stoneleafmoon

Art Yarn, Revisited

2011-03-07T09:47:00.007-05:00

The question of the week seems to be, "Can one make art yarn with spindles?" My response takes up more than a couple of sentences, so I'm posting here where I can wander a bit.

If you want a simple answer, that answer is yes. You can leave now to continue your stumbling in the dark. If you'd like to explore a bit deeper, read on and/or continue searching within yourself for the aspects of you that generated the question.

Here's a way that I start to think about the question...

First - if you are wondering if something can be done, why isn't your response to simply try and then observe the results. If you have asked a question, doesn't it seem that there is desire to know/explore an area? If you asked the question in a public forum and people responded, no it can't be done, would you not bother to try? Why would you accept someone else's answers?

In an area such as spinning, it's not like there are huge mistakes that can be made (these days.) No one will die if you try to spin a yarn and it doesn't work out the way you envisioned. You don't have to make a huge financial investment to try spinning what you're thinking about. You invest your time and then you know whether it can be done by you (at this time) or if you need more knowledge and/or need to find a teacher.

My second thought is - do you know what you are actually asking about? "Can one make art yarn with spindles?" What does the term "art yarn" mean to you? How do you define the term? I ask, because I have never seen a definition that satisfies me, that differentiates "yarn" and "art yarn" in any meaningful way. (I have written about this topic before.) Is there a reason for making these distinctions? For me there isn't. Often, calling one's yarn an "art yarn" seems to be done to cater to those who have a superficial understanding of creating/spinning in the hopes of making more money from the product and/or purporting to have a level of experience that one might not actually have.

I would say that I can make all kinds of yarns on spindles and wheels and I also teach others to do so. Candace Crockett, Mabel Ross and Diane Varney have all written excellent books on spinning and have shown techniques for manipulating fibers in creative ways. One can adapt these techniques for use with spindles and wheels.

These techniques are kind of a paint by number approach. After learning technique - what to do with your hands and what to do with the fibers and tools - what's next? Maybe one continues to refine technique, seeing how these techniques play out using different fibers, creating different weight yarns. This, in itself, could occupy a lifetime's worth of fun and experimenting. There are so many variations on types of yarn that can be created that one could be amused forever.

Depending on personality, needs, desires, technique explorations might be enough for an individual. For others, maybe one starts to be entranced by a different aspect - the expressive potential of spun fibers, an exploration of the extremes - how far can one push a technique or quality? Maybe beauty, ugliness, the embodying of the sensual play a role in developing one's yarns. Maybe portraying that which is beyond words is attractive to an individual. (And much much more...)

If one is attracted to any of the aspects mentioned in the previous paragraph, there are ways of interacting with them. One can look outside to what others have done. Why anyone would emulate or try to copy other peoples expressions is beyond me. Each of us has our own song, and singing anothers song, appropriating their work, can lead one away from one's self. If one wants to live on the surface of life and/or is happy to try to live someone else's life other than her/his own, maybe it will be a sufficient amusement.

Another way is to create from one's deep self, from one's experience of being on the Earth in this, our individual body in this time/space. That goes far beyond technique, and is an interaction that can tap into the most sacred of spaces, into all that humanity has explored and is currently exploring - experiences that fuel our most important human stories, our interactions with all the spirits of the Earth and our souls. One can learn so much by creating in this way, by allowing experiences to manifest themselves in spun fiber, to allow this fiber to be a holder of knowledge and energy.

Can the above be taught? I think that if that is the way one lives one's life, seeing each task and day as potentially sacred, the yarns that one creates will be a reflection of this. A teacher can help you to access these places in yourself, can point out some things that you might not have noticed and the possible significance for you.

shifting sands!

2010-11-11T15:12:00.005-05:00

i've moved - i live in a place where there's sand, not dirt, more water than land. the winds are relentless, the smells, sounds and visuals offer me so much beauty and inspiration - i hope i never forget to be grateful for all that i'm able to experience here in manomet. i'll post some photos of my travels/walks here while i continue to talk about spinning and art over here :)

Extend the Summer - Get to Maine + Fiber College!

2010-08-25T11:24:00.011-04:00

That's the way it seems to me when I go to the classes and wander the grounds of Fiber College - hanging out at the ocean, spinning outside with others, enjoying a camp style dinner with lots of people who've been busy learning and playing with fibers all day.

I'm teaching "Spinning Silk on Spindles" and another workshop on Nature as Fiber Inspiration - "The Textility of Fiber College". These are both early morning classes - the silk class is on Saturday, 9.11.10 and the nature + fiber class is taught on Sunday, 9.12.10. Plenty of other classes to attend or just go kayaking, walk the grounds, talk to the people offering goodies for sale.

The nature and fiber workshop came about because I wanted to more consciously observe the environment when at Fiber College. Because there is so much to do, it was often a blur when I went home - I found that when I slowed down, took some mental/sensory notes, I had even more to nurture my creativity later in the year.

So treat yourself - if you're anywhere in New England or can get there from where you are, go. You will have a storehouse of knowledge and experience to interest you through the winter!

So what's with the term "Art Yarn"?

2010-06-07T19:32:00.008-04:00

Art Yarns/Slightly edited from a talk I was asked to give to a spinning guild a couple of years ago.

OK, so what is “art yarn”? As I mentioned earlier, I think it’s a loaded phrase. I don’t generally use the term. I don't really see the point of these categories and pigeon holes in life or yarn.

There doesn’t seem to be a consensus among spinners of the definition. Many who spin say they "know them when they see them.” What they are NOT, though, is beginner yarns or mistake yarns, (although I think beginners can also make boundary expanding yarn.)

The “Art Yarn” term has been used in a few different ways.

1. To describe yarn that didn’t turn out the way one expected—“mistake yarn”. It’s sometimes used to make newer spinners feel good about their yarn. Often, people seem to imply that those making some of the wilder yarns don’t have the skills to make “traditional” yarns, which is usually not the case.

2. Yarn that incorporates a lot of doodads, "less traditional" materials—sometimes it’s implied by critics that the yarn is less good, because, in their eyes, it can’t be used. Of course, people do use it for any number of things. Sometimes, these yarns require a very creative approach to working with them. If one knows only how to follow patterns, it might be a challenge to imagine how to use them. (A number of books exist that show you how to create with a pattern free/yarn specific approach.)

Here’s how I would distinguish the term—it’s yarn that is created intentionally, with a knowledge of what fibers can do and the desire to expand the visual, tactile, and sculptural capacities of yarn. It’s yarn that comes from life experience and is transformed into a physical form. It can be pure art, to exist on its own and/or can be transformed again by someone who uses it to weave, knit, crochet, net with—the possibilities are endless. (And I think it's also often created in a "no intention"/play state of mind.)

As far as I can tell, there’s always been yarn that expanded upon the possibilities of a simple single. Maybe the first “art yarn” was born when some Neolithic spinner saw a slub in her yarn and said, “Screw it—I like it!”. There are beautiful examples of inventiveness from the Incas. They incorporated feathers into their yarns and designed some yarns so that certain decorative effects would occur when they were plaited. In earlier times, there was much greater variety of yarn created than is created in current times. Weavers demanded them!

A number of spinning books from the the 70’s in the U.S. show examples of experimental yarns, addressing the idea that spinning for any length of time would lead one to ask “what if…"? So, in some ways, these yarns that are perceived as less traditional could be seen as belonging to a long tradition.

Many online fora allow opportunities for creating variety in yarns. Over the past 7 - 8 years, you’d have been able to find a lot of experimenting in the following: Live Journal—Fiber Friday community, Crafster forums, The Yarn Museum, Etsy forums and lately, Ravelry. A number of these groups use themes and games to encourage play. Some take off points have been creatures from popular culture, people and cultures from the past, books. So the idea would be to spin your version of Dr. Seuss, your secret crush, the word “celestial”, the idea of a shipwreck, Madonna, Africa...

My personal themes and inspirations have been things like imaginary creatures, spirituality, and films. Sometimes I’ve just wanted to express joy or anger, make a yarn portrait of one of my cats or I’m attracted to a certain fiber and want to see what will happen to it if I spin it in a new way.

Some sources for inspiring materials: fiber festivals, online retailers, thrift shops, antique shows, button and fabric shops.

Some techniques to play with: plying, wrapping, coils, boucle, adding beads, combining materials, multiple plies, corespinning, made up/in the moment techniques.

Some sources to work off of: colors (they can provoke such emotional responses), personal interests, landscape, anything that engages ANY of your senses. What is experimental and inspiring to YOU? Working with different fibers, trying a new technique, portray something in a yarn...

Considerations: it might be helpful to NOT think of the use to which a yarn will be put, maybe think less about the structural integrity of a yarn while in experimental phase. Keep an open mind and create with a sense of play.

Capacities of wheels—orifices and hooks can be considerations. But you can be plenty experimental on any wheel! You might have to be a bit more patient to deal with hooks. Spindles have fewer limitations as far as orifice and hooks. Work within your own wheel’s capacity to experiment. Yarns needn’t be spun, but can be created in many other ways.

Finishing yarns: I like to make yarns that will withstand most uses I’ll put them to. I skein, wash and store them as any other yarn I make.

My hope is that we can allow all kinds of yarns to be and that we can appreciate them for whatever qualities they have. And we can appreciate the makers of all the various kinds of yarn, too!

Originally given as talk to spinners who were curious about "art yarns". Posting this now because of some recent discussions with other spinners~

not machine readable

2010-06-04T08:32:00.010-04:00

Meg initiated a project where we'd pick out some pictures, send them to another and then they'd weave something in response.

Rose in NZ sent me pictures of some scenes from her country, a barcode image and a menu card with foods listed by color. I must tell you that my initial reaction was to want to tear up the pictures. The barcode made me particularly furious. It reminded me of so many dull weaving shows I've been to that make me say to myself - why are these people doing this???

Weaving is so alive and yet there is such a staid aspect to so much of what's shown. So technically competent and yet so stuck in the mud. There, I've said it. Apologies to so many who continue to explore and innovate.

I was intrigued by the photo of nubbly gray rocks (?) - I was reminded of a yarn that I had around. (It's from Italy.) I still wanted to tear up the barcode, symbol of standardization and capitulation to the bottom line. Oh good, as usual, my anger was fueling my creativity :)

So anyway, frame loom, some handspun yarn from what's left in the drum carder (shown on spindle, at top), some Habu yarns, stripey ribbon - all just a bit off center. Shown in lots of orientations, cuz I like to mix it up. Windows to let light in. Added another piece at an end, woven free loom style. I see the photos reflected, I see my responses. Glad to have been able to consider all that I did while in process of working with it.

I sometimes surprise myself with the strong feelings I have about textiles, weaving, spinning. When I've been in an environment or with people who are open minded and expansive, I am happy that creativity will continue to flourish. When I run into people who forcefully assert that there is one way to do things, try to limit creativity and expression, try to exercise their power to have weaving/textile shows reflect their outlook, well, then I just want to shake free of all that...

Well, humor usually helps lighten my mood if I start to get too serious about an issue - start taking it too personally. So in that vein, I like this artist's (Scott Blake) take on the barcode - you can generate one for your own self here.
A long time ago, when I was slumming in the illustration/design world, a few people finally realized that even barcodes didn't have to be "standard". Some are here and here. But make no mistake, they're still barcodes - I am not fooled by their fluffy personality.

OK, I think I will go smash a loom now :)

Thanks, Rose and Meg.
::Saying a silent prayer that the formatting on this post even slightly resembles what I'm looking at before it's posted::

ETA: giving up on trying to make this look good for now.

Spinning Classes + more

2010-04-05T08:47:00.010-04:00

A few classes that I'm teaching. (grrr...my website can't be updated at the moment, so I'm telling you here).

Art on a Stick/Art Yarns
(For beginners and advanced - you'll learn to spin yarn and this class will have an experimental focus/outlook. You can keep it simple or get as crazy as you want.)
Learn to spin funky, artful yarns on a spindle. Start with spindle basics, then explore different fibers and how they can be used to create offbeat yarns. If you have tried spindles before, try them again in a playful environment with an artist who has created yarns of every imaginable type.
Sunday, 1–5pm, April 11, 2010 (at The Eliot School, Boston, MA)
Register here
Note: Please register by 3PM, Friday April 9.
The Eliot School doesn't handle registrations after that point. If you want to register after that time, either email me (lindaATstoneleafmoon.com) or just show up, prepared to pay for class (cash or money order).

Crazy Quilts
For ages, people have combined leftover fabrics into crazy quilts, making beautiful assemblages embellished with embroidery. In this workshop, you will complete either a ten-inch square that you can incorporate into a larger quilt at home or a small child-size quilt.
(taught at The Eliot School, Boston, MA)
2 Sundays, 1–5pm, April 25 & May 2, 2010
Register here

9.11.10 Spinning Silk On Spindles
open to beginners and advanced
9.12.10 The Textility of The Fiber College Environs
Details on the above classes soon - they will be held at Fiber College in Maine, USA

The Milkweed Project

2010-01-21T10:47:00.005-05:00

Shan Bryan-Hanson conceived The Milkweed Project. She wrote, "The Milkweed Project is a collaborative art project that will culminate in a giant art installation that will create, for visitors, the feeling of being inside a Milkweed Pod (as I imagine it to be)."

She opened it to those who wanted to knit/crochet elements of the work. She will gather the elements and make an installation. From Shan's site: "...The project also explores our interdependence with nature. Milkweed pods are a small but important part of the ecosystem. They spread because of the light nature of their seeds, which are carried by the wind. By using the internet as the wind, and each participant as a new plant, this project attempts to mimic that process. " I was most intrigued by her idea of using the internet as wind. I like the thoughtform of bending technology and shaping it into a new natural element.

I played with the idea a bit over the summer, and asked one of my classes at Fiber College to consider creating work to submit. I hope they did! (ETA: I see that one of my class participants, Jackie Fee, did send in work. Well done!)

I will look forward to Shan's gathering and coordinating the work of many to create a new vision for all of these elements - all these explorations by individuals who took time out of their lives to consider how shades of white could be bent/stitched into shapes that were open, closed, tight, loose, straight, curved, hard, soft...enjoy the pieces by other participants here.

the nesting project

2010-01-13T11:53:00.003-05:00

if there is a bit extra this week, consider bidding (thru 1.14.10) on a nest to raise money for some who have been without homes. i want to be living in a world where we are all cared for and have our own nests, sanctuaries.

(the navigation at the nesting site is a bit wonky - to see images of all nests after the first page, one must click on "previous page".) lots of beautiful and imaginative interpretations there...

spindles and textiles, oh yeah!

2009-12-12T02:28:00.004-05:00

well, no secret that i love textiles and textile tools. my calendar arrived today, and i love it - if you feel like checking it out, it's here.

i picked out the wrong calendar last year - couldn't find the buddhist icon one that i usually purchase, so picked up one that i thought i'd like. seems like a small thing, but the photographs of blue heelers - much as i like those dogs - just wasn't the right thing to look at day after day. i wanted to see images that i really liked, so this year it'll be all spindles, all the time.

(holiday) gifts of learning

2009-12-03T08:49:00.005-05:00

I love sharing my interests, and teaching is one way to do that. When people get together over shared enthusiasms and start to play and experiment, I can pretty much guarantee that it's going to be a great day.

On that note, if you or someone you know is interested in learning, I'm teaching a couple of spinning workshops and one crazy quilt session in Boston this Spring. If you want to give someone a gift certificate for the classes, email me (stoneleafmoonATgmail.com), and I'll send a nice card to let them know about your gift. If you want to register, you can find links below. Thanks!

Workshops:
Beginning spinning on spindles
Sunday, 1–5pm, March 28, 2010 (at The Eliot School, Boston/JP)/register

Art on a Stick/Art Yarns
This one is all about creating experimental yarns, using spindles to do so.
Sunday, 1–5pm, April 11, 2010 (at The Eliot School, Boston/JP)/

Crazy Quilts
2 Sundays, 1–5pm, April 25 & May 2, 2010
(at The Eliot School, Boston/JP)/register

the shire

2009-11-03T07:52:00.003-05:00

peter and i were exploring unknown territories last weekend, and came upon the shire. what a find, if you love bookstores, comfy spaces and tumbling into burrows/smials where time ceases to exist...exquisite, and we'll go back and sip tea among the stacks of books later in the winter...

when we were leaving, jean gave us a beautiful garlic wand to "ward off vampires". (it was halloween...) i told her i'd include it in a weaving. so yesterday, i explored my own little shire and had a beautiful day of gathering plants in all stages of gorgeousness. sun and wind were my companions and helped me pick out the perfect weft...thank you jean!

play

2009-10-28T12:08:00.006-04:00

This was something I wrote a while back...and today seemed like a good time to share it :)

Play

The very word "spinning" embodies fun, doesn't it? Add whorl/whirl, and the idea is magnified further. So playing and games, it would seem, are central to spinning. In making yarns off the beaten path, play is a good place to start. New spinners as well as spinners who've refined their skills to make the fine yarns that they require for their particular needs both ask in workshops, "Can I use anything in a yarn?"

Why not! So where to begin? Some possible starting points:
1. Release preconceptions about what "yarn" is.
2. Let go of ideas about "use", if only temporarily.
3. Adopt an exploratory mode/attitude.

If it's too challenging to do all of the above, try thinking of soup. Soup can be hot, cold, meatless, creamy, thick with veggies - you get the idea. In the kitchen, there are no restrictions. In play, it's more fun when restrictions are loosened. It's easier to let the rules relax a bit when one wants to create something new or unexpected and it's also easier to create freely when one relaxes the rules.

Next, you are going in search of ingredients. No toy store, notions counter or grocery aisle is safe. You will look with new eyes upon cones of thrift store thread, spices from the Indian grocery store, most anything with a hole in it (for stringing), and anything that's even vaguely pliable. Search out the exotic, the "unsuitable" and "ruined" fibers at festivals for the purposes of experimentation.

You will bring your treasures back to your wheel and spindle and begin to play. What if I made a yarn that is a self - portrait, a yarn that could take over the world, a yarn that was a poem?

What unique combination of fibers could I card, what string could I wrap, ply or use as a base? What elements from my treasure hunt will help me express my vision? So what if nobody else ever made a yarn like this? So what if I can't imagine knitting, crocheting or weaving with it? Maybe somebody else can! Perhaps it stands alone as art. Maybe it will turn out to be a pet...

If you want to try plying with fourteen threads, adding crocheted flowers, felt strips, plastic toys or tomatoes, let no one else tell you that you can't. Be your own guide. This is your own spinning laboratory.

If you want to learn the basics of spinning before you delve into the unknown, have patience and search out accurate information. Test it - see if it works for you. If you prefer to dive in and start experimenting with artistic interpretations of yarn, do that. If you tune into your own intuition and pay attention, you will learn how to create yarns that teach you all that you're trying to learn, including techniques known or perhaps unimagined before you thought of them.

Following your sense of curiosity and creative hunches, you will keep your spinning heart (and spinning as an art) alive and you will grace the world with expressions of your time on earth.

copyright Linda Scharf 2009

More Fiber College

2009-09-18T22:33:00.005-04:00

a fortuitous sign...a spider has spun her beautiful web just outside my classroom door~
we offer our own tributes...
i can't figure this format out tonite, so enjoy more images here!

Fiber College, Part 1

2009-09-14T15:06:00.010-04:00

I've had the most wonderful past few days, teaching and relaxing in Maine...I was able to have classes outside, wander around by myself and generally just BE. Many thanks to Astrig and her crew for organizing everything so well, to class participants who gave their all and kept open minds and to Nature for offering so much beauty to me. After I chill a bit, I'll write more, but here's a taste of what I experienced...

Fiber College, Sept 10 - 13, 2009

2009-08-30T10:07:00.009-04:00

The best school to go back to - Fiber College, in Searsport, Maine! I'll be teaching there again this year, and Astrig and her crew have a staggeringly wonderful lineup of classes. You can take one or a few or just come by to wander around for a bit and pick up something nice from one of the fibery vendors.

On Thursday, I'm teaching
Spinning Out There
Thursday: 9 A.M.- 4 P.M. and on Saturday, I'm teaching
Textile Process/A Fiber Gumbo
Saturday: 12:30 P.M.- 3:30 P.M.

You've got here, there and "Out There". That's where outrageous and evocative yarns come from, and we'll have a whole day to spend there! Yow! You will create yarns that come from the depths of your being and learn to access those places on a regular basis. These are not recipes to be duplicated - this is work that is created from Sacred Play and that utilize dreams and visions unique to you and your experience on this Earth. Your wheels and spindles might catch fire :)

And then, stick around for the Saturday class - Textile Process, where we'll play with all varieties of fiber manipulation. We're inviting all kinds of textile lovers to indulge in a steamy session of creation. Whether you spin, quilt, sew or glue, we'll dig into a million different ways to create poetry out of our materials. It'll be short and intense and it will just be a starting point for you to easily continue at home, because you'll have set a course for the new work that you will explore over the next year. Come and be inspirited.

The classes that I've enjoyed the most are those which give me a glowing ember to take home - something that is so alive that it far outlives the class time. It's often something that was unvoiced in me - something that I wanted to do/create, but I hadn't taken the time to engage in a dialogue with it. Sometimes I'm introduced to something that is totally new to me, or a challenging variation of what I know. In either case, I am refreshed and recharged. I hope you will come and check out a class or two at Fiber College, so that you might also offer your beauty and knowledge and essence to the environment. Looking forward to meeting you~

Do check out The Fiber College blog for a glimpse into the instructors' minds, vendor hours and whatever else Astrig thinks is essential. Oh, Astrig is the beautiful fairy you will see darting around the grounds making sure that everybody knows where to go for the fun...

Weaving with Bears

2009-04-10T13:43:00.026-04:00

I am spending way too much time thinking about bears. There are warnings everywhere I look - in the dining room, on the insides of rest room doors and at the entrances to the houses/dorms at Peters Valley Craft Center in New Jersey on the east coast of the United States.

I am here in the lush Delaware Water Valley Gap in late August 2008, along with eight other women to study with Takako Ueki, proprietor of Habu - temple of gorgeous yarn. She is teaching "Weaving Light and Air Between Threads", and we want to spend five days weaving these very fine threads, reeling silk, and making yarn from ramie fiber. Truthfully, we'd probably sign up for any course Ms. Ueki offered!

The areas where we live for the week are houses from an older era and scattered in a little woodsy village. "Woodsy" is the part that some of my attention goes to more than I'd like. I am no stranger to animals or forest, but in Boston I don't have to think about bears much, in fact, not at all because I'm not a hockey fan. (Boston Bruins...) It's a fifteen to twenty minute walk from my dorm to the dining hall. I sing, I jingle keys, I talk loudly to myself - I've heard that these sounds will let the bears know I'm around and keep them away. I'm pretty sure my singing, all by itself, will keep them away.

My house/classmates, Judith and Sharon, have come from Chicago and California. We share a love of weaving, Habu yarns and a healthy respect for bears. Other classmates are from Pennsylvania, Texas, and nearby New Jersey towns.

The first thing that one sees upon entering the weaving studio is Takako Ueki setting out her array of Habu yarns and garments made from them. We all have our Habu stories - we describe our first and subsequent visits to the beautiful little yarn shrine on 135th Street in NYC or offer a description of a textile conference where we've encountered those tasty little spools of silk and every other fiber.

The stories have an air of intrigue and mystery usually reserved for talk of legends and wonderful monsters that guard treasures - the ones that lurk in the liminal area just out of the presence of humans - Loch Ness, Yeti, The Sirens, Habu Yarns. In the stories, one usually has to travel through a hell, in this case, a part played by New York City - and one arrives at a building that could not possibly house the wondrous Habu. Driven by our quest to see the yarns in person, we persevere. We can't believe that going up in this elevator in this dusty old building will lead us to the treasure we seek. Puzzled, still, when we get off the elevator, we look at the little piece of paper with Habu's address, all the while believing we must've made a mistake - this couldn't possibly be where Habu is...then a door, and opening it, we are rewarded with a little glimpse into yarn heaven, Habu's showroom, with subtly colored weavings and baskets of little yarn packages. We've made it!

But back at the weaving studio, Takako is taking us on another journey. She shows us yarns made from silk at its various stages, pineapple fibers, paper yarns, yarns made from old fishing nets, yarn that includes the little furry fiber from fiddlehead ferns, and on and on. She has fine reeds from Japan and fabrics made from some of the fibers she's brought. We are all happily sated and there's a pleasant anticipation when she shows us the hand tied ramie we'll be making, the silk cocoons from which she'll show us how to reel silk and the spools of fine 21 denier silk we'll use in our weaving. It's all inspirational - she has worked her spell!

Making Hand Tied Ramie

We'll be making our own ramie thread, also called karamushi, to use in our weavings. Ramie, a bast fiber of the (non - stinging) nettle family, has a unique look when made into yarn. Japanese farmers used to make it during the winter when farming was not possible. Today, Niigata in Japan is still famous for this product, and it is woven to make fine kimono.

Takako shows us the plant, ready for us to split. She has soaked small bundles in water to make it easy to handle and turn into yarn. We pull it apart into long strings, as finely as we can get them and make a little pile. Working against a black cloth so that we can see the fibers, we roll the ends together to create a continuous thread. Takako has given us little plastic buckets, into which we loosely pile our thread. To pass the time, she suggests we relate ghost stories, and many do, allowing us to slip into a kind of timelessness. How nice to slow down the pace and think of a time when people could sit together for hours, making yarn. (The stories give me plenty to think about on my way back to the dorm with my little flashlight on the dark road through the forest!) When Takako decides we've made enough ramie, she leads us out of our little cocoon to explore the world of silk reeling.

In another room, water has been boiling on a hot plate, into which Takako has dropped some cocoons. She'll demonstrate how to reel the silk from them, using a little brush to gather the silk from the cocoons. When she first stirs the cocoons, a thick fiber emanates which she noted is also made into a yarn called kibiso, a beautiful rough silk. As that fiber diminishes, the finer silk is able to be drawn out and Takako reels it onto a spool, called an itomaki, which fits onto the zakuri, the little silk reeling tool/machine.

We take turns reeling the filaments into our hands and onto the reeling fiber. Takako makes it look easy, and I am surprised that the boiling water doesn't cool down much by the time it reaches my hand! After awhile, the filaments get much finer and more fragile, and I start reeling this silk directly onto a bobbin. It is very restful and pleasant work.

Warping Our Looms

The weaving studio has Macomber looms of varying sizes. I chose a small floor loom that reminds me of the two harness loom I have at home. We are each given two spools of 21 denier silk which Takako tells us to try not to see, but feel. It's pretty much invisible, like fine spider webs and it floats. Feeling for it is a good way to locate it.

She helps us all, individually, to wind the thread on our warping boards, doing much of the math for us and figuring where the lease and raddle crosses will be. We tape up brown paper behind the boards so that we can see the difference between thread and white wall.

Holding two threads together, we follow her instructions to create our warp. We are very quiet while we count or mark numbers on a paper to keep track of how many times we wind our threads around the pegs.

This has gotten serious. If we hadn't thought of it before, we think of it now; this is going to take a very long time to weave. We've only got a couple more days here! Claire, the studio assistant from Ireland, assures us that she'll come back after dinners so we can weave until 10 or 11 PM. (Takako also came back to the studio most nights, so there was little need to rush anything.)

We all have different looms and Takako expertly makes adjustments in warps to accommodate each of us. She repeats her instructions many times so there is little room for error. She shows us all the steps and has us perform them so that we'll be able to recreate the process on our own looms at home. Music, laughter, conversation and some cursing is the background to our carefully threading the heddles. Then our reeds are sleyed with 8 threads in each slot, and waste yarn is woven on to spread the threads evenly. We'll all be doing plain weave.

Now we can pick some beautiful Habu threads to weave, along with our reeled silk and hand tied ramie. Up to this point, all of our warps have a very similar appearance. They're gorgeous - about 4 inches wide, a swathe of fine white silk threads. Now, let the variety begin!

I want to try the warp thread as weft, some ramie and other Habu yarns that strike my fancy, have some fun and just play with the threads as I go along. I wind threads onto bobbins and commence. Takako has brought in narrow shuttles that will easily slide through the shed.

We all have a different aesthetic and level of weaving ability, so wandering around the room, we see a great range of what can be done with our fine narrow warp. Some work quickly, some encounter difficulties, and we can learn from all of it as Takako floats around and fixes loom problems, addresses threads that have broken, frustrations that have arisen. Her humor and suggestion that "Sometimes we just need to go the bushes" (to scream and cry) keep us all willing to persevere.

When Takako has finished helping us all, she wanders among the rooms, doing her best imitation of a bear lumbering around, just looking for something to do. "I feel like a bear", she says. We all laugh at how our bear talks have influenced her. That doesn't last for long, as we all come up with something with which she can help. A few people cut off warps, started over, dealt with various loom difficulties. Throughout, Takako was so helpful and encouraging, allowing us all to come up with something that pleased us. She gave us the skills and experience to attempt similar weaving at home.

On the last late night of the class, we heard that a bear had been sighted "down by the river". Beth, one of my classmates, had mentioned in one of our many bear discussions, that she'd been advised by a "bear expert" that when confronted directly with one, to punch it in the nose. That conversation had made me, again, start imagining, a little too vividly, standing very close to a bear. Of course, if I'd actually gotten to that point, I'd either already have surprised a bear or not sung badly enough to keep the bear away. Still, I found it hard to keep from thinking about the details of a bear encounter. Would it be on two legs or four? Would I really have the presence of mind to back away slowly? Would it be day or night, and how would that affect the situation? Would I have my trusty flashlight?

I was glad to have had the weaving as a distraction to all my thinking about bears. All those fine threads - just barely there...

*Please note that there are way more bears in my imagination than, perhaps, the whole of New Jersey.

ugly beauty

2009-02-11T12:50:00.004-05:00

i was reading an article about a tribe of reindeer herders (contemporary). there was a description (by an outsider) that stuck with me. it was very cold...a woman from the tribe was sleeping on a dirt floor, and she pulled a stillborn reindeer that was in her hut into her bed with her to keep her warm. ugly beauty...that's how this batt + yarn were born.

twists + turns

2009-01-15T15:30:00.002-05:00

just grateful...for life + to life!

progress/process

2008-12-01T15:49:00.002-05:00

i recently spun a yarn that reminds me of an older yarn. they are both silk, although different kinds. silk is just my favorite fiber to spin and do anything else with, for that matter. i have loved learning more about silk...when i look at the two, i can see how much more i trust myself.
silk from a couple of years ago is on the bottom, newer one at top.

fiber + string

2008-08-20T16:03:00.004-04:00

some close-ups of navajo churro. the wool from these sheep is just so gorgeous. that is all :)

i was taking a qigong class and wandering around on my lunchbreak...ran into these little red beauties.

i've noticed that, lately, i'm not feeling "wordy" but i always feel like showing images. i'm always seeing, so i'll do that for a bit.

god of flowers

2008-06-17T11:12:00.007-04:00

In every heart there is a coward and a procrastinator.
In every heart there is a god of flowers, just waiting
to come out of its cloud and lift its wings.
- mary oliver from "the kookaburras"

well, i guess mine came out of its cloud for a bit :)
because i don't post much, you might not realize i've been offline for over 2 weeks. i usually comment more in friends journals and communities. i just suddenly lost all desire to be in internet land, and at the same time, i was filled with the energy and desire to recompose aspects of my life. mostly re-arranging, discarding, focusing on what's important to me. very fruitful time!!! so i'll dip into your journals and communities to see what's been happening, and slowly start to update my sites. see you! :)

to maryland!

2008-05-01T00:23:00.002-04:00

maryland sheep + wool festival! leaving early thursday and returning to boston on monday. say hi if you see me!

celebration

2008-04-23T15:43:00.001-04:00

i am grateful for my life. everyday there is a festival celebration in the temple :)

i love fiber!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-04-17T12:36:00.003-04:00

thank you fiber farmers for staying in business thru these hard times, when everybody's planting corn instead of hay for your animals. thank you for offering your gorgeous animals' sheared coats for sale. you make me happy!

Intertwined: An appreciation

2008-04-03T10:15:00.002-04:00

Intertwined, by Lexi Boeger AKA Pluckyfluff
An appreciation

This is a book for all who love beauty and life! Start off with the physical aspects: it's a book that just makes you want to pick it up and see what's inside. The cover photographs, the book packaging, the typography! That luscious strip of dusty raspberry over on the left, the surprise of that deep wine endpaper. All gorgeous and intriguing.

The thrill continues as you open it and realize that it contains TONS of color photographs of handspun yarn and projects made from handspun! Oh joy :) I am torn between wanting to rampage through the book and gobble up the pictures or be surprised as I studiously go through the book page by page. I can't stop myself...I must see at least a quick glimpse of the yarns! Ah...sated somewhat my brain settles down and will allow me to check the table of contents.

Hmm...The art of handspun yarn, modern patterns and creative spinning says the subtitle. The chapter titles travel from Lexi's thoughts on inspiration, excerpts from her journal, to talk about patterns and spinning. Along the way, there are close up shots of yarn, writing by others engaged in spinning and working with yarn, technique talk and a sprinkling of philosophical musings. This is Lexi's book, and she has generously made a space within it for many people to collaborate. It is rich with the stuff of today. Internet journal excerpts from the recent past make the reader aware that this book was written NOW. One reads between the lines to realize that many of the conversations that happen among spinners and yarn workers occur online among people who've only communicated by email.

There is a lot of humor in this book. I don't think it was just my interpretation: I love how the photographs show the hair and attitude of the models reflected in the knitted, crocheted and woven objects. For example, look at the cover, with the woman's curly ringlet hair is echoed in the subtle curls of the gorgeous scarf she's wearing. I saw this throughout the book, and the repetition of the hair/yarn theme amused me as kind of a subtext. Or maybe I've read too much Roland Barthes :)

Back to the book! If you've been puzzled by a technique, there may be a take off point for you here. There are tons of step by step kinds of things with excellent diagrams for creating yarns. You will no doubt, be inspired to move beyond the recipe and improvise your own exotic creations. Lexi has been experimenting and creating yarns for quite a few years, and has introduced many to the idea of crafting their own damn yarn!

If you don't make yarn, but prefer to work with handspun, you will probably gain insights on how to approach knitting, crochet, weaving and more with a playful attitude that really allows handspun to shine on its own or in combination with commercially produced yarn. Really, I don't think, after reading this book, that anyone will ever again say, "How do I use handspun yarn?".

Intertwined is a modern classic, and you will keep finding new things in it every time you pick it up. So I hope you do "Pick it up!". Thanks to Lexi for taking time out of her life to share her thoughts and yarns with those of us who love her work and those who will come to know it through Intertwined!
#

fiber everywhere

2008-03-10T00:11:00.002-04:00

thanks to my generous fiber loving friends, i now have a bit more...gillian sent softsoft wonderful stuff (at top) along with a gorgeous assortment of things she knew i'd love. (she was a most awesome swap partner recently!) thanks again, g!! check her photography and more at spunbunny! and lynn/yarnwench also surprised me with some of her stupendous dyed locks and a pretty necklace and card. wow, you guys rock :)

and peter gave me something i've been eyeing for awhile. a spinner's share in a csa/at the martha's vineyard fiber farm. the $ suppports the feeding and care of their fiber animals and shareholders are given wool, mohair fleece or yarn for their part in helping support the farm. check them out and there's info on purchasing shares there, too.
these were birthday presents, btw. g included the 25th year celebration release of music from blade runner, one of my most favorite movies. but it seems like i just saw that movie for the first time? how could it have been 25 years ago????

cashmere vs. mere cash

2008-01-11T17:09:00.000-05:00

or...i could be here awhile!

a couple of things stand out to me this week. one is that i'm doing my usual schizo spinning. i spin some big mufti skein, and then...whoa, i'm spinning something that has about 5 bazillion yards in a skein.
and the other thing, also curiously involving the bobbin of white-ish stuff, is that, while spinning it, there is something that i see out of the corner of my eye: a spool of thread purchased recently. (note tag) now the bobbin i'm spinning has silk noil, mongolian lambswool/silk, cashmere, silk/cashmere mix, tussah silk and alpaca, and has taken many hours. the "final sale $1.50" tag keeps niggling at me. does anybody know what goes into this spinning thing?

kaknitting

2007-10-23T12:00:00.001-04:00

sometimes, things DO get done :) i actually knit something for myself from my handspun. and if we weren't having 70 degree weather in october, i'd probably be wearing it...

the thin spin

2007-05-16T13:38:00.000-04:00

i know, i know :) i fell in love with the color at maryland sheep + wool. so i decided to spin it as is, adding nothing. i occasionally like these forays into the world of tiny yarn, and then i usually have to spin something about as thick as my finger...so i think there's about 5 million yards on here so far, and the bobbin's not filled. guess i'll keep going!

yarn appreciation

2006-12-20T18:17:00.000-05:00

i like my little yarns, so i'm thinking of posting an older one every now + then to sort of fondle it with my eyes. someone else bought this set and i never got to see (at least, yet!) what, if anything, they turned it into...we get kind of attached to these creations, especially if we were trying to accomplish something with them, learn a new technique, say something.

for anybody who doesn't know, this is yarn. they are created from fibers such as wool, linen, silk, and spun on a spinning wheel to create a continuous length. just as people have been doing for zillions of years. and so much string has disappeared that we don't always realize how much cultures communicated with and via string. but i think we know it in our bones, at least women do.

some good things to look at

2006-12-07T14:52:00.000-05:00

i have been meaning to mention a couple of neat sites. one is this great reference for all things sheep !

another is the fiber femmes online newsletter, a different perspective on spinning, often written from the perspective of the people who raise animals.

and last, please check out all the images here at the yarn museum, and submit submit, submit!!! thanks!

rhinebeck 2006

2006-10-23T13:53:00.000-04:00

it was a perfect day for rhinebecking :) i actually ran into a few people on my bingo card and had planned to catch them all at cara's 1PM blogger meetup, but when i finally asked about the time, i was told it was 2:30!!! oh well, it looked like everyone was having fun times.

i was very glad to meet my internet buddy, lynn and her family, also known as the yarnwench. what a sweetie!!! and i also picked up a few goodies, including some beautifully dyed mohair locks. on to more good times...hope you're all having great days!

rhinebeck bingo help

2006-10-20T09:11:00.000-04:00

i'm posting a photo so you can i.d. me at rhinebeck if i'm on your bingo card. i'll be with peter . i've tried to check out everybody's blog who is on my card. nice to read about other lives + discover new people!
i'll be there on saturday, probably fondling fibers, just like you :) hope you say hi if we meet up!

new camera/old camera pix

2006-10-20T08:29:00.000-04:00

spammer creeps

2006-10-20T08:05:00.000-04:00

so sorry to add moderation to comments, but spammers have found this blog :(

colors + soul satisfying stuff

2006-10-12T12:54:00.000-04:00

it's so great to be able to connect with so many people over fiber. i love the fact that i can obtain fibers from all over the world, and work with them in the comfort of my own home. small thing, perhaps, but i am very grateful!

colors are like food for me. i think of my eyes as eating color i guess :) to be able to speak with color as luscious language...there have been times in my life when just the thought of two colors together sustained me. i'm glad there's more that gives me joy now, but there was that time...

i was looking at typefaces yesterday and was reminded of an older life where i created art based on a designer's or art director's request. and i was speaking to a designer who felt the life being crushed out of him because a client was taking all the fun out of his design for a website. i was just struck with how happy i am to be able to create yarn and hats and whatnots that have only to please me. that they please others is nice too, but just being able to have absolute freedom of expression is one soul satisfying thought.

i hope that everyone gets to experience that about at least one thing in their life, whether it's cooking a meal, creating a garden, or arranging the contents of one's home/room in just the way she wants it.

i am camera

2006-10-06T09:13:00.000-04:00

festivals!!!
i really love walking around and fondling all the wool and fibers at these places...i wish i had discovered them earlier in my life!

at the maine common ground fair this year, i purchased this great felted yarn from Susanne Grosjean.

isn't it a luscious color and SOOOOOO soft!!! i'm always trying like heck to felt my yarn, because i really love the way it feels. (i know i could probably do it in a washing machine, but i don't have one...) so if you accidently felt your yarn, why don't you let me know~i'd probably like it!

and i'm planning to go to rhinebeck on saturday, the 21st, and i'm playing le beengo rhinebeck. maybe we'll see each other there? (i'll be the one fondling the felted yarn...)

bobbin shots!

2006-09-21T13:11:00.000-04:00

reallyreally thin yarn and kind of thick (but not so thick) yarn spinning. each fiber that i spin with talks. (probably does for you. too?) this one, a particularly luscious shade of green~like sage or lichens~said why don't ya try it both ways?

i notice i usually spin in extremes anyway;from something pretty wild, i often go to something very calm. how balanced of me ;) maybe real life will follow suit someday...

mittens/finished

2006-09-08T19:18:00.000-04:00

wanna see what everybody did for bitchin mittens? lots of nice experiments!

here is a picture of peter wearing my submission (thanx guy, i know you just woke up!)

and a closeup of one. the brown was some great raw silk from habu that falls into a million pieces if you touch it. it is so weirdly wonderful.

off to vermont sheep + wool fest tomorrow am, and i hope to return with pictures. hope you're all enjoying the moment :)

BlogDay2006

2006-08-31T09:44:00.001-04:00

earlier this month, i attended this event on citzen journalism. there, i discovered global voices online, which led me to lots of other interesting sites around the world. since i was a child i thought that if everyone could understand each others' languages, we could have peace. that was really what i cared (and still care!!) about most. so i love what gvo does: they translate bloggers around the world and offer it up in a well organized package. so since they reminded me about blog day, i wanted to make sure you knew about them first.

how challenging to list only 5 blogs today! but here goes...if you get a chance to check them out you will be rewarded :)

a true crochet nut and a wonderful person, gina renay
read about the kurdish in turkey here
read about iranian women's rights at this blog
from my sister spinner in vermont, usa, pippikneesocks
and read a tribute to fela kuti here

if you also like to read about what's happening in countries around the world, you also might like interlocals, which is another translated site.

and, just because i always like to have pix in my posts, here's a yarn dedicated to ornette coleman!

nipples galore!

2006-08-16T13:34:00.000-04:00

remember the nipple project from a few posts ago? well, there is now a gallery with two pages of nipples! it is really quite nice! lots of variety. peruse!

hands in action

2006-07-26T10:07:00.000-04:00

so, if you do an "~along", i think you're supposed to sort of have "progress" reports, right? as i mentioned a few posts ago, i'm doing the mitten a~long with the other bitchin mitten peeps...

i was moved to start a few weeks ago. peter doesn't usually mention world news specifics to me (i don't watch tv) but that night, he couldn't help himself: israel, big dig tunnel disaster, the list went on. my hands wanted to do something, to either comfort, change, somehow affect what was clearly a troubled state of affairs...i wanted to create some sacred mittens in a sacred space. mittens created in such a space would help bring more peace, balance and light into the world. this was my thought that night, and for a little while, there did exist a quality of peace in my world. did you feel it? or do i have to crochet louder? :)

a social being?

2006-06-23T11:03:00.000-04:00

not one to hang out with other humans most of the time, i find my latest social/spinning/crochet engagement shocking. i am giving some prizes to the nyc spinout, which will be held in central park tomorrow (june 24). i may even attend :) the event sounds like fun and also raises $ for heifer international. if you're feeling flush, you can donate thru june 30 to this good cause at the link above.

and THEN, i've finished crocheting a nipple for the nipple project.
it's not too late - you can still send them your's til july 31!

at the top of the page, there's the yarn i started with, handspun by me, COILY!!! beneath that are versions of the crocheted nipple, top and side views. they will join lots of other hand crafted nipples to be joined into one big nipple artpiece. can't wait to see the whole thing assembled :)

and i'm crocheting (for my amusement) some kind of mitten project for another group.
found out about that from my friend ms. pippi's blog
will show pix in time...

spinning kid

2006-05-23T14:16:00.000-04:00

peter's 13 year old son was visiting on the weekend. he asked me if i'd show him how to spin on the wheel! i was kind of surprised because it seems like he likes to spend most of his spare time playing video games or games on his cell phone. but he really took to it. it was hard for me to show him when i wasn't sitting in the seat, feeling things. but he worked it out by himself: he noticed how to get the wheel to spin consistently in the same direction and how the tension knob worked. if he decides to do it again, i bet he pulls it all together. photo shows what he spun.

how'd this yarn get made?

2006-04-04T16:38:00.000-04:00

i saw that some people were discussing my yarns on a yahoo site. someone wanted to know how a certain yarn was made - they were not asking me! i wonder why they didn't just come to the source of it, instead of just speculating...

but how do yarns get made? i know color is one of my main starting points. i am so curious about what certain colors will look like in combination with other colors. and texture, of course. probably why so many of us make yarn - color and texture. yarns seem like painting and sculpture combined, and lend themselves to any of the same treatments/explorations as painting/sculpture.

also, i love to push the boundaries of what a yarn is/can be. so it is a great way to explore, perhaps my most favorite reason to exist: exploration for it's own sake. satisfying my curiosity...

spinning bouclé...

2006-02-15T11:11:00.000-05:00

i up and joined my local spinning guild. (boston area spinners and dyers) meetings are closer to where i've just moved, so i thought i'd give it a try. Barbara Clorite was teaching how to spin bouclé, according to the method she learned from Judith MacKenzie-McCuin.

i had not been a fan of the bouclé. i made a sample in class: see image, excuse thread choices :)

i want to like it, (the technique) for some reason. it seems like it has such potential for being crazy. i will experiment some more, but it was nice to take a lesson in how to create it.

and here's an article i wrote for supernaturale exploring contemporary crochet. it has lots of links to people playing around with crochet, if you feel like exploring.

new world disorder

2006-01-26T19:45:00.000-05:00

i've been moving from one town to another. nothing like packing and unpacking fiber to give a person a fresh perspective on color. my fiber storage has not been an orderly affair; packages were brought in and squeezed in where they'd fit. i'd notice things, though, in the disorderliness - how this color would look up against that, how this texture could be interesting with another...and now i have a new disorder.

i have read that the early american settlers had a quota; each family had to spin 30 pounds of thread. according to the book, "magical needlework", the penalties were severe for not producing said thread. so "unmarried relatives" were often brought in to spin. (i wondered to myself if the relatives were male and female...) that's a lot of thread.

so is there a connection between the two above paragraphs? in moving, i haven't been able to spin, and i missed it. i'm back now and on my way to the next 30 pounds of yarn/thread. in new color combinations, no doubt. :)

crochet + enlightenment

2005-11-16T15:36:00.000-05:00

i've run into a story about 5 times in the last month. it's the one about a woman attending a lecture by Ram Dass who keeps nodding in agreement at all of his comments. at the end, he asks her how she knows so much about all these "far out" things he's discussing. and she responds (usually told as, "whispers conspiratorally"), "i crochet".

the story usually is repeated as "a little old lady with a hat that has cherries bobbling on it". but i just can't make myself repeat stuff like that, for, i hope, obvious reasons.

i just had to find out whether there was any truth to this story, so i called Ram Dass's secretary, M... she actually researched the question before she called me back to say that, yes, it's one of his favorite stories and has been captured on tape in at least two instances. the researcher in me is satisfied.

hello

2005-10-22T10:35:00.000-04:00

by way of introduction, here is a yarn i spun a while ago. i think it will be crocheted into something, unless it is busy being someone's pet.