A Couple of Surprises Today

I walked in this morning to a couple of good surprises! The first one was a funny black curvy thing on the kitchen island and the second thing was fresh baked donuts (thank you Rhonda) and fresh sourdough Cinnamon bread (thank you Colleen)! Yum!!!!

Now for the saga of the curvy black thing.....

A couple of weeks ago I was working the desk at the Appalachian Arts Craft Center, near Norris TN. While I was there I began rearranging the weaver's merchendise that we make downstairs in the Weaving Studio, especially the placemats. It hit me like a ton of bricks that there might be a better way to display them! I texted the leadership team and we texted back several times that afternoon. We ended up having Marie order 6 of those black curvy things so that we could display the Placemats like they were on a closets rod! Here is the before.....

Here Angie and I have taken the placemats and original hardware down and we have put up our estimate of where the rods should go.

Finally we had fun putting the placemats in place and adding some of the kits we put together, namely the stick weaving kits and the scarf weaving kits that we make out of hand dyed bamboo. I am eyeing those endcaps where we have our hand towels, stay tuned for more fluffing of inventory!

While we were doing that bit of magic upstairs, the other weavers were downstairs doing their thing! Rhonda finished her warp and cut it off. I think I counted 3 full baby blanket sized pieces plus some smaller pieces for fabric.

Marilyn had a few threading errors to tend to today but before lunch she had started weaving on her towel warp.

Cathy is making wonderful progress on her towel warp, she has used a different weft color for each towel.

Liz #2 is threading the repweave warp that she was winding onto the back beam last week.

Colleen is continuing to weave towels in Summer/Winter.

Nobody brought Show and Tell today not even Mark! So join us again next week to see what we come up with next! Until then this is Tina for all!

Warps in Progress

There were 3 new warps making there way from the warping boards to the looms today. Liz #2 is going to be rep weaving placemats. She has never done it before and is eager to get to it!

Shannon has a very fine and sticky warp going on her loom for fabric I think. She wished me to thank Pearl, Patty and myself for helping her persevere in getting this cranky yet beautiful yarn tamed and on the back beam!

Laura is at the beginning stages of getting her warp on the baby Macomber.

We have a new student, Mary, and she has wound her first warp. I did not manage to get a picture of the warp making it to the loom, but I am sure that next week we will be able to catch up with it.

Wendy has a great eye for color and design!

How about some fabric? Susan #2 is making great progress on her mixed warp plainweave.

Linda has found a pattern she is enjoying!

Rhonda has switched to navy weft for this next blanket.

Okay folks, it is time for Show and Tell! Shannon went to the Crafters yard sale in Asheville this week and came home with some treasures! A couple of reeds, some spinning fiber and some colorful leather to trim the bags she loves to make.

Rhonda has been using up some handwoven fabric to make a drink cozi that could be used for a mug or a glass!

Patty made a small bag this week with a scarf that was too heavy to be a scarf! She also brought in a top project that she deemed was a fail, though many thought it had possibilities.

I also had a couple of things for show and tell and as usual they also qualify for the "What are you waiting for" Challenge! During the Tour de France my online guild has what we call the Tour de Fleece! Everyone makes their own goals, mine is to de-hair as much of my Nigora fleeces as possible. I had 8 tubs of fleece, before the tour started I had already emptied 1 tub, during the men's race I emptied another one and am close to finishing 2 more. I hope to get them done before the womens race starts next week. I also, got my nerve up and finished taking in the Chemise that my friend LouAnn made for me several years ago for my Museum costume. At the time we both agreed that it was too large and now it is done. I am making some lace to go around the neck but that is an extra.

That is all for today, tune in next week for more fun! Until then this is Tina, for all!

Trying out New Weave Structures

I have a couple of new things today, Colleen is continuing on with a structure we may have seen last week or the week before, but it is still the first time I have seen it in the Studio. This is called Summer/Winter, with the back side of the cloth being the opposite of the front side.

Susan is working on her first Double width project and it is moving along nicely! Sometimes you have to see it to believe it!

I will have another new weave structure during Show and Tell, but for now I have a couple of warps that I took pictures of and entirely forgot to get a shot of the weaver involved! First there is Betsy's wool project on the Barn frame loom and next is baby blankets that Rhonda is working on.

Up next I have Pearl at her loom weaving hand towels in broken twill.

Now for a couple of in process pictures! Kris adding heddles to the harness' for her next project.

Laura helping Patty with a top she is working on.

Marie, Patty and Karin starting to enter our inventory into Excel.

I caught Mark in full reach as he is threading the heddles for his next project.

Hey! It is time for Show and TellCharlotte came by today to show us what she has been working on! She has mug rugs in Monks belt and a scarf in Huck lace.

Joyclynn brought in her finished scarf and told us what her plans are for the next project using up some of the yarn she had left over.

Betsy's Husband had been very creative with his 3D printer lately and each week Betsy brings new things for us to see!

Pearl brought in some socks that she had made from yarn that she had been given so long ago that the socks qualify for the "What are you waiting for?" challenge!

That is all we have for you this week, come back next week to see what else we are getting into! Until then this is Tina, for all!