Finding Balance

I can't believe that it's February all ready! The weather has been cold (for the South) and wet here in Savannah since I think... Thanksgiving! We're ready for steady days of sunshine and 60s or 70s again!

I've been working part-time at SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) since early November as a docent (part greeter, educator, school ambassador) in their galleries. Most weeks I've worked 2 full days and 2 half days. Though I love it... I'm hoping to cut back a bit -- to 2 full and maybe an occasional half day, as needed. I'm finding that though I am surrounded by world-class, inspiring artwork, I'm not finding the time to weave as much as I'd like. So... hopefully February will bring fewer hours of outside work... and more hours of weaving. Of course, when the weather changes... I'll want some beach time, too! Alas.. so many wants... it's just finding the right balance...

I'm in the process of warping my loom for a short kimono (haori) jacket for my former art teaching colleague, Peter. I'm using some Condon dark brown wool warp that my dear friend Cindy gave me many, many years ago. I have been using Fiberworks PCW version 4 - Bronze to create my draft. It's been very addictive playing around with the multitude of possibilities... and I think I've settled on a variation of point twills for 8 shafts. The CrossOver program that Syne suggested on Weavezine has allowed me to use this PC program on my Mac very successfully. I am just trying it out now... but think I'll have to purchase it as it's far too much fun! Anyway, I've wound the yarn from 8 skeins to balls and wound the 32" wide x 4 yards of warp sett at 10EPI and threaded it through my 10 dent reed and am ready to begin threading the pattern through the heddles. I'm hoping to get it done to take to him the end of February -- and yes, I know... February is the shortest month!

I finished my felted handspun slippers! I spun the yarn and skeined it many years ago - so long ago that I've forgotten when I did it (it's all about using the stash, right?) I had one skein of dark almost black and one of a medium multi-shaded gray natural wool plyed yarn. I found an adorable pattern on Ravelry called French Press Slippers and easily knit the bottoms of the dark yarn and the sides from the lighter yarn then stitched them together. But... they were humungous! I had added some rows for my extra large feet, but I think my gauge was off.

As I don't own my own washer, I used the condo's and unfortunately there were not enough controls... so they didn't felt very much. So.. I took to the bathroom sink... and hand felted them with some success. It took about 3 different sessions of about 30 minutes each of wringing and adding hot tap water and soap and scrubbing... but...they were still far too long. I then tried the condo's drier and I was getting closer, but they were still not right. I then came to the realization that the only way to make them fit was to take an inch out of the instep and then lace them back together.

The inspiration for lacing came from an exhbition of Contemporary Aftrican artwork in one of SCAD's galleries where I work. An artist by the name of Nicholas Hlobo does very unusual fiber pieces which combine cutting into paper and then lacing it back together (like in football stitches) with seam binding. He also uses rubber in his work. Here is a slideshow of his work.

Anyway... it worked and I now have comfy, warm felted wool slippers that fit beautifully. I stitched on some silver star-shaped earrings instead of buttons that were my mother's old clip ons... so I keep her memory close! (How wabi sabi!) I know these slippers will get lots of wear as they are just the right size now and keep my tootsies toastie.

Happy New Year!

I have lots of ideas bouncing around my head for projects for 2010! I can't wait to get started!

But first, I'd like to share some of what I have been doing since I last posted:

I completed colorful sweaters for my adorable grand-daughters -- Abby and Chelsea who live in the frozen Northeast! My LYS had a display of yummy colors of wool yarns that caught my eye. I decided to knit striped cardigans - in warm colors for Chelsea

and cool colors for Abby. I used a Lion Brand free pattern I found on-line as a starter and changed the stripes using Fibonacci's number sequences (1,1,2,3,5,8...) to create interesting stripe sequences. The challenge was to make the stripes match at the sleeves. I also decided to make the closure a separating jacket zipper instead of buttons. It was great to see the girls in their sweaters when we visited early in January!

While taking the train from Savannah to New York State I realized that I didn't have a hat to wear when we walked around New York City to the Museum of Modern Art. I had brought along several things to keep me busy including some 2 oz. of handspun singles I had spun at our January Spin In earlier that week. The fiber was delicious -- a combination of alpaca, milk, bamboo, bunny, and sparkle from Roo at Moonwood Farms. So I started my hat... and was pleased to finish it before we arrived in NY. (Of course, I stayed awake most of the night to finish it!) I must admit it came in handy keeping my head warm against the breezy cold air.

MoMA was marvelous! I wanted to see the exhibit of the Bauhaus Workshops that was going to end January 25th. It was all I had hoped for and more. Seeing Gunta Stolzl's African Chair up close, was thrilling as I had seen it in so many books I had researched while writing my book Woven: a Bauhaus Memoir about the Bauhaus weavers. There was a fascinating movie taken in the masters homes in Dessau during the Bauhaus years and Moholy Nagy's Light Space Modulator gracefully moved and cast wonderful reflections on the walls and ceilings as it did when I saw it several years ago at its home at Harvard's Busch Reisinger Museum. (His original film can be seen here.) The exhibit took me back to my trip to the Bauhaus sites in Germany where I had seen some of the pieces. The exhibit had so much MORE... and was displayed so beautifully. I was happy that I had ordered the book on the exhibit so that I could refer back to the experience as photos were not allowed. I spent some time in the hands on workshop where they had lots of texture materials available for participants to create their own tactile artwork based on Johannes Itten's classes from Vorkurs, or Preliminary Studies classes.

While in Albany, I completed a woven bag for my camera on a cardboard loom and have started to felt some handspun French Press slippers I knit from a pattern I bought through Ravelry. I used some of the yarns I'd dyed with Koolaid on beige wool which created muted colors. The tapestry design incorporates geometric designs and 2 shuttle columns.

I realize that I never posted the images of the scarves I created on a charcoal tencel warp that I mentioned in my last blog entry... Here goes:

handspun milk fiber, cotton and handspun silk weft

silk/cotton blend weft

silk/cotton blend weft

handspun white bombyx silk & sparkle novelty black weft

Mobus scarf of milk/cotton blend, silk/cotton blend & handspun bombyx silk weft