Month: December 2022

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December 20, 2022 newsletter

❤️ A Christmas Story from our Archives ❤️

When my kids were little, I used to put a comic, or colouring book in their Christmas stockings….as they grew older, they became skateboarding or snowboarding magazines or whatever they were into at that moment….it became a wonderful tradition and it bought me a bit of time every Christmas morning.
 
When my eldest son was 16, he did something very special…he put a magazine in my Christmas stocking…it was called Organic Style. He knew how much I was going organic :), but the title “Organic Style” seemed rather odd….the ‘organic’ part was great…but ‘style’…how could organic be a style? 
 
Now….you have to imagine everyone sitting around, browsing through their magazines, sipping hot chocolate with me leafing through mine noticing that most of the stuff in the magazine wasn’t about organic anything and I made a comment…or two or three…this isn’t organic, how can they talk about ‘style’ when we’re talking organic…..blah blah blah…get the drift?
 
Well…..the room went quiet and I looked up and there was my beautiful son Eben staring at me in disbelief…his mother was being a total utter jerk. I realized it the minute I looked at his face and said “oh my gosh Eben, I’m so sorry, it is a wonderful magazine, thank you so much”

Here’s the best part……You have to remember that he was 16…..and with all the sarcasm that a 16-year-old could muster, he glared at me and said…”Well, gee Mom, I couldn’t find an old ladies with string digest”……I burst out laughing and thought it was the best response ever…he nailed it and I told him right then and there that if our little business grew enough for me to have a newsletter, I would call it “The Old Ladies With String Digest”.
 
Every Christmas we still laugh at that story and I still use the name for my newsletter. It is even more appropriate for me now that I have officially become an OAP’er, something I’m very proud of. I have survived and plan to keep on working and creating, being inspired and trying to inspire. The learning will never end and I hope that you will all be getting the Old Ladies With String Digest for many more years to come.

I’m thinking about changing the newsletter’s name to “From an Old Lady with String” or maybe I’ll just let it be, I still haven’t decided. BUT…..I want everyone reading to know that I love all weavers, toddlers, teenagers, under 40, over 50 and I especially love our weavers in their 80’s and 90’s and yes, we have a lot of them. They are my greatest inspiration. 

I also want to take a moment to thank you all for supporting our little business. We wouldn’t be here without you. Your generosity this year has allowed us to send another $12,000 donation to the Maiwa Foundation supporting textile artisans in India. These donations are greatly appreciated as you can imagine. 

Last but not least I want to wish you all a safe, loving holiday season. May 2023 bring more Peace and Love to this world.

❤️
Jane 

We will be closed for the holidays from December 24th to January 1st.
Last orders for shipping before the holidays is December 23rd.
Orders placed during our closed days will be processed on January 2nd, 2023.

Here to help

You can always find us on the Jane Stafford School of Weaving Forum or on Weave with Jane Stafford at Ravelry.

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December 13 , 2022 newsletter

The magic of Colour and Weave 

can’t help but be excited about sharing what we’ll be doing in Season 7! There are so many possibilities using “what if”…. and magic can really happen. Early in 2023 we’ll add to our knowledge of Fiberworks PCW and learn about some tools that I wasn’t even aware of.  You’ll have so much fun learning more about this amazing software.

December is the time we get to sort out the Studio, take a wee break and get ready for another exciting year ahead of us. In the meantime – check out the Episode 1 kit below if you want to be ready and waiting for Turned Twill with layers in Season 7, Episode 1! Episode 2 is Fiberworks and Episode 3 is Colour and Weave on Monk’s Belt.


Happy Weaving
Jane

Season 7 New Kits

Episode 1 Turned Twill With Colour & Weave

You’ve hung out with me long enough to know that I love Colour and Weave – and now I’m adding even more layers to Turned Twill. In the first episode of Season 7, we get to see what happens when you let C&W play in Turned Twills garden 😉 

Things we will learn:

  • How to overlay C&W sequences from our C&W gamp S02E02 onto units and blocks, to make these motifs as big as we want.
  • We use D/L and D/D/L/D/L in the composition.
  • How to bring other sequences into the treadling.
  • We can also play with all those other tie-ups from S05E01 and S06E02.
  • How to warp with 2 warps, a dark warp and a light warp.
  • A discussion about whether we want to tie knots or warp with 2 warps.
  • One isn’t right, one isn’t wrong…they are just different ways to warp and it’s good to know.
Shop Now

Monk’s Belt With Colour & Weave

The Monk’s Belt placemats were a hit last year and we loved seeing photos of what you wove on our School of Weaving Forum as well as our Ravelry Group. Now – we are adding new design layers to a fresh set of placemats (and we’re still able to weave a lovely scarf on the same warp). Oh … the endless possibilities of C&W……

Things we will learn:

  • How to overlay C&W sequences on Monk’s Belt.
  • How we can challenge our ideas around Monk’s Belt treadling and balance.
  • How to weave super thick placemats with only 2 shuttles.
  • How we can get lovely drapey scarves on the same warp without changing the sett.
Shop Now

A few other things title……

Gift Certificates

Gift certificates are the perfect gift choice which gives the weavers in your world a way to plan a project and choose the yarn they want to use to create their own unique “kit”. We have a selection of patterns available for purchase which could be the starting point of their next project 😉 Or – if you are the only weaver in your family circle – you could drop hints, print out this newsletter and accidentally leave it lying on the coffee table, or plant the idea with a family member who might share that information with others 😉 If you are hoping for the gift of a month or a year for the School of Weaving – these gift options can be purchased on the same page.

Purchase an EGift

Michelle’s Zephyr Scarf Kit

There is something soft, warm, and delightful about Michelle’s scarf. With Zephyr yarn in both the warp and weft woven in Turned Twill, the resulting scarves are beautiful and cozy to wear on a winter’s day. 

The thing I like about Turned Twill is that you can put your colours in the warp and weave with just one colour in the weft, and yet you achieve multi-coloured blocks.  You can weave your profile square or change the height of your blocks by changing the number of times you treadle them.  This system allows for many different graphic possibilities on one warp.

Turned Twill requires an 8-shaft loom and is recommended for an intermediate weaver. 

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Eco Jeans Cramming & Denting Scarf

This Eco Jean yarn is lovely to weave and uses Cramming and Denting in the design, and because this yarn grabs onto itself it happily stays in place. Should you want to weave this scarf in a different colourway – simply, put the Cramming and Denting Eco Jeans Scarves kit into your cart, then on the checkout screen in the “notes” section, let us know what colours you would like us to put in your kit. These scarves are light, airy, casual and warm. A perfect addition to jeans and a T-shirt!

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Double-Ended Electric Bobbin Winder

This is a handy tool to have on hand that will make your weaving life easier. It holds bobbins and pirns in place while you quickly wind them as you prepare to weave. It also will hold the large Leclerc Styrene Spools that will easily hold a skein of silk. Once the silk is on the spool – it’s ready to be wound onto bobbins. Easy peasy!

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Schacht Umbrella Swift – no counter

The Ultra Umbrella Swift is ingeniously designed with features you will love. It can be used with your bobbin winder to quickly move skeins of silk and other skeined yarn onto a large Leclerc spool for weaving or onto your ball winder if you also happen to be a knitter!

Please note this swift does not have a counter.

Features:

Ball bearings for exceptionally smooth turning.
Pushes down to open and will not flare out after the skein is emptied.
Stable slat pivots with solid steel pins.
Ingenious clamp mounts on most tables, even those with thick edges.
Built-in winding handle.
Holds skeins up to 93″ in circumference.
Can be used in either a vertical or horizontal position.
Tube and button slat assembling.

Shop Now

From Our Inbox

We love hearing from our weavers around the world… Hannie Derks from the Netherlands shared her interpretation of denting. She wove this beautiful scarf using 16/2 cotton in red and yellow colour gradients for the warp and added the luxury of natural silk by using it for her weft. It’s stunning Hannie – I wish we could feel its drape 😉 

We offer FREE shipping on all Louet looms within Continental North America. We also offer the option to pay a $1000.00 CAD deposit on your loom with the balance due when the loom ships out to you. This gives you the flexibility to make smaller payments toward your balance, at your convenience.

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Here to help

Have a weaving question? Find us on the Jane Stafford School of Weaving Forum and on

Weave with Jane Stafford on Ravelry.

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December 6, 2022 newsletter

Season 7, yay!

An Overlay of Colour & Weave Sequences and Texture on Units and Block Weave

Hello there my darling kidlets….so many of you have been waiting for this newsletter…so here we go!

As always, 2023 will build on all previous years with special emphasis on the Colour and Weave gamp we did in Season 2 Episode 4. We are going to take those Colour and Weave sequences and overlay them onto units and blocks. You’ll be amazed how you can take a sequence that may have been 5 ends and blow it up to be 20 ends or 40 ends. The motif stays the same, it’s just much bigger. We can also use those end-on-end sequences in so many unit and block weaves to add incredible depth and complexity to these structures. AND….we can add texture to so many of them, thick and thin in both the warp and weft. 

This is all being done on 4 shafts, with the exception of Episode 1 which is more on Turned Twill…I know…how can there be more….well, we’re only getting started. 😉

So far we’ve filmed the first 3 episodes…..Turned Twill, Fiberworks and Monk’s Belt. I can hardly wait to get the hundreds of yards woven for the next 6 episodes, it’ll keep me busy and off the streets. 🤣

I hope you enjoy the Promo…it gives you a lot of detail and some sneak peeks at what’s coming your way.

And, thank you so much for belonging to the School of Weaving….it is your subscription that allows me to keep making these episodes, taking things further and I have the honour to share it all with you. ❤️

Love ya tons,
Jane

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December 1, 2022 newsletter

Louet Octado & Megado Looms
ON SALE NOW until December 20th, 2022!

Are you a weaver who is tired of crawling under your loom to create or change your tie-up? Do you weave a yard or 2 and then decide you would really like to change the structure in your cloth by changing your tie-up a wee bit? It’s those “what-ifs” that are magic but can be hard on your knees and back. So … you shrug your shoulders and say “I just can’t get under there again” and stop exploring the possibilities. Does this sound familiar??

For the first time since 2019 – the Octado and the Megado – Louet’s Dobby looms – are on sale!!!

The ease of complex weaving on these looms often comes as a surprise to even the most experienced weaver! The Megado and Octado are simple, easy to operate, and robust enough to handle all your projects.

Dobby looms have a dobby system, which is used to program the lift combinations for your weave structure. The dobby mechanism replaces the treadle/lam combination of traditional floor looms. The pattern capability of a multi-shaft loom is vastly increased by using a dobby mechanism because it gives you an almost limitless number of treadles. The Octado is an 8-shaft loom and the Megado comes with either 16 shafts or 32. Once you decide on your loom, you then decide on the dobby system, either mechanical or electronic. 

Jane

Please note that the loom and dobby are sold separately.

If you wish to pay a deposit and/or installments, please contact info@janestaffordtextiles.com with the loom, width, and shaft number you are interested in and we will send you an invoice for the $1000.00 CAD deposit with the balance due when the loom ships.

Octado Loom

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Octado Loom Electronic Interface

The electronic interface is also on sale until December 20th, 2022! It will give you almost unlimited shaft combinations using a computer and software. The following weaving software programs work with the Louet electronic interface – Fiberworks PCW, Weavemaker, WeaveIt, WeavePoint, Winweef or ProWeave.

Check it out!

Megado Loom

There are a few Megado left in the March 2023 shipment.

Next series of Megado looms is scheduled for June 2023 delivery.

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Megado Electronic Interface

Megado electronic interface is available for both 16 shafts or 32 shafts and on sale now!

We also offer FREE shipping on all Louet looms within Continental North America.

Here to help

Have a weaving question? Find us on the Jane Stafford School of Weaving Forum and on Weave with Jane Stafford on Ravelry.