Twisp of Fate

Sort of dropped the ball on chronicling the rest of our meander through Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and onward to home in the Methow.  Suffice it to say that we encountered a lot of wind, some heavy rain, but also some partly sunny days and lots of beautiful vistas of the Rockies and other mountain ranges of Montana (which was incredibly GREEN – a lush, verdant spring green).  We particularly enjoyed the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming.  It is a beautifully done (and obviously well funded) complex of 5 museums.  We only had time to visit the Plains Indian and Western Art museums, but they were well worth it.

Our last night was spent outside of Spokane, and we spent the evening with our friend Austin who has relocated there from Seattle.  Check out the band he is playing (guitar) with: the Angela Marie Project.  This is just a sideline for all of them, they have actual jobs….

Then we had 5 whole days at home!  Teasel was so glad to see us, although she wasn’t really frantic – obviously she has bonded with our trusted housesitter.  It rained like crazy from time to time.  This is May in the Methow?  But it does make it so green on the hills, and the wildflowers are loving it.  We washed everything in sight…clothes, the trailer, both cars,etc.  Then packed up the truck with miscellaneous furniture and household belongings (since we have finally consolidated into one domicile only) – this for Rick to take down to the kid & grandkids in Medford/Ashland.

So last Tuesday we set out again for Oregon, without trailer this time.  We stayed with our good friends who own the Real Mother Goose Gallery in Portland, then on Wednesday Rick dropped me off at Willamette University in Salem, OR for the Association of Northwest Weavers Guilds (ANWG) biannual conference.  He kept going and is down in Medford/Ashland visiting with the family until tomorrow, when he comes back to pick me up.  Meanwhile I am staying at a somewhat tatty dorm on campus (my friend Holly is in a much nicer and newer one – jealous!) but having a great time at the conference.  At least the food is better, MUCH better than 2 years ago at Gonzaga U. in Spokane.

The first day Holly and I set up the guild booth display for the Seattle Weavers’ Guild:

Seattle Weavers' Guild booth at ANWG 2011

Our theme was “Use Your Weaving Every Day” and we had 3 “rooms” in the display.  Left-guest bedroom, Center-family room, Right-kitchen.

On Thursday I had an all-day class on using Photoshop (or Photoshop Elements) to produce a free-form weaving pattern design and then import it into your weaving software that will generate threading, tie-up and draw-downs.  I have Weave-It Pro to do this but it works with a lot of them.  It was pretty interesting but it became clear, for reasons I won’t try to explain, that you have to have a computer-driven dobby loom with at  least 16 shafts to make use of this idea.  Won’t really fly with an 8 or 12 shaft floor loom like I have.  Well you could do it with a 16-shaft table loom (the thing is you need to be able to raise any combination of 16 or more shafts – can you say 16 factorial?) but that would be tedious IMHO.  Not having the spare $10,000 or so to buy an AVL or Louet Megado loom at the moment – not doing this!

The next day I had a great class in the morning on “Polychrome Crackle” with Susan Wilson.  Very organized teacher, good handout and Powerpoint presentation.  In 2-1/2 hours I got a lot of information on a technique that I am very interested in pursuing.  Crackle is a weave structure – polychrome is what happens when you start introducing a lot of colors.

Sue Wilson with polychrome crackle blanket

My Friday afternoon seminar was on “Analyzing and Reproducing Commercial Cloth” with Teresa Ruch, who worked at Pendleton Woolen Mills for 18 years first as a sample weaver and later as a fabric designer.  Since then she has taught fabric design at the college level and has a thriving dye studio and art-to-wear business.  A little disorganized as a teacher but I still got some useful information.

Today I had the morning off, which was wonderful since the weather has turned warm and sunny and the campus is quite beautiful with a steam meandering through it and gorgeous landscaping – lots of rhododendrons in bloom right now.  I lazed around and went to look at the garments from the previous night’s fashion show.  Just showing a few things here, I have more pictures but these were kind of favorites:

This dress with peacock feather train was the Grand Finale of fashion show!

Really liked this sleeveless dress with side pockets

OK, this is a needle-felted "hat"

Looked amazing on a Young-Thing Model in a black leotard!

Awarded "Best of Show" - cloth and garment both fabulous

This afternoon I had another half-day class with Teresa Ruch on “Dyeing Hand-Painted Skeins and Warps”.  Got some great handouts and took a lot of pictures, but more of the sort to remind me of what she was doing, not for the blog.

So here I am in my down-at-heel dorm room on a Saturday night, which fortunately also has great internet access so I can catch up on the blog, as I fear it may get by me when I finally get home.  It has been a great experience (both the trip to the Southwest and the time in Oregon) but now I am ready to be at home after an extended absence of almost a month!