Saori !!!

I've found it... Wabi Sabi weaving!!!

As the new year approaches I've been reacquainting myself with something I learned when I was researching Wabi Sabi for my Japanese Fulbright Scholarship proposal. I've been bumping into it for the past 5 years... and finally I'm embracing it! The above scarf is my first Saori project -- woven with pure joy and freedom -- and not worrying about planning and complex weave structures. SAORI was developed by Misao Jo about 30 years ago when she was 57 year old. SA is from the Zen idea of everything having its own dignity and ORI is the Japanese word for weaving. Misao says, "It is this individuality that makes everything meaningful and the uniqueness of each thread that creates the tapestry of life."

The day after Christmas I decided that it was the perfect time to begin a new project, but for this one I didn't want to spend a lot of time planning. I wanted to weave something JUST FOR THE PURE JOY OF WEAVING!!! So I took out my trusty warping board and gathered yarns from my stash for warp -- some grey worsted weight wool, some charcoal boucle wool, some thin singles white wool and some black fine 5/2 cotton. I didn't want to measure... so I guess-timated about 6 yards picked up the grey wool and started winding... when I felt like it I stopped and changed to one of the others until I thought I'd probably have enough for a narrow scarf. It chained it off and sat down with a 10 dent reed and my threading hook and the newly wound warp and started thread in about the center - again not measuring - guess-timating! (LIBERATING!) I doubled the thinner yarns in the dents... and voila... it was 5 inches. Perfect! (But then it would have been perfect had it been 6 or 7 inches! - I didn't care - I was letting chance take care of it. It felt right - that was what was important!)

Once the reed was threaded I carried it to my 8 shaft Mighty Wolf and proceeded to thread the heddles on a straight twill on the front 4 shafts only. I dropped the cords from the threadles on either side of the center 4 treadles and threaded these four with a direct tie-up - 1st treadle to lift harness 1, 2nd treadle to lift harness 2, etc. It cleared my way to dance and play with the treadles in different combinations using both feet.

I have been spinning for about 35 years and weaving for over 32 years and I have quite a stash of handspun -- some 35 years old. When you spin your own yarn - each yarn has a story... you remember where you got the fibers, where you were when you spun it, etc., etc., etc. So I gathered together some of these really, really old - almost antique - handspuns to use as weft for my first SAORI scarf. I also included some luscious bright white alpaca roving that my oldest and dearest friend, Cathy has sent me as a surprise (with paisley fabric and some delicious rusty brown alpaca, too!)

I tied the warp to the front beam and was ready to start playing! I randomly broke of pieces of the handspun yarns that I knew who "go together(wool, alpaca, wool & mohair and the alpaca roving) ... and started to play and dance and have a blast! No stress or worries that I was treadling correctly or that the threading was correct. It didn't matter. FREEDOM! Sometimes I used plain weave treadling... sometimes twill... sometimes combinations... sometimes I started one color from one side, another from the other side, clasped them and returned... sometimes I would turn the yarn at the selvedge and return it in the same shed two or three times... sometimes I placed the roving in the shed. I did whatever I felt like doing in the moment with the amount of yarn I had broken off the ball. HOW LIBERATING!

When I had woven about 2.5 yard I cut it off the loom and tied the fringes. I washed the scarf with Pantene shampoo and cream rinse to soften it and hung it to dry. I'm really pleased with his piece and look forward to weavin the 2nd scarf on this warp of tones of whites in different handspun fibers.

I just ordered this book from the Worcester Massachusetts SAORI Center and have enjoyed reading Misao's philosophy as well as seeing the many patterns for handwoven Saori clothes that are incorporated in the back. You can order it

here

(scroll down the page to find it...)

Passages

Yesterday my father-in-law gently passed at the age of 93 - cogent to the end. A proud Swede, Hok was strong in a quiet, unassuming way. When he smiled, it made you smile, too! To hear him play his guitar while singing old folk songs, like Abdul a Bul Bul Ameer and Banks of the Ohio or his favorite Swedish songs, was pure delight. He loved to hear about his children, grand-children and great grand-children. Intelligent yet modest, Hok never intruded. He had a way of wandering away from the confusion of a party, a wedding or a graduation celebration and you could find him in a quiet place, maybe thumbing through a book he'd discovered. We'll miss the twinkle in his eye! I just couldn't let Hok slip away without some words of remembrance...

Study Group

Part of what is fun about being part of a guild is the opportunity to learn new things about your craft and to share with others. This year I have the honor of being co-president of the Fiber Guild of the Savannahs (yes, that is not a typo - savannahs are grassy plains in tropical and subtropical regions with few trees and what Savannah, GA was named for - thus the Savannahs refers to the surrounding area including the neighboring low country of South Carolina... PHEW! - I know, more information than you needed... sorry...)

In addition to our regular Fiber Guild of about 30 members, we have an active group of about half a dozen who meet twice a month to SPIN - the first Monday at downtown's Wild Fibres and the third Tuesday at Unwind in suburban Savannah. Several of us are also weavers and wanted to get a weaving group started. The idea of a study group evolved and last summer it was decided that we would set up enough warp for 6 hand towels with different weave structures and we would either move the looms from weaver to weaver or go to weave at the loom owners home to complete a hand towel from each weave structure.

My first study group towel was woven on an overshot draft warped by new weaver Anastasia on a directly tied up 4 shaft Dorset loom. I will take a photo my finished overshot towel and mount it soon.

Because I wove off the last of the warp it was my turn to thread it in a new pattern. I wanted to do a block weave on my 8 shaft loom but it is not very portable and the Dorset was open, so I designed a summer and winter striped warp that creates blocks as I weave. I ordered unmercerized 8/2 cotton from WEBS for both warp, pattern weft and tabby weft in natural, light green, dark green, dark brown and burgundy the colors of my living room, dining room, sunroom and kitchen. I have just started but have some photos to share and promise to add the finished towel soon.

I'm thankful...

I have to try to update more often. I have been busy creating... and searching for wabi sabi along the way... I'm so thankful for family and friends and having time to explore new things...

I often find it at the beach on Tybee Island... the shells that have been tossed and turned on many incoming and outgoing surfs loosing bits of themselves along the way... always fascinate me! I really am not attracted at all by the "perfect" ones... they have lots of tides to experience before I'll pick them up! And then there's beautiful historic downtown Savannah where you can find some wabi sabi images behind the storefronts!

I'm back working in the SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) galleries part-time. I love how it keeps me in touch with what's going on at this amazing art school. Since I've gotten back in the galleries mid-October... during SCAD's Savannah Film Festival we hosted several well-known personalities including Carson from Queer Eye and Hildi from Trading Spaces and John Gidding, from Curb Appeal, James Cromwell, the guy from Babe & 6 Ft Under and some producers and directors who were all very inspiring... especially John Gidding, who sat down with about 20 students after the panel discussion to ask for their ideas for a future home curb makeover. He's QUITE engaging!

SCAD also was very involved with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Savannah while it was in town last week. I had hoped to volunteer in some way, but they were inundated with over 1800 volunteers and really wanted SKILLED laborers the most. So... I went down to watch. Fascinating to see SO many workers in blue t-shirts busy, busy, busy. Someone referred to it as organized chaos. They demolished and rebuilt a beautiful home for a young couple with a handicapped child in 106 hours working non-stop!

Another interesting SCAD connection was hearing the children's book author/illustrator Peter Brown give a slide presentation to the students and a few of us old folk last week. He was quite interesting and gave a lot of insight into the industry. My out-of-town friend Dee sent me a copy of his book, the Curious Garden which was my favorite. Thank you Dee!

I finished a sweater on large needles - 10.5 - using yarns left over from my 2010 Vancouver Olympic inspired woven haori. After finishing socks on tiny needles this was a real treat!

Where did September go???

I cannot believe that it is October 1st! We've been back in Savannah since the middle of September and despite catching up with check-ups with a variety of doctors I've been able to complete the 2nd tabi sock and I started a cardigan using my leftover yarns from the Olympic Haori I created last spring. I'm lovin' knitting with these bulky yarns and size 15 needles after knitting the socks and a summer top on finer needles.

Isn't she adorable!!!

I'm so happy to report that our grand-daughter Maja is doing very, very well and is now a healthy 8lb 3oz after her early arrival in mid-August. Maja spent the first month of her life in the NIC unit at Brigham & Womens Hospital in Boston where her moms spent every possible moment with her until she was released on September 13. We were able to finally hold her when we stopped in Boston on the 10th! Oh... it felt great to finally have her in my arms. There's nothing like a grand-baby!!! Here's beautiful Maja wearing the sweater set I made for her this summer... The hat is already getting tight, but there's growing room in the sweater and her tootsies are warm and cozy in the booties!

Here are my tabi socks... they'll be great to keep my tootsies warm this winter. Even though it never gets as cold here in the South as the frozen Northeast... it does get nippy.

Two Weeks old Today!

Baby Maja is two weeks old. Unfortunately, she hasn't been able to come home to her beautiful bedroom that moms Laura and Kim created for her. Maja has had some trouble keeping her heart rate even and the doctors have decided to keep her in the NIC unit for a bit until it regulates. How hard! The moms visit for 4-5 hours twice a day and are able to feed and bathe and take care of her, but its just not the same.

I'm itching to get back to Boston to hold her! Hopefully we'll be there in a little over a week! And hopefully she will be home by then!!!

What can be more exciting...

Saturday afternoon at about 3:52 a new bundle of joy entered our lives at Brigham Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass. Our daughter Kim and her wife, Laura had a beautiful baby girl - 6 lb 2 oz and 18 inches, which is pretty big for a baby whose due date is in 3 1/2 weeks! Unfortunately Laura had to endure the entire labor and a couple of pushes... before the doctor decided that a C-section was in order.

Laura's parents Herb and Sherri and our youngest son, Kjell joined us visiting the new addition to our families in the Neonatal unit only a couple hours after delivery. Mom Laura was still in recovery so we weren't able to see her.

We had to wait until Sunday during visitors hours (1-8pm) to find out what the new moms were naming their adorable little girl. Her name is Maja Rakel. (my-ah, raquel) She's still in the Neonatal ICU because her breathing is a little fast. The doctor's have assured the moms that it is just to be safe. The hardest part is that Laura and Kim haven't had a chance to hold their daughter yet! But Mom Laura is up and walking around and getting stronger each day. She should go home on Wed and Maja will follow a day or so after. (another really hard thing!)

We feel so blessed to have this beautiful new baby in our family -- our miracle baby!!!