Spinning and weaving in the woods

Spinning and weaving in the woods

It has been a busy summer and I haven’t had nearly enough time to backpack. But I did get away for a few days to the Rawah Wilderness this week. This is one of my favorite places to visit but I hadn’t been back since the 2020 Cameron Peak Fire. The fire started perhaps 10 miles from where I camped but went in the other direction. It ended up lasting 5 months and becoming the largest wildfire in Colorado history. From this spot 60 miles from Fort Collins, the fire burned within 5 miles of the city limits.*

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I left the pups at home and hiked in about 7 miles to one of my favorite camps near Twin Crater Lakes. I spent three days sitting in the sunshine, exploring a bit, spinning, drawing, and weaving. It is a good reset to get outside, sleep on the ground, and listen to the quiet, the birds, and a moose chomping willows nearby.

Hurry up!

Hurry up!

Chaos reigns around here as the pups take over life day to day. I've been reveling in early morning strolls around the backyard muttering, "hurry up!" and waiting for two pees and two poops. And that is just self defense. If I’m not patient, they don't learn to potty outside and I have to clean it up inside.

If you missed my post about getting two dogs last month, you can read that HERE.

To be honest, the time wandering around my own backyard, watching the finches at the feeder and the puppy chase butterflies has been good for my soul. I’m in the middle of a couple big projects, one is personal and the other is a course, and the pups have the ability to remind me that taking a moment to relax is important. (And they do that by the pee pee on the floor reminder… I didn’t pay attention and the puppy couldn’t hold it any longer.)

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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Questions from the book: How tight should my warp be?

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Questions from the book: How tight should my warp be?

I am frequently asked this question by readers of my book, The Art of Tapestry Weaving, and by students in my online classes. The best way to really know how tight the warp should be is to feel the warps of experienced tapestry weavers. But if you aren’t able to come to an in-person workshop or retreat any time soon, the video and discussion below will help you figure out what the right warp tension is for you.

When I got my first Mirrix loom I was thrilled with how tight I could make the tension. The looms come with a little wrench that you can use to tighten the wing nuts beyond what you can do with just your hands. I use a cotton seine twine warp which is very strong and can take a huge amount of tension. So I’d tighten that Mirrix warp very very tight. It was far tighter than I can get the tension on my beefy rug loom.

Sometimes distractions come in the form of kisses

Sometimes distractions come in the form of kisses

So then this happened.

We are dog people. We haven’t had a dog in 9 years and it was time. Emily and I have always had large dogs but when we took care of a friend’s dachshund/corgi mix for a year, we realized how fun small dogs can be. They’re sure easy to bring with you. So we started looking for miniature dachshunds and these two came home this month.

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"Wow, I was scared but this was very easy."

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"Wow, I was scared but this was very easy."

C wrote this in response to a question about how their first warping went on a small tapestry loom. It made me think back to my first tapestry warping and how I felt exactly the same way.

I was warping a very large frame in Navajo-style from a book. The loom was given to me by my grandparents. My grandfather made it. But I was on an occupational therapy travel assignment in Seattle and my grandmother, the only person I knew who had any experience with this sort of warping, was 1300 miles away and unable to help. I managed the warping using one of Noel Bennett’s books, but it wasn’t pretty.

The Tapestry Discovery Box evolving community

The Tapestry Discovery Box evolving community

Over the last couple years I’ve been fortunate to find such a connection in Gist Yarn. This small yarn company based in Boston is all about yarn, weaving, and making connections among people. They’re operating principles include supporting diversity and sourcing their raw materials locally.

The Tapestry Discovery Box is a collaboration I’ve been working on with Gist for the last year. The first box went live in January. The boxes include Array tapestry yarn and a new course with a project from me shipped out every quarter. . . .

We’ve had so much fun in the first two boxes. Below are some of the work the participants have been creating.

The first box was about Openings. My example tapestry was of a door and window, but people interpreted the theme in many different ways. The technique we were playing with was weft bundling. I was amazed at the different color effects people got with the very same set of yarns.