The Left Side

Over the next few weeks I would like to give an idea of how our weaving studio is set up. The Barn loom is of course stationary and the looms that make a corral around it hold in all of the portable looms that are slid into place at the end of the day. As I walk into the studio door, I look to the left and there is a row of looms all the way to the back of the room. The portable looms are brought out into the main studio area, and set up usually in the same order but sometimes it varies if someone is out of town. Cathy took a couple of pictures a week or so ago that will give you an idea of what it looks like. In the first picture there is Marilyn, Pearl, Joycelyn, and then Jenny to the right of the picture. in the second picture there is Linda just behind Jenny, Susan, Connie looking the other way and Nikki. In the third picture there is Kris at her loom and Pearl lending a hand. These pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago and some of our weavers are on trips so we have a slightly different crowd today.

First off there is Liz #1 on her shawl warp, she is tying back onto the breast beam after she cut off the first shawl, last week or the week before.

Cathy is next in line today and she is making good progress on her warp. I believe that it is fabric for bowl cozies.

Pearl is next in line with a towel warp.

Shannon came in today to start threading her fabric warp.

Joycelyn, is out today but she is mid way through threading her scarf warp. She had just enough hand dyed yarn left from her previous shawl to add some zing to some solid colors.

Liz S is having fun watching the pattern grow in her first rep weave project.

Making the turn at the back corner and skipping the back row where Linda is, cause I will do that area next week Jenny is planning a new project with this yarn, and I caught Dana getting a glamour shot of this combo. Jenny and I had a lot of conversation about this project because she has 2 different skeins and they have different yardage. We want to showcase them in the warp and weave with the solid color. We had to do the math to best optimize the amount of yarn Jenny had. This will be fabric for a top.

Jenny started by winding the skeins of hand dyed warp into balls....not without difficulty, it took she and I both to turn yarn barf when the first attempt had problems, into a nice neat ball!

Susan was out today but her loom is here with the double width project in progress.

Colleen is next, she has changed colors for this next towel in Summer / Winter.

A couple of steps away right beside the white tables are Nikki and Kris. Nikki is a master at mixing colors in the weft and warp.

Kris has found a couple of errors as she was getting ready to weave her towel warp. One is an error sleying the reed and the other was a threading error that would not be difficult to fix. In order to isolate those threads so that we could find them after lunch I slipped a couple of bobbins under them behind the reed.

Doing that raises the threads so you can spot which bout of 8/2 to untie.

While that was going on, Patty and Angie were discussing the sleying of a crammed and spaced towel warp. The instructions can be confusing but between several of us we landed on half inch crammed and half inch empty. I think it is looking good!

Whew! It is time for Show and Tell! First up is Shannon who has been making pocket bags that she is going to hang on her wall for project bags and other stuff as well! The first one she made from regular fabric and then she went to her handwoven fabric and she reinforced it with handwoven tape!

Then Linda brought in some placemats she made from fabric and when she ran out of fabric strips she chose yarn colors to finish the last 3. With the piece of handwoven she had left she made a hot pad!

Karin brought in a project that counts for this years What are you Waiting for Challenge! It is a scarf in Sweet Georgia yarns using the log cabin threading. The reason it had been in time out for awhile is that Karin used 5 different colors that were her dark colors! You can imagine how many color changes that is!!!! She finally had enough of putting it off and she buckled down and finished it!!! It feels amazing! Karin also has finished a band that is tablet woven, her husband has claimed it as the one he wants for his suspenders! Karin will make a matching one so that he can have the pair!

Last but not least is Mark! Mark is weaving a rug at home and he has not been happy with how the wool weft yarns are behaving! So he thinks to himself, I will get a hip spindle and ply the yarn together that way. Then Mark priced one and then he decided he would make one for $20 and give it a try. He even made a stop for the tip so that it wouldn't roll around and make life difficult!

As I was on my way home today, I met my Sister who lives locally now and we went to some Antique stores in Clinton TN. While we were there the radio was playing in the shop and Dolly Parton came on to sing us a song and the DJ started saying that Dolly was legendary.....I was like what, is Dolly gone?!!! It is so, and it is a sad day in East TN, most of us here in Tennessee haven't known a day without her. She will be missed here and all around the country I think. We will always love you Dolly! Until next week this is Tina, for all!

New Seats, Managing Inventory and Finished Hand Dyed Fabric!

It is hard to find the right stool for dressing and weaving on a table loom. We have several of the tractor seat stools and when Marie looked into ordering a couple more for the studio they had quadrupled in price! Rhonda showed us the stool she had ordered from Amazon and last week we decided to get a couple to try for ourselves. They cost a little bit less than the tractor seats and they looked a lot more comfortable! The stools had arrived by Friday and Marie brought them today and spent some time putting them together, several of us had a hand in it as well, unpacking and putting the rollers in place. Everyone who sat on these new seats was impressed with them and many have made plans to order them for their own studios! I can't believe I missed getting a picture of the seat in situe, but if you look closely at the box you can see the SKU number to order one from Amazon.

While we are around the table I can point out the stack of items that are ready to be entered into the inventory and ready to get the upc codes for our sales tags. Usually, the upc stickers are ready by the following Tuesday and we can then take the items upstairs and put them with their fellow placemats or towels or bowl cozies or rugs..... you get the idea. While we are adding to the inventory list a couple of us have been getting the current inventory into a computer on a spreadsheet. There are 3 of us who have been in turn taking the Inventory binder home and entering all of the items that are still in the shop, or they should be anyway, that will be the next step.

While all of this was going on, Pat came by with Dolly to visit. As she left she took the cardboard boxes to be recycled in true Pat form! She is home from her trip home and we hope she will be able to join us again soon!

I heard someone calling me across the room quietly and I knew something was up! A couple of weavers (who will remain nameless) were gesturing for me to come to the back corner because Liz S. and Susan J. were under a loom doing a tie up! While we are in the back corner I can show you the warp on that loom. Liz S. is doing rep weave placemats in blue and white. She is having a little difficulty with shafts being slow to clear because of the very tight sett. We discussed it and we think that since this is an 8 shaft loom she could probably use shafts 5 and 6 as if they were shafts 1 and 2 to spread things out. I also have put in a set of lease sticks below the back beam to keep any thread tangles clear of the shafts. It may be she ends up rethreading before she goes much farther, having to clear the shed before you can pass the shuttle is so slow and even a little unpleasant!

Still in the back left corner, to the left of Liz's loom. Linda is making really good progress on her towel warp. She has used many different colors on a white warp.

Jenny has finished her hand dyed warp that is fabric for a garment! Jenny's loom is in front of Linda's loom.

On the Barn Frame Loom that is on permanant loan from the Museum of Appalachia that is across the street, Betsy is oh so close to being finished with her warp of wool that she is weaving for Laura to make a cape or poncho.

Hey friends, it is time for Show and Tell! Patty has been doing a lot of plainweave towels and she has brought in her latest finished project to show us.

Mark made good on his promise to make a hot mat from one of his end of warp weavings!