Back "Home"...

Crossed the border this afternoon around 1 pm or so. Will stay with friends for a few days, taking in the Ponderosa guild spin in on Saturday.

The drive yesterday and today was pretty good all in all. I had a bit of rain yesterday until I got through the mountains and came out the other side - the 'dry' side of Washington State.

Today the clouds threatened but apart from a couple of stray spatters, it was dry all the way. And no snow, thankfully. I avoided the roads through the higher elevations, just in case.

Had a short visit with Chris and family at Joybilee Farm, and arrived in Kelowna around dinner time.

Currently reading Sand Sharks by Margaret Maron

Next Stage

It took about 5 hours, but all my stuff is tagged and inventoried for the
Seattle Guild sale. :} If I didn't have so much stuff, it wouldn't take so long, but there you have it. :^)

Heading off to the next stop on my extended road trip. I'll stop at Syne Mitchell's for a bit and drop some stuff off, then head for central Washington, then on Wed. head north.

The bad news is that snow is predicted for tomorrow at the higher elevations in southern BC. Hopefully by the time I get there on Wednesday it will have melted. (She says with fingers and toes crossed, making typing a challenge!)

I'm actually going to Kelowna the long way round, partly so that I can stop at Joybilee Farm and visit with Chris, and also to avoid the road construction on the usual route via Osoyoos and Summerland.

Once in Kelowna I will visit with friends for a day or two. Maybe three if the client who just contacted me actually gets in touch and wants a meeting on Friday or Saturday. If I stay until Saturday, I'll join in the Ponderosa Guild's spin in - with a borrowed spinning wheel. Of course I have no spinning fibres with me, so I may have to offer to spin some of Allan or Sheila's fibres. Either that or buy more if there are vendors. :^)

Another Year, Another Fair...

...is history. Given the economy the fair did okay. Sales were down overall for everyone, not just me. The up side to that is that I have plenty of inventory for the rest of the current show season. :)

What I need to do, however, is come up with some new product. I really haven't done much in the way of really 'new' work for a few years. Given my health situation, I suppose that's not surprising.

But it's becoming clear that I am going to stick around for a while and rather than just concentrate on simple stash reduction, I need to work more on design. If I'm going to keep weaving (which I am) then I need to engage the little grey cells, now that they seem to be more or less working again, and start stretching them with new design work.

Today I pack out, re-tag for the next sale and then head for the highway tomorrow.

Road trip

Grrrr. Fog + construction equals slow driving. :(

The fog finally lifted and the sun is supposed to shine for the rest of the day. :)
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Neutral Colour Gamp

For the past few weeks I've been high into procrastination mode. Today I finally figured out why - I'm waiting on word about a significant project and have been on tenterhooks wondering if it is going to go ahead with the co-operation of another person, or.....not.

I am terribly deadline driven, and with this project up in the air I find myself waffling. Nothing else that needs doing holds as much interest to me as this Major Project. The other person in question is also someone I admire greatly and could learn a lot from, so my interest in doing it is somewhat selfish. :}

So I have been playing a lot of computer solitaire (!), knitting my silly scarves from left over yarns from weaving, reading and distracting myself by doing video clips and posting here - a lot!

However, I have managed to make a little headway on the colour gamp kits. The Earth Tones kits are posted to my Art Fire store (http://LauraFry.artfire.com) and I'll be completing the Neutral kit today.

That said, my store will be going on vacation mode tonight as I head to Seattle area once more, this time to pack out the show at the Puyallup Fair, and inventory everything in preparation for the Seattle Weavers Guild sale Oct. 22-24.

Currently reading 206 Bones by Kathy Reich

Walking the Line

The twill line, that is.....

Since I tend to do a lot of different twills I keep my treadles tied up in a straight twill draw. In this video I am weaving a straight twill.

If I were weaving a broken twill, I would simply alternate my feet - treadle 4, treadle 2, treadle 3, treadle 1.

But for a straight twill, it's a straight forward treadle 4, 3, 2, 1.

Notice the position of my feet. The foot that is not being used gets parked on the hinge area of the treadles, about half way between the two treadles - you can just see my left foot about half way between treadle 1 and 2.

The foot that is being used slides forward. The forward movement depresses the treadle. I do not lift my foot, but use that lovely hinge we call the knee.

As I change from treadle 4 to treadle 3, I rest my heel on treadle 4 pivoting my foot so that the ball of my foot moves over onto treadle 3, then my heel follows and the treadle is pressed down.

To depress treadle 2, my left foot slides forward as my right foot slides back to rest on the hinge between treadle 3 and 4.

When that shed is finished, my left foot heels and toes over to treadle 1, then slides back to the hinge while my right foot is sliding forward to depress treadle 4.

To weave a broken twill, my feet alternate sliding back to the hinge and forward to depress the treadle.

Learning a treadling sequence is like learning a dance step. You need to keep the sequence in order to weave the different dance steps - plain weave, straight twill, broken twill, Wall of Troy (twill variation), etc.

Seattle Weavers Guild Sale

October 22-24 is the annual Seattle Weavers Guild sale. If you are in the Seattle area, this is a fantastic opportunity to see some amazing textiles.

The Seattle guild has over 300 members from the area. Talent and inspiration abounds. Not to mention great buys.

The hall is set up like a huge department store - but this department store is all hand made textiles. There are incredible baskets (Marilyn Moore), rugs of all sizes and descriptions, tapestries, household textiles (Robyn Spady, Jan Paul), bobbin lace (Lois Gaylord), fashions - accessories and clothing, and even a department for yarns - hand spun and/or hand dyed.

Truly a feast for the eyes - and hands.