Birthday Bash Special

Debi mentioned in a comment that she wasn't sure she liked the selling part.  Well, I don't much like it either but I learned a long time ago that until the product is sold, the job isn't finished.  Doesn't make a bit of difference if you are building the very best mousetrap in the universe if no one knows you're doing it or how to get to you to purchase it.

So I've learned to grit my teeth and do the marketing part of the job.

As part of that, from time to time I offer package specials.  With the holiday week coming up including three very important birthdays (well, I'm stretching the definition of week a bit!) I'm once again offering a very special deal.

July 1 through 7, purchase all three of the A Good Yarn titles - Cotton; Rayon; Linen and Hemp - and receive for free a flash drive with the pdf version of Magic in the Water.

Price for this package is $220.00 Canadian including shipping within North America and $250.00 Canadian outside of North America (with North America defined as Canada and the United States).

Since I'm leaving July 8 for Boston and NEWS, I am not extending the offer through my own birthday as I usually do.

Happy Birthday Canada, the United States and.....moi.

Payment may be sent via Paypal to laura at laurafry dot com or email me and I'll send an invoice, letting me know your location.  VISA/Mastercard charges will be billed in Canadian dollars and the exchange rate (if you are outside of Canada) done on your monthly statement.  Send your phone number and I can call you for your credit card number if you prefer that payment option.

Thought Squirrels

Once again the camera can't capture the subtleties of the colours in the warp.  You'll just have to try to see them in person?  :)  Click on the photo to biggify....

When things are going smoothly and only surface attention is required for the actual weaving the thought squirrels sometimes start chasing themselves around in my head.

This morning's squirrel had to do with DVD's, teaching 'remotely', and the various efforts I have made to satisfy the desire to learn when people can't attend workshops for one reason or another.

To that end I produced (with the help of my web guru) a CD with text, numerous photos and embedded video clips showing the action where I thought it necessary for people to really understand the motions.

It took a great deal of effort to keep the CD format up to date with computer technology PLUS people kept getting confused, thinking that what I'd done was a DVD.

Eventually it just became too much and I discontinued production of CDWeaver, loading most of the clips produced for the CD onto You Tube.

But the requests for a DVD keep coming.

Well, folks, I don't know how Victorian Video and/or Interweave choose their subjects.  I do know that there must be a dozen videos/DVD's with warping info on them.  Back-to-front, Front-to-back, Scandinavian style, North American style, tips and tricks galore.  There is no dearth of warping information.

Does the world really need a DVD from me?  If you think so, then I suggest contacting Interweave directly to let them know there is a market.  They won't go to the expense of producing yet another dressing-the-loom video/dvd if they don't think they can sell it....

Just finished Dancing with the Virgins by Stephen Booth and started The Perfect Ghost by Linda Barnes.  It's not one of her Boston based Carlotta Carlyle mysteries but I'm happy to see a new title from her after several years.

Elephant on the Menu

box of warps

box of weft

next warp being beamed

It may have been Thomas Edison who is credited with the saying that creativity is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.

I'm at that stage now where it is eat-the-elephant.  Once scarf, one warp, working up the perspiration in order to get as many of the painted warps woven as I possibly can before the end of August.  Because the job isn't done at the weaving part - they still have to be fringe twisted and wet finished, then trimmed and tagged before they are really and truly ready for sale.

But I have my box of weft yarns now and the dyer is going to try to dye some 2/16 rayon in colours that I can't get from Silk City so I'm keeping fingers crossed that the yarn isn't too tender and that it will wind off of the dye skein without breaking.

I have sort of lost count but I do believe that the warp going into the loom tonight is #18, that I have so far woven 68 scarves.  There are going to be 47 warps in all (if my count is accurate!) for a grand total of 188 scarves.

Now if they only sell....

And of course that isn't all that I need.  I'm out of place mats and low on tea towels.  But those can be done in September/October.  It's the scarves that really take up the most time in terms of finishing.  As far as the mats and towels go, I can even bring them with me and hem while on the road if I have to....

Face Book Philosophy

I joined Face Book at the urging of a friend so that I could see her photos.  Since then I have experienced the full Face Book gamut of political satire, cute kitty pictures, silly jokes and the occasional brilliant bit of philosophy.

This morning the above poster appeared.  I was going to just share it on Face Book, but did a bit of digging to see if I could locate the author.

Turns out she's Canadian (Vancouver) and sells the poster on Etsy.

Since I had a bit of money in my Paypal account, I went ahead and purchased the poster and asked permission to share it here on my blog.

If you want a copy of the poster for yourself, it can be found here

I'm thinking of displaying it in my booth as a part answer to the question "How long did it take to make (insert noun)."

Second Time Around (Guest Post)

Repeat a class??  Most definitely…especially one like Laura’s Weaving Boot Camp.

Five years ago I was a brand spanking new weaver who bought a loom and literally didn’t know which end the yarn went on.  Boy was I surprised to find it went on both ends.  I spent a couple of very frustrating and disaster ridden years trying to teach myself to weave.  I came to realize that I needed to have a good foundation of the basics before I could ever hope to weave any of the things I wanted.  So, in 2012 I took my first formal weaving class at John C Campbell with Laura Fry. 

Laura taught me the basics and much, much more.  By the end of the week I could get a warp on the loom and ready to throw a shuttle in what seemed like record time to me.  I knew how to throw a shuttle properly, that not all projects are beat like a rug and to quit fiddling with the selvedges.   Learning to do all of those things efficiently and ergonomically reduced the aching back and shoulders. That was icing on the cake.  I spent the next year practicing and improving the skills she had taught me.

This picture is what I would call the ‘Scarf of Learning’.

It was my first project from the first class.  Those are not shadows in the picture on top, the scarf is lying flat. The fabric is upholstery density, strong enough to withstand 3 German Shepard dogs.  Not really what you want for a scarf. The picture on the bottom is the end of the scarf after learning some of those basics I needed.

I had such a great experience that I signed up for her class again in January 2013, armed with a higher set of goals.  Laura helped me reach those new goals and I also discovered an interesting benefit to taking that ‘repeat’ class. 

I discovered that there were a lot of things that she lectured on and demonstrated the first year that didn’t make it to the 'save' file in my brain.  In that repeat class I was able to understand the next step and fill in the gaps needed to improve my weaving skills even more.   I think I learned twice as much the second year.

The Army taught me that learning is done in layers; you start with the basic knowledge and just keep building on that.  Laura explains it as ‘filling in the cracks in the foundation’ and I can’t think of a better way to describe it.  Without the foundation of knowledge it’s hard to even understand the next layer of complexity.  Once those basic skills are set it seems the possibilities are endless and doable.

Taking the class the second year with the same instructor and in the same weaving studio meant I knew what to expect from both.  I was able to start out the first day concentrating on learning.  It also meant that Laura was familiar and comfortable with how I learn best and could point me in the right direction immediately.

My weaving projects have come a long way since then.

I plan to attend the class in January 2014 and have already started thinking about what goals I want to set and questions I want to ask.

----  Cindy D

A Day Off - Sort Of

It took me a long time to get into gear today - even with 3 cups of high octane coffee.  The conference had been pretty intense, the worry over the flooding in Alberta affecting my friends (and not to put too fine a point on it, selfishly, sales at Fibre Week in Olds) and the long drive there and back.  Add to the mix too many allergens and too little 'safe' food and it's not much wonder I arrived home exhausted.

However, I did finally manage to pull myself together, deal with mail, banking and picking up my new (perfect, this time!) care tags, came home and unpacked the 12 painted warps I picked up from the dyer on the way home.

I left the small loom set up with a lovely bright fushia/orange warp on it so I won't get to any of these right away.  The other warp will have to be woven off first.  :)

The order from Silk City with the Bambu 12 should arrive any day, plus with the fine yarns I bought at the conference I will have plenty of weft to carry on with weaving these scarves.

I still haven't even opened my big suitcase.  There are three seminar topics worth of samples in it, which have to be unpacked, sorted and then the appropriate samples for the two topics at NEWS packed up.  I leave again in 13 days, which sounds like a lot except for all the medical stuff that has to be done between then and now, the dye day with 3(!) new guild members dying to learn how to dye, etc., etc.

But a 'light' day was necessary today so that I can jump back into the fray tomorrow.

For now I think a little loom therapy is in order.  Seems like I've been away from the loom for longer than 5 days!

25 Years

This year marked the 25th ANWG conference.  Weavers from all over the Pacific Northwest and western Canada have regularly gathered to celebrate textiles.  Long before the internet, weavers, spinners and dyers had to communicate via mail or in person at such gatherings as regional conferences like ANWG. Mid-West. MAFA, and so on.

While the internet has 'shrunk' the world and allowed us to be in close contact with other like minded individuals all round the world, there is nothing quite like meeting in person, being able to shop in actual physical 'stores' and, best of all, touch the textiles that others are creating.

I was delighted to see that my friend Betty Bell had won a People's Choice award for her lovely cotton napkins with supplemental warp and weft borders.  Unfortunately the photo is a bit out of focus - I was trying to include the award 'ribbon' as well as the lovely display in the exhibit.

There were many interesting items in the exhibit.  After 35 plus years of weaving, it is being able to actually see and (whenever possible) feel the cloth that inspires me.  Since Betty is a friend I had fondled,  handled the napkins when I last visited with her.  ;)  There were white gloves provided so that people could touch the textiles, but I didn't avail myself - not being able to touch the cloth with my hands didn't appeal, although I certainly understand why - hands contain oil and hundreds of hands touching the textiles mean that quite a lot of hand oil would be deposited onto the cloth.  (There were 500+ people attending the conference, plus people who came for the day but hadn't registered for the conference proper.)

The fashion show garments were also on display and those had handling pieces that one could touch without the gloves, so I had a good grope of those.  :D

There were instructors from round the world - Bolivia (yes I managed a short chat with Laverne Waddington), Australia (ditto Kay Faulkner), the east and south (Darryl Lancaster, Liz Walker, Marg Coe, Bobbie Irwin - and more I didn't get a chance to visit with) and of course, all round the ANWG region.  Attendees came from the eastern seaboard, California, Minnesota, beyond.

The campus was interesting architecturally, Cindy White had initiated a 'storm' of yarn type landmarks helping to identify the buildings with classes, and so on, and the rain even let up for a few days.  They don't call it the 'wet' coast for nothing!

I have lost count of the number of ANWG conferences I have attended, but it has been quite a few of the 25 (held every second year).  I am looking forward to the next one, and meeting 'old' and new friends again, in person, in two years.

Currently reading Black Dog by Stephen Booth