I attended Convergence in Tampa on day passes, just like I did this year in Albuquerque, but there was one big difference. Two years ago, money was so tight that I just got to ooh and aah over all the wonderful stuff, but I wasn't able to buy anything. This time, I was able to buy a few things - most of them had been on my wishlist for a while, though a few things found me unawares. :-)
This photo didn't come out very well, but at the top you can see two skeins of hand-dyed tencel yarn from Just Our Yarns. Their yarns and dye colors are luscious, and I've coveted some ever since I first saw their wares at a regional conference in Riverside, California. The green/blue/purple skein is 30/2 tencel, and the purple/fuschia/red skein is 20/2 and they are gorgeous both to see and touch. At the bottom of the photo is a small bag - made out of recycled huipils, which appeal to me on so many levels.
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| Just Our Yarns Tencel skeins and Recycled Huipil Bag |
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| Books, Bamboo and Shuttles |
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The second photo also contains a mix of planned purchases and nice surprises. At the top, you can see the 2 books I bought. I've been planning to buy a copy of Robyn Spady's book Handwoven Decorative Trim for a while, and was happy when I found it at the HGA booth. It's a slim book, but the photos are great and the writing is clear and I'm really looking forward to exploring this. The other book is a new one, just published by Margaret Coe, called Fit 2 Be Tied. This one I pre-ordered, paid with Paypal, and then just picked up in Albuquerque. I am *thrilled* with it. A few years ago, I was lucky to be able to read through Alice Schlein and Bahkti Ziek's amazing book, A Woven Pixel. Fascinating stuff, though most of it targeted at jacquard looms. (There is a chapter geared toward dobby looms, plus it has amazing information on using Photoshop.) I wasn't able to afford purchasing my own copy of the book, but have thought about it a lot since I read a borrowed copy. Well, this new book also describes using Photoshop (or Elements) for creating presets, but focuses on double two-tie unit weave (something I am also fascinated by, ever since hearing Madelyn van her Hoogt speak about it - I think that was at Convergence in Minneapolis in 1994.) Since I have Photoshop, and I have a 32 shaft dobby loom, this book is right up my alley, and fit in my budget, and I'm really looking forward to studying and working through it and seeing what I can come up with from my loom as a result! (I had a few posts a year or so ago about double-two tie designs - after reading a great article by Jannie Taylor.)
The bottom of that photo shows my other serendipity purchases. I love beautiful little shuttles, so the Bluster Bay shuttle jumped into my hand. The one below it is very neat - Hockett Woodworking, and it is an "end of warp" shuttle - very skinny low profile (and beautifully made, too.)
Last, but not least, my friend Ruth is making some new spindles and gave me one to try out (I'll include a picture of it in my next post.) I loved her spindle - it actually has a square whorl with a circle of copper - beautifully balanced and spins very very well. So, in spite of having a gigantic stack of bins filled with spinning fiber, my last purchase was a hank of bamboo in a luscious combination of blue and copper and white (color-way is called Blue Eyes). Yummy stuff!
So there you have it - my acquisitions from Convergence.
Loom Room Status? Yesterday was manual labor day - I moved tons of stuff and books into place, and the loom is getting filled fast - and the big loom isn't even up there yet! Yikes! Today, I'll be disassembling the big loom and starting to move it. With any luck, it should be up and running by next weekend. We'll know when it's history, as my husband often says.
