Off Again, On Again

A couple of weeks ago I had to leave the Weaving Center early, and they sent me a picture of Pat and her helpers taking rugs off of the old Barn Loom.

Last week, Pat began winding the warp onto the old warp beam and today she is tying the warp onto the front apron and she will be weaving before lunch.

Linda was absent the day I would have done her interview and she reminded me of that fact when I was taking the picture of a new warp on her loom. So I asked her how she found the Weaving Center. She told me that one year she went to the Foothills Guilds Fall Craft Show and bought some placemats for gifts and for herself. She got to looking at the placemats and decided it would be a fun thing to learn how to do that herself, so she started taking the classes and like so many others, they just can't get rid of her!

Samantha too had been absent the week I interviewed the table loom crew. I found out today that Samantha grew up right down the street in Norris and she remembers coming to the Center with her Mom when it was across the street, and she remembers using the outhouse! Samantha is going to be weaving runners with bits of lace and plainweave.

Paul is checking and rechecking the threading on his project. Last week he thought it was all good to go, but found that there was an error somewhere in the threading, so out it all came to try again. (Pearl is photo bombing!)

Week by week there are finished projects coming off of the looms and new projects being planned, wound and loaded onto the looms. Thanks for checking the blog out today, we appreciate the company. Tina, for all!

I Think That's Everyone......Oh Wait!

There are just a few more Weavers for me to interview. Let's start with Dana, she isn't actually a student yet, but once Carol gets back from her annual Canadian trip you can be sure Dana is signed up and ready to roll! Dana has a friend named Jenny who is one of our weavers already! They got talking at a recent gathering and Jenny told Dana that she should come to the Center and learn to weave! She already has a rigid heddle and in fact she wove some towels on it and brought them in to show us how she did!

Next up is Liz who is weaving fabric for bowl cozies on a small Leclerc loom. Liz was a teacher and she was interested in weaving, and did a google search and found us. With her working schedule it wasn't possible for her to come until she retired.

I told you about Pearl and her tipped over loom last week. This week I get to show you the pictures!

Then I was looking around to see if I had missed anybody and I thought I had everyone, then someone (Pearl or Shannon I think) said, "What about you!" So I handed the camera to Shannon for her to take a picture of me at my loom, which is a Leclerc 45 inch 4 harness/6treadle Jack loom. I am weaving placemats and runners using a Barley corn draft. I came to the Center in 2001, after my husband saw a very small add in the newspaper and he thought I might be interested. My Mom had called from California not long before that and we were chatting away, when she asked me if I would be interested in a floor loom. I responded that I wouldn't know what to do with one, but sure! On my next trip to Calif we packed the loom and shipped it to me here in TN. By the time it got here I had a rudimentary idea of how it should all work, and I am still here 22years later, they just can't get rid of me!

One last thing, this weekend we said goodbye to our own dear LouAnn. It was a beautiful service and you could hear her planning throughout. I enjoyed the solemnity and yet the lightheartedness of the service, and also the pianist was superb weaving in some Star Wars melodies amongst the more traditional tunes. LouAnn will be missed by us all.....

Until next time, Tina for all

All Topsy Turvy and a Screw Loose

I walked into the Weaving Center to find one loom tipped over with a couple of weavers underneath working on correcting a tie up, and another loom literaly had a screw loose! Both looms I am happy to say have successfully survived the ordeal!

Today, I am going to take you through the Weavers and looms that are along the left hand side of the studio. First up for today we have Joycelyn who is weaving a shawl on a Leclerc loom. Joycelyn had always been interested in weaving and had known for some time that the Craft Center was there, but hadn't contected the two until her daughter, who already was a Weaver, came to visit and bought a loom but couldn't take it back home with her! So she left it at Joycelyn's barn for months! It was she who encouraged Joycelyn to come take lessons. She loves it so much she plans to never stop!

Next up is Lou ann, who is weaving towels on her loom. She has wanted to weave since her college days, but didn't get started until she retired. She went online and did a google search and found 2 places in the area, and she chose us and hasn't looked back!

Marilyn is going to weave placemats on her little schacht loom. Marilyn heard about the weaving Center from a friend who knew a friend who wove at the Center.

Pearl is weaving towels on her Schacht loom, and it was her loom that was all topsy turvy dealing with the tie up. I was waiting for her to weave a bit more so that I could show you the transformation of the pattern with the change in the tie up, but I had to leave early today, I'll try to remember to snap one next week. Pearl came to us in an interesting way, she first helped her friend Peggy's Husband by her a rigid heddle loom for her birthday. Soon afterwards Peggy bought Pearl one. Peggy then signed up for the Weaving classes and Pearl soon followed. We had an active show and tell after lunch today, Jenny was thrilled when she figured out how to weave 2 different patterns for her shawls on the same warp!

Then Mark wove a baby blanket for an upcoming granddaughter,(Congrats!) and a scarf from the stash we have from Sharon's house.

Shannon made a pillow out of fabric woven on an Antique Barn loom in a 3 harness design. She also wove a houndstooth scarf.

Betsy brought in a scarf that she wove with the stash from Sharon's house as well.

Then Marie showed us a few pieces of weaving that she had found in Sharon's house as they have been cleaning it out to ready it for sale.

Patty also brought in some lovely scarves that she had woven at home, I think she said that they were bamboo!

All in all it has been a busy day, and I was worried I wouldn't know what to post about! Tina, for all