CrossWeave: 2011

I have thought for many years about how the mystery of life is understood most often with hindsight (if then...) and that sometimes it seems that the strands of life which can sometimes seem totally unrelated end up weaving together in a way that is beautiful! Weaving for me is a metaphor about living in the mystery of what God is up to. Did I always want to become a weaver? Does it feel kind of scary yet to say that I am? I first really saw some looms at Holden Village in the early 1980's and spent a little time weaving one piece (Ugly and Long Gone!) But it was fake weaving in that the loom was warped and I just threw the shuttle. One year when I lived in St. Paul a housemate had a big loom in the living room, but I don't think I ever saw her use it and although it was beautiful, it was also very mysterious! In about 2001, we went to Holden again and I planned as we were going that I would weave, and I did. Not a bad weaving, and it was fun! But is was still not real weaving in that the loom was warped and ready! Over the next couple of years I went back and again wove. By the third or fourth project there, I wanted my own loom. First, since I didn't really know anyone who wove locally, I bought the book, Learning to Weave by Deborah Chandler and studied it. Seriously! Underlined and tried to picture what she wrote about, especially about warping the loom. Then I started to look on Ebay and finally began to bid. Lost some, watched kinds and prices and studied web sites, and eventually found myself the owner of a used 4 Harness Counterbalance Allen Loom. (The metal tab on the loom states his name and that he was from Oregon.) So, I had a loom, but what was I going to weave? I didn't know at first. One 4th of July as I wandered through a Craft Show in our town, I saw a display of hand woven items made from Rayon Chenille. I fell in love! Such color and drape! (I bought a shawl -- couldn't believe I spent that much and neither could my husband!) But I justified it that it was a pattern for what I wanted to do. So after some more research I wove several shawls. Green, red, blue, black, brown.... But then I was looking at doing more and felt (some what true!) that my old Allen loom was limiting, so began looking at other looms. Then last spring on a trip to New Mexico, we found our way to Weaving Southwest, a weaving gallery and store in Taos. Wow! Such color and patterns! Last May I drove to Taos and worked with a teacher for several hours to get a sense of the technique of Rio Grande rug or tapestry weaving and then went on to Albuquerque to pick up my (new to me) Rio Grande Walking loom. (Then to United World College in Montezuma to pick up our son, too!) During the summer I started working on tapestry/rug weaving, using wool warp and weft. Then as I was casually looking at web sites, saw the loom of my dreams available not too far from me and at a great price. Hence in September, I picked up my Cranbrook 8 harness loom! With some more rearranging in my basement studio, I fit it in, too! In October, I spent a day working with Joanne Hall, a local weaver and get lots of info and tips for using the Cranbrook and really have gotten fairly proficient on it. And in January, I enrolled in a weaving course weaving Rio Grande rugs through Northern New Mexico College.

These days, I am really enjoying being able to weave a variety of things: wool rugs, silk scarves, chenille shawls, liturgical stoles and paraments for churches. So, am I a weaver? Maybe. If not yet, then certainly there is hope that I will be one day!