Yarn

Harrisville Designs: a woolen mill in a charming town

Harrisville Designs: a woolen mill in a charming town

While at Harrisville Designs (HD), I took another tour of the mill. I never miss a mill tour as I learn more about making yarn every time I go. The mill manager Sarah took my tapestry class on yet another great tour of the Harrisville Designs spinning mill. I made another video in 2013 about the mill which you can see on YouTube HERE. In that video, the mill was in a different building some distance from the rest of Harrisville Designs. In that video you can see the now-retired long-term mill manager Babs talking to us about the process.

They had to move the mill a few years ago due to a flood and if you want to hear some stories from very nervous mill workers, ask about moving this equipment! HD moved their equipment from the late 1800s and early 1900s to one of the original mill buildings. It is interesting to see the video linked above from 2013 because they’ve also updated their washing and skeining systems since then.

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Spinning for tapestry weaving: Moreno and Mezoff

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Spinning for tapestry weaving: Moreno and Mezoff

Moreno and Mezoff. I think we might be a force to be reckoned with!

Jillian Moreno is so many things, but one of her outstanding skills is her teaching ability. She is an author, editor, creative, and someone who makes things happen. She wrote Yarnitecture but did you know she also wrote two books about knitting before that? She has so many tricks up her sleeve for helping newer spinners make the yarns they want to make.

This week we experienced that magic at a retreat she and I taught together in Taos, NM which we called Spinning for Tapestry. We played with different breeds, ways of spinning and plying, and color as we made some excellent and not so excellent tapestry yarns.

The participants came from all over the US and Canada and we greatly enjoyed our time at Mabel Dodge Luhan House. I’m quite sure we all went home a few pounds heavier and happier from the marvelous food.

Choosing weft colors for tapestry weaving: Overcoming choice paralysis!

Choosing weft colors for tapestry weaving: Overcoming choice paralysis!

I was chatting with an online student this week about what colors she needs to jump into the Warp and Weft course. Choosing colors can feel pretty daunting especially if you haven’t worked with color a lot. And color use in tapestry weaving differs from other art mediums because of the nature of the material (yarn) and the structure of the weaving.

When you’re new to tapestry and faced with so many color choices, how do you pick those first yarns and how many do you need? A commercial yarn line might have 60 colors or it might have 400. Both of those can feel overwhelming.

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A fleece followed me home... wool fumes overwhelmed me

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A fleece followed me home... wool fumes overwhelmed me

Last week I took a two-day workshop with Maggie Casey as part of the Estes Park Wool Market. All in all I spent four days up in Estes Park immersed in wool, sheep, yarn, and making. By Sunday afternoon I found myself driving down Big Thompson canyon with a huge smile on my face, wool fumes from the four fleeces in the backseat wafting around me. Even dodging the tourists stopped in the middle of the narrow, winding, road to look at bighorn sheep didn’t penetrate the wool bliss.

I love diving into materials. And wool is a material that can do so much. I didn’t know this until I learned to spin.

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Heaven is where yarn is made.

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Heaven is where yarn is made.

I taught at Harrisville Designs last week and had a wonderful time. I wrote more about it on the blog this week (link in bio). I haven't taught that much since my book came out in late 2020 due to Covid and it is really fun to see a copy on all the student's tables as well as all over the @harrisvilledesigns retail shop.

The workshop was called Learning to See Like a Tapestry Weaver. It was a techniques class where we looked at applying the techniques we were practicing to our weaving. Of course we could have used another few weeks and perhaps in the future I’ll pick just one technique to focus on for a bit.

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Tapestry weaving on a budget

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Tapestry weaving on a budget

Historically tapestry weaving was a trade. In the middle ages (and even through present times), weavers were skilled technicians weaving large designs created usually by painters. Today tapestry weaving has become an art form that is often practiced at smaller scales by people who are designing and weaving their own work.

Tapestry has a wealthy past as patrons funded the workshops that wove those large tapestries for their castles and country homes. Today tapestry weaving can be for everyone.

It is true that purchasing equipment and materials for any new art form can be pricey. There are many tapestry looms for sale that for many people are just too expensive to consider. And tapestry yarns can also feel out of reach when you have to purchase large amounts in many colors. But there are less expensive ways to find the materials and equipment needed.