From the Archive

 

Sweden 2002

Sweden in the winter can be grey, but the warmth of the people makes up for the short days and gloomy aspect of the countryside.

My trip to Sweden in November/December of 2002 came about primarily because of the wedding of my studio assistant, Karena.

Karena's mother is Swedish, married to a Canadian, and Karena determined to marry in the same church as her mother and father. I could not overlook the opportunity to go!

As it happened, a group of Swedish weavers were also trying to get a Vadmal "party" happening, so it seemed a perfect opportunity to learn more about this interesting woolen cloth. Unfortunately, the vadmal making fell through, but it may happen at another time.

I arrived on Tuesday, November 19 late in the evening. Taking it easy on the Wednesday, Kerstin spent most of the day getting a wool warp onto the AVL. We did make an excursion to Tynnsryd to visit a weaving studio.

Folke has spent many hours thinking about how to make looms and weaving more efficient. After problems with his neck, he was finding it more and more difficult to weave on a standard draw loom with overhead pattern cords, so he worked out a way to place the cords in front of the weaver. Other tinkerings with the loom have made it possible to have a shaft draw loom without the long body or extension necessary to get a good shed. It was most interesting to see the modifications and watch the weavers at work on a couple of large commissions.

On Friday night, Ingrid Hanssen arrived and we spent Saturday weaving on the AVL. Kerstin had installed the new auto cloth advance, and we were having some problems with it, but eventually sorted it out and were able to weave off the wool warp.

Sunday we set off west, visiting a Hembygd museum where a vadmalstamp was on display.

 Vadmalstamp (hammer mill)

These hammer mills were used extensively for making vadmal cloth – a heavy, serviceable fabric used by outdoor workers such as farmers, tree fellers and so on. Vadmal was a densely woven, heavily fulled fabric that stood up to the heavy use demanded of it. In spite of our present understanding of how fulling works, this fabric was not loosely woven, but set tightly, and beaten in firmly. Fulling took hours of intermittent compression by heavy hammers, traditionally operated by water wheels.

 Close up of hammers

 Axle to lift hammers

As our need for such a heavy duty fabric in this day and age is much reduced, modern "vadmal" is being made with more open sets and looser webs. This opening up of the cloth means that fulling in the vadmalstamp takes much less time, and produces a softer cloth depending on the fibre and weave structure used.

From the vadmalstamp, we carried on to visit the producer of a specialty yarn made from peat moss fibre blended with wool. The peat moss fibre is made from the left overs of another peat moss industry. The fibre is sifted and sorted until the large chunks of wood are removed and the fibre that is left is of a uniform coarseness and length. Due to the ability of peat moss to hold moisture, it has to be run through the dryer twice before it is finally blended with wool, made up into bales, and then sent to the spinning mill to be spun or felted for filters and boot insoles.

That evening we stayed with Ingrid and worked on her loom trying to get her fly shuttle to work more efficiently. But we were all too tired and gave up until the next morning when Ingrid wove without difficulty.

 Portion of 8 meter long cold mangle

We set off from Ingrid's to visit another Hembygd museum where an enormous cold mangle was on display. This mangle was part of a system of linen manufacture where the weavers were assigned their warps,

Web being transferred from cloth beam to dowel for cold mangling

then returned the completed webs to the mill for wet finishing and mangling. This mangle is 8 meters long and weighs in at a hefty two tonnes (approx. 4500 pounds).

The motive power for this mangle was a donkey or small horse, not a water wheel.

Leaving the mangle, we set off for Ekelunds, a weaving mill that makes household textiles in cotton and linen. In the lobby of the mill factory outlet they have one of their original Jacquard looms from the 1800's on display.

Jacquard loom with Kerstin Fröberg

Part II

Attaching bout of 288 ends to beaming machine

The tour of Ekelunds mill is self guided, and the first thing we happened upon was the beaming operation. I had always wondered how industry beamed, and we got to see their brand new (three week old) beaming machine.

Unlike the tour of Pendleton Woolen Mill I had taken last year, we were allowed close inspection of this and other areas of the mill.

Warp being wound (gathering reed in is upright blue stand operator is leaning on)

430 meter long warp ready to be transferred to warp beam

The two men beaming the three colour warp were quite happy to answer our questions, and it was amazing to watch 288 ends at a time rolling onto the beam at enormous speed and high tension.

bouts being attached to warp beam with flanges

In very short order the warp was completely beamed, and we were allowed to watch the transfer of the warp from the beaming machine to a warp beam. The operation went smoothly and quickly. By the time we made it to the loom room, that same warp was being installed into a loom and we watched in amazement as the knot tying machine delicately selected the next pair of ends to be tied together, then made the knot.

Warp sheet being transferred to warp beam

From beaming machine to warp beam with rock hard tension in about 10 to 12 minutes

The looms at Ekelunds were all Jacquard and rapier and almost faster than the eye could see, the looms wove off two or three tea towels at a time. Each tea towel had a selvedge that was formed by taking the loose end of the pick and weaving it back into the cloth.

Once off the loom, the fabric went through the wet finishing department where they were hot mangled, rather than the traditional Swedish finish of cold mangling.

With darkness descending, Kerstin and I set off for Bergdala

.

Once back at Bergdala, Kerstin made the necessary adjustments to the auto cloth advance and we put on a test warp. After determining that it was, indeed, working, Kerstin tackled her double weave sample for the study group and managed to get the warp on and the first sample off by Thursday.

Friday morning, very early, we set off for Falun, where she dropped me off so I could attend Karena's wedding.

Sunday afternoon, I took the train to Hudviksdal where Kerstin and her friend Karin met me. We stopped in at a Julmarket (Christmas craft fair), but unfortunately they were just ready to close up for the day. We did see some weaving, tho – mostly rag rugs.

Monday morning we set off for Helmi Halsinglands, and spent an interesting hour touring their plant. They do much of the dyeing of linen, cotton and wool for many yarn suppliers in Sweden. It was interesting to note that they dye linen as singles and then ply it, for maximum penetration of the dye.

From Helmi Halsinglands, we took a jaunt further into the countryside to visit Växbo. Unfortunately their museum is not open in the winter, so we could not see the whole process of linen fibre preparation, but again a self-guided tour of the mill allowed us to see the drawing operations and the weaving up close. The spinning frames were not in operation as the operator was just setting them up to begin spinning.

The looms at Växbo are shaft looms, most of them with shuttles. It was quite amazing to hear the pirns being changed when they ran out of weft. You could not see the operation happening it was so fast, just hear the bang as the new pirn punched the old one out of the shuttle. It happened so quickly that the loom did not miss a beat in the weaving rhythm.

Växbo weaves only linen, not cotton, and has a line of table textiles and yardage that at least one designer is using for garments.

We had hoped to stop in at the textile school at Uplands Vasby, but weather conditions deteriorated, and we cancelled that side trip and went straight on in to Stockholm where we stayed the night with Kerstin's mother. In the morning the weather had improved, and we set off for Bergdala in dry conditions – a vast improvement over the previous day.

The last few days were spent quietly. We visited another Julmarket, but saw little weaving. We also stopped in at a studio and visited with the artist.

On Saturday evening, we went to a Hyttsill at the Bergdala Glass Works.

Hyttsill are based on the fact that during the 1800's itinerant peddlers and workers would be granted the freedom to use the annealing chamber in the glass works to cook their dinners. The Hyttsill at Bergdala Glass Works is considered one of the best ones, partly due to the configuration of the works themselves. The six glory holes are centrally located which means that those attending the Hyttsill can visit in the area around the glory holes.

The glory hole is kept at 1100 degrees C; the annealing chamber is kept at about 350 degrees C. The traditional country diet of potatoes, salted herring, and the local sausage would not take long to cook. While waiting for dinner to be ready, these travelers would share news of the region with each other and the villagers, story telling and singing keeping all entertained.

As an added bonus, we were given a demonstration of glass blowing. The workers are in teams of three, and for a simple glass, each team can produce 50 or so an hour. More complicated designs requiring more working of the glass would reduce their production to 25 an hour. The glass master giving the talk allowed some of the audience to try blowing. It is apparently very easy to blow the bubble – extremely difficult to produce glass that will actually function!

He ended his demo by making a glass pig which Björn asked if I could have. He was instantly christened Boaris in honour of the wild boars that still live in the forests of the area (and which are quite delicious!)

And so ended my 2002 trip – it was time to go home and get back to work……

Here We Go...Again

Yesterday was set up day for the other local show we do - Studio Fair.

I have been doing this show, first as a volunteer, then as an independent crafts person for a very long time.  I've watched it grow into the higher end show it now is, attracting artisans from across the country.  I've been here almost every year it has been in business, watched others - and myself - evolve through the decades.

We have refined my booth structure and display as what I make has changed.  Most of it fits on a cart other than a few 'odd' items - like the tall stool and some metal display stands.  Usually while Doug loads the cart I start hand carrying the odd ball items to the booth.

And then we start setting up the booth apparatus, including the lights.

Studio Fair is a 'low light' show but even before it was I always had my own lights.  Because the quality of light in such large halls is pretty terrible, which would shift my colours into something...not very attractive.  I needed my own lighting to wash out the overhead lights so that people could see how my textiles actually looked instead of how they looked under the hall lights.

So this photo shows Doug just after he has arrived with the loaded cart.  A couple of boxes are already on the floor - the cart is usually piled high with display stuff as well as the many boxes of product.

It all fits into the back of our 'mini' van with the seats out in the back.

Now it's down to whether or not enough people are interested in my designs, willing to pay my prices.

Sunday we tear down and pack everything up into the back of the van.  Monday morning, as soon as we can possibly hit the road, we head for Vancouver to do the Circle Craft Christmas Market.

Where we will do this all over again...

Culmination

I'm at the fun bit of weaving - sitting at the loom, contentedly weaving away, piling up the yards/meters.  Thinking.  Because when everything is going well and you only need surface attention for the task at hand, the mind can go wandering.

This morning I was thinking about how cyclic in nature being a professional weaver is.  My year end is not Dec. 31 but oh, around now.  The craft fair season begins very shortly and if I haven't got it ready for sale by now?  It probably isn't going to be ready for this year.  So what I am actually doing is working on inventory for next year.  

I am also stash busting - to a certain extent.  While the weft I'm currently using is 'new' - as in purchased in Sweden at Va:v last month, the warp yarns have been in my stash for considerably longer.  

This summer I did not have my usual 'birthday' sale so I am thinking of getting new items loaded to my Circle Craft shop as soon as I get home from the Circle Craft Christmas Market, mid-November.  Maybe by then these towels will be finished.  Or very soon after I get home.  My 'shop' is currently closed due to my travel schedule, but I haven't forgotten about it.

There are a whole bunch of things that have had to be put on the back burner, but I have not forgotten about them.  Number one is, of course, The Book.  I got the last set of edits in June but have just not had the time - or energy - to deal with them.  Again, hopefully after the craft fair season.  Doing the new edits can actually be - not relaxing, exactly - but a different kind of activity, one particularly suited to winter.

Plus the perennial conversation about all things weaving, generally process related, goes around again.  So finishing The Book seems particularly important, if only to give people more information than is generally available.  If you don't know what you don't know, you don't know that you need to know it.  My hope is to fill in some of those cracks in people's fundamental knowledge so that they can make appropriate choices.

As for the web on the loom, yes there are reed marks.  No they may not come out 'in the wash' (wet finishing) but they are consistent and therefore part of the character of the cloth.  I'm good with it either way.

And yes, that's a three thread float on the selvedge.  And no, it doesn't bother me.  It's fine.  And no, I don't use a floating selvedge.  See my other blog posts on Selvedges.  Whole lot more to good selvedges than using a floating selvedge.  Or an end feed shuttle.  Etc.

Rolling Deadlines

We got home last night and are still dealing with a time zone change of 9 hours.  One of the benefits, so to speak, is that my body thinks it is 'later' than it actually is local time, so I got up 'early' and got started on my day.  I'm trying to stick to the local time zone schedule as closely as possible in hopes that my body clock will be tricked into getting back into the swing of things as quickly as possible.

Because I came home to rolling deadlines.  By that I mean that they are coming thick and furious for the next six weeks.

I have a full calendar of appointments and commitments for the next couple of weeks whereupon I head out on another trip (and another time zone shift) for two weeks, arrive home on the Monday, set up for the first craft fair show on the Friday and then the following three weekends they run back to back with less and less time between them.  Plus that pesky 450 mile drive to - and from - the last.  In November.  Which means possibly winter driving conditions...

At which point I may fall into bed for two weeks.

So far today I have dealt with finances - at least the start of dealing with the urgent things and preparing for the third quarter sales tax reporting - done some necessary shopping, taken care of some emails, some personal, some conference related, woven a table runner and two place mats.

Now I'm fighting the fact that my body thinks it is actually 2 am.  I still have a meeting I really want/need to attend this evening but it is fairly early so I may fall into bed again at 10 pm.  Or maybe by then my body will be waking up again because it thinks it is actually 7 am...

Ah, the joys of travel and time zone changes...

Passionate

Me, probably off on a tangent...

So what are the odds of everything going smoothly when I travel to teach?  50-50.  Either they will...or they won't.

And when they don't, they usually don't in a rather spectacular fashion.

I've grown used to things not being ideal.  You learn to get flexible very quickly, or you would drive yourself bananas.

So I make lists, check them twice (thrice, more) hope I remember everything.  But usually I forget something.

Like the time I forgot my little travel purse on the kitchen counter.  I managed to phone Doug and get him to pick it up and deliver it back to the airport at the very last second.  But I was the absolute last person on board.  I think the only reason they didn't leave without me is that I'd already checked into the gate and they knew I was there - somewhere.

The time I had a massive allergic reaction (several times) and threw up all night and was brain dead or near as, the following day.

The time I got food poisoning.  

The time my plane couldn't depart due to fog, mad scramble to re-book, bought a ticket on another airline because their plane had radar and could take off in the fog.  Of course that meant I didn't get reimbursed for the second ticket out of town, had to have the original airline rebook on all the flights I missed, arriving at last at midnight with a two hour drive to my hostess' house falling into bed at 2 am with a 7 am wake up call.

The time a conference seminar assistant didn't realize she needed to pick up the class handouts so I had to do the entire complex topic with no references for the students.  Lots of air drawings that day.  And I did a terrible job because I didn't have my handouts, which threw me for a loop.

A friend asked if things didn't get better.  Nope.  Nope.  Nope.  Read Daryl Lancaster's blog for some of her adventures with travelling.

So why on earth do I keep doing this?  Well, I'm not.  I have stopped taking bookings for guilds. (Unless I get arm twisted with a reason for me to make an exception.)

I have cut back to only teaching the Olds master weaving programs (with, as mentioned, a few exceptions).

But yes, I have done this for a rather long time.  I have been teaching since the month I quit my 'real' job in order to become a professional weaver.  My first workshop was a spinning workshop - coincidentally the very same night my father died.

I drove to smaller towns and villages in the region.  I have white knuckled my way through snowstorms, white outs/blizzards, black ice, pouring down rain and thunder storms.

I have flown all over the place in good weather...and bad...sometimes missing flights, arriving late, arriving at a completely different airport with people on the ground scrambling to get me.

I have arrived without my luggage.  More air drawings, until it caught up to me.

So, then, why?  Why keep doing this?

Well, I could be flippant and say I'm 'warped'.  But the fact is I am passionate about weaving and I am passionate about trying to help people understand the craft.

The next two trips are both driving.  I am hoping for good weather, but it either it will be good...or it won't.  Either way I will hit the highway Friday am as early as I can for the nearly 500 mile drive and hope it goes smoothly.

Packing

This trip is a little different from my usual.  Olds College puts teachers up in their student condos which have kitchens...but no dishes.  Since three of my roommates are flying in and I'm driving, I am also bringing cups, cutlery, coffee and tea makings.  I will be adding extra blankets because the beds only come with the standard issue college thin bedding.  I guess students at an ag college are a lot sturdier than 'elderly' ladies!

Since my three roomies are also from the southern US, I am also bringing shawls because spring has been very chilly this year and they will seize up from the cold!

Trying to pack for a complex trip in the midst of continuing renovation work is stretched my tolerance for unexpected things to the breaking point.  But I am working my way through my packing list, remembering more things that will be needed, both for class and making our stay at the college more pleasant.  

I still have to pick up the spinning wheel for Mary to use, but that will be tonight at the guild pot luck.  There is an even bigger heap of stuff at the annex that needs picking up and the van will be crammed with bins and boxes.

We are very near done with the last of the renovations and then it will be cleaning up the aftermath.  But most of that is outside and once my studio is back to rights, I should be able to go full steam ahead - at least until my dental surgery.  I'm hoping for quick healing and back to my production schedule, all too often interrupted the past year.

I guess I have to come to the realization that I am now establishing what my new 'normal' is and learning what my limits are, physically.

But I am still on this side of the grass, and so far?  It's a Good Thing.  Even given my current state of irritability!

Currently reading Cold Earth by Anne Cleeves

'Shadow' Bucket List

Mysterious object - attached to an 'industrial' loom at an old mill in England.  If I remember correctly, it is a carousel holder for pirns for the fly shuttle on the loom.

It seems as though lately 'bucket' lists have become popular.  I'm quite sure we all have things we would like to do, places we would like to see, while we still can.

We had hoped to cross The Pond next spring, but with the renovations now spanning winter, they won't be complete until the year is well advanced.  And then I have what is shaping up to be a very busy teaching schedule in May and June.  Since I'm not a big fan of traveling in tourist season, I'd almost given up going for a holiday next year.

And then I heard from my friend in Sweden who casually (?) mentioned that the Vav conference would be happening in her neck of the woods...in September.

Now, being a production weaver, my autumns have been rather stressful, since the sale season begins the end of October.  However, I do have a rather substantial amount of inventory, and if I get very organized in January through April, I could actually pump up the inventory well in advance so that a holiday in September would be possible.

And attending the Vav conference in Sweden?  Never once in my life thought it would be possible!  It was such an impossibility, it wasn't even on my bucket list.  But it was on my 'shadow' bucket list - you know, the stuff you'd love to do but never, ever expect to be able to do it?  

Like - write a book.  Make a DVD - or two.  Teach all over the place.  And yet I did do those.  Maybe I can get to Vav after all?

No 'Sale'

So, it looks like Canada Post is going to be shut down after all.  Since my usual 'sale' is 'buy two, get free shipping' and I just cannot afford to use courier to send things, the 'birthday' sale will not happen this year.  I was hoping that they would settle today, but so far I have not heard that they have and...since my birthday is tomorrow, which is when the sale usually ends, it looks like it just isn't going to happen.

My tickets to Cape Breton have been purchased, and I need to decide very soon if I am going to go to TN in Oct.  I did sign up for the Bonnie Inouye workshop, but guild members get priority, which is only fair, so I don't know if I will get in or not.  Since my coffers are getting a bit um, light, shall we say, making another trip might not be a good idea.  On the other hand, I would really like to go and take Bonnie's class...

The summer is disappearing very quickly.  There is much to be done before the fall sales begin.  I'm hoping that some things that are up in the air will be settled soon.  I really dislike not knowing how things are going to play out.  Control freak?  Moi?  Apparently!

Embarrassment of Riches

This is just some of the yarn I am trying to use up.  

So far I have woven a few warps of two scarves each, and wound six more.  And I haven't even scratched the surface because there are many more boxes of yarn still in storage...this was just an effort to design a scarf line and begin weaving it.  

The van is loaded with much of my studio tools so I decided to not do any weaving today.  Instead I have been trying to think what else I might have forgotten.  And so far remembered a couple of critical things!   Like the class manual with my notes and sheets for marking class exercises!  Oops...that would have been bad.  

The rain has stopped...for now.  So glad my route is east, not north as that highway is closed due to washouts.  Fingers crossed the rain has truly stopped.  

Still a few more personal items to pack, but I am nearly ready.  

Road Trip

The drive east was wet on and off.  At one point, because it IS road construction season after all, we were stopped to let one way traffic go by. It wasn't raining at that precise minute, but it was still dreary.

The mountains are always majestic, no matter the season or weather so I quickly took a couple of pictures, front view and side.    We were stopped east of Jasper, still in the park, for bridge repairs.

There is very little snow left on the mountains, which doesn't bode well for the summer, so it was hard to resent the rain today.  It is badly needed.  

I made it to Edmonton relatively early, then the hotel had some glitches with the room keys.  Not just me, either.  Eventually got it sorted and now it is getting to be bedtime. 

It is almost 10 pm...

As we near the solstice it will stay light out even later.  ;)

On the Road Again

A beautiful spring day makes the wait for the ferry pleasant.  There is wifi in the parking lot so I have been catching up on chat groups, some of which have been very active!

We had a brief but very nice visit with friends, plus visiting with some of the textile people in the area, which was a bonus.  

Now we are headed back to the mainland and Fibres West at the Cloverdale Exhibition Centre, where i am looking forward to seeing lots more current and new fibre friends.  

Road Trip

We set out at 7:30 in heavy fog, which lasted far too long, then it cleared and showed off lovely blue skies.  I forget how low the sun is this time of year but the constant sun in my eyes as we wended our way ever more southward was a reminder!  Thank goodness for wrap around sun glasses...

By the time we got to Hope the sun was hidden behind the clouds snagged on the mountains.  As we turned west heading towards Vancouver it rained.  They call this the wet coast for a reason!

As dark descended, it got very black and we were more than happy to stop for the night.  Hopefully it won't be rainy tomorrow but this IS the wet coast...

I'm glad I brought lots of yarn with me because I finished one scarf already.  In the hotel room I cast on for another.  There will be several more hours in the van before we arrive at our friends house.  Can't have idle hands!

Day One

Beginning to feel a wee bit like the movie Groundhog Day...except the neighbours are different.  

The craft community really is a community and the big regret as I have cut back on doing shows is losing that community.  

Tweaked the booth display.  It probably doesn't look terribly different but as things have sold...or not...my emphasis has changed.  

So, with fewer place mats and still loads of tea towels, the mats got condensed and the towels spread out more so that they can more easily be seen.  Or at least, that's the hope.  

But there is just no telling because what has sold so far today have been shawls and scarves.  Not one mat or towel.  Tomorrow could be entirely different.  

And it isn't over until it's over. 

Done In

Close the Trans-Canada Hwy for 13 plus hours, stacking all the transports that drive through a mountainous,windy, twisty road into a miles long convoy, sprinkle with civilians, some of them fellow craftspeople with heavily loaded vans or trailers, sprinkle liberally with adverse weather conditions.  Let the tractors wear chains (please let them be wearing chains), chewing the compact snow into something approximating washboard, add rain, sleet, at times blowing snow and we were all shaken, not stirred.  

A drive that would, in reasonable conditions, take about five hours, took 8.5.  

We arrived at six am, Alberta time with a loading time of 10-12 noon.  We may, or may not, make it.  

Too much stress, too little decent food, way too little sleep.   I sure hope the trip home is more pleasant, not to mention the 1.5 day drive next week to teach, then home again.  I am about done in.

Going 'Dark'

Well, we are off tomorrow - two craft fairs, back to back with a two day drive in between - through the mountains - to get from one to the other.  Then home for two days and off again to teach at Grand Forks.  Another 1.5 day drive there and back.  Not sure how much time or energy I will have to post from the road.

The house and studio will be left in the capable hands of a new weaver who gets to play in my studio while we are gone.  :)  She came today to beam her cushion warp (based on Janet Dawson's Craftsy class).  There wasn't time for her to do more than that but I'm confident she can do the rest on her own.  She also got to use the warping valet, which I think she is liking a lot.

It has been very mild here so far with no idea of what we will come home to - it is November, after all!  I just hope we have good driving conditions.  It's about 450 miles to Vancouver, 660 miles from Vancouver to Calgary, then about 480 miles from Calgary home again.  Most of it through mountains, or high elevations.

It is the traveling that is the least attractive part of doing this - or at least the traveling in November part - because you just never know what the weather is going to toss at you.  The older I get, the less inclined I am to do all this road tripping during the winter.

We are almost ready to leave.  Just a few more things to deal with - packing, cleaning - and the alarm will go off at 6:30 am.  We will be leaving before the crack of dawn!

Currently reading Jim Butcher's latest The Aeronaut's Windlass - volume one of the Cinder Spires series.,

What Day Is It?

It's Holiday!

If it is the Duck March, it must be Memphis, TN.

From the roof of the Peabody. 

The mighty Mississippi.

Interlude

Yesterday Mary and I went on a little road trip.  During our 'spare' time we have been sight seeing in and around town.  Friday we got up and got going fairly early (for us) and headed east along Hwy 16 to the Ancient Forest.  This is an interior rain forest and many of the towering cedar trees are up to 1000 years old.  There is speculation that some might be even older

Tomorrow is the last day of workshop and on Tuesday Mary leaves to head home.  It will be back to work for me as deadlines are most definitely looming!

Ground Hog Day

Look familiar?  It should.  It's the state of the studio - still.  I'm beginning to feel like a character in Ground Hog Day - you know, the same day that dawns over and over again?

I've not touched the looms at all for days because it has been a repeat of warp winding, cone winding, label making, applying...

I've said it before and I'm going to say it again.  I am not going to miss doing yarn sales.  The amount of time and effort required?  The hefting of heavy boxes, standing (usually) on concrete, long hours, long drives...I'm so done.

We will still be doing craft fairs, but only in the fall.  It's not much fun driving through the mountains in the winter, but needs must.  If I'm going to use up my stash creating boxes of textiles, they have to be sold.  And the best time to sell them is right before Christmas, so....

I will have copies of A Good Yarn: Rayon and Weave a V (latter by Kerstin Froberg) for sale at Olds.  I'm also not doing publications any more - at least, not 'real' ones.  It remains to be seen if I will actually get to doing digital ones.

Prep Work

warping station, bins of cones and warps, cone winders (yes, two of them) on the work table with cones ready to be filled...busy, busy, busy!  Squirrel cage swift just visible on the left - so much nicer than an umbrella swift (click on photo to biggify)

Today was open house at the guild so not much happening in the studio.  I did, however, get the rest of the tea towels hemmed, just in time for Doug to press them tomorrow if he has time after doing the 3 dozen mats and 3 table runners.

For the past few days he has been converting skeins into cones, helping me get the yarn ready for the Olds Level One students.  There are 24 students in all and I offered to wind the warps for their first sample and the two value gamp warps.

We are also getting yarn ready for the vendor booth - the bins on the far right need their labels yet.

I'm not quite (quite!) overwhelmed yet but the days are counting down until we leave and there is a lot to be done.  And oh yes, maybe even some weaving.

Over the Hump

Again, colours not 'true' to real life.  The red is darker and redder, not so orange.

I have completely lost count of how many shawls I've woven.  I think this might be number eight.  With an expected 12 shawls for this warp, that means I'm very nearly 2/3's of the way through this warp.  It won't be done before we leave, but it will come off fairly quickly after we get back.

In the meantime I've ordered more of the 2/16 bamboo in order to do another warp but this time all blues and greens with no black in the warp.

I was starting to panic a wee bit wondering if I had enough yarn for weft when I suddenly remembered a special order of hand dyed 2/16 rayon.  Some of it will get used on this warp but I will save most of it for the next.  It's mostly blues, a teal green and black.

There is also the fine Bambu 12 that is currently packed up ready to go to the Alberta Conference - whatever doesn't sell there will be assigned to the next warp.  I'm getting quite low in terms of colour options but over all I've been pleased with the results so far.

Quite often this is when I make things that are more exciting than my usual - I choose things I wouldn't ordinarily consider, just because I have fewer choices.  And I'm almost always pleased.  Not to mention I learn more about colour interactions.  I wasn't entirely sure the above burgundy red was going to work (and I wish the photo was closer to the actual colour) because it is turning out quite well.  By the time it's wet finished and given a good hard press to bring up the shine, I think it's going to look really good.

It has finally stopped raining - for now - the van is loaded and other than packing our clothes and personal items we are about ready.  It's going to be a whirlwind trip and very tiring.  I'm glad I don't have much in the way of appointments next week.  I may need some quality time with my stack of library books.