A Krokbragd Study Group

I am participating in a Krokbragd study group with some of the members of the Skagit Valley Weavers Guild. What in the heck is Krokbragd? It is a Norwegian weave that is essentially a 3 shaft Twill. For those of you who may not be weavers yet, your blue jeans are woven in a twill weave structure. Take a close look with a magnifying glass and you will see a very characteristic twill weave. Krokbragd uses three shafts of the loom. We met at Jeanine's house as she is the weaver who is conducting the study group and weaves incredibly beautiful Krokbragd rugs. Here is a sample:
She has a nice large weaving studio in her house and we were able to crowd our looms in to weave.
We first met around the table to discuss the weave structure, what it is and how to weave it. All of us arrived as pre-arranged with our looms warped up. If you look closely at the picture on the left, my loom is the wee little loom between the two back looms on the table.
Krokbragd's most striking feature is the color patterns that you get with this weave. If you love color it is a lot of fun to weave. Here is Anna in action:
My little loom is a Dick Blick Artcraft loom. They don't make them anymore. The loom is so tiny, it really isn't good for a whole lot but perfect for trying ideas and new weaves out. Here is what was on my loom at this point:
I happened to find four skeins of wool rya rug yarn in my stash which was fortunate because I was so distracted by the holidays I forgot to make sure I had weft yarn for the workshop! Considering that my stash is down to the bare minimum, I was lucky indeed.
We had a wonderful time. It had snowed that morning but the roads were passable. We spent a wonderful day warm and snug while weaving and chatting. For a weaver who usually weaves in solitude, it doesn't get much better than that. The final picture is another rug that Jeanine has woven. It is a bit more complex that what we were doing and the skill and beauty of the rug is really breathtaking. The picture can never do it justice.
Thanks to Jeanine, Anna, Marie, Gloria, Sue, Elinor and Carin our Krokbragd study group is off to a good start! More information on Krokbragd can be found in The Techniques of Rug Weaving by Peter Collingwood, and Handwoven magazine. Stay tuned for more weaving adventures. -Renee

A Call for Local Fibers part 2

This is about as local as one can get. The fiber for this hand spun yarn was provided by my dog Twill (Lab mix and double coated as the breed tends to be) and the alpaca of a friend. I featured this yarn earlier this year, er... that is last year in my "Hair of the Dog" post. I am posting my call for local fibers again because I happened to pick up the current copy of Spin-Off magazine. For those of you who are not familiar with this wonderful publication, it is a magazine dedicated to spinning yarn. Knitters would find a lot to like about the magazine as well as many of the projects featuring hand spun yarn are knitted.
What is so special about this issue? There is an article entitled "Spinning Locally: Finding Local Sources for Sustainably produced Fiber." It can be found on page 80 of the Winter 2007 issue. The article is understandably general but states the point I would like to make nicely.
So, again, if you have a source for fiber in the Western Washington State area north of Seattle, please let me know. A post in the comment area would be most appreciated.
The link for Spin-Off magazine will be posted in my Fiber Links section. Spring is on the way and with it comes shearing season and fiber festivals so stay tuned! -Renee

Weaving New Years Resolutions

Happy New Year! My husband and I spent the holidays visiting my family in Honolulu, Hawaii. This is a picture of the beach on the Wai'anae coast of Oahu. If one never leaves Honolulu one would never know that Oahu does have beaches that can be empty of people. We were the only people on the beach, with the exception of the life guard, for about an hour on this day. The skies were cloudy and gray but it was balmy and the water was warm.
I have been thinking about the direction of my blog. I originally started it as a way for my fellow guild members to keep track of my progress on a guild grant. The grant work is finishing up and I have decided to continue the blog because I have been enjoying it so much. The focus this summer was pretty much on dyeing. I want the blog to have a bit more of a balance of weaving, spinning and other fiber arts. I would also like it to reflect my passion about women's causes and the environment in the context of the fiber arts.
My New Years Resolution? To become a better weaving blogger. I know this will take time and commitment at a time of tremendous change in my personal life and I am willing to commit to that. So, to the wonderful people who have read and followed along and even posted a comment or two, thank you. I hope you will continue to return! To those who are new to my blog, welcome. I hope you have a chance to look at the archives and my grant project.
One of my interests is eating organically grown foods. Not only for my and my family's health but for the environment too. I have been reading a couple of fun and interesting books on eating locally and, while I haven't gone to the extremes of the authors of these books, I have made a conscious effort to purchase more locally grown foods.
In addition to food, I have been thinking about locally and organically grown sources of fiber. I know we have a lot of alpaca farms around and one of my fellow guild members is a llama farmer. I am determined to look into this and will be posting my finds and resources. To add a bit of synchronicity to the mix, I recently got an e-mail from a fellow fiber artist in my area asking the same question!
So, the question I would like to put out there to readers in the Western Washington area: Do you have a local source for wool of any breed or animal? I would love to hear from you and will post the resources with full credit unless requested otherwise. In the meantime, I will do my own research. Here is to a new year and all the changes it will bring! -Renee

The Passing of a Weaving Friend

It is a fact of life that our loved ones and friends eventually pass on. It is part of life and not an uncommon event, specially if many of your friends are well into the second half of their life span. It doesn't really make it any easier to lose them though. Many of us in the Whidbey and Skagit Weavers Guilds have lost a weaving friend last Friday after a long and valiant battle with cancer. I have many pleasurable memories of chatting with her at the various guild meetings. She was one of those wonderful people who always had a smile and a kind word for you. I will treasure my memories of her and will miss her very much.
There was a small group of us who ventured out into the freezing fog and slippery roads to attend the Skagit Guild meeting December potluck and auction. We ate, got our business done, and had a small and lively auction which raised enough money to fund an evening program.
The only treasure I took home was the book, Clothing from the Hands That Weave by Anita Luvera Mayer. I must confess that I am not a fan of rectangular, loom-shaped garments, being a rather petite person who looks like a hobbit when I wear such. The book, however, is more than just an instruction book. It also contains Anita's encouraging personality. While I probably will not make a loom-shaped garment, I will make myself a garment using my handwoven fabric so I am enjoying the book.
Tomorrow I plan to get another warp on my loom. I just have to decide...
Stay tuned! -Renee

Weaving Through the Holidays

Uh oh! I am at the end of a ten yard warp on my loom and the holidays are nearly here. It is always a challenge to work on projects with the holidays descending, at least it is for me! This is my final yarn stash warp and it is....not the prettiest fabric I have woven. It gets to be quite a challenge to put together a decent fabric when you limit yourself to the last dregs in your fiber stash to use them up. The yarns I have left are for specific projects. I guess I could put one of those projects on the loom as soon as I can, that is this week, so that I can return to the loom after the holidays and have it ready to go and not standing there sad and empty. The challenge is making it a priority. You might have noticed I didn't say "finding the time". The time is there but sometimes other things take priority. All of us have this challenge, particularly women. I will keep you posted on the next warp going on the loom.
In the meantime, I went to the Whidbey Weavers Guild meeting last week. It was cold and sunny. I have the Skagit Weavers Guild to go to tonight but am a bit concerned as it is freezing out and I am looking at a fog that just rolled in. It it doesn't warm up, the fog will freeze on the road and driving will be too dangerous.
While I was at the Whidbey Weavers Guild I browsed in the guild library and found a notebook containing past episodes of podcasts from Weave Cast. I do have the link in my Fiber Links bar. Syne gave a program to the guild but I missed that meeting due to snow in my area last year. I was disappointed because I really wanted to see Syne's program. The good news is not only did I get to check the podcasts out, Syne will be coming to speak to the Skagit Guild in the spring. Something to look forward to. I have listened to one of the podcasts, number 12 with Anita Mayer. If you have a high speed connection, which I don't, check out Weave Cast, the podcasts are just wonderful!
I took some wonderful inspirational pictures while at the Whidbey Guild meeting. I will share a few and some thoughts and impressions on the podcasts I listen to. Off to look at the weather reports. Hope all are warm and dry. -Renee