In the Good Old Summer Time

In the good old summer time fiber arts tend to take a back seat to gardening, vacations or guests. Spinning slows down and that big loom doesn't fit in your camper. We need little projects that can be completed with simple portable tools.

This is where knitting and crochet have the advantage. You can knit on the beach, at the campsite or in the back of a mobile home. Drop spindles also have their day when the nice weather draws us outside or away from home. It may be a slower but you can spin with a drop spindle anywhere. In this case slow and steady can still produce enough yarn for that fall project you have in mind.

Weavers have a slightly more difficult time keeping those fingers busy but there are always inkle looms or back strap looms to make bands for those bags you intend to make this winter. If you are travelling in a camper then you can alway find room for a small tapestry loom even a rigid heddle loom. The latter is very versatile and often neglected. Maybe the summer is the right time to become familiar with a rigid heddle loom. Our guild has one that members can have on loan.

If you need something even smaller try needle weaving on a cardboard loom.

I like to have small projects that can be completed while on a ferry. My needle woven bags are a "2 ferry ride" project. Half the project gets me to my destination and the other half gets me home again. For equipment, all I need is a piece of stiff cardboard wound with cotton yarn for warp, bits and bobs of material for a weft and a large bodkin.

You might also consider basketry if you are looking for a portable project. This pine needle coaster might just be the start of a pine needle basket or it can be complete as is.

Here is hoping that your fingers have been busy creating small masterpieces all summer. With that in mind, we are planning a show of minature fiber arts for the month of October. The show will take place at the Public Library in Parksville.

Show Off

Every artisan loves to show off their craft and we are no exception.
We must do a good job at it because we are frequently asked to demonstrate at various cultural events. This month we were the artisans in residence (for one day) at the McMillan Art Gallery. Here we are carding and spinning and weaving.

These demonstrations are a way to connect with people who have similar interests. These folks may have a latent desire to play with fiber so that they join our group. We always have at least one attendee who has a loom or a wheel or had a loom or a wheel or whose mother had a loom or a wheel.
We also get comments on our work. Every artisan needs to know that their work stimulated a response in someone. Often that response is surprise, surprise that someone could create yarn from a wide variety of fibers, surpise that someone could create cloth so fine and luxurious. An opportunity to discuss our work with an interested party is not to be turned down.

These events are also an opportunity to link the modern with the past. The process of turning fiber into cloth is an important part of our social history. It became an allegory for life itself and is immortalized in poems. It also impacted on language. Think of the word spinster and the connotation attached to it. It also has it's dark side as did so many cottage processes during the industrial revolution.

In our modern world of specialization and global interconnections we often have a disconnect between the products that we use and how they were created. Hopefully our demonstrations help people to understand the basic processes involving in creating cloth from a fiber source.
Our demonstrations always attract children. This time we introduced 3 "master weavers" (ages 4, 5 and 6 years) to the art of making cloth. They enthusiastically whacked the beater against the fell of the cloth and moved the shuttle with the weft back and forth through the shed. This is the cloth that they made.