A southwestern wander: walking, drawing, and a few yarn shops

A southwestern wander: walking, drawing, and a few yarn shops

In December I had a trip to New Mexico. Armed with COVID tests, we were able to visit my parents in the town I grew up in. Gallup, NM is a place that almost defies description, but if you know it, you can probably explain a few of the peculiarities of my personality!

Home is Gallup

While home I was finally able to visit Weaving in Beauty. This yarn shop/weaving resource is on Coal Ave and has been there several years now. I was beyond impressed with the shop and what they do and carry. They’re there in part to provide fiber tools and materials to local weavers and spinners and in this economically depressed are of the country, I was impressed at how low they could keep the prices of their materials and tools. That is truly a service to the makers in the area (and to those of you who order from them online!)

Using an eccentric outline to shift the shed on Change the Shed

Using an eccentric outline to shift the shed on Change the Shed

I’ve been doing Change the Shed for one year and almost 10 months now. I started this free live program at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. There are now over 70 episodes and I’ve really enjoyed communicating with other tapestry weavers about what we’re working on and talking some about whatever my current project is.

The clip below was just one moment from today’s meet-up. I was explaining how I often use an eccentric outline to shift the shed when adding just one butterfly. It is a good example of the sorts of things I talk about on this program.

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Questions from the book: Headers and Finishing

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Questions from the book: Headers and Finishing

Lately I’ve seen a lot of questions in the online course and in my email from people asking about headers and finishing such as the one below from Hannah.

“I have purchased your book The Art of Tapestry Weaving and I am at the section about hemmed headers. I am at the end of my piece and am doing the header steps in reverse, but I'm not sure what to do after weaving the 1/2 inch of waste yarn. I will be grateful for your guidance. I'm truly loving the book. It's so good, thorough, and informative!” —Hannah via email

Thank you for this question Hannah. For anyone who doesn’t have The Art of Tapestry Weaving, I present two different ways to do headers in the book. There is a simple double half-hitch header that is very useful and a hemmed header which is the one I use on my large-format pieces.

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The wildflower tapestry: weaving on the big loom

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The wildflower tapestry: weaving on the big loom

I’m back to weaving on my favorite loom. I had a few ideas for tapestries while hiking the 500-mile Colorado Trail last summer and one of them is taking shape on the Harrisville Rug Loom.

In the spirit of curiosity and adventurousness that the Colorado Trail hike only strengthened, I am doing some experimenting with this tapestry. Perhaps not drastically so since the forms I like to weave are clearly present. I’m just using different materials than I usually do. It is the first time I’ve ever woven a large tapestry with yarn that I didn’t dye myself.*

For the last 15 years of my tapestry weaving career, on large tapestries I have used Harrisville Koehler Singles or Harrisville Highland dyed by me. That allows me to make the gradations I love and to make virtually any color I can think up. In this tapestry I’m using 100% commercially dyed yarns. I have found that a little shocking sometimes. For example, the photo below where I’m adding the Daffodil color on top of Indigo was one such moment. I would probably never dye this bright yellow color, but there is it. It is an experiment and I’m withholding judgement until it is all finished. If I don’t like it, the sheep are making more wool as we speak.

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What tools and materials do I need to learn tapestry weaving?

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What tools and materials do I need to learn tapestry weaving?

Learning a new art or craft can mean that you need to purchase some supplies. The hard thing is knowing what you actually need when there are so many options. Below is a list of equipment and yarns which I’ve seen be very successfully used by beginning tapestry weavers. Some people will use the same materials for their whole weaving career!

Fyber Monday! My once-a-year sale

Fyber Monday! My once-a-year sale

The Monday after Thanksgiving weekend in the USA has long been deemed “Cyber Monday.” It is a day for businesses to sell digital products. Though I care not for holiday hype, I do want to offer at least one opportunity during the holidays for people to purchase my online courses at a discount. I’ve dubbed this day Fyber Monday and all my courses are on sale.

November 29, 2021

All courses are 15% off (and yes, you can purchase more than one with the discount) with the code ExploreFyber21

For an additional bonus, Fringeless: Four-selvedge warping with Sarah C. Swett (and produced by yours truly) is 25% off with the discount code Selvedge21