News

  • Natural Dye Workshop

    We have been talking about having a natural dye workshop for quite a while.  I love the natural dyes although Peggy is happier with the acid and fiber reactive dyes.  It's great that we cover all the bases between us.  The Tall Pines Spinning & Weaving Guild, located in North Houston, asked us to put on the natural dye workshop for their members this spring.   I had told Gloria Chuckman, president of Tall Pines, that I thought 10 would be our maximum number of attendees.  We ended up having five, plus Peggy and I, and that turned out to be the perfect number.  Any more people and we might have been falling over each other.

  • Weaving in the French Quarter

    Ron and I were in New Orleans last weekend.  Ron had lots of meetings to attend and I had a couple of days to eat and shop.  Whenever I travel, I try to google fiber, spinning and weaving shops in the area to find fun things to do.  For this trip we had no car and were staying at a hotel just west of the French Quarter so I looked for places within walking distance.  I guess there aren't a lot of spinners in New Orleans because I couldn't find anyplace that sold spinning fiber.  I did find a great weaving shop!

  • Teaching spinning...

    I love to teach spinning.  Peggy does too.  It's a wonderfully gratifying task.  Of course, we are enablers when it comes to almost anything associated with fiber arts.  We really do want to take over the world.  It's just magical to watch someone who is all thumbs to start with, begin to understand drafting our the fiber so you get the size yarn you want and learning to add the twist and make real yarn.  For most people, there is an initial frustration with the process.  It's hard to get your hands to do all the things they need to learn to make yarn.  Like any skill, it requires practice and initially patience to build the muscle memory that ultimately lets you spin without really thinking about it.  Just like riding a bike or skating or skiing.  I've been watching the Olympics and I am amazed at what those talented athletes can do.