Our first Spring workshop was filled with yarny ideas into the woven Saori cloth. A good omen for the new season of weaving. I find that weaving interest is strongest in Winter, when we’re looking to keep warm and sometimes inside more, then waning towards Summer when the water, swimming and keeping cool is the priority. Then ramping up again when we get used to the heat of summer. Of course this isn’t the same for everyone…but just an observation.
I really like taking photos of the workshop participants because I think our faces are an important part of how we interact in the Saori style of weaving. I always ask that, in the event that a photo turns out well…it could end up here on my blog, and is that ok. So thank you to all who allow me to do this. I really do treasure the faces as portraits in time and in weaving together. I’ve come to think that the cloth is not a workable idea without our human faces connected to it all. Yes we can worry about our faces and I worry about mine, but aren’t we lucky to have one.
Katrina really had a full plus workshop load. Winding and beaming warps, weaving multiple cloths in distinctly different techniques and ideas and experimenting with different yarns. Katrina has had a Saori loom for many years and was looking to expand her repertoire of expression and capability.
Sandy and Carolyn are a mother / daughter team. It is the best when family teams arrive! They both worked solidly and quite differently in their approaches. I loved how Carolyn filled what I call ‘the void‘, i.e breaking out at the selvedge edge. She made it really interesting.
Sandy created enough fabric to make the simple cowl throw which is always a great first garment for those new to Saori weaving. The weekend can be quite busy and we try to fit in as much as possible which shows in all the completed woven textiles.
Katrina’s white weave 
Katrina’s reedless weave 
Katrina’s open weave 
Carolyn’s Saori project 
Carolyn’s weave in progress 
Sandy’s weave 
Sandy’s weave in progress 
Sandy’s Saori project
Many years ago I read that rolling off the fabric from the loom after weaving is completed, is a feeling like nothing else. The feeling that something is finished, the feeling that you’ll see what you’ve made and what it will look like it its totality. Obviously a grand, single minded statement that only a weaver can make, so I’ll make it here. I’ve captured this before and here is another capture of the moment with Katrina in the Workshop.
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