Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Card Weaving and more in New Jersey

I had the pleasure of teaching at the Jockey Hollow Weavers Guild last week.  It was a great group of people, and they were quick!  I had never seen so many beautiful selvedges from people who hadn't card woven before.  And my threading (Z vs S) discussion which usually takes at least an hour, they had in minutes.

My rapt audience
Why yes, I do wear what I weave.
Then I got to spend the weekend with Daryl Lancaster before having to head home.  She is an incredible fiber artist and fashion guru.  She has won awards at lots of venues for her hand woven garments she's constructed.  I know that when given the option of going into the city (that would be NYC), or staying at home and playing in her studio the logical choice would be to head to Manhattan, but I've taken classes with Daryl.  I know what is in her head, and I know I want more of it in my head, so I opted to stay and play in the studio.  She gave me some invaluable advice on deconstructing sewn items to see just how they were created.  Sewing really gives me a headache however.  I understand when I see someone do it, but the order in which you do things is very counterintuitive, and the three dimensional aspects of it are all backwards and inside out.

Daryl demonstrating some sewing.
As payment for my Saturday fun, I offered to help her demonstrate at Peters Valley.  A really funky once abandoned town that has become an art education center.  Daryl is doing a fiber boot camp in July and a garment construction class in August so we toted a piece of just about every corner of her studio and her closet out there.  It was loads of fun meeting lots of people whose eyes just bugged out when Daryl would politely offer that yes that beautiful multi-hued jacket used to be cones of white yarn.

Table setup for demos at Peters Valley
And then there were the puppies who kept me company all weekend.  I fell in love with these two Norwegian Elkhounds.
Bjorn and Sophera
Thanks Daryl for an incredible weekend!

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