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December Newsletter

Happy Holidays from JST

There are so many more things I would like to get into this newsletter but Charlotte is going on holidays in about 2 hours.  Can you believe that!  Without Charlotte none of this computer stuff would ever happen, so I would like to publicly thank Charlotte for being at the keyboard, multitasking, staying late and coming in early and so much more.  I would also like to thank Susan Brown who has been by my side in this business for over 20 years offering her sage counsel, Cheryl Wiebe our multi-talented dyer, spinning teacher and sample card maker, Sandra Crompton who brilliantly manages Jane’s Helpline and Ravelry, Scott Kavanaugh who gives us endless tech support with a smile and last but certainly not least Rosemary Harbrecht who has made our retreats this year just so much better with her wonderful culinary creations.

I would also like to thank all of you who read The Old Ladies with String Digest from top to bottom.  We are honoured that you choose to support us and we look forward to helping you all in the coming year. Wishing you PEACE, HAPPINESS and the Strength to deal with what ever life tosses your way.

Happy Holidays,

Jane

Please Note:  the studio will be closed after Friday December 21 and will reopen Wednesday January 2, 2013!

The Countdown Begins

There is still over a week left to participate in our Win An Awesome Christmas Present Contest.  All you have to do is a make a purchase between now and December 21 and your name will be entered in our draw for a $500 Gift Certificate to JST!  AND, we’ve decided to add a 2nd prize ~ a two day workshop including farmstay.  The winner of this prize gets to attend Cheryl Huseby Weibe’s Know Your Fibre, Know Your Wheel slated for January 27 & 27th, 2013.

 

Thoughts on Good Selvedges

There are many different ways to handle your selvedges.  We employ special threadings, floating selvedges, denser edges,  all in an attempt to get that perfect straight edge.   You can use regular shuttles, open bottom shuttles, end feed shuttles or temples to aid you in your journey.   I have trained a lot of weavers over the years and I have come to feel that some of the thoughts below are quite important so I’m sharing them with you.  To read the full article click HERE.

 

Deluxe Weaver’s Holidays

We’ve had such an overwhelming response to our Deluxe Weaver’s Retreats that we’ve decided to add another one.  It will run Sept. 30 – Oct. 5  2013 and is already half full from our wait lists!  If you’d like the opportunity to spend a week weaving  beautiful projects and cooking delicious food, give us a call soon!

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November Newsletter

Win Yourself an Awesome Christmas Present.

I mean, totally awesome!  For every purchase you make in the month of November and until December 21 when we close for the year, we will put your name in a box to win a $500 gift certificate at JST.  We will draw the name on Friday December 21 at 4pm.  For all our customers who have already made purchases in November, be assured we have put your name in the box.  Every single one of ya!

Finishing Up 2012

Thank you for a wonderful year of workshops.  Here is our last class for 2012 – Pushing the Boundaries of Plainweave.  Thank you so much to all of the amazing weavers who have joined us for a fabulous year of learning, laughter, delectable food, great friendships and so much fun.   We just can’t thank you enough for being part of our lives.

What’s Cookin’

It really has been a special year.  Adding Rosemary to our retreat team has certainly been one of the smartest moves I’ve ever made.  She delights in the garden and she brings everything that is fresh and so alive to the table. Rosemary has gone off to Italy to hunt down more wonderful recipes for our 2013 retreats but just to keep us happy she left you all her Chard Gratin recipe ~ perfect for this time of year, especially in the Pacific Northwest.

 

Weaving Workshops for 2013

We still have a few spots available in our Twills on Four workshops running April 8-12 and April 29 – May 3 and two spots left in our June 3-7 Lacey Places workshop.

If you were disappointed to see the retreats fill so quickly, we encourage you to sign up for the wait list.  Every workshop seems to get a few cancellations so it never hurts to be on the list.  You never know, if we have enough people on the list, we might add another workshop.

Spinning and Basketry Workshops for 2013

Farmstay is available for up to five people during our January spinning and basketry workshops, so grab a friend and come for a wonderful creative weekend filled with great food & great people.

Cheryl Huseby Wiebe, our favourite spinning teacher is offering her fun and fascinating workshop Know Your Fibre, Know Your Wheel on January 26 & 27 (Sat & Sun).

A great course for spinners who want to take an in depth look at all the functions and options of their spinning wheel and then try a vast array of fibres discussing and trying the best settings for each one.  Last year we had many spinners who had been working their wheels for years that left feeling like they’d finally got a handle on their equipment and how to use it.

Joan Carrigan will be teaching Wicker with Nature’s Bounty this winter on January 19 & 20 (Sat & Sun).  Last year we had such an excellent time and the baskets that everyone produced in just two days under her expert direction were so impressive, we had to bring her back.  She is an incredible teacher!

 

Fibre

Our Louet fibre collection continues to grow.  We are lucky to be able to choose from one of the largest selections of natural fibers for handspinning and felting available. Over 150 different types and colors ranging from exotic fibers such as Cashmere and Yak to Wool, Silk and Vegetable fiber. We are always looking for new fibers that will be of interest to the Spinning market.

We strive to maintain the highest and most consistent quality of each type of fiber.

Coming in the New Year

Over the years we have had many requests for our Henry’s Attic yarn collection to be available in colours.  We have taken the leap and employed Cheryl Huseby Wiebe to create a small line of colours that you will be able to special order in our Henry’s Attic protein based yarns. Cheryl brought some of the samples over yesterday and we thought we’d give you a sneak preview.  We expect to have them available by special order in 30 colours by January 1st.  Once we get the proteins up and running, we’ll start working on the cellulose.

Don’t forget about our Group Discounts

If you’re a member of a guild, have a group of weaver friends or are just a prolific weaver yourself, remember our discount policy on yarn orders.  If you purchase $300 or more of yarn we will take 10% off your total before taxes.  If you buy $500 or more of yarn we’ll take off 10% and pay for your shipping costs.

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Looming on the Horizon for 2013

Workshop and Retreat Schedule

We are pleased to announce that the 2013 Retreat and Workshop Schedule is now online. Even before we were able to get the schedule finished we had weavers booking spaces. It is so rewarding to know that we are providing such a valued experience to weavers, spinners and basket makers.

This year we are offering many of our most sought after workshops. Workshops that provide a solid base for weavers. Colour and Design, Pushing the Boundaries of Plain Weave, Twills on 4, Lacey Places, Units Blocks and Profiles.

 

Our workshops done in this order will turn any weaver into a competent designer, capable of reading any pattern but more importantly capable of designing their own work.

It has always been my goal to offer weavers the keys to design so they can access their own creativity.

We like to keep our classes small so that the learning experience is BIG. When you come to one of our weaving retreats you walk into a studio with fully dressed looms just waiting for the shuttle to be thrown. Mornings are always spent learning the theory of the subject being presented, while afternoons (and evenings if you wish) are spent weaving.

 

Deluxe Weaving Retreats

Over the years I have often heard these words “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to just come here and just weave for a week, not samples but finished pieces…that would be the perfect holiday”. Well, this year we are offering 2 deluxe weavers holidays where you can do just that. But it gets even better. Most weavers love cooking so Rosemary and I are joining forces to offer weaving in the morning and cooking in the afternoon. Rosemary and I are still working on the full course description which will be ready in another week. I can give you a hint: You will be weaving one mohair blanket, one silk scarf, one cashmere scarf, one soft cuddly baby blanket or cotton throw if you don’t like babies and an heirloom linen towel. Plus you’ll get your own mini cook book filled with all of JST’s favourite recipes.

Spinning and Basketry

Over the past year we added 2 Spinning Workshops taught by Cheryl Huseby-Wiebe and Basketry with Joan Carrigan.  They were such a success we are offering even more Basketry and Spinning workshops in 2013.  Check out the schedule for those.

Food and Farmstay

I believe that every perfect day is accompanied with perfect food which is where our small hobby farm comes in handy. This past year we have been so blessed to have had our retreat meals prepared by our very own chef, Rosemary Harbrecht.  Not only do you indulge your textile senses but you also indulge your palette.

Farmstay is currently only available for weaving retreats.  For Basketry and Spinning workshops we recommend staying at Green Acres Resort which is only a 5 minute walk from the studio.

We hope you like our offerings for 2013.  To register all you have to do is give us a call at 250-537-9468 or send us an email: jane@janestaffordtextiles.com.

Here is the link to our Retreats page.

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Summer Sizzle

August 9th, 2012

Where has this summer gone?  We have been so busy with retreats and the garden that I really haven’t noticed the days clicking by.  We have had a very mixed bag of weather here in B.C. but we are finally pulling ahead of the slugs, beetles, deer, rabbits and oh I almost forgot…..the tent caterpillars that have invaded us this year.  During the June Twills on 4 Retreat, my whole class got into picking them off the raspberries every night. Despite all their efforts (the caterpillars) we have harvested a bumper crop of raspberries which will last the whole winter.

Every night now we are feasting on fresh greens, potatoes, tomatoes, summer squash, peas, cabbage, carrots~the garlic and onions are hanging to dry~oh my!  Each day provides us with the opportunity to be eternally grateful for our bountiful lives.   This also means that all our retreat guests are going home with extra big smiles on their faces.  This is the first summer we have had our chef Rosemary Harbrecht cooking for retreats.  I just can’t tell you how amazing it is to go to the table during our retreats to see what a French Trained Chef can pull off.  Don’t ever think you will be able to come here to weave and go home having lost weight!  It isn’t possible…but you’ll be very happy.  I don’t know if Rosemary has ever had such rounds of applause or so many hugs at her other jobs :^)

Organic Cotton Patterns

We have created two lovely sets of tea towels from our new Organic Cotton.  They are very soft and absorbant and we are so proud to be able to sell this quality of cotton.  It is certified organic,  spun and dyed  in Holland by the same company that produces our very high quality cottolin Venne.  These two sets of organic cotton tea towels are now available as patterns on our store site.   This 2/8 cotton is sett the same way you would sett our regular cotton but is grown without the use of pesticides or herbicides.  It is the perfect yarn for those specials gifts that are easier on the planet.

 

Our First Basketry Retreat at JST

In May we had the pleasure of hosting a Wicker Basket Workshop with the incomparable Joan Carrigan.  She took over our classroom with dyed willow reeds, wild crafted materials and spray bottles.  As you can see, the results were exquisitely beautiful!    Many of these students had never made a basket before and look at what they created in just 2   days.  We will be offering many more workshops like this in the new year.  Watch for the 2013 class lists that will be coming out in the October Newsletter.

Our next visiting instructor is our favourite spinner Cheryl Huseby-Wiebe.  She will be teaching us how to use colour in our spinning to dazzle and delight!  Check out her class description here!

There are 2 spaces left in this workshop running September 28th and 29th.

Maiwa Symposium “Inspiration from the Sari”

There are also 2 spots left in Jane’s workshop “Inspiration from the Sari” which is part of the Maiwa Symposium in Vancouver.  The dates for the workshop are October 23rd to 26th.  Here is a photo of the samples you will weave during this workshop.  They are pretty darn spectacular.  Doubleweave inlaid with sequins, cramming and denting, stitched doubleweave with supplementary warps….oh my!  If you have taken Pushing the Boundaries of Plain Weave with Jane you are ready for this workshop…….she will  push you even further!

 

Speaking of the “Inspiration from the Sari” workshop, these photos show Sheri’s Ward’s creative use of her left over warp after taking this workshop last fall.  She wove off the rest of the warp and turned the fabric into Speaker Covers.

And this delightful bit of craftwork is from our very own little Charlotte who spun, dyed and crocheted almost all the yarn in this sweet baby blankie for her friend Sylvie’s brand new daughter Elora Mae.  The orange border is dyed Mikado.

The sizes of the squares are based on the Fibonacci sequence to make a cubed Fibonacci Spiral.

 

And Speaking of Fibonacci, here is another wonderful link to information about our favourite Italian dude.

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Spring has Sprung

Spring has finally Sprung.  We have been enjoying this much needed sunshine and warmth.  The fruit trees are all in blossom, the potatoes are just poking through the ground, the garlic is 10″ high.  Ooo-la-la, how I love gardening !

New Yarn!  Organic 2/8 Cotton.

We are so pleased to announce that we have organic cotton.  It’s extremely high quality, spun in Germany and a great alternative if you’re looking for a way to continue enjoying your craft with a lighter impact on the environment. Our cotton comes in 100 gram cones @ $10.00 per cone and each cone has 710 yds. It is certified organic by GOTS (Global Organic Textiles Standard).  New Patterns coming soon!

Patterns

We’ve also added a new pattern to our scarves section of the store.  Bet you can’t guess who that glamorous starlet is!

This scarf is a Twill on four shafts using our 7 Gauge Bambu yarn and will make 2 scarves.

Like our other  patterns we’ve put together several colour way options for you or you can pick your own favourite colours.

Anything and everything is possible.

Spinner’s Corner

Calling all Spinners!  Colour Control in Spinning is being offered again September 28 & 29!  Gather round the circle and learn how to surround yourself with magnificently blended colours all through the winter. Cheryl Huseby-Wiebe is back!  She’s here to share her extensive knowledge and love of colour with all of us spinners who would like to improve our multi-coloured spinning techniques.   She’ll help us make the beautiful images that we see in our brains come to life in our skeins.

 

After Cheryl’s last class – Know Your Fibre, Know Your Wheel, Charlotte got seriously to work.  During the class she had her first taste of spinning with Louet’s Mohair and promptly ordered three bags full of White, Honey and Black. She’s combining the Black and Honey to make an exquisite golden grey.  The yarn is such a treat to spin and knit.  It’s so smooth and that sheen!  Divine!  Look at this!  Can you even believe it? Charlotte is so cool.  (She wrote this.)

Workshops

There is one spot left in our Oct 11 – 15th  Double Weave workshop.  If you missed this one last year because it filled up so fast, now’s your chance!   This is such a fascinating weave structure and not as hard as you might think.  You will be so impressed with yourself after taking this workshop because you’ll be able to do horizontal joins, weave fabrics that are double width with staggering layers, create double faced fabrics on 4 and 8 shafts, stuff pockets and learn to control colour in 2 block Double Weave.  The architectural possibilities of this weave structure will blow your mind wide open and leave you seriously jazzed about all the project ideas zinging around your brain.

We have also had a cancellation in our To Twill or Not to Twill workshop (of course To Twill is the answer) on July 16 – 20th.  Another exciting course, this is an excellent 3rd workshop for anyone who has taken Jane’s Colour & Design and her Pushing the Boundaries of Plainweave workshops.

Give us a call or drop us an email anytime to reserve your special spot!

Student’s Corner

The greatest reward a teacher can receive is seeing the wonderful results of a student’s hard work.  A few years ago, Jennifer Barrett walked into the studio to return some soccer gear (when I was a soccer mom).  Little did she know when she wandered around completely intrigued by the looms that she would be turning out her own beautiful work just a couple of years later.  Jennifer took a beginners weaving course through our local guild and then came to JST for Colour and Design and then Pushing the Boundaries of Plainweave.   She is one of those students who goes home and takes one of the ideas and completely designs her own project.  The Repp sample struck her fancy and below is her final creation.  She used her sketching skills from the Colour and Design workshop and overlayed them with the Repp ideas and voila….her very own design beautifully executed.    WOWEE!   This Cotton Repp Bathmat Is Stunning!

It is woven in 4/8 cotton sett at 36 e.p.i. and she used our Mop Cotton and 2/8 cotton for the weft.  The colours are Peacock, Pale Limette, Medium Blue and Turquoise.  We are working up her pattern and will have it in the pattern section very soon.

 

HelpLine

Jane has added a great discussion about Colour in Lace Weaving on the Helpline.   Our Helpline is constantly growing and is full of useful information.  It’s really quit exciting to build this resource!  If you don’t find your question answered there, just send us an email!

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Happy New Year!!

A New Year Brings New Life!

Happy New Year Everyone!  I hope you can forgive us for not sending out our Usual Festive Holiday Greeting…..we had great plans, but alas, our computer had major health issues and was sent to MacHospital the week before Christmas!  You can imagine our distress.

As they say, better late than never….Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Break a Leg, Eat, Drink and be Merry….May all your New Year’s Resolutions last more than 3 weeks but most importantly we wish you all Health and Happiness for 2012 and always.

Delicious News!

You know …, dreams really do come true. For as long as I have dreamed about having my weaving school (decades) I have also dreamed about finding a way to marry my other 2 passions to the business,  growing food and making delicious meals.
As many of you know we have a pretty big garden and grow heaps of awesome food to feed our family and guests and now JST has taken the next step and brought on board the lovely, delightful and talented chef Rosemary Harbrecht.   Rosemary trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, owned her first bakery called “Rosemary’s” near Berkely, CA and then owned the Brulee Bakery in Calgary, Alberta.  She has co-authored cookbooks, taken cooking tours to France and Tuscany and is now the pastry chef for the renowned Hastings House on Salt Spring Island.  Rosemary helps complete the circle.  She loves cooking and gardening….coffee and chocolate……. and other such essentials!  Can you believe our luck?  New retreats are on the horizon bringing cooking, weaving and gardening together.

 

One Spot Left!

Know Your Fibre, Know Your Wheel.  There’s room for one last person in Cheryl Huseby-Wiebe’s spinning workshop January 21st & 22nd.

If you want to have more control over your wheel and understand the difference between many animal fibres, this workshop is for you!  For more information go to the link above.

Workshop Updates:

Everything is full until Colour Control in Spinning May 10th & 11th with Cheryl Huseby-Wiebe and we still have spots available in Joan Carrigan’s Wicker with Nature’s Bounty workshop May 24th & 25th.  For more information on these two workshops, please click on the links.

And Now for Something Completely Different!  We had to leave you with a laugh!

Two Dogs Dining in a Busy Restaurant!