I've been thinkin, and I had an IDEA!

Whenever LouAnn walked into the Weaving Center with a poster board or some paper under her arm or a a larger bag than ususal, we all exchanged glances. What has she come up with now!!! It could be anything, it could be a sign up sheet for the Fall show or a new layout for the booth. It could even be a simple plan for when to have our random potluck lunches. (In case you want to know, it is whenever there is a 5th Tuesday in a month! Brilliant!) More than likely however, it would be some "Challenge", Spring challenge, Summer challenge, Fall challenge, Winter challenge, Christmas challenge, Easter challenge or 4th of July challenge, you get the idea. (We would all groan and roll our eyes, but go along with it!) Over the years we have done them all! Whatever Challenge it was, it would mean that there was less yarn in the annex, we would have more products for the shop upstairs or for the Fall show, and more than likely we would all have learned a new skill or two. LouAnn was also the champion of 8/4 cotton,(she refused to call it carpet warp!) She came up with ways to use 8/4 that I would never have thought of. She made the usual tote bags, inkle bands and rugs, but she also made hats and hand towels with good ole 8/4 as well! She was so in love with 8/4 cotton that she put it on the really old Rocker Beater floor loom at the Museum of Appalachia, which is a stones throw from the Weaving Center.

For for the last 15 years or so, all Spring, Summer and Fall the 2 of us would do demonstrations a couple of time a month at the Museum for both school children and adults. Many years there were 3 or 4 day events that took all the strength we had just to get throught them. (Homecoming and the days of the Pioneers come to mind) She would be in a tiny cabin called the "Loom Room" showing people how the old Rocker Beater loom worked, (she always had her teaching hat on of course) and I would be just across the way on the porch of the Peters Cabin showing people how yarn was made by hand, we made a good team. We would lunch together behind the "Loom Room", laying back on the grass to rest and watching the Peacocks and Peahens with their chicks.

As I am writing this post, my dear friend is slipping away and by the time you read this, she will have left this world for a better one. Dear LouAnn, treasure/junk seeking companion, road trip partner, personal seamstress, confidant and friend, life will not be the same without you, I miss you already! Lots of love, Tina