After a two year hiatus, the public weave-alongs are back. On February 14, we kicked off a clasped warp and weft table set in twill or plain weave project bonanza in our new home YarnworkerU. The name is both a nod to educational spaces and a play on words regarding the personal nature of weaving. The secret to a long life is knowing when it is time to go, and it was time to leave Patreon to build a new home from scratch. Relying on someone else’s platform means when they change, you have to change. I hope the same vibes that have kept us going for nearly a decade will follow us to this space. There are lots of video-centric options these days which is the very best news. I’m thankful for your continued enthusiasm for this one. Text, textiles, and tech have always shared common ground and I’m grateful for a life wallowing among them as I know many of you are, too.
My happy place is to host events that give rigid-heddle weavers the opportunity to tackle an aspirational weave with a lot of support. This particular weave-along will continue through April. There is a no cost option for anyone who would like to join us. There is still plenty of time to join in.
I’m adding this section after I initially published the blog because getting this feedback keeps me going and I think sums up the weave-along experience: During weave-alongs we tackle some sort of aspirational technique/project, which you may need a bit of extra support to wrap your head round. As the host of these events it can be a little challenging to hit the right note of challenge for all the skill levels in the room. What you are capable of depends on so many factors, but mostly involves giving it your best go.
I like how the words we’ve and weave are so close. But the term “we” seems so elusive. We have woven together though so much and it seems we are continuing to do so. Textiles have provided a vehicle for communication since the dawn of human kind and they have always been the instruments of political struggle, memory-making, and collective healing.
I recently joined the board of WARP and took on the job as the editor of the WARP Quarterly to give me a positive place to pay it forward and capture a connection with a global textile community. I’ve been a member of the organization since college. It is a very scrappy grassroots organization full of interesting people and it is in this space I find people who want to talk about the totality of weaving. Weaving to me is not just looking out into the world and finding inspiration for my loom, it is a vehicle to see the world as it is in all its kindness and cruelty. I love gifting the art of weaving to others as it has given me so much in return.
Heddles Up!
Liz
Not only do textiles provide a “vehicle for communication”, I believe they also provide a “reason” to communicate.
Well said Karen. Weaving is my reason for most things, but then I’m warped.