OK so I lied. Its been over 2 years again since I left any bits of my wisdom here. Sometimes when you go so long without writing, so much happens that you are afraid to even start again because there is this big hole. Since this blog is about my weaving I will lay down what Ive been doing in that area of my life. As I look back at this I see I have mentioned 2 very old looms that I sort of rescued and refurbished. Both have new homes now I am happy to say. The really old one I sold to a fellow fiber guild member and did a house visit to help her warp it up the first time. The old steel frame one I tried to sell but ended up donating it to the 4 H and it is housed only a few blocks from my house at the County Extension Office. Strange how that happened. I was determined that I wouldn't get roped in to teaching classes and after it sat there for over a year I ended up going in and helping them get it warped up for runner width and enough warp to last them awhile. Well that was last year and they still haven't got anyone to weaving yet. But they have been super nice to house my extra house plants as we have been traveling a bit and they have nice windows and like having them. Just before Christmas this last year I was crazy enough to buy another big loom It has become a love/hate, relationship with that thing. At the time I didn't know that we would be spending so much time out of state at a vacation home we bought in January! So I just finished putting my second warp on it and this winter when I am home again I will try to find a buyer for it.
The other big thing is that I invested some money in my weaving studio and had my carpenter totally redo the bathroom. I always thought I would put a shower in it in case I wanted to convert it into a studio apartment. Well he put in a shower, and a high-rise toilet. We tore out the small kitchen cabinet and put cabinets all along that wall with new sink and faucets and a new water heater in the basement area. I got a small refrigerator and have a microwave and hot plate if I needed it. So no plans in the immediate future to convert the space to an apartment but the upgrades were a new investment. A couple years ago I had to put in a new Electric panel and breaker box. Moved it all to the outside of the building. So that up grade was good too. I never keep money from my rug sales for myself, it just goes in the bank and I use it to buy weaving "stuff" and pay utilities, taxes, and insurance.
There are a couple gals who are renting the old renovated dental building next to my place and they are very motivated to help keep our little town going. They have a little boutique. Also the gal who owns the quilt shop up the street opened a Mercantile Store adjoining to her quilt shop and it has all local vendors selling mostly all hand crafted items. So its been nice having a booth there and letting someone else do the selling. These 3 gals are always doing events to draw folks to this little town and when I can I get involved and do weaving demonstrations and sell a few rugs to boot. Win-Win.
So that pretty much catches me up on my weaving. I have slowed down on doing weaving classes and this last year it seems most of my weaving has been for consignments and that's a nice thing to be recognized enough that folks come to me.
I still have to much stock in my studio to get woven, and to many looms. Goal this next year to to definitely downsize some and NOT take in any more fiber for weaving. I WILL weave up the rag balls I have made and the selvage on hand already. And I WILL take more classes to expand my knowledge to weave things out of my comfort zone. This picture is my big skein of warp that I hand dyed after a class I took a couple years ago. I really want to get back to my basket full of cotton skeins I made up to dye.
