2010/01/30

Saturday Daydreaming: Bookbinding and Beutiful Sketchbook Lusts

I have both, but don't cope with either well. The former is too exacting; the latter, my sketchbooks themselves are secondary to the information within the covers, be they for weaving or just for fun, I can't edit the contents.

Among other things I did after my bookbinding workshop was to take the pages out of a hardcover diary/date/schedule book Ben discarded and covered the cover, and inserted coffee- and tea-stained drawing paper inside. I loved making it, but haven't managed to think up a series of contents to match the brown pages.

I keep all my diaries as supplementary tax records. In the past I've ceremoniously burned the inside pages after the obligatory 7 year retention period, and used the covers for posting/mailing fragile stuff; I haven't even bothered with that for some years.

I recently came up with this brilliant new idea, however! I'll cut out just some of the pages, leave some in, and cover the cover with papers or thin fabrics I like, paint/draw/doodle over some pages, and cut/paste things on others. There's not as much pressure on binding a straight, exact book, nor creating beautiful sketchbook contents, and I might even end up with some eye-candies free from my usual work mode/process-process.

Sounds like a plan?

(Never noticed, but in the years I had the fancier diaries, I was more imaginative! Chicken or the egg!)

2010/01/28

Hi from Yokohama

Gee, it's nice to have Internet connectinos again. How are you?

It's been a much warmer winter here in Yokohama than I had anticipated so things have gone swimmingly. The entire clan (sans my Ben) went to this beach place last weekend and spent one night together, where from one side we saw the Chiba Penninsula across Tokyo Bay and I got a few sunrise shots, and from the otherside of the building, Mt Fuji! Then we all went back to my folks' place and ate, ate, ate.

Mom and I cleaned her yarn stash over two warm days, (I in short sleeved T shirts from time to time!) and I was awarded wtih a small loot. Yes, small. I also ordered fine boucle in silk and wool from one of her regular sources. I will probably have to send the yarns ahead of me due to, you know, space constraints.

The Mediteranean craze of the 90's seems to have settled and now Scandinavian designs are back in. This time it's a little more colorful and bold than the Zen like Swedish designs I grew up with in the 60's amd 70's.

The recession has hit hard; stores stock much fewer merchandises, people are constantly looking for bargains, including food, but Internet shopping is much more convenient. The gap between the wealthy and the poor have widened, so there are unimaginable (to me) luxuriy items as well. I hear there are new niche stores, too; for e.g. sister-in-law Yukiko mentioned a place near Tokyo Station selling only textiles from les Pyrenees Orientales, apparently sometimes known as les Toiles du Soleil, the cloth of the sun. These are bold, striped cotton (??) cloth in warped faced plain weave, but the color placement of the warp threads are considered so there are saturated strips, vertical lines, polka-dot like area, etc. I shall try to get some photos of her cloths.

Bookstores, sewing and fabric stores, and kitchen/ceramics stores pose grave danger to my credit card; thus far I've resisted but this afternoon I'm venturing back to a not-so-big bookstore near this house. I've yet to set foot in a yarn store, nor look into my mother's sample cards from her rgular sources, of which there are a dozen or so!

A spool of silk sewing thread costs 1/3 that in Wellington, (forget silk in Nelson), and Ben's wee camera parts costs 1/4 as much as the best deals he has been able to find on the Internet in New Zealand, so my suitcase is going to be filled with tiny bits and pieces.

I hope you are weaving happily. I hope to get back online again soon-ish.

2010/01/23

Saturday Daydreaming: Ben Sees Patterns

Ben's always calling my attention to patterns in our photographs. These from last week he gave me so I'm not distracted by colors. He' often looks at color and B/W versions of the same photos and grunts while tampering with focus and values and such.



More here if you're interested.

2010/01/18

I'm Off!

Weave merrily! See you when I get back, if not before.

It's That Thing...

Recently my weaving was complimented by an accomplished weaver, and I kept waiting for the "but" and suggestion on how to improve. My website was complimented by two artists, who are thinking of making a website for one. I wanted to say, "Yes, but have you really looked around? Don't settle on the first one you see. You should know better about these things..."

It's that thing again, compliments. We need to talk about this when I get back!

2010/01/16

Thanks, Refinery

The scarves were up by Friday morning at the Refinery, and this morning Ben shot this. The "gadget" worked I should perhaps mass-produce it and extract precious cents from weavers the world over! Not!

Ben said the top dowel bows about 45 degrees, and I can't think of a pretty way to weight the bottom dowel short of embedding metal pieces into it. I think this will do for now.

I realized this morning I'd completely forgotten about swing tags and care instructions. Must deliver before I go on Monday!

Saturday Daydreaming: My Etsy Store


Later in the year, I'm going to work towards opening my Etsy store. I want to make it lovely and inviting. Instead of weaving, I keep thinking of interiors of the stores I like to visit. Girly and cute, or sophisticated and understated??

Peg Moorhouse's Exhibition: "Color and Light"

Marlborough Weavers member Peg Moorhouse is currently exhibiting at CoCA, Centre of Contemporary Art, gallery in Christchurch, until February 6th. Peg, now 92, really wanted to call the exhibition "92, Not Out", which we thought was so apt, but that was not to be.

Please have a browse on Marlborough Weavers blog and the blog post about the opening night by New Zealand tapestry artist Marilyn Rea-Menzies.

2010/01/15

What I Miss When I'm Away

Backstrap Weaving

I found a blog on Backstrap Weaving via Dot.

Did I ever tell you about why I have something like 24 sets of sticks that used to be backstrap loom? I can't find an old post mentioning it, but I do, and they came with over 20 pairs of old white pantyhose! Did Kiwi nurses take up weaving in the 80's as art therapy? Long story short, the local Polytech wanted to get rid of the defunct Weaving School assets and I wanted one set, and they said all or nothing, so I paid $20 for the lot, thinking I can always use more sticks. I also had this idea of making them look all pretty and attaching instructions and selling them cheaply as a cash earner. Still might.

Anyway, I had a wee discussion with Restless Knitter on Twitter yesterday about portable looms and for some hours we seriously coveted a LeClerc Voyageur. This morning, I'm thinking how hilarious it would be if I just set up a backstrap loom on the isle of a plane and got to work. I'm a crazy, invisible middle-aged woman, you know; I might get away with it.

EDIT: UK Online Guild's March class is Backstrap and Rigid Heddle - something to look forward to while doing my tax returns for the period April 2008-March 2009. Serious. Quite happily in a most self-loathing mode, as this is nobody else's fault by mine. Every year.

2010/01/14

Gosh, I Wonder...

There are many weavers' blogs. My Google Reader is getting longer and longer.

Did you ever stop to think how many weavers there are in the world, no matter what your definition of a weaver is?

Jeepers...

In trying to add Refinery as my third outlet, I corrupted the link, (page not found!) on my Japanese website and blog, and I can't fix it because it's the tab bit Ben did for me, and I discovered three links on the Japanese website were corrupted since last January, (linked to English pages!)

So when can I automagically become a cool professional? Now's good!

Two Years in the Making

Finally, I took my scarves and the new rig to Refinery Art Space, and I'm pleased to say manager Deb Hunter was pleased with it/them. This is now the third place in this universe selling my work.

The gallery is now holding the sublime Centre for Fine Woodworking's annual show, until January 24th.

2010/01/13

Hanging Securely

It's too easy for me to ask Ben to take care of these things, but I want to be a little more of a self-sufficient Kiwi girl, so I tried this myself.

Since early 2008, I've wanted to have my scarves at Refinery Art Gallery shop, but there were two problems. The first is, I wanted to develop a drastically different style to reflect the funkiness of the Refinery, and this took a while. Tomorrow, I'm dropping off the four which were in the Waiheke Art Gallery exhibition.

The other problem was, The Refinery wanted me to make sure my scarves were secure, and suggested I bring in a lockable cabinet. But mine are textiles, and I wanted them out in the open, yet relatively secure. Besides, the shop does not have space for yet another cabinet. I thought it couldn't be that difficult, so I worked it out in my head about a year ago, and finally made the new rig this afternoon.

* I had a dowel 183cm long with nails in the center of both ends for fishing line to be tied. (Top photo on the link.)
* First I removed the fishing line.
* I sawed this into two, 91cm and 92cm long respectively.
* I took the nail out of one end of the shorter 91cm dowel and nailed it into the other end of longer 92cm dowel.
* I put in an eye hook at each end of the shorter 91cm dowel.
* I tied the fishing lines to the nails, and threaded them through the eye hooks.

Above, you can see the rig still bows a little, which was a problem at The Suter, and I only have one small cotton scarf hung. With more, or with a heavier weight fabric, I'm not sure if I can avoid this. (The knots will be secured tightly by Ben later, then cut and perhaps burned off.)

However, the rig and the scarves will be hung against a wall at the gallery (here, the cardboard box), so I don't think the bowing will be too much of a problem. Staff need to simply lift the top bar and hang or remove scarves, but when you pull on a scarf, it catches on the dowels, so at least it can't be taken in an instant.

It's hilariously simple, but I am pleased with myself. It didn't take me 10 minutes, much shorter than editing photos and writing up this post!

Fine Arts Now

Found on RISD prez John Maeda's blog: Fine Arts Now. The wonderful JM says: "Affirm, expand, edit.", but I've gotta start with "Read, Re-read and understand."

How Long is the Life of Textile?

I found this Los Angeles Country Museum of Art blog via Hand/Eye magazine on Facebook. The blog is dedicated to extending the lift of cloth. (If they don't get moth damage, I know...) I'm not crazy about some of the reincarnations, but if they are lovingly re-crafted and use, I guess that extends the life of the cloth.

Permission to Shop

I had to go buy some clothes for my trip because so much have become tired and threadbare, and they embarrass my family. Clothes shopping is taxing on my self-esteem because I'm so overweight, particularly since I stopped going to the gym about a year ago because their loud music was giving bad ringing in my ear. I've been feeling the expansion, not only around the middle but all over lately, and have been wondering what I can do so that not only will I enjoy it the first two days, but will stick to the regime.

One of the things I've thought this morning is the weight scale has become my enemy over the decades, and I can get on it and be in total denial of it says, so I must employ another measurement. And I've come up with an inexpensive, cute solution: I'm going to look for the cutest, loveliest tape measure, and measure around the middle instead of weighing myself, and I'm going to use that tape measure only for that purpose, I think. This alone won't help, but you know, I'm willing to consider most anything at this point.

Please let me know if you know something on-line that's too cute to miss.

2010/01/12

I Had This Concept...

It goes like this.

Years ago Trudy shouted enthusiastically, while looking at my sample pieces during lunch at Lambretta's; "Everybody loves boucle!" So I bought fine boucle yearns, and wove with them, but none of the galleries wanted them, so I put them in exhibitions, but nobody bought them. So they sat on my stash room floor for several years. I might have sold some, or thrown them in charity bins, because I have one big one and one small one left. But the moths loved the big one; it has three holes in it now.

Being the "artist" that I am, I thought to embellish the large piece based on the idea that only moths loved this one. So I Googled moths, but the larvae, who are the real culprits, gave me the heebie jeebies and the Googling ended in 20 seconds.

I was thinking of what moths/larvae like to eat, (wool!!!), what they congregate around, (not flowers; light bulbs??), and, ahem, the sex life of moths which produces larvae. Yuck, yuck, yuck; the life of an "artist"? I wanted to call the piece "Eat Me!", but Kath thought that's in such poor taste, even for me, so I'm thinking "Eat My Shawl!" I was hoping to embellish it at home using Japanese material, except I still don't know what motif I'm going to use. The End.

PS: In all my life I've read perhaps a dozen or two National Geographic articles, all on ancient civilizations, but I do remember pictures, and the most memorable series was the moths in May 2002 issue. They look heaps better than larvae, but will they look like butterflies when embroidered/beaded/felted on to the shawl? That's overly simplistic, anyway. This requires more artist-ly thinking. The pics still make my skin itch, though...

2010/01/11

Knitting

I can't knit. Well, I can make a piece of a trapezoid/trapezium, because my tension gets tighter as I go along. And I never thought I'd have to learn because I never, ever, imagined my mother not knitting, nor my sister giving it up because her boy is asthmatic.

Knitting never went out in Japan; there were always women who knitted like there was no tomorrow, but with knitting coming back in the West, there have been books on knitting for total novices (and the very young) with more illustrations and photos than before. Which could help me.

I've no big ambitions, like sweaters or mittens or socks. Maybe a wrist warmer - that's a tube, yes? But I've always had a secret ambition of filling my living room with cable-knit cushions; they're square, or rectangles, and even if they're trapezoidal, I don't think it'll matter too much after you stuff the cushions in the covers. If I keep reminding myself to relax while I knit, and not watch high school baseball tournament, of which there is none in New Zealand, nor in Japan in the winter.

I might get Mom to teach me a few stitches and get myself a book while I'm there. Goodness knows I grew up watching; that has got to help.

Two More on Double Weave: The Problems

The first: the more troublesome issue for me was this. While weaving, I was mindful of tugging the boucle weft so it won't bunch up and tangle. It worked well with the white boucle and on the top layer of the pink, but not so on the bottom layer. I didn't want to pull the weft too much, I still wanted the arc, but because I couldn't see, there are more bubbles on one half of the blanket than the other. You can see the bubbles a little on the right half of the tube picture. I never had this problem while using non-boucle wefts so I was surprised and annoyed when I started to see the bubbles, but glad to find it didn't happen with all boucles.

I like cloth with boucle mixed in it, and I'm considering weaving a length of fabric like this at one stage. Lot of yarns of similar but slightly different hues with some textures. I have a picture of a little girl in a red princess-line, bubbly-fabric winter coat in mind, white tights, black leather shoes, skipping.

The second: although less problematic, but would-have-been-nice-if-I-could. At the start of the tube, I tried to weave a length of plain weave in one layer, so as to eliminate the need to sew the bottom of the pillow-case/cushion-cover/potential-bag. But the warp was too sticky and closely sett I couldn't lift the shafts satisfactorily. I would like to experiment with this using smooth cotton warp with no boucle mixed, and if that works, there may be new possibilities.

2010/01/10

Tube vs. Double-Width

I am economical with my learning, I only learn what I need to know to weave the next project. So, the seemingly straight-forward difference between a tube and double-width can throw me when I expect one and get the other.

With tubes and double-widths, you weave two layers where the layers never mix or cross over in the middle of the cloth; the only difference being, with a tube the weft goes around and around the cloth uniting the two layers at both edges, whereas with double-width it leaves one side open.

If we call the top layer A and the bottom layer B, for a tube you weave A-B-A-B, and for double-width A-B-B-A. The only thing to remember is if your draft has a direction, say a simple twill, you need to consider the direction you twill progresses on the bottom layer, so you don't get a big V in the middle of the cloth, unless you plan to.

A 2/2 twill in double weave, for example, can be expressed in many different ways, but since I prefer the easiest threading in the first instance, I will go with the one below. To make it easy for me, I left the 5th tie-up a blank. The first four (from the left) creates a 2/2 twill for the top layer A, and the last four (on the right), for the bottom layer B. Notice all top layer A shafts (1, 3, 5, 7) are lifted whenever I'm weaving the bottom layer B.

Once I get the tie ups right, I can change the shape of the cloth just by swapping the treadling order. The top part is a tube, the bottom in double width with the right side open. Because I want the twill to go in one direction in the cloth, the treadling on the bottom B layer, (tie-up 6-9) moves from the right to the left, as opposed to the top A layer, (tie-ups 1-4) from the left to the right. If you are on a foot loom, you may want to swap the tie-up so you can have a straight treadling order. Or not, because this way, you can walk it.

Sue, my tube. Its construction could be a nice neck/collar, but this one is a little stiff and heavy, so I shall ask my mother what she'd like.

Tube sox exchange next Christmas, anyone??

2010/01/09

Just a Thought...

With more and more industrial nations' residents opting to buy local foods, I wonder if local textile will be in vogue in my lifetime?

A Weaver's Time-Warp

Do you ever start to giggle uncontrollably, or outright laugh hysterically, while throwing the shuttle six, 18 or 36 times to weave an inch of cloth? In the second decade of the 21st Century, we thread one warp at a time through a small hole in the heddle, and a skinny slot in the reed, and we make them go up and down and, well, you know how it works.

Sometimes the silliness gets to me and I wonder what life means, my life, your life, one person's life time, what we're supposed to do, what we think we should be doing, and how much of it we should be doing. And the only conclusion I reach every time I start to giggle is that this silliness is a luxury, one weavers allow ourselves to do. And it's the closest thing to a SciFi/time-warp kind of experience I have.

My mom's blanket is off the loom, as is a second, white one in a thicker merino boucle, which I hope to put on my Etsy store when I get around to it opening it. I'm afraid Mom's may be mended/fringed/washed in Japan, and the white one after I get back, but I will be sure to take pictures. Mom's is much heavier, as Dot described, it will have a "substantial, soft texture", I hope. The white one is airier. In retrospect, I'm glad Mom's weft came in two dye lots; I suspect it's giving the blanket the extra tonal nuance I think it has; at least it's more complicated-looking than the white one. I also wove a tube-shaped cushion cover for Mom, thinking I had much more weft left on the cone than I actually did. It turned out to be a strange-looking tiny thing, so I'm not sure what I'll do with it, but it was fun weaving a tube, a first for me.


Meanwhile, I can come upstairs and show you, wherever you are in the world, what I just took off the loom 20 minutes ago. Imagine that! (Sorry, the pics are blurred; I can't seem to focus my eyes today, nor keep my arms steady.)

Saturday Daydreaming: Fractal

I saw parts of a documentary on fractal twice in a week; I had never heard of it, but it sounds like the kind of things weavers might be interested in, though I was too busy trying to get my head around its relationship with measuring the length of the English coastline. Then this morning, I found this by Joanne Mattera and some of the works appear related to fractals.

Tenuously related, only because I saw this on the beach on Rabbit Island, here's a tree we came across during our walk with Doni.

I am attracted to the swirls and curves.

2010/01/07

Double-Booked!

Darn. Someone who assists Japanese media coming to New Zealand wanted to arrange an interview with me; something in conjunction with Air New Zealand. Possibly a Japanese supplement?? It would have given me a little exposure in Japan, something I've been wishing for forever. But they want to come on the 27th of January. Sorry, folks, I'm with Mama that week!

Never mind, I won't have to go crazy cleaning the house, tidying the garden, and slimming up to get ready for them.

Still, a little bit disappointed...

2010/01/06

Yours Truey, Humbly, Red-Faced-ly...

If you don't like your voice on recording devices, I'm probably worse. I've been tutoring English and Japanese from age 16, and many a times I've succumbed to requests to record, which requirs playing them back for checking, so I've come to hate my voice and diction in two languages. I always wanted to volunteer to read/record for the blind in whichever languages in demand wherever I lived, but I can't overcome this particular cringe.

And this is the preface to... yes... the Crafternoon Tea episode that includes my longish gushing. Never been a woman of few words, I missed the chance to include some very important things, some of which were marked clearly in my notes:

* Being the least experienced weaver in the workshop is a wonderful experience, particularly in a weaving workshop. Weavers are caring and sharing and someone is bound to look after you in and after the workshop.

* "Stash" is a hereditary condition. My parents raised the entire roof of their house by one meter so Mom can have an attic stash space, in addition the bedroom I and my sister shared, and my brother's bedroom, which was subsequently turned into a design room. All of upstairs is now her work space. So I monitor my hereditary condition, but I'm not responsible for it.

* Cats vs Dogs: Though I am aware many weavers are serious cat lovers, I remain faithful to my canine friends. You can love dogs on your terms, not theirs. And how else do you get another mammal to pant at the sight of me?

In person, I'm a lot finnier and less serious. I'm not this intense. Ben says it's the cheap microphone but I'm not sure where all the staccato and emphasis come from. I nearly don't recognize myself. But! I do repeat myself, and jump all over, and cause train-of-thought-wrecks.

The correct term for the Japanese Living National Treasure is "Holders of Important Intangible Cultural Assets", i.e. the skill sets to create important stuff. I didn't have the complete title, but then this is only my translation.

After all is said and done, I stand by everything I said. But you know that, because you read them here over and over again.

Thank you, Genny, it was a most interesting experience. I never thought anyone could ask me anything new I hadn't thought and hashed and rehashed about weaving, but you had me top to think several times.

And Dad had been right all along; I have got to stop laughing and taking at the same time. I can't hear what I'm saying. And Mom and I thought he was just being a spoil sport.

2010/01/02

Sugar Free

I'm frustrated because I've been struggling with a post about photography. Instead I have a box of eye chocolate. I haven't woven today, yet, and I'm tired because I couldn't go to sleep until around 3 last night. Either, weaving now will help me greatly, or, I'll botch it up and will have to unpick...

Kiva Weaver!

I've been a happy Kiva member since last September. Having heard of this organization but never able to remember the name, I was ecstatic when I happened upon it in Facebook.

Being a not-well-informed "Western" person of, let's face it, some means, when compared to others in dire needs, I casually sought women doing weaving or textile things...

I was lucky I discovered a collective in Guatemala in clothing sales straight away. I have a friend Rudy in La Antigua whose photo blog has highlighted their textiles, (sometimes just for me because I nag), as well as the plight of the women in Guatemala and Mom went to get pointers from his during her textile trip there. These ladies became my first recipients.

Two days later the tsunami hit Samoa, and I had to do something, so I added a Samoan recipient. I'm not sure how close she is to the ravaged coast, but anyone involved in food production is sure to help many in need. (It was a close one, though; there was a fisher-woman I liked, too.)

Around that time, there were huge tropical storms all over Asia, and I was at a loss as to whom I should help. I've had a special connection with the Philippines from two jobs in Tokyo in the 80s, and I've reconnected with some friends via Facebook, so this collective in food production and sales became my third. And don't they look lovely? Some even look like my friends.

And if you thought I was only promoting Kiva today, I am in a way, but wait for it.

I thought I'd like to add an entrepreneur from Palestine, at the start of this year. I couldn't sleep last night so around 3 in the morning I went searching. But wouldn't you know, the word "weaving" jumped out at me, and I do have a love of Central Asian textiles, (I must show you my two sometime!!) , and I chose this group in Afghanistan. I don't know what the women are going to do with funds, but a woman weaver and a woman tailor in Afghanistan, I'm sure, need to know the world cares about them.

The nice thing about Kiva is you the loans, from my side, can start at US$25, which doesn't make such a big dent in my bank account, so even I can afford it. And because they are loans, I get paid back, and yesterday I had $4 in credit, so I used that towards the latest loan.

It does feel a bit strange to sit in sunny Nelson on-line-shopping for worthy recipients much the way I search Amazon and Halcyon Yarns. I do feel guilty it's so easy. Over the years I've made it a habit to try to give small amounts of money (because nobody wants stuff any more, do they??) to the needy, and I used to have to go to their offices, the bank or post offices to fill in forms, and then they started to ring to ask for your bank account number for regular withdrawals, and now, no interaction with a living person but just sign up on-line? What happened to the letters from the kid we were supporting overseas, (our didn't write, but his mother did, religiously). And I used to translate letter for that organization as a volunteer.

I am interested in "my" groups, and keep an eye on how they're doing, not just in terms of repayment, their lives and countries in general.

If anyone would like an "official" invite email, (can't remember what's in it!), please let me know.

By the way, there are heaps more worthy recipients in Palestine, and elsewhere. And that Palestinian woman in Gaza married to a policeman, her request filled quickly; no room for me now.

Saturday Daydreaming: The Attraction of Color and Weave

While looking through www.handweaving.net for attractive 4-shaft straight draw structures for a warp of block (head) kitchen towels, (to satisfy both Mom's orders and my sample requirements for Ali,) I happened upon two interesting results.

Go to the draft search page. In the top "Search by Original Text" space, set maximum and minimum shafts to "4", leave the treadle numbers at "any", and search a book called "Textile Designs and Colour, (William Watson)" towards the bottom of the list of books. Go though the four pages to see the visual complexity achievable on four shafts!

Then change the minimum and maxim shafts to "16" (or any big number), leave the treadle numbers at "any", and search the book again. Of course the more shafts you have, the more structural complexity you can achieve, but are they necessarily visually more interesting than the 4-shaft drafts? I thought not.

It gives me goose pimples thinking about the experiments I could do on Jack! I'm daydreaming of full of lovely fluffy stuff from my 4-shaft Jack filling in my girly cosy Etsy store! And not before too long, I hope!!! I'll show you the curtains, the wall papers and shelving I choose as I start decorating it!

The above image above is Draft Number 61736.

As for the block (head) weave, I've been trying to get my head around it a while now, and I sense there is a corner approaching, but I still can't see it.

EDIT: In one short swift email, on New Year's Day, Ali blitzed my understanding of blocks and dumped me with a whole new idea. It was entirely different from the answer I was expecting to my question, so the towel project is suffering a setback. Hummm... Maybe I'll weave this lot the way I had planned.

2010/01/01

Day 1, 2010

I wove 40cm today. I've been averaging between 20 and 32cm per half a day on the Cherry Blossom blanket, and have 60cm to go, so two more half days. It's slow, and one warp keeps breaking though it's not tangled or tight or in any way strange but luckily it's on the top layer. Other than that, it's slow but pleasurable.

A Day in The Life of Looms

All of my five hard-working babies. (Well, the eldest on a holiday for now.)
Around 10AM, 1/1/2010, Nelson, New Zealand, 41°18 0"S / 173°13'10"E.





Rose Pelvin, Blenheim, New Zealand; 10 minutes before the end of New Years Day!



More loom pics from:
Restless
Judy
Desirée
Cally
Sue in NH, USA
Evelyn
Dianne
Geodyne
Margreet
Sue in the UK
Holly
Theresa

To friendship, favorite tools, and things made by our own hands!

What's in a Name?

Well, a lot. Don't they make you want to have a peek or join the fun?

So this exchange/challenge in lieu of SSVE this year still hasn't got a name yet, and we now have exactly two months until your commitment emails are due. It's my mistake I called it an "exchange" but it's not; you get to keep it, or sell it or give it away, so it's more a "challenge". I'm happy to tell you I already have two commitments other than mine!

Names which have come my way, chronologically, have been:

From Pix/Pics to Picks
Pix2Picks
Creative Weavers Challenge
Weavers Creative Exchange
Inspiration By Mail
Weaving ExtrA Via Envelope
Weaving Excellence And Via Envelope
Woven Exhibit Arrives Via Envelope
Weavers Embellish A Volatile Expression
Woven Embellishments Attract Vixen Emotions
Wilted Explanation Aims Very Eccentric
You Inspire Me
Eye/Hand
Expected the Unexpected (I know this is a bit old, but I do like it...)
Exchange in Lieu of SSVE - E(I)L(O)S (I hope not!!)

Anything else? I thought I'd like to put it to a vote, but before I make a poll, I'd like to hear from you if you have more, or a particularly strong opinion on one or another, or our general direction.

Thank you!