Twisp of Fate

Last weekend we made a trip to the Coast to pick up materials for one of Rick’s cabinet jobs, and visit with friends and family.  On the way to and from Anacortes, in the Skagit Valley, we saw large flocks of snow geese out in the fields.  They are quite a sight!  Then when we arrived home, it was obvious that rain and/or thaw had set in.  We still have snow on the ground, but it is soggy during the day, becoming icy at night.  Yech!  Navigating our driveway on foot from house to carport is a bit treacherous.  Although now, in the late afternoon, I look outside and it is…. snowing!!

Having dropped the ball entirely on blogging the last couple of weeks, I will attempt a bit of a catch-up.

My weaving workshop a couple of weeks ago in Seattle, with Margaret Roach Wheeler, was marvelous.  Her website is Mahota Handwovens – the type of weaving we were learning is shown in her clothing line.  She uses the summer-and-winter weave structure to weave decorative bands that emulate Native American beadwork and quillwork.  Here are a few pictures from the 2-day workshop:

Margaret discussing a finished sampler

A shirt with decorative work on collar and facings

A beautiful dress - note subtle colorwork at the very top

Our samplers were worked in 10/2 perle cotton.  She gave color value and contrast guidelines, but every warp was different and the colors chosen for wefts were up to the student.  There is a lot to explore and learn there – what works and what doesn’t!  But I am pleased with my sampler and will use it both as a guide for future work, and as a wall hanging in my studio:

My washed sampler from the Wheeler workshop

Meanwhile, the last few weeks I have written up the pattern for the “Mosaic Mojo Hat” and have taught 2 groups of intrepid knitters the techniques used there – short rows (including hiding the wraps in garter stitch), garter stitch grafting and mosaic knitting.  No-one left crying so it must have been OK.  I taught it as two 2-hour sessions with a week in between to get some knitting done, and will be teaching it again in March down at Uptown Woolery in Chelan.  Inevitably, some errors in the pattern were found and I still need to tweak it a bit.  Eventually I will offer it as a PDF download from my Ravelry page and will put a link here on the blog.

I made a commitment to have some woven pieces for the next show at Confluence Gallery in Twisp – the theme is “Lacuna”, which they said “can be described as a gap, an absence or a void, but the meaning is much more nuanced and evocative”.  It has different meanings depending on the application.  The show opens the first weekend on March so time is running out, especially as I will be gone to spinning camp on Orcas Island all of next week!

So this week I am trying to bring an idea along and I am not sure it is going to work.   The basis will be some woven and felted wall-hangings, which I plan to embellish further.  So here is what I was doing the last couple of days:

Sleying the reed off the loom -first time I have tried this, and I like it.  Much more comfortable.

I discovered the Hans Wegner “Wishbone” chair is perfect for sitting over the sectional warp beam to thread from the back.  [As an aside, we were thrilled to find the set of 4 chairs at a used-furniture store in Ballard a couple of years ago, for a very reasonable price.  Hans Wegner is one of Rick’s heroes, a famous Danish furniture designer.  We had them down at Benson Creek but now they are in my studio along with the smaller oak dining table]

Here is the first piece almost done:

What will this odd-looking blob become?  Stay tuned!