Carolina Fiber and Fiction 1st Annual Holiday Loom Crawl

The end of the fall weaving classes proved to be the mitigating factor in the diagnosis of "advanced studio withdrawal" in both the instructors and the students. The condition was worsened by "separation anxiety".
We had been together, 3 days a week for the past threes months,  weaving, laughing and sharing our thoughts on everything from fiber selection to loom acquisition, we needed a remedy...
Thus the annual event, henceforth deemed "DA LOOM CRAWL" , was born.
 The event took place on Dec. 21st and included visits to 4 student studios. The plans took on Darwinian proportions. "We would be crazy to go up to Providence and not visit fiber Xanadu (Peter Patchis Yarns)."Sooo, the scheduling began.
First stop, meet at the Octagon House...we all patted our looms,  professed our undying gratitude to John Quinn who gave us this opportunity and agreed January 4th isn't "all that far away"
Next off to Laura Rieger's new studio, equipped with a newly acquired mighty wolf loom. Her "wolf" is upstairs but her 4 four lovable "dogs" stole the show downstairs. There is something about the fiber and fur connection. It seems that fiber fanatics have this affinity for warm and fuzzy. If we are not spinning or weaving,  we are petting.
And to complete this weaving "F" connection trilogy , FOOD.  We all indulged in gooey stollen, gingerbread flavored coffee and fresh pineapple. "Fiber, fur and food", a great tattoo for the bat wing upper arms of aging weavers.
In a moment that mimicked a melding of Oprah Winfrey and every cheesy infomercial you have ever seen, Ellen presented her show and  tell; a hair twister that would lessen the number of  cases of carpal tunnel syndrome from fringe twisting. After her hilarious double entendre laced demonstration of the device, she proclaimed in her best "Oprah-esque" manner, "and everyone gets one."
Leaving Laura's was not easy. Her glowing wood stove and our cold butts seem to create a magnetic draw that was difficult to break.
The departure from her driveway must have looked like the Ballet Russe had been  taken over by vehicles and choreographed by the three stooges. After a short Chinese fire drill we were off to the next stop at Anna's.
Now, Anna has forethought...there was sign. But,  Anna is a young woman who remembers everything. Her charm is reflected in her studio. Art books everywhere. Even the birds come to visit. She shared her portfolio of weaving from FIT and presented us all with gripper socks to keep our toes warm at the Octagon House.
Anna is a bit of an engineer. Her loom was a "rescue". She refitted and saved the Nilus leclerc from a surefire kindling fate.
Her first design on the "revamped" was a triumph. The random dented over sized black and taupe linen scarf is just beautiful.
Did I mention Anna's Mom came along?......she spent a day of heavy indoctrination. We need her to join us, we all recognized the weaver in her."
Just when we thought that we couldn't have any more fun, we were off to Deb's
Deb is akin to that last thread woven on a cloth. When it's not there, the whole thing falls apart.
We were all anxious to see "IT". It is a 20 harness ginormous macomber loom Deb adopted from Daisy Williams, a noted Providence weaver. No one was disappointed. Deb explained how the loom was completely disassembled and rebuilt in her "loom" room. She shared the 20 harness weaving that she wove as a first project and explained how she managed to raise all those harnesses as she wove. Remember Edith Ann on Laugh-in?
And we all met the famous "Monty". In this case the full Monty is a 30lb kitty with a deep culinary respect, "if it can be eaten, he will." Monty allowed us all to rub his belly and tell him how beautiful he is; and he is!
Deb has this wonderful open space room where you can weave, eat and look out over her backyard. And we ate, alright.  There are few pure truths in life...but...."There is no better pasta salad than Deb's", hands down (well, forks, up). We ate are fill and then some.
Then it was time to make the "pilgrimage" to Mecca, (aka Peter Patchis)
Funny how we never need anything when we go there, but leave with green garbage bags of necessities.
The last stop was Sarah's studio above the Cafe Noir in Providence. The upstairs space that over looks the old Fain building and the only National Park in RI and is painted the best green color I've seen. Good thing, because our little envious green faces faded to the background. What a great studio space. Her looms are a legacy from her mom who wove on a Varpapuu Finnish counterbalance loom and macomber jack. Sarah shared her soft woven runners and the rug she had woven as first project on the Varpapuu. There is nothing like hand spun yarn and we all did a little "touch" therapy with the yarns that were spun from family sheep.
Speaking of animals....next to Sarah's studio on the sidewalk is a full sized Holstein cow sculpture...with a bar attached. A final last stop on any crawl! We all imbibed, laughed and agreed this crawl was the first of many.
I left the city  thinking that my view of psych therapy has once again been proven true.  Who needs over educated bald men suggesting that we (woman) are just depressed. No amount of counseling, group or otherwise can ever replace the feelings of contentment, may I even say "happiness", that a group of smart, funny, sincere and warm women can offer each other.
Merry Christmas, and may you all be as happy as I am today and as blessed as I am to have so many sisters of the soul
Jan

Winter Session Classes Begin on January 4

There is still time to sign up for weaving, writing and spinning classes. But, they are filling quickly!

Special Saturday Afternoons

Carolina Fiber and Fiction will be offering
Special Fiber and Weaving Workshops on Saturday afternoons from 1-3:30PM
Each class is a hands-on experience loaded with information
$20.00
Contact vavlkyrie@cox.net for further information

RIGID HEDDLE SUPPORT
Last Saturday in Jan, Feb, Mar, April and May
(stop by and have your rigid heddle weaving questions answered or get help with projects)

BASIC WEAVING DRAFTING
January 22
(learn to read drafts, do drawdowns, recognize weave structures)

COLOR THEORY BASICS FOR FIBER ARTISTS
Febuary 19
(learn the language of color and how to utilize established color pallettes)


WARP PLANNING WITH WATERCOLOR PAINTS
Sharon Northy shares her color planning techniques..
March 12

WARP PLANNING WITH COLOR WRAPPINGS
(bring your scrap yarns and learn to create pleasing colorways inspired by your favorite artists' works)
March 19

DESIGNING WITH BLOCKS
(all about block theory and block substitution, design a profile draft and substitute your favorite weave structure)
April 23

FIBER ANALYSIS.......CSI CAROLINA
May 21
(Cloth Structure Investigation)(hands on dissection of a fabric sample, a fun and easy way to
Identify weave structure and record the draft)

Welcome to the historic Octagon House and the Carolina Fiber and Fiction Center!