What’s happening in the studio

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Robin

I taught a v-shawl class last week.

The second day of the class was Sunday. On that day the weavers were ready to weave the “v” part of the shawl. These shawls are woven in 2 layers up to the “v” where the fronts join to create the back.

Here is what the shawls looked like when they came off the looms. (The fringes will be trimmed later.)

I think they are happy because they survived this class!

I’ve been doing my own work in the shop as well.

Red chenille scarves.

More chenille scarves.

These are samples of needlefelted ornaments that we will make this weekend at our Holiday Market Open House. These will also be available as kits.

Faulkner & Jerry

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Robin

I haven’t had time to sort many fleeces yet. In fact, other than those I’ve sold I have only skirted the ram and wether fleeces. But I’m very happy with those that I’ve seen.

This is the fleece of a wether, Jerry. He is mostly black, not a good Jacob trait, but he will get to live his life being Faulkner’s companion. Faulkner is the BFL ram and I am not going to subject him to living with a group of rams with huge horns.

Faulkner and Jerry

This is what Faulkner’s fleece looked like “on the hoof”. This photo was taken shortly after I got him so it had grown a lot since then.

This is a lock after shearing.

Less than a minute in hot soapy water.

Silky, white locks!

Faces of shearing

Posted on November 20, 2011 by Robin

Shearing Day was yesterday. We had a great time and I owe a huge thanks to Farm Club and a few other friends who helped.

Some of the ewes waiting their turn.

Lola

Our shearer, John. Hailey is scooping up fleeces.

Tina, Kathy & Hailey bag the fleece.

Shelby & Alison as sheep wranglers.

It’s lunch-time. Rusty has his eye on someone’s sandwich.

This is one of John’s wool shearing shoes. It is made of thick felt.

My friend, Colleen, brought her sheep for shearing. This is her ram, Razor.

Look at this face under the skirting table. James was happy to scoop up wool that fell through the slats. He spent most of his time playing in the new sand we got for the parking area.

Here is some of the crew. Others were holding down the fort in the shop.

Faulkner, the BFL, after shearing.

Amaryllis watches, while Dazzle calls for her friends.

Terraza in the pasture.

Mary is glad to find the flock.

This is what is it all about. Beautiful fleeces. So far all the fleeces I have looked at are strong, clean, and gorgeous.

Weaving Wonderland

Image

I gave a presentation called World of Wool to the Portland Weavers Guild on Thursday. There are two meetings and the morning group meets at Ruthie’s Weaving Studio. This is a fabulous place. Look at the number of looms here! At Ruthie’s weavers can pay a monthly fee and use the looms and all the other equipment at any time the studio is open.

This loom has 16 or 20 shafts.

This loom is set up with a long warp for overshot coverlets. There is a waiting list for the weavers who want to weave a coverlet using the warp that is already threaded and ready to go.

This is a rug loom designed by Peter Collingwood.

Being able to see this in person I finally can finally understand how shaft-switching works.

Here is a small Jacquard loom.

Look at the size of this warping reel.

Inspirational textiles abound, including this sampler using Moorman technique.

Ruthie’s Weaving Studio

I stayed with a friend (who used to be part of the Sacramento Weavers Guild) not too far over the border in Washington. You catch a glimpse of Mt. St. Helens on the way to her house. I hope to be back to Portland for more weaving related activities and some sight-seeing.

Weaving

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Robin

The November show at the Artery will be the work of all of us fiber artists. I had plenty of warning about the show (many months) but, because I tend to work from deadline to deadline here is what I’ve been doing in the last couple of weeks.

This is a stunning purple chenille v-shawl that includes a sparkly yarn.

Close-up of the shawl.

Chenille scarves to be displayed with the shawl. You can’t tell from the photos but there are sparkles here too.

Rayon & cotton shawl.

Advancing twill blanket in organic Merino wool.

Merino wool scarves that were woven using a “name draft” that I created for Katie’s wedding.

The end of the warp that wasn’t long enough for a full scarf.

I was just talking to my friend who said that this wasn’t a bad accomplishment considering that I had deadlines for Handwoven magazine, my daughter’s wedding and a concert in my barn all in the last month.

More photos from New England

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Robin

We went to New England for my daughter’s wedding, but we were also tourists, joining the other “peepers” to see the beautiful fall colors.

Along the freeway in New Hampshire.

Picturesque Vermont scene.

Morning mist at Katie’s place.

A drive into the hills above Rochester.

lll

This pond is across the road from the active green marble quarry. This is the old quarry and this “pond” is supposedly almost bottomless.This is a reminder of how Hurricane Irene ravaged this area of Vermont.