Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Weaving Deficit





We never discussed it outright, but both Karen and I came into the studio today and started new projects. When I started to think about it while driving home this afternoon, I decided our actions most likely were due to what I might term "weaving deficit". This can be defined as the following: when life gets in the way of a weaver's need to put into action a project on their loom.
We both have been consumed with the holidays in the middle of getting the studio up and going, as well as talking/planning the future of this fabulous new venture. And Karen has also been wearing the hat of journalist extraordinaire, to which she has been devoting much time.
Any weaver will tell you the process of weaving is very calming and almost 'spiritual'. This is not to be confused with times we want to pull our hair out from threading problems and the like. So today Karen and I had a relaxing day of planning our individual project (ie math), warping the board, and beginning to dress our looms.
Karen is putting a warp long enough for two scarves on: one for her son's girlfriend as a gift, the other for sale. What is most amazing is she emailed me over the Christmas holiday she had dragged (I am almost positive she used that word) her son into a knitting store in Asheville to pick out the yarn. She fell in love with this delightfully soft wool blend in lovely blue/orange dyes. Well, when she showed it to me today, I reminded her I had used the exact yarn from the same store to weave the first scarf after moving into our new studio. Amazing how our creative minds think. And in all the planning did she have enough? Nope, but I had a nice sized ball left from my stash she was able to use. Funny how things work out.
I am putting on some 60/2 tencel hand dyed by Just Our Yarn in shades of steel grey. The epi is 40 and I will be using a 120/1 silk from Habu for the weft. If all that doesn't mean anything to you, then just picture a very light and gauzy piece of cloth and you will have the right idea.
It is always nice to see how a project moves from warping board to loom to completion. Photos help with this and so I have added them for you to see just what our 'weaving deficit" has produced.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Welcome to sutherland!

We are happy to introduce sutherland, a new handweaving gallery and teaching studio inside Curve Studios & Gardens in the popular River Arts District of Asheville, NC.  Barb Butler and Karen Donde are the weavers, presenting a variety of handwoven scarves, shawls, garments, household textiles and fiber art for sale.
sutherland is also a teaching studio with a full schedule of weaving classes for novice to advanced weavers. We also hope to be a resource for local and visiting weavers offering Web Chats AT sutherland twice monthly, which we are describing as face-to-face social networking for weavers in our studio, and other weaver-friendly services.
Please visit our blog often to see what we have on the looms and what classes are coming up. And if you're in Asheville, please stop in to say hello.