I'm back from Saori Worcester! I had a fantastic, intensive couple of days. My schedule actually was condensed from five days to three, so I wove my little heart out to complete my first "official" Saori-style scarf.
I wanted to challenge myself to use colors that I normally would not/have not used before. Isn't that the reason to go to a workshop?

The warp is cotton. But the weft? I started out using the same weft. My instructor, Mihoko, very gently suggested I try different yarns. She said that because I have a weaving background, the hardest thing for me will me to "unlearn" everything I already know. In traditional weaving, you would usually use the same yarn. Not with Saori. The world is your palette. And Mihoko's studio is a "candy store" of yarn! Oh, the colors! The textures! I just had to touch everything; feel it flow through my fingers like rivers of streaming yarn.

The subtitle of the Saori book is, "Self-Discovery Through Free Weaving." It is giving yourself permission to play! To play with color and texture. To tap into that inner space and let the weaving flow from your heart. It is not an excuse for sloppiness, but a challenge to go beyond yourself.
I found the quote above this morning and thought it was so appropriate! My love for weaving began in Mrs. Beach's third grade class. We had to do a report on a country, and I was assigned to report on Peru. Well, that did it; I saw pictures of beautiful Peruvian weaving, traditional dress, women spinning while doing chores. I must have driven my mom crazy, because for Christmas that year, I received my first inkle loom. I still have it!
Like a typical kid, I picked it up on and off, until my last year of high school when I went to an alternative school. The art instructor had a four harness loom, and everyone got to weave on a large tapestry that was to hang in the common area. That was the first time I wove on a "big" loom. During that year, I also wove on a small frame loom. I made a small woven pouch in the Navajo style, and someone stole it out of the display case! I was really pissed, but I remember thinking someone must have really liked it!
All my weaving study in college was on a four harness loom. So now I think I have come full swing. Back to the beginning. Back to what attracted me to weaving in the first place. I love to manipulate the threads with my fingers. To get in there and feel things and move things around. To push the threads up and expose the warp threads, or to pull tight and gather them in. I think I am finding my clear self.
With all this weaving energy flowing inside just wanting to bust out, I was trying to find a way to make it a little more portable. Since the Professor and I share a car, there are times when we are on errands together and I have to wait for him and vice versa. I can't stand to just sit there! Usually, my knitting would fill the bill, but my hands are giving up on me, so I am giving them a rest to see if they just need a break.
I found a small wooden frame. (I think at one time it had a little chalkboard in it). So I pounded in a couple of nails.

When I was in art school, we used to do quick gesture drawings as a warm up before we began the "real" drawing. I hope to do some quick "gesture" weavings just to loosen up. Maybe applique the patches on t-shirts, or keep them for bookmarks, or whatever. They're fun and portable!
Well, back on the farm, the Professor will be building a fence around the garden to keep our little four-legged friends on "their" side!

I planted my flax when I returned from Worcester. I thought I would never get it in! It has been the wettest, rainiest, muddiest gosh darn spring I can remember!
On Mother's Day, we had the joy of taking the grandkids to the park and back to the house for lunch. Aimee is growing up so fast; she's shot up about four inches since her December birthday!
Frida is going to be a future track star. She just loves to run, run, run!
After lunch, we decided to collect dandelions for the sheepies.
George loves dandelions!
And finally, the shearer comes today! I called him back in April, and it has just been too wet and cold. We have a sunny day today; a perfect day for a haircut!
Thanks for reading!
Pray for fleece,
Abu
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