dedicated place. There is a counter for the notebooks and scale, a workbench for the hotplate and crockpot. With a wonderful sense of satisfaction and elation, I stirred up the first “cauldron” with cochineal and logwood last week, and was faced with the sobering fact of a steep learning curve for Ikat and painted warps using plant dyes. Weaving and dying are the journey of a lifetime, for sure. An interest group is forming for those who want to weave the VAV magazine “World’s Best Hand Towels” for the Guild Challenge and you are all invited! While the weather cooperated, several of planned warps and measured them outside, and had a warping demo. Let me know if you are interested. The PDF is in a link further on in this newsletter. There are a number of interest groups forming, getting back together with safety protocols, and moving onto ZOOM, as we all get used to online programming. Plus, in person programming is getting organized, with Covid protocols, at the Jansen Center! Towels, blankets, felting and more! More details further along in the newsletter. Daryl Lancaster’s program for the September Guild meeting via ZOOM came off without a hitch. It was great to meet up with Daryl again, and see the inside of her studio! Her explanations, examples and technical material on combining weave structures and hand-dyed warps were inspiring and empowering. Again, a steep learning curve for me, but I think I am starting to get it! I am looking forward seeing Laverne Waddington, Backstrap Weaver, who will join us from her home in Bolivia for our October Program. We are working out the logistics of an online workshop with Laverne, no travel required. As the rain keeps us indoors, I am taking my time, dealing with thousands of miles of string, in a multitude of ways. How many of us, throughout history and pre-history, have spent the winters engaged in just such activities? On it goes. Hoping you and yours are safe, secure and busy enough to be happy. See you soon! Carol Berry 2019-2020 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.  We Zoomed! 20 members participated in the Whatcom Weavers Guild first ever Zoom business meeting and show and tell, on August 22, 2020. We had a chance to catch up on Guild business, see each other's faces, and chat a bit!. As a silver lining to all this Coping with Covid, we got to see members who live far away, and wouldn’t be able to attend otherwise. We voted to continue having Zoom meetings on our regular meeting dates, and to invite guest artists to present remotely.
Earlier in August the Muslin Mondays sewing skills group met via Zoom, for a program led by Susan Torntore on hand-stitched buttonholes. We watched a video, saw samples, and I, for one, learned a lot about making handsome and sturdy buttonholes in handwoven cloth. It has been reported that the new issue of Threads has a long article on handmade buttonholes, with lots of photos and step-by-step instructions! I am thrilled with the Fall 2020 line-up of Programs and meetings! Be sure to save the dates on the Schedule below and look for the emails with the links to the Zoom meetings. We may continue with remote presentations in 2021 as well, it all depends. Daryl Lancaster, one of our favorite teachers and speakers, has created a power point training especially for Zoom participation in programs like hers. There will be a practice session scheduled the week before the September 19 program, so that we can all figure out Zoom and improve our skills, BEFORE she gives her talk. Daryl has traveled extensively for her teaching for many years, and thanks to Covid, she has been able to enjoy her home and garden every day this summer. Another silver lining. And here it is, September. Eleven apples grew on the tiny tree we planted last fall, and they are now full size! They ripen in October, so you can expect a report on the taste testing in about a month. After all those years of getting ready for school in the Fall, this time of year my internal clock just feels ready to clear up some old stuff, renew, and start something new. I will be winding warps and dressing looms for the Guild Challenge(s), and starting to plan deflected double weave for cozy wool shawls. I have Harrisville Shetland and Highland, Borgs Tuna, Faro, and Mora, plus some colorful handspun yarns to experiment with. Looking forward to wet finishing to see what these different wool yarns will do. Of course, I must weave them first - but that’s the most fun part! I so hope you’ll be able to join in the remotely delivered meetings and programs this Fall. Electronic technology is not the same as hands-on, but we are always learning in our crafts. We can do this too! Be safe, and keep your fiber dry (except when wet-finishing)! Carol Berry 2019-2020 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.  I enjoy having more than one project going at a time - especially in summer. One loom has a wool scarf on it, sampling for a blanket. One loom has towels. I’m designing a new pattern for the drawloom, which requires graph paper, pencil and a large eraser. The inkle loom is ready to be carried outside, when the weather allows and sunshine calls. Hemming towels is a nice portable activity - and finishing in a small group, in accordance with phase 2 guidelines for safety, is something I may be able to get into soon. Because I like to add woven band hanging loops to my towels, I am way behind on hemming - the bands have to match the towels! ( well, maybe that’s not the only reason I’m way behind on hemming)
So, on the latest project - inspired by the colors of the Hong Kong Ballet video in the June Newsletter, I tested the colors by weaving the inkle band first! The warp chains are measured, pre-sleyed, and on the loom, ready for winding on. When those towels are woven, I’ll be able to hem them right away! The structure is my current favorite for 4 shafts: 5-fold M’s and O’s from the M. Davison Book. M’s and O’s makes check patterns, with a variety of options in treadling and color use, and this pattern can weave checks within checks! numerous patterns are possible on one threading! Take a look at the color samples in the photos below. I have a new appreciation for making yarn wraps, after the Linda Rees Color Challenge. Staying safe continues to be a bit of an emotional challenge, as cases of Covid rise in Whatcom County. I am grateful for my own health, vigilant for those around me, while savoring any chance to interact with Fiber Buddies. A group of five WWG members met last week for a Demo of beaming 10 yards of cottolin 22/2 warp for towels, onto Sharon Allen’s 8-shaft Baby Wolf Loom. (We are proud of our mask-making and wearing ability!) Sharon had pre-measured the warp chains, and moved her loom out into the garage, with the door open onto the driveway. The weather held, and we had the warp beamed in less than an hour - then we chatted and enjoyed a little show and tell, distanced and masked. Sharon also brought out a new “aftermarket” piece of equipment, which raises the shafts to a comfortable height for threading and distinguishing between the heddles on each shaft. This is a handmade item, 3-D printed and gifted to Sharon by a weaving friend from outside our guild, and it is ingenious! Barry Schact, have you seen this? Sharon’s friend is not making these anymore - could something functional be made by gluing lego or duplo bricks together? Is there a woodworker or a 3-D printer in the area? Sharon is now happily threading her loom, under a canopy in her driveway. Patty Dodge is enjoying her new puppy, Tonka, and reports that not so much weaving is getting done right now, and she’s trying not to feel guilty. Tonka looks like a super fun “High Fiber” project right now! What could be better than sunshine and weaving! Or sunshine and gardening, or sunshine and strawberries, or just sunshine! Hoping you are doing what keeps you energized, safe, healthy and happy in these trying times. Warm fuzzies to all, Carol Berry 2019-2020 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.  Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.
--Martin Luther After 25 years of “planning” to plant fruit trees on our small urban property, last fall we did. Two tiny apple trees in the front yard and one plum tree in the back (the neighboring yard also has a plum tree, (for pollinizing). My little “Florina” has 12 apples, each as big as a grape right now, but what a miracle! This is also a good year for strawberries. Still yellow-green, but lots of them. We are waiting to eat the crops, but marveling at the progress every day. Now I do mean every day, because right here is where I spend my time, every single day. It can be hard to keep going, knowing others are hurting with illness, financial insecurity, loss of normal routines and support. Thought it doesn’t do any good to wallow in it, I have found myself dabbling around in some low feelings. The fact is, spring and summer are not cancelled, and those plants (and weeds!) are going to grow. A long-ago design instructor’s words were to “sit in nature when you get stuck” to provide some space and time for ideas or solutions to find you. Intention and action support more crops, (fewer weeds.) Connecting with fellow weavers, as well as family and friends, has had to become as intentional for me as keeping the garden going. Gardening is a connection with other spinners and weavers too. Jane and Yvonne planted the same seeds from my past years’ flax crop, and are growing flax now! The baby sprouts are tiny, but by mid-summer they should see waving tall flax, with tiny blue blossoms. Seemingly the opposite of Nature, the Internet has also become a means of keeping up with those connections and making new ones. WWG member Cathy M in California has joined me in a long-distance weave-along using a mix of yarns, in favorite colors to create a block twill scarf. Well, Cathy has finished hers while mine is still on the loom, but he process has been fun and gratifying. (See photos with this message). We planned carefully, making yarn wraps for warp planning to coordinate with our multi-colored weft yarns. Block twill is not just for towels, as you can see from Cathy’s lovely results! Another member’s connections have turned into an opportunity to send a floor loom to a master weaver in Africa, and support the start of a weaving school there. (See International Outreach in this newsletter. Color, as always, feeds my weaving. The photo of iris you see here was taken by my niece outside her home. The lovely composition and unexpected color combination soothe and inspire, like a beautiful painting. A source of information from the Internet, the idea of the Hong Kong Ballet (See Video You Might Enjoy in this newsletter) has me absolutely gobsmacked (!!) for the color, fun, grace and impact of the music, costumes and movement. I have watched it at least a dozen times, created more color wraps dreaming of more towels, runners and scarves to start and (eventually) to finish. Creativity can’t be canceled. May your creativity get you through the challenges. Carol Berry, 2019-2020 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.  Hello Fiber Friends,
If times were normal, we would be getting ready for Sarah Jackson’s Color Confidence Workshop this weekend. I warped a table loom in Summer and Winter stripes, in preparation, and I’m still working on that sampler. My strategy, written down on March 17, was to get all the looms warped. It’s good to have goals, and good for everybody to be dressed, right? Now the plan is to finish the M’s and O’s towels and put the next warp on. I love M’s and O’s. It’s a versatile, simple-to-thread weave that lends itself to a lot of variations and makes checked patterns. This one, a variation of 5-fold M’s & O’s from the M. Davison “green book”, can even make checks within the checks! I still like it so much I want to do it again, correcting some iffy color choices this time. No, not the ones in the photos. Other ones. Back to thinking about “normal” times… still encountering a lot of the same as ever. Like dishes, laundry, weeding, unweaving after a distracted mistake, all normal for me. Normal is still happening, because Spring will not be cancelled. Seedlings, tulips, apple blossoms. Cooking favorites from my mother’s and grandmother’s recipe boxes helps me feel normal. Comfort foods that have been showing up our family tables since the 1930’s. Baked pasta, applesauce cake, biscuits, zucchini casserole are some of the foods that bring out my feelings of comfort and being cared for. Washing the dishes with grandma is a fond memory, and now I’m using the “good” dish towels, because really, what are we saving them for? Still speaking of “normal”, today it went from sunny at 8:30 am, to windy at 10 am, to torrential rain at 12:30 pm, and now back to our regularly scheduled misty wet and gray. Gotta love normal northwest weather. Keeps the skin moist. Which is good because we are still washing our hands, a lot. I do miss everybody! As a Guild, we plan to do as recommended and continue physical distancing for as long as needed. I have learned how to do Zoom meetings, and had a 30 minute Zoom spin-in with Carla S. and several “tea parties’ with weaving buddies. How do you feel about a virtual meeting and/or virtual interest groups? Recipe swaps, grocery getting tips? Just coffee or tea and seeing each other’s faces! I can schedule and set up a meeting, and there are protections against any “bombing” that we might have heard about. You just click on the link to join the meeting. Via technology, we could even meet one of our newest members, Cathy Meyer, who lives in California. Cathy joined WWG in order to sign up for the Sarah Jackson Workshop, and she was to stay in my studio guest room during the Workshop, May 1-3. This was not to be, but Cathy is using this time to stay connected with the fiber community. I hope we get to meet Cathy in person when Sarah Jackson’s Color Confidence workshop is re-scheduled. Thankfully, I have also been blessed with some pleasant in-person visits, at a distance. Kim H. passed by my house on her morning walk, and we had a nice chat, she from the sidewalk, me on the front porch, before she continued on. Charlotte (my young weaver friend, currently furloughed and distance learning from Happy Valley School) has expanded her weaving technology to include a small inkle loom (thanks to Sharon A.) and we sat at either end of the porch, masked, while I told her how to warp it, demonstrating on my own Inkle loom, 7 feet apart. Weaving and sewing are providing comfort and structure to so many of us, it is a joy to share it! For a little more comfort and caring, Charlotte’s mom, Susan has made us a custom hand, wrist and shoulder therapy video. Read more about her and view the video below in the newsletter! Carol Berry, 2019-2020 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.  Hello Fiber Friends,
Staying at home is not a hardship for me. It is a privilege to be guilt-free about not going to the gym, to prepare a recipe that requires many steps and prolonged stirring, to take my time making yarn wraps and planning yet another project. No anxiety about having a different WIP* at every seating area in the house plus a basket beside the bed. Anxiety about other people’s well-being? Well yes. Spending time on the internet trying to find out, what? Yes, I’m doing that too. However, there is so much being shared among the online fiber community that is sustaining, helpful, reassuring and good to read. We are among the folks who already have a handle on the power of our habits and attitudes to keep us going during uncertain times. Weaving has power! In member notes you can read an uplifting account from a third grade teacher who sent her students home from their last day at school with weaving looms and supplies. I am enchanted by the words of this wonderful teacher and her students’ embrace of weaving! I wonder if there are other teachers who could benefit from a contribution of weaving supplies for their classrooms when students are allowed to return to school. Mary Oates is using this time to research the plans for a Viking warp-weighted loom that can be used for demonstrations and events, like the community tapestries woven at the Fair and at Everson School. Three days ago I set my box of small looms supplies out on the porch, and wiped it down with disinfectant. My neighbor and her pre-teen daughter picked it up this morning, and Susan reports that Charlotte is in awe of all the supplies! They have promised to send more photos, and to help me organize weaving classes for Charlotte and her friends when we can get together again. Daffodils are blooming. Bird sounds are much more audible, in the relative quiet. I have started Indigo seeds in a flat on my front porch. The beets that went to seed in the raised bed last fall are sprouting on their own. The peas are up. It has been three summers since I planted Madder, and now I can dig it up! Tapestry weaver Sarah Swett blogged last year about Madder from her garden, and her tests of dried versus fresh roots (dried are supposed to be better, but the fresh gave her red yarn, giving me the inspiration to try mine out soon!) Sarah blogged more recently about her years of social isolation in remote Idaho, when shopping for groceries happened twice a year, and the internet hadn’t been invented. Joanne Hall told me about her first years in business in Montana, without even telephone service. She communicated with customers via postcard, “which worked just fine.” I do look forward to Guild meetings & programs, getting back to the Jansen Center, helping friends put warps on their looms in person, carpooling to yarn shops in Skagit County and other exotic and precious locales. In the meantime… I am missing all of you. Be well, and we’ll be back together, with some awesome show and tell! Carol Berry, 2019-2020 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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