Frolicking

How my heart sings when I am back in the mountains.  So it was this past weekend when I had the opportunity to frolic with other spinners, knitters, felters and weavers and fiber artists of all kinds at the Carolina Fiber Frolic in Sapphire Valley, North Carolina.  

I was invited to teach some weaving classes on the rigid heddle loom by Frolic organizer Jan Smiley.  I was excited to share the idea of playful exploration on an affordable portable loom like the little Schacht Cricket loom I got last summer.  I made a Saori-inspired bag to carry my Cricket and lots of paraphernalia (tools, shuttles, yarns, etc) from my handspun alpaca yarns and fabric that my good friend Cathy Hill gave me a while ago.

Saori® Is a registered trademark for a Japanese company that makes very adaptable easy to use floor looms, but it has also become known as a philosophy for weaving freeform, Zen-like, textured and colorful designs on whatever loom you have available. I was excited to share my joy in weaving this Saori-inspired way.

Shortly after arriving after our 6 hour drive (the last hour happily winding back and forth and up and down through mountain roads in early early Spring) I settled down with my 3 eager students to learn how to warp their looms for the Sari-inspired Rigid Heddle Loom class I was facilitating the next day.  It's always a challenge finding places to attach the loom to a table (difficulty I I possible on a curve) and the peg 2+ yards away.  We managed to put a coffee table up on 4 rolling chairs to make it a more comfortable height for one weaver.! Fiber artists are nothing if resourceful!!!

Saturday morning at 9am after an early morning soak in the hot tub and delicious waffle breakfast... Our group of 9 weavers were ready to roll.  Some felt comfortable with being playful and experimental while others felt challenged to relax and explore, but by the end of the 3 hours, I was delighted to see everyone finding new ways to interlace weft with warp yarns to create unique one of a kind pieces.  It was delightful.  Several of us who had not scheduled an afternoon workshop met in the sunroom in the afternoon and 4 were able to finish weaving the length of their warps and excitedly pulled their creations off the loom and tied the ends.  What will they be... What will they be???

Each time I have the opportunity to teach I am made better for the experience. I absolutely love facilitating creative expression!  It reaches in and nourishes my soul!

Reunion of Fiber Guild of the Savannahs friends new and old... me, Sarah DeRoo (aka Copper Corgi), Fran Wilson (aka TallFran) and Jennifer Reardon