MDSW 2019 - the year of weaving

One thing I adore about the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival is that it's an event that you can grow with. It was wonderful when I was a beginner knitter, it was wonderful when I became a more advanced knitter, it was wonderful when I started to spin, it was wonderful when I began to take classes, it was wonderful when I got interested in sheep breeds... you get the idea. It is completely fantastic for the casual knitter (or even someone who's just curious about what all the fuss is about and is game to watch some sheepdogs and eat kettle corn), and it's just as entertaining for me all these years later. I believe this is my 19th year attending. Cheers with a cone!

After repeated years of lobbying to the festival planning committee, they added rigid heddle weaving classes this year. And when they decided to do this, they didn't mess around - they went straight to THE teacher on this topic, Liz Gipson of Yarnworker, and booked her. I was fortunate to be able to take two classes with Liz (she taught four total).

On Thursday, I took Colorwork Weaving. We started with an empty loom and learned how to warp using the direct method. I have done this before, but I got some primo tips that improved my technique immensely.

We worked on an unnamed color-and-weave pattern in a plain weave structure. We had a choice to weave 60" or 80" - I chose the shorter length because I needed to finish the project and re-warp my loom before Saturday morning's class. Here is is after I cut it off the loom. This unfinished close is called "loomsday cloth" - the "daylight" between the threads is less pronounced than when it's on the loom under tension, but still bigger than it will be after wet finishing. It reminds me of a window screen at this point.

One of my favorite moments in the class was when I asked Liz a question. She pulled up a chair and said "let's weave together." Then she proceeded to give me about half a dozen small pointers that improved my weaving SO MUCH in such a short time. It was amazing! Here is what I mean. Look at the very end of this cloth - it was woven before she came over (this is the cloth after finishing, too):

Now look at the other end of the cloth - quite different (especially in terms of selvage management):

I still have to think pretty hard about how to catch my weft threads in colorwork, but I'm on my way.

The Saturday class was called Pick Up Power and required that we warp the loom in advance. I had the most successful warping experience to date, thanks to the tips I picked up on Thursday. Here is Liz's loom and a sample of the finished project, which is a scarf made from cotton/linen yarn with 5 different pick up patterns in it (each is featured twice):

Here's how mine looked when I packed up the loom in the afternoon - halfway done. (It's completely done now but I haven't photographed it yet.)

I was sorry that I couldn't take Liz's Friday class on Weaving the Perfect Towel, since I have long wanted to do just that. (It was a gamelan concert day.) We chatted enough about it that I was able to confirm what I had begun to suspect - if I really want to weave beautiful towels that are 15" wide, I need a loom with a wider weaving width. I looked at all the looms my fellow students brought, and I tried others at the Yarn Barn booth at the festival. And reader, I bought a second loom. She is a 25" Schacht Flip and I can't wait to get some towels warped up. Liz was nearby when I left with a giant box on my shoulder, so she stopped for a photo:

In terms of the rest of the festival... I didn't spend as much time there this year because I was in class for much of Saturday. I got over to the fairgrounds about 2:00 pm and stayed nearly until closing at 6:00. In that time, I caught up with Dave and Jason, and briefly shopped with Kris. I got some fibers for Shave 'Em to Save 'Em - here is my Shetland (needs to be washed), Jacob, and Leicester Longwool:

One of the best things about staying late at the festival is avoiding the crush of people in the morning. By later in the afternoon, I could even get into the Miss Babs booth and really look at yarn. I even got Miss Babs herself to consult with me about these two skeins of Katahdin!

I'm going to make Sempervirens for myself - this is me trying the sample at the booth (another thing that would never have happened earlier in the day):

I bought the more solid skein on the left, by the way.

I bought a few other skeins of yarn - two for hats I want to make soon, and one just because I loved it. I also picked up a Turkish spindle because I have wanted to try spinning with one for quite a while. Yeah, I did some serious shopping in a short amount of time.

The weather forecast for Sunday was rain all day. I decided to stay home, which meant I missed the lectures which I'm sure were fascinating. But I was able to unpack and decompress some, which I really needed after an extremely busy 3 days. And I finished that second scarf, and worked the fancy lattice fringe on both of them. Whew!

I always feel a surge of creative energy after MDSW. I feel so fortunate to live close enough to be able to attend every year.