In which two dear fiber friends come to visit

In which two dear fiber friends come to visit

September has been a marvelously creative month for me and that is largely because two of my dearest tapestry colleagues came to visit a week apart. Cornelia Theimer Gardella was here for a week-long joint residency and then Sarah Swett and her adventurous dog Beryl stopped for several nights.

Having fiber friends is important and these visits remind me why that is. Both Cornelia and Sarah have had a big influence in my own tapestry life. I met Cornelia 20 years ago at Northern New Mexico Community College where we were both students in the fiber arts program. And I got to know Sarah through a little fan-girl following and then an American Tapestry Alliance retreat in Colorado almost ten years ago now. She wrote the forward to my book, The Art of Tapestry Weaving.

Weaving outside: Cows, thunderstorms, and puppies

Weaving outside: Cows, thunderstorms, and puppies

In August I took a couple weeks off and went car camping. My intention was to do some backpacking the second week but the thunderstorms in Colorado have been fierce this year and there is nothing worse than camping at 11,000 feet with lightening hitting all around. In fact, the big piñon tree behind our house got hit a few weeks ago. I thought the strike sounded frighteningly close to my bedroom.

So car camping it was. I had some on-foot adventures and some driving adventures where I pretended my Subaru Crosstrek was a truck and I definitely did some weaving. Between all that, I read quite a few books since I was stuck under the awning or in the tent for quite a lot of time in the rain.

I spent some time weaving Mt. Hesperus.

How does my Mirrix shedding handle work anyway?

How does my Mirrix shedding handle work anyway?

If you’re a tapestry weaver who does smaller format work, you’ve likely at least heard of Mirrix looms. I’m guessing you probably have one in your studio. The classic looms that are rectangular in shape and have a shedding device also come with a funny-shaped handle to shift the shed. If you’re new to this sort of shedding device, the way this handle works can be a little mysterious.

A puppy "helps" with large loom warping

A puppy "helps" with large loom warping

I was getting out of my car at the library yesterday and I had the two dogs in the car. They like a ride sometime and I didn’t have to stop anywhere for long so they got to come along. Sal was barking at some unidentifiable thing and a woman walking down the sidewalk turned around and asked if those were dachshunds barking. She said she’d know that bark anywhere. She also said they’re great dogs. Which they are. They’re smart and they love to help, especially Sal. She is bright and learns fast and she gets into all kinds of trouble.

The teachers who shape our lives

The teachers who shape our lives

I was searching for some tapestry teaching video footage on some old hard drives recently and came across the recordings from my senior recital in college. Most of you probably don’t know that I was a music major as an undergrad. I played piano and clarinet while attending Lawrence University in Wisconsin. I was a liberal arts major among a conservatory of bachelor of music majors. I knew I didn’t want to be a performer, but I was interested in teaching so I took a lot of piano pedagogy classes. My senior thesis was writing a piano pedagogy curriculum for preschoolers.*

For all the decades since I graduated from Lawrence I have avoided listening to that recording. And that is because of what happened in my piano playing before the recital.

Frida Hansen's lost tapestry, Southward or Sørover

Frida Hansen's lost tapestry, Southward or Sørover

Some time before my class at Harrisville Designs in New Hampshire, one of the students in the class, Kerri Keeler, emailed me that she knew about a tapestry just a few miles from our workshop that we should visit. She offered to take care of the logistics and I told her if she could set it up, I would be happy to encourage the group to go.

So Wednesday night during our color retreat, we caravanned to Peter Pap Oriental Rugs to see the lost Frida Hansen tapestry, Sørover.

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.