What happened to this year?

It can’t be the last week of October. I feel like I’ve been in a time warp since last spring…which partly explains why posts have been few and far between.

First the news of the hour. Our Sutherland Weavers’ Study Group will celebrate the conclusion of its first year of study this Sunday, Oct. 30, at 2 pm. We’ll discuss our progress, look at projects from the year and plan our study for year 2.

This is a great time to join the Study Group. We include weavers of all experience levels weaving on all kinds of looms, rigid heddle to multi-shaft compudobby. We always learn from and inspire each other. The show and tell is excellent.

Next year, we’re talking about stash reduction as the theme of our study, and we’ll firm up the details Sunday. We voted to use our dues from last year to purchase something (yarn or book maybe) that we can all use during the study. Suggestions welcome. We’re also doing a finger-food potluck. Nothing big, just some snacks and cider, but what’s a party without food?

Let us know if you’d like to stop in and check us out. New members are always welcome.

Next up at Sutherland is the much-anticipated tapestry weaving workshop with Tommye Scanlin and Pat Williams. It’s been full for months with a waiting list, so we’ll be talking with Tommye and Pat about scheduling another one for next year.

The following weekend is our River Arts District Studio Stroll, Nov. 12 and 13. It’s always a crazy weekend with weaving demos and hundreds of strollers shopping for holiday gifts. All of our River Arts District Artists are open both days, so there are lots of great gift ideas. We, of course, favor handwoven scarves and towels!

Meanwhile I’m trying to keep up with the schedule at Haywood Community College Professional Crafts-Fiber program, writing for the Handwoven’s Weaving Today newsletter and planning the classes I’ll be teaching at Convergence next year. Look for this scarf I wove for Weaving Today’s block draft Weave-along in the new November-December Handwoven!

And Barb has Sutherland looking awesome with new work, new lighting, new displays and a NEW LOOM!

Here’s Barb getting acquainted with Meg, our new 32-shaft Louet Megado compu-dobby. It’s added a whole new dimension to our weaving.

Hope we’ll see you in the studio soon!

Karen

This, That, and Tessellation

I believe I say this often, but where in the world does the time go? My mother, and certainly other mothers worldwide, have said many times "The older you get the faster the years go". Well she was right. Karen and I began planning last Spring for Tommye Scanlin and Pat Williams to teach their Tapestry Weaving class at Sutherland the first weekend in November. Back in april is sure did seem a long way away. But now it is just around the corner and we could not be more thrilled to host this full class. Look for photos and a blog post after it is over! Every day I am at the studio many people wander through. Some are shopping, some just browsing, and some just like to talk. I enjoy meeting all the people and almost without fail ask where each lives. Some come with stories of friends or family members who were weavers, or how they took weaving in fine arts class in college oh so many years ago, and just touch the fabric. I generally spend time each day teaching those who visit exactly what weaving is, how it works, and then demonstrate the art. The other day several groups of people were wandering through and I was busy talking and did not see a couple looking over all the scarves. The gentleman moved along but his wife/girlfriend (or whatever) came over and was asking questions about the math involved in weaving. We discussed it a bit and then she told me her husband (or whatever) was a math teacher and was rather impressed to see tessellations in weaving. Well, let me tell you I had never heard this word. Had to look it up even. Here's what Wikipedia says about tessellation:: A tessellation or tiling of the plane is a pattern of plane figures that fills the plane with no overlaps and no gaps. One may also speak of tessellations of parts of the plane or of other surfaces. So, here is what you need to picture in order to know what this means in real life:: honeycomb, subway tiles, bricks on a house. And this is what you need to picture in order to know what this means in weaving:: waffle weave, houndstooth, basket weave. Who knew?? Tessellation is all around us, all you have to do is look.