Fiber books: a brief look at my favorites so far this year

Fiber books: a brief look at my favorites so far this year

In the northern hemisphere, winter is bearing down on us. With COVID and colder weather keeping us home, I am digging through my “to be read” shelves and making stacks around my favorite reading spot.* I thought you might like a few possibilities for your own favorite reading spot so I’ve listed some of my current favorites below. These are fiber-related books but I definitely have a good mix of other types in my stack. These books are also all more process-oriented. I have some history-of-fiber or tapestry books queued up to talk about soon.^

How to Weave a Navajo Rug and Other Lessons from Spider Woman

How to Weave a Navajo Rug and Other Lessons from Spider Woman

Lynda Teller Pete and Barbara Teller Ornelas are sisters and tapestry weaving and teaching powerhouses. I’ve had the pleasure of talking to them at various events over the years and I’m always delighted to connect with their knowledge, insight, and fantastic sense of humor. They are not only wonderful human beings, but they have a passion for teaching that I seldom see matched. Before COVID they traveled extensively to teach most of the year. They teach workshops for Diné (Navajo) students frequently as many families lost their weaving knowledge due to racist and repressive practices of the US government two generations ago (and more). There are young Diné weavers working again today thanks in part to Lynda and Barbara’s work. (See the resources guide in the book for how to contact some of them about purchasing their artwork.)

What a crazy week.

What a crazy week.

Well.

What a week it was!

The first week of November, 2020 is not one I will quickly forget. Not only was it perhaps the most contentious election season in American politics in my memory, but my book also launched. The launch date was supposed to be a week earlier, but due to an unfortunate delay in the book’s arrival at the warehouse from the printer a day late, the publication date was moved to November 3.

For me it was a week of extremes. The polarization in the United States is incredibly distressing to me and I found myself so often during the week of waiting for election results wondering how we were ever going to learn to listen to each other. And on the other hand, people started receiving my book and I had wonderful messages from all over the world about how much they loved it. (Believe me, that is a huge relief. If the book was a total flop after putting so many years of work into it, it would be disappointing to say the least.)

How to start over without rewarping

How to start over without rewarping

Have you ever been several inches into a tapestry and had an overwhelming feeling that it just wasn’t working out? Maybe the colors are wrong or the forms just aren’t weaving well or you’ve chosen the wrong weft materials.

What do you do if you reach a point in a tapestry where you know you just have to start over?

On one of my recent pieces for the Pandemic Diaries series, I got about 3 inches into the weaving and realized I really hated what was happening with both the forms and the colors. I am weaving this piece as a way of cheering myself up at the end of a very long year and in the middle of a difficult election season in the USA. (WHY do our election “seasons” last so long? It feels like it has been an eon since this started.) To me, the piece is funny, though in a sarcastic, wry way, being a riff on the saying, “Going to hell in a handbasket.” The border of the tapestry is supposed to represent flames and though I did cartoon the forms I would weave I did not plan the colors beyond picking out a pile of warm colors and choosing them as I went. I hated the result.

Visions of book tours? (Let's have a virtual launch.)

Visions of book tours? (Let's have a virtual launch.)

I’m pretty sure most how-to book* authors don’t go on book tours, but a gal can dream. After two solid years of writing and editing, it does seem like a book tour would be fun. I am pretty sure I would be tired of it in about a week, so perhaps it is better that I’m not the next Margaret Atwood.

Due to COVID there won’t be any in-person book events at all for the foreseeable future, but I am doing some virtual events to celebrate my book launch. The publication date is Tuesday, November 3rd. I’m hoping those of you in the USA see it as a positive event on an otherwise fraught day instead of remembering that my book dropped on Election Day 2020. Thanks for helping me with that mental restructuring. The book was supposed to be released on October 27th, but it missed the arrival date in the warehouse and got pushed back a week and I’m still having a bit of a hard time syncing my book release (a happy thing!) with Election Day (a huge unknown). There are people who are getting the book delivered early and if you’re one of the lucky ones, I hope you’re enjoying it.

A new look, a new book, and the energy the fire took...

A new look, a new book, and the energy the fire took...

About the logo! I’ve been working on a logo for my business for about a year now. Some of you saw an earlier version and I appreciate your feedback on how you thought it did or did not reflect me and my teaching style.

And the book! My answer on Tuesday about my favorite part of the book was about a piece in the Introduction called “How to be a Beginning Tapestry Weaver.” This might actually have been the seminal idea for the whole manuscript.

And a bit about the fires in Colorado at the end.