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Sunday, May 15, 2016

A MDSW adventure 2 years in the making

Erin standing out front of our former weaving studio.
...It only took two years for the blog to be updated.

In that two years, Erin has been having tons of fun exploring London, new weaving projects, new jobs, and new running adventures.

I've been having tons of fun spinning, knitting, rehabbing my horse, and having new riding adventures.

Unfortunately in fall of 2014, not long after Erin left for London, the Museum at which our Weaving Studio was housed underwent some renovations and our weaving space was no longer safe or appropriate for class. The program has been mothballed pending new space.


In the meanwhile, my big 4 shaft loom is in storage I've inherited a tiny table top 2 shaft loom which is the only way my weaving-urge gets satisfied.


A scarf being woven on my tiny tabletop counterbalance loom. Please ignore the threading error.

Erin's got her 8 shaft Leclerc Minerva with her in London and doing AMAZING things with it (more on that later.)
The amazing collapse weave scarf Erin Wove for me as a gift!!



I've started regularly rescuing wayward antique wheels and refurbishing them and then selling them on to new homes.



Until this past weekend, we haven't seen each other since her jaunt across the pond but we speak almost daily thanks to technology.

Somehow or another the Collins family managed to finagle a trip for Erin back to the States last weekend for the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival!!!

We made it through the entire weekend without any photos of us together (WTH?!) but it did happen!

Friday through Sunday we spent the entire weekend with fiber-friends and sheep and wheels and looms galore.

Sunday afternoon we stood and watched the Sheep-to-Shawl competition for a bit and Erin and I are both convinced we could totally win with the help of her fast weaving skills and my super-speedy antique Canadian Production Wheels (CPWs). She's now trying to devise a plan to rent a truck, locate a loom, and figure out how to get all of said accouterments to 2017 MDSW so our (currently imaginary) team can compete.

I shepherded four wheels back home to Tidewater Virginia. Two reproduction Estonian Saxony wheels- one for our beloved LYS owner  - and two antique wheels - a Super-Slanty and a Lateral Treadle.


Post-MDSW. My car packed with 2 antique wheels, 2 moderns, and our fiber-haul. Still room for suitcases and snacks. If you're thinking about buying a Scion, they have AMAZING storage capacity in the hatch!!
(Please disregard the remnants of hay bales. I didn't have time to vacuum the hatch. FYI you can fit 4 bales into a Scion) 
Sadly the lateral treadle has suffered greatly at the teeth of wood-worm. There are a few usable parts. But the future of this particular old gal will be as a pattern while I try my overly enthusiastic hand at wheel-making. The metal pieces will be reused in whatever wheel I create so they won't go to waste.

*shrug* Worst case scenario, I have really pretty fire-wood. Best case scenario, I end up with something that might actually spin! Either way, it will be a fun project and I'll learn something about myself and about the craft.

Hazel with her coned-yarn score from the
stash in the back of my car.
ITW "Odds and Ends" which I bought but
ended up going to London with Erin. 

I spent almost all of my MDSW fiber budget at the "Into the Whirled" booth. They're my absolute favorite fiber vendor / indie dyer and just all around nice folks.  They're products never fail to amaze me with consistent quality and color.

Almost every project I've made (spun, woven or knit) in the last year has had ITW fiber in it and I have zero regrets.

I also bought a beautiful wooden stick-shuttle to use on my table-top loom. The graining in the wood is delicious and the feel of the shuttle in my hand is perfect!

Erin and Hazel both got sent home with a ton of fiber from my stash so they could each weave something lovely.

This year's MDSW trip also included a visit from our dear friend Cathy who heads our Sister Guild in Nova Scotia. (Notes about All Things Canadian will be saved for another day.) Cathy and her partner in crime, Gillian, were down in the US at the same time as MDSW and after much cajoling, I convinced her to drive down for a day or two and join us in wool-land! I hope they had as much fun as we did.  They were both a delight and such wonderful folks.

Note: If you need a loom, go to Canada. They give them away. (Hopefully Cathy can blog about the resale value of looms in the US vs Nova Scotia.)


And HEY!!! PAY ATTENTION! Our amazing Erin won a pretty Ribbon in the MDSW Skein and Garment Competition!

Erin with her 2nd place ribbon at MDSW 2016. 

The same beautiful Collapse Weave scarf she wove for me as a gift won Second Place at MDSW and the judge said it was the best example of Collapse Weave she had ever seen. AMAZING!! I'm so honored to have learned from this wonderful weaver. 

Erin, can you tell us more about Collapse Weave and the project in general?  

It was absolutely a wonderful weekend though all together too short. Our time with each other is so precious now that we're so far away and I'm thankful for the jet-lag-inducing trip she took just for some fiber time (and friend time!) and to grace US soil again.

Come home soon, Erin! We've missed you!