dataspejlet :: weaving community

i spent the weekend at the loom. our weaving group is part of an art project at trapholt museum. fiber artist astrid skibsted is working with trapholt on a project called dataspejlet. it's in two parts - one is woven and one is embroidered (i'll write more about it in another post). for the woven part, our weaving group was chosen to participate. we received all the yarn we needed in colors that were chosen for us and a warp that was ready to put on the loom. when i arrived at the museum on saturday, it was already nearly ready to start weaving. 

it's strange in a way to write about weaving, as it's something i learned in danish and therefore, i don't really know the terminology in english. so i don't know how to express the part of threading it and putting it into the comb. and on some level, i don't really want to even google it, as it's something that danish and i have together.  i realize it makes me sound like even more of a beginner than i even am (and after ten years, i still feel like a beginner), but that's just how it is. 

the last thing that needed doing was the fishing line along the sides. it's there for stability, but plastic fishing line is very different than the linen threads beside it, so we struggled a bit to get it right. luckily, there's a facebook group where everyone who is part of the weaving is helping one another and we learned that we needed more weight on the fishing line at the other end.  but on saturday, we didn't know that and we struggled with the fishing line and keeping it taut so it would lay nicely on the edge.

we were given a cream colored yarn to use as a test section. it's this very cool japanese yarn that's actually flat, rather than round. and it takes working with it a bit to get it right. and that fishing line teased us.

but on sunday, after following advice from others in the group, we put on more weight and we got weaving in earnest. our edges looked beautiful and i got to weave the whole first section. the whole pattern is prescribed and since we are quite a large group, everyone needs to have a chance. i did a small timelapse of my weaving. my phone was fastened to the loom and it slowly turned over the course of the timelapse.

as always, i feel like the loom teaches me lessons that i can't learn anywhere else. it's the most honest thing - you can't trick it or fool it or hide anything. it will show clearly any tricks you try to pull on it. it will always be totally honest with you - and show you clearly your mistakes. but when you correct them, it will also show you all its beauty. and when it does, there's really nothing like it. tiny threads, woven together, become something strong and beautiful. it rather takes my breath away. and to be part of a larger work that is the work of so many others gives a real sense of community. even solving frustrating problems is part of the story that we're weaving into the work and it will all be there in the threads when it's done. what a privilege to be part of it.

things i've learned...

...while knitting:

~ knitting requires a project basket. it's not always easy to find the right project basket and you might have go to 4-5 different stores, including antique stores,  looking for one.

the perfect project basket (+ giant ball of finger knitting by sabin)

~ you cannot knit and read at the same time. at least not if you're me. note to self: acquire audio books.

~ it's a bit hard to keep all of the criminals straight if you're knitting while watching midsomer murders and seldom look up because of your need to concentrate on the knitting.

~ splitty yarn bites.

~ it does get easier the more you do.

~ changing colors is WAY easier than you think it will be.

~ one of the reasons my previous attempts at knitting failed was that i had no idea what i was making, now that i know what i'm making, it's much easier to keep going.

progress! and i've even changed colors.

...picking up my loom:

bits of loom

~ you shouldn't lose the phone number of the people you're buying the loom from, because they won't necessarily remember you when you show up at their door.

~ a disassembled loom is a rather overwhelming pile of sticks.

~ a pile of sticks can begin an adventure.

~ the windmill looks much better against a blue sky on a sunny day.

melby mølle

...from my child:

i am ever, eternally, in awe, of sabin's ability to jump fully into every moment. she never, ever waits or wants to wait for "the right time" to do things. if she wants to turn a cardboard box into an airplane/car for her bear, she just begins. she collects the things she needs as she goes along and as she thinks of them, but she jumps into the task from the very first moment. if she gets hungry along the way, she incorporates picnic supplies (cucumber, blueberries, tomatoes, a thermos), stowing them in the "trunk" of the car.

sabin's airplane/car - complete with a key and an ingenious seatbelt design

but she lets nothing stand in the way of imagination or of execution of the vision of the airplane/car that forms in her head - a boxed taped to the back to function as a trunk, yellow tape for the headlights, yarn and a matchbox as a seatbelt, a key of cardboard covered in black tape. i really wish i could be more like that. i get extremely held back in the "collecting the materials" stage of things and then it's sometimes very hard for me to begin the actual project.

the latest additions to the fabric stash

p.s. it's so cool that blogger has added captions to the photos. makes wordpress look even more like the internet explorer of the blogging world, and not just from a security standpoint, but from a lame, so yesterday kinda standpoint. go blogger!

weaving the past or a treasure trove of historical threads

husband bought me a loom yesterday. i don't have it home yet and it was just a pile of what appeared to be sticks and other mysterious bits lying on the floor in a basement, so it wasn't really worth photographing yet anyway. it's a 130cm wide lervad loom, an old one, but it's been well-used and well-loved and many a beautiful thing has been created on it. we bought it from a lovely lady who is nearly 80 and who was a member of my weaving group for years. she said she's painting now and doesn't have time or inclination to weave anymore (isn't that a marvelous reason?), so that's why she was selling it. lucky me! along with it, she had a box of binders and a basket of weaving yarn. we had room for that box in the car, so we took that much with us. we'll go back with a trailer when the weather gets better and pick up the loom itself. at first, the binders looked a bit uninteresting, but then last evening, we took a closer look. and we discovered treasure beyond belief.

the binders contain countless weaving patterns and weaving exercises and samples of things she wove over the years. many of the pages are from courses where it was clear that patterns were distributed as hand-written mimeograph copies - so they have that characteristic purple ink and that old familiar smell that takes me back to the 3rd grade (in a good way), but they're in some sweet lady's handwriting. it is simply a priceless historical record of the countless things woven by the lovely lady who owned my loom. taking advantage of a bit of sunshine today, i photographed the contents of one of the binders:

she had carefully noted patterns and yarn samples and accompanying many of the pages are woven samples of the patterns in various different materials. sabin wanted to appropriate some as furnishings for her littlest pet shop, but we discussed how important these are as historical artifacts and now she knows her LPS are not going to have fine carpets anytime soon. there are about 10 binders in all, an absolute treasure trove of 30 years of weaving in denmark. i find it unbelievable that this treasure came with my loom. i'm going to see if i can have them bound into proper books by a bookbinder. and they will have a place of honor in the new blue room, wherever it may be. it just seems like such an invaluable resource.

here are some samples from just one of the notebooks...

i think this may be the very best combined anniversary-valentine's day-upcoming birthday present ever. thank you husband and thank you lovely lady who let me buy your loom.