In November, my desktop started giving me trouble. I couldn’t tell if it wasn’t happy with the latest operating system upgrade, or if I was dealing with a corrupt file. My bluetooth was cycling on and off, which made me think it was a hardware issue, but I wanted to rule out software or file issues. …
I remember the first time I saw a fiber-producing animal. It was at the petting zoo in Greensboro, North Carolina, where my grandparents took me to feed the ducks. I don’t know exactly how old I was, somewhere between preschool and school. In one pen off to the side was a llama and I was …
As a weaving teacher, I’m constantly reminded what an inexact term “beating” is. In weaving, we throw the term “beat” around a lot when what we really need to do is finesse. There are notable exceptions and we have explored some of those this year—weft-faced colorwork anyone?—but most yarn doesn’t really like being pushed about. …
The Yarnworker School patrons and I are spending our summer school session of 2020 tackling the process of formulating a plan to weave a project or essentially learning how to design projects for our own use. This is a round of of ideas about looking at design from a bird’s eye view. What is Design? …
Rigid-heddle weavers regularly ask me this question or a variation on this theme, essentially wanting to know if they will reach a limit with their rigid-heddle loom. All looms have constraints. Syne Mitchell, a dedicated multi-shaft loom weaver and author of Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom, talks beautifully about the concept of constraints throughout her work. …
Just before the start of the Fall semester at New Mexico Tech, the administration decided to change things up which resulted in merging my Weaving 101 and 201 classes. This mixing of levels is both synergistic and chaotic. Imagine a class happening in the middle of a lab. While the beginners are inspired by the …
This is a very long post, but I promise you it has a point, and one I’m very excited about. Last month, my husband and I made our annual pilgrimage to South By Southwest and the live music city of the world, Austin, Texas. For five non-stop days, we wandered from music tent to backyard parties to storied …
