Erf is an accomplished weaver who has studied Shaker textiles for at least 30 years and has woven many reproduction rugs (and other textiles) which appear in Shaker museums. Her introduction describes the history of Shaker textile production, provides background on the Shaker Millenial Laws which governed all aspects of Shaker life including the colors used in textiles created in the Shaker villages, and tells how she discovered a familial connection to one of the Shaker communities.
In the introduction, Erf mentions that Shakers used rugs created using a variety of techniques. However, all the rugs in the second half of the book are “weft-plied rugs.” This term is never explicitly defined in the book, and I was confused until I got to the end of the introductory material, where she describes the general steps of recreating the rugs. It means that the Shakers took three (or, more rarely, four) strands of finished carpet wool yarn and plied them together on a spinning wheel, using the newly created chunky yarn as the weft in the rugs. The three strands were each a different color, creating a barber pole look in the new yarn. Sometimes the new yarn was plied with a Z twist (spun in a clockwise direction) and sometimes it was plied with an S twist (spun in a counterclockwise direction). Often, one rug contains both Z twist and S twist yarns. The Shakers placed Z and S twist yarns next to each other in the weaving, which creates chevron patterns. Wool fabric strips were used as weft to separate patterned sections of the plied wool weft. The book focuses on the weft-plied rugs because this style is known to be created by the Shakers themselves not commercially made, the technique is unique, and several examples of original weft-plied rugs still exist.
The second part of the book describes the process of reproducing approximately 20 specific rugs which are part of museum collections. This section of the book is organized by Shaker community; the rugs represented in the book come from five different communities in the eastern United States. For each rug, the author starts with a page analyzing the details of the original rug, including the dimensions of the rug, the type of yarn and fabric used for warp and weft, the twist direction of the weft yarns, and any other distinguishing characteristics. She also includes at least one picture of the original rug. This analysis is followed by the details of how to reproduce that rug, including which yarns and fabrics she used and which Cushing acid dyes she used to make colors that match those in the original rug. Many of the rugs are finished with handwoven bias tape; the book also includes analysis of the tapes and instructions on weaving them.
For the most part, I enjoyed reading this book. I loved seeing pictures of the original rugs and the many marginal boxes containing quotes from the dyeing and weaving journals kept by the Shakers. I did find the book to be rather repetitive, but a good deal of that repetitiveness reflects an expectation that people won’t read the book all the way through. For example, in the introduction, at the end of every description on how to create a reproduction rug, and in the Glossary, Erf explains that the finished rugs will need to be pressed with a heavy iron and that she has a dry cleaner in her town who will do this for her. Even if you’re skipping around in the book, you aren’t going to miss this potentially important information! Some of the repetitiveness is not so easily forgiven. The introduction is particularly disjointed. I think of the introduction in this type of book as one long essay. In this book, each heading within the introduction is like its own essay, with much repetition of information under other headings, particularly of the Millenial Law quote prescribing certain color schemes, but allowing that “other kinds now in use may be worn out.”
I’m always on the hunt for fiber arts books that are more than just patterns or drafts. I love books of essays or history and detailed techniques. Weaving Shaker Rugs has all of this, as well as detailed instructions for making the Shaker-style rugs. Since following the instructions requires flipping back and forth between the general instructions in the introduction, the pages for the specific rug you’re attempting to reproduce, the glossary, and cross-references in Peter Collingwood’s out-of-print book The Techniques of Rug Weaving, I expect it will be challenging for anyone, especially a new weaver like me, to actually create a Shaker rug using this book. While the projects are more involved than I’m ready to take on as a fledgling weaver, I did learn a lot about the Shakers and rug weaving. I enjoyed reading the book from cover to cover and will keep it on my shelf for when I’m ready to tackle a Shaker-style rug!
On the Friday before Thanksgiving, I’m on a plane flying north for 10 days of family fun and I’m not in my usual traveling groove. I’ve flown a great deal in the last four years, usually alone but also with my husband, and I have habits. Whenever possible, I pack in a carry on only. I have Global Entry which gives me automatic TSA Pre-check so I arrive at the airport about 1.5 hours before my flight, sail through security, and once I’m in my terminal eat a meal if it’s mealtime. I have a short wait before boarding and I sit in an aisle seat as close to the front of the plane as possible. While I’m waiting to board and while I’m on the plane, I listen to podcasts and knit. I do not make small talk with my seat mates. When the plane lands, I’m out of there as quickly as possible and don’t have to go to baggage claim since I’m packed only in a carry on.
These habits are all part of a personal defense mechanism. I’m an introverted person and have a difficult time filtering out noise. All the stimuli of random conversations and interactions with strangers is exhausting. Since I fly in and out of Orlando, my flights are always full of families with small children on their way to and from the theme parks. As a result, there’s higher levels of noise than might be the case if I was flying in and out of any other airport in the country. In addition, when I started flying so much it was because I was flying to New Jersey every other week, helping my mother-in-law with the details of life after several deaths in the family. I was hanging on by an emotional thread and would randomly burst into tears. I was terrified that this might happen on a flight, where I had no means of escape from scrutiny. I had no bandwidth for handling even inane conversations. And so I didn’t engage. I popped in my headphones and focused on my knitting. It was the only way I made it through those trips, putting on a façade of normalcy and shutting out everyone around me. And now, it’s a habit.
But on this flight, I’m traveling with my parents. My father likes to get to the airport super early. They have bags to check and might not get to go through the shorter TSA Pre-check line. We’re flying on Southwest and my father has status since he flies on that airline every week for work, so they do end up with Pre-check, but we didn’t know that was going to happen. We get their bags dropped off, sail through security, get breakfast at Au Bon Pain and are still at the gate 2 hours before our flight is scheduled to depart.
My project for this trip is a new scarf for charity. I worked out a design a couple of days before we left and cast on while waiting to board. I knit about 3 inches and realize I don’t like how wide it is, so rip it all out and start again. I knit 3 inches and this time it’s too narrow. I rip it out again. Finally it’s time to board. My father boards before either my mother or I, thanks to his status, and saves us a row close to the front of the plane. I’m in the window seat. My mom is chatty, so I only have one ear bud in, on the side by the window, so I can halfway listen to a podcast and still hear my mom when she starts talking. I cast on again, rearranging the order of the cables, and knit another 3 inches. This time, I’m happy with the width. I put the knitting down for a minute and stretch out my fingers and wrist, looking around the plane for the first time since we took off. And that’s when I see The Other Knitter.
Suddenly, it strikes me that I’ve never seen another knitter or crocheter on any of my flights. Why is this? Years ago, on a flight home from Boston, I was sitting in front of a high school classmate. There was only 13 people in my high school graduating class; there are millions of knitters in the United States and many knit on planes. It’s far more likely that I might run into a knitter than into a high school classmate. But I’ve never seen another knitter.
The Other Knitter is sitting one row in front of me, on the opposite side of the plane, in the middle seat. I realize that I’d vaguely heard the woman directly in front of me telling her son he could sit with Nana. The three seats in front of me contain a husband and wife and a son about 10 or 11. Across the aisle is another boy of similar age, Nana (The Other Knitter), and a gentleman I take to be Nana’s husband.
I find myself fascinated by The Other Knitter. I strain my neck to see if I can figure out what she’s knitting. Her pattern is on the tray in front of her and she’s working with royal blue yarn. She’s on the second page of the pattern, and there’s a picture of the finished object, but I can’t quite see it. At first, I think she’s making a sweater. But the pattern’s only two pages long and when The Other Knitter puts her knitting back into her clear plastic bag and gets up to use the restroom, I can see she only has two skeins of yarn with her, including the one she’s knitting now. Perhaps a sweater for one of the grandkids? I can’t tell.
Throughout the flight, I keep looking at The Other Knitter. I want to talk to her, to find out what she’s knitting and for whom. Does she like her yarn and pattern? Is she heading home after a family vacation at the parks or is she leaving home for Thanksgiving at another relative’s home? Is she on Ravelry? I feel like a stalker or paparazzi or a fan girl. I want to take her picture, but stop myself. It’s a step too far. What’s the matter with me? I didn’t get like this on the few occasions when I’ve been around celebrities!
We’re starting our descent into Hartford, Connecticut when my mother notices The Other Knitter. She nudges me. “There’s another knitter over there.”
“I know,” I say, casually, like my heart didn’t start beating a little faster when I first saw those needles working the royal blue yarn a couple of hours ago.
When our flight lands, we all gather up our things and head to the baggage claim. I don’t see The Other Knitter there, but I can’t stop thinking about her. I’m sorry I was too far away and boxed in the corner by the window to talk to her, too afraid to get up and ask her what she was making. I’ve missed the opportunity to meet someone new and perhaps make a friend. Maybe next time.
I have been knitting, crocheting, spinning, and weaving away, but have not been writing posts on each of my finished projects. I received a private message on Ravelry, asking for the details of this project, so thought I’d write it up to share with all of you!
Official Stats
Date Started: September 16, 2015
Date Finished: September 28, 2015
Pattern: as discussed below
Yarn: Cascade Pinwheel in Autumn Leaves (#21)
Needles: US 8 , 5.0 mm
Finished Dimensions: I forgot to write down the measurements; but approximately 6″ x 65″
I bought the Pinwheel yarn specifically to knit for charity. I got two skeins of most colors so I could make matching sets with a scarf, mittens, and hat. The scarf takes one skein and I can just squeak a hat and mittens out of a second. For three colorways, I only had one skein because that was all that the shop had. In September, I decided to knit up a couple of those skeins into scarves. I looked at the free patterns on Ravelry, but didn’t find anything that caught my eye that I hadn’t already knit. So I pulled out my Barbara Walker treasuries and found stitch patterns. This scarf uses the Traveling Rib pattern from page 180 of A Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns.
When I first started this project, I planned to add a couple selvedge stitches, but after knitting the repeat a couple times, I didn’t like how that looked, so I ripped it out and started over, using just the stitches for the pattern. Ribbing isn’t going to roll and makes a nice stretchy fabric. It doesn’t really need a frame to give the fabric structure.
Abbreviations:
K = Knit
P = Purl
RS = Right Side
WS = Wrong Side
This pattern uses a 7 stitch repeat. I’ve been casting on somewhere close to 40 stitches for all the scarves I’ve made with Pinwheel. This gives me a finished scarf of 5″ to 6″ wide and 60″ to 65″ long, depending on the stitch pattern. For this particular pattern, I assumed the ribbing would pull the fabric in so chose to cast on more stitches than usual. I cast on 7 repeats (49 stitches), using the long tail cast on, which is my default.
Row 1 (RS): K1, *P3, K4* 5 times, end P3, K3
Row 2 (WS): P2, *K4, P3* 5 times, end K4, P1
Row 3. K2, *P3, K4* 5 times, end P3, K2
Row 4: P1, *K4, P3* 5 times, end K4, P2
Row 5: K3, *P3, K4* 5 times, end P3, K1
Row 6: *K4, P3* repeat to end of row
Row 7: *K4, P3* repeat to end of row
Row 8: K3, *P3, K4* 5 times, end P3, K1
Row 9: P1, *K4, P3* 5 times, K4, P2
Row 10: K2, *P3, K4* 5 times, end P3, K2
Row 11: P2, *K4, P3* 5 times, end K4, P1
Row 12: K1, *P3, K4* 5 times, end P3, K3
Row 13: *P3, K4* repeat to end of row
Row 14: *P3, K4* repeat to end of row
Repeat Rows 1 – 14 until scarf is desired length, ending on either Row 6 or 13. BO loosely and in pattern. In this case, that means working Row 7 or 14 as written, and passing the preceding stitch over the just worked stitch as you work across the row, using larger needles if needed to keep your bind off loose.
This scarf is reversible; I’ve only marked a right side and wrong side in the pattern to help keep track of where you are. If you look closely at the pattern, it may appear that rows repeat, but while the instructions repeat, you are on the opposite side of the fabric when you work it (Rows 1 & 12, 2 & 11, 3 & 10, 4 & 9, 5 & 8, 6 & 7, 13 & 14). As a result, if you put your work down and come back to it later, it may be difficult for you to tell where you are in the pattern. If you think you’re on Row 1 and you were really on Row 12 or vice versa, you will find that the direction of your rib changes midstream! You may want to mark the right side of the work, by hanging a locking stitch marker on that side.
I recently discovered A Craftsman’s Legacy on two of my local PBS television stations. Show host Eric Gorges (which for many episodes, I heard as “gorgeous” and thought, “Oh yes, you are”) travels around the United States, visiting craftspeople in their studios. He spends a couple days with them, interviewing them and learning the basics of their craft. Gorges is a craftsman himself; he’s a master metalworker and makes custom motorcycles at his shop, Voodoo Choppers, in Detroit. At this point, I’ve seen 12 of the 13 episodes in Season 1 and all four of the Season 2 episodes which have aired for the current Season 2.
The show’s website says, “Each episode will tell the story of anOld World Craftand its importance in the building ofAmerica.” Towards this end, each episode starts with a short overview on the history of the craft, presented as pictures with voiceover by host Gorges. This is the least interesting part of the show to me. While I am interested in this background, I find the presentation a bit dry and rather tortured. The main reason for this is that Gorges’ voiceover sounds bored. This is not at all true during the rest of the show. He clearly enjoys meeting and talking with the craftspeople. He loves the tools and workshops and learning new things. His obvious enjoyment of the process is absolutely charming and a big part of what makes the show so engaging to watch.
At some point in most episodes, Gorges asks the craftsperson, “Do you consider yourself an artist or a craftsman?” Everyone has an immediate answer to this question; clearly each one has thought about the differences and similarities between the two words, and what the implications are as they pursue their work. A few reject the dichotomy. One or two think it depends on the task or project. The rest are evenly split between the two categories.
Crafts highlighted on the show include glassblowing, stone carving, metalsmithing of various flavors, boat building, woodworking, and many more. Season 1 included a Native American basketweaver; this is the closest the show has come to a fiber craft so far, but upcoming episodes in Season 2 include a weaver (Juanita Hofstrom) and a quilter. I love the variety of crafts presented in the show. I don’t expect to ever pursue any of these crafts, but I love to see the ways people have organized their lives so that they can make a living with their crafts. I also love seeing the work spaces, tools, and processes used in the various crafts. I find the show inspirational and it provokes me to think about my personal approach to the crafts that I love.
If A Craftsman’s Legacy is not available on any channels in your area, you can join the “Legacy Society” on the show’s website. It’s free to join and this gives you access to full episodes of Season 1. So far, they haven’t added any episodes from Season 2. I’m not sure if they are waiting until the season ends or if they will add the season 2 episodes at some point before then. However you access it — local TV or through the web — the show is absolutely worth a watch.
While I was at The Knit and Crochet Show, more than one person commented to me that they couldn’t take classes the entire time because it was too much for them to absorb. Wasn’t I totally overwhelmed? Nope, not at all. The entire event was an adrenaline rush and I enjoyed every moment. A week after I got back, after reliving the entire event through writing the blog posts about it, I crashed. This wasn’t all because of the show; August is break month for the Harry Potter Knitting / Crochet House Cup. I push myself hard during the term, achieving feats of crafting that I otherwise wouldn’t attempt, and I appreciate break month! Don’t get me wrong — I still crafted and had fun adventures in August and September to date. Here’s the highlights.
August
S’s 5th Birthday Party
My cousin’s daughter turned 5 and had a birthday party at the zoo. It was the largest kid’s birthday party I’ve ever attended — 28 kids and 30+ adults. I made fondant cupcake toppers (I don’t think I’ve mentioned here that I’ve got mad cake skills? I don’t make cakes as often as in the past). Since I live 2+ hours from my cousin, she bought cupcakes locally and I put the toppers on when I arrived at the party.
Birthday party at the zoo = live animal show and tell!!
And I was the first person in line to get my face painted. I got to the party early so I could get those cupcake toppers on the cupcakes and the few children already there showed no interest in getting their face painted. I figured I’d beat the rush!
I knit the birthday girl a Barbie dress.
Sorting Yarn
A few months ago, my friend Nancy and I went to the home of a member of the weaver’s guild who had passed away (see my blog post). She wanted her yarn to benefit the guild. Nancy and I sorted it to pick out anything that was suitable for demos. We always have a little takeaway for kids and are constantly on the look out for yarn for those. We packed up any project kits or yarns suitable for weaving and brought those to the guild’s annual auction. The money raised from the sale of those yarns is designated for demos and will be used to buy yarn for takeaways once we use up our current stash.
Orlando Shakes Open House
From the Weavers Guild meeting, I went straight to the Orlando Shakespeare theater for their annual open house. I’ve never made it to this event before and had a great time. I went to all three panel discussions — one on lighting and sound production, one on building props, and one with the directors and educators about visioning and producing individual plays and the future of the troop. They also had a small display of props and costumes from previous productions. Here’s a small selection of the spectacular costumes, which are created in house, in conjunction with the theater department of a local university, and with the help of many volunteers.
Akerworks
My order from Akerworks arrived! I got 6 bobbins for my wheel (one in each style) and 3 drop spindles (one in each size). I didn’t take pictures before they got pressed into service, but I’m sure you’ll see pictures in future blog posts. I did take a picture of the lovely hand-written note Adan included in the box.
Ravenclaw Staff
I accepted a position as blog mistress for The Ravenclaw Aerie, the blog for the Ravenclaw Tower in the Harry Potter Knitting / Crochet House Cup. This is a big part of the reason for the neglect of my own blog; planning and executing for that blog has taken the time I had for blogging. Now that we’re on a schedule over there, I expect to be back to my own blog regularly! Most of what’s on The Ravenclaw Aerie is probably only of interest to those in Ravenclaw Tower or the Cup, but one of the first posts is about something else I did in August. Ravenclaw Porcupine Snuggles works at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. She and two of her colleagues drove from Baltimore to New Smyrna Beach, FL to release Cougar, a Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle. I met them in New Smyrna Beach so I could witness the release, and Porcupine Snuggles and I wrote a blog post about it for the Aerie.
Disney with Beth
My friend Beth came on vacation for a week and we spent lots of time at Disney! We ate at the Be Our Guest restaurant in the new part of Fantasy Land in the Magic Kingdom. We did not expect to be able to get a reservation because this restaurant, the interior of which is a replica of the castle in Beauty and the Beast, is sold out 6 months in advance. We checked anyway; someone must have cancelled because we got a 1:15 pm reservation! The restaurant is stunning inside and out.
On the day we went to EPCOT, it poured. My mother, Beth, and I walked from The Land to Journey through the Imagination without seeing any one else walking around (everyone else was smarter than us — when we got to Journey through the Imagination, the ride was down because the building was struck by lightning!). It was eerie, and made us think about what the park is like after it closes. We waited for Journey through the Imagination to be back up, and after we got off the ride, the rain had settled down to a normal rain shower rather than a deluge. We headed towards the World Showcase, wading through a calf-deep puddle on our way there.
All the rain made for a beautiful sunset!
Sick
A couple days after Disney, my husband got sick with a very bad cold. I caught it from him and it turned into a sinus infection. Yuck! For the last week of August and the first week of September, we took turns feeling misearable. Not much got accomplished around here. I was coughing so much that fiber crafting wasn’t even viable 🙁
September
L’s Birthday
Fortunately, I felt better in time to fly to New York City for a long weekend celebrating my sister’s 40th birthday. Before she arrived on Friday evening, her friends and I went to the Global Fashion Capitals exhibit at the Fashion Institute of Technology Museum. Here’s a couple of interesting pieces from that exhibit.
We were trying to decide what to do next when I saw someone walk by with a Mood bag. For those who aren’t familiar with the name, Mood is a fabric store and is the place contestants on Project Runway shop for the fabric used to make their creations. We decided to go to Mood and since it was a lovely day we walked the 10 blocks to the shop. I was totally overwhelmed by Mood. On the ground floor, there’s a two-story section of upholstery and other home decoration fabrics. To get to the main shop, you take this old elevator, operated by an elevator attendant, to the third floor. Once there, you have another 3 stories of every fabric imaginable. I have no idea how the contestants manage to shop for fabric in only 30 minutes!
Yes, I did pet Swatch!
One section of the leather department.
One day, we went to the Tenement Museum (no pix allowed there). Our grandfather grew up in the Depression-era tenements of the Bronx, so this was a poignant visit for us. Afterwards, we wandered around SoHo and I bought my first ever pair of Fluevogs.
Later that evening, my sister and her friends went to a play. They bought tickets before I committed to the trip, and I wasn’t able to get a ticket to the show. Instead, I took a train out to Long Island to visit law school classmates and meet their 4-month-old baby. It was good to see them!
The next day, my sister, her friends, and I went to the Cloisters Museum, and visited their famous room of unicorn tapestries.
We ate fabulous food every day, including the best doughnuts I’ve ever eaten, from The Doughnut Plant. The interior of the shop was adorable, with doughnut pillows on the wall, a doughnut tile backsplash, and donut chairs!
The last night, my sister and I stayed in her friend’s apartment in Brooklyn. The friend was out of town, but gave us a key. The apartment came with bonus kitty, Billie.
Billie was super sweet and reminded me of my Pepper, whom I still miss very much!
Although I lived in the Northeast for nearly 30 years, I had never spent more than an afternoon in New York City before this trip. I had a wonderful time and hope I get to visit again!
Spamalot
For the fifth year in a row, Chris and I have season tickets for the Orlando Shakespeare theater. The first show of the season was Spamalot! It was absolutely spectacular. If you have the opportunity, you should totally see this show.
Orlando Maker Faire
Last weekend was the Orlando Maker Faire. The Drunken Monkey Spinners and Weavers of Orlando shared a booth for the event. Nancy and I spent the entire weekend in the booth; other members of the two groups spent one day or the other.
This was the fourth year of the Orlando Maker Faire. Last year, they expanded from the Science Center and included some exhibits in the park. This year, they expanded further, with arts and crafts exhibits in the Orlando Museum of Art, which is located on the opposite side of the park from the Science Center. The expected attendance at this event was 15,000; I didn’t hear an actual number after the event, but it is by far the highest attendance at any event where I’ve demoed.
The Science Center was wall-to-wall people; the Art Museum, where we were located, was steady but manageable. This was a fantastic event to demo. The people coming to this events are makers themselves. They like to know how things work and ask lots of questions! I spun the 50/50 Camel Down / Silk that I bought from Red Fish Dyeworksat The Knit and Crochet Show. I only got 1 ounce spun, out of 4, in the 17 hours I spent spinning! This is partially because I talked to lots of people, but also because it is spinning very fine.
Hey — there’s one of the Akerworks bobbins I got in August!
Florida Fiber In
This weekend is the Florida Fiber In. I went last night, but won’t make it there the rest of the weekend. I picked up some Black-Faced Valois locks and some Bombyx Silk fiber, and spent a couple hours spinning and chatting!
Fiber Crafting
The new HPKCHC term started on September 1 and I’ve been crafting like a mad woman. I haven’t taken pix of anything yet, but I’m working on that today and tomorrow. I’ll have a Year of Projects update post sometime tomorrow.
Ongoing
I have also been working on improving skills to benefit my blog. I bought my first DSLR camera (a Canon 70D (affiliate link)) and a Pro-Am video camera (Canon XA-10 (affiliate link)). I added Adobe Stock to my Adobe Cloud subscription. I used my Lynda.com subscription to learn how to use Adobe Bridge, then used Bridge to move all my photos out of Apple’s Photos app and into their own folders on my external hard drive. I’m still working on adding metadata and tags to the photos. I had 19,000 photos and videos in Photos and have a very hard time actually finding anything when I’m looking for it! It’s a lot of work to organize, but I believe it will be worth it in the end. I’m just starting the Lynda.com courses on Adobe After Effects and Lightroom, to further improve my photography and videography skills.
So that’s the highlight reel of the last six weeks. What’s your highlights?
