Big Exciting News!
Cashmere!
You just have to feel this to believe it! Softer than a cloud.
I love working with finer yarns more than any yarn and I have always wanted to stock Cashmere ~ so I have finally taken the plunge. After all – that’s what my line of credit is for, isn’t it :^) We have done all the sett testing, made our colour selection, decided on cone size and have just unpacked the boxes today. It is very easy to weave between 18 and 24 EPI depending on plain weave or twill.
It will sell for $32.00/50gr cone with 715 yds on a cone. You can make one 8″x72″ scarf with a cone. All we have to do now is photograph every colour and get it up on the store. If you can’t wait till next week, tell us which row and colour you are interested in and we’ll get it off to you.
Patterns will be coming soon!
A Good Graphic Goes a Long Way
For all you weavers that have taken Jane’s Colour & Design Workshop, you will be familiar with the way she teaches you to interpret the same graphic design in different colour combinations and yarns. Here is an excellent example of this idea. Linda Knowles from Vancouver took a pattern from a scarf woven by Kate McKibbon (that was on display in the studio). Linda changed the block pattern just a smidge and interpreted it with 2 different yarns. Linda’s scarf is woven with a 12 gauge Bambu warp and a Zephyr weft. She then took the same block profile and interpreted it in 2/8 cotton and boucle for her tea towel.
By overlaying different colour and texture onto the block profile, you would never know it was the same pattern. So beautifully done Linda and thank you for sharing your designs with us.
There are also 32 more patterns in our online store. You’ll find Tea Towels, Scarves, Blankets and Placemats made from 2/8 Cotton, Cotton Boucle, Mercerized Cotton, Bambu and Chenille. They are an excellent source of inspiration and learning!
Retreats at JST
Our second Pushing the Boundaries of Plainweave workshop for the year has finished. We had such a fun and exuberant group. We added warping, winding on and threading demonstrations and used many exciting plainweave techniques including cramming and denting, weft and warp faced structure, tufted weft, clasped weft and cording. They were challenged to work with linen (it’s not as scary as you think!), as well as 8/8 cotton, cottolin, mercerized cotton and 2/8 cotton. The weather was beautiful, the food was delicious and the conversation fascinating. We were sad to see everyone go!
We’re proud to report that we had our first guy at a retreat and he survived beautifully. Here is what he said about his experience:
“Hello Jane,
You are awesome as a teacher, weaver, hostess, etc., etc.,etc., as the King of Siam would have said! I have to tell you that I really enjoyed the recent workshop, and many many thanks to you for it. You have inspired me to go and explore the possibilities of my four shaft loom, and to look for awesome colour and fibre combinations.
The first day after the workshop, I went to the Buchart Gardens with my daughter-in-law, and we were blown away, not only with the flowers but with the colours and colour combinations offered by the flowers, trees and the layouts of the different sections of the gardens. Now I can see a cloth called “Buchart Quarry Greens” or “Buchart Pinks”, and so on. I got carried away with photographing everything, often in close-up, to look for the colours including the zingers! And Janet Phillips’ book; what possibilities! I now need to live well past 100!
Please thank Charlotte for her lovely lunches and presence and Grant for the wonderful dinners. I enjoyed also the relaxing though sometimes invigorating discussions over too much wine! So, again very many thanks for a great time, I am now one of your fans/supporters/admirers!
I wish you a wonderful summer, and all success with your courses,
Cheers, Ian”
Coming Up!
The warps are made for our June 27 – July 1 Twills on Four workshop. We’ll be weaving a large Twill Gamp, Shadow Weave, Colour and Weave techniques like Pin-Wheel, Boundweave, and combining Twills with other structures like Bastketweave. It’s full for this year, but if you really want to learn about how fascinating twills can be, look for the next Twills workshop in our 2012 schedule that will be ready in October this year.
We have had one opening in the July 18 – 22 Double Weave workshop. If you’re interested in learning how to weave horizontal joins, double width, staggered triple layers, double faced twills, interlocking double weave and two-block double weave, give us a call!
Check out our Retreat Schedule for the two remaining openings in our Collapsible Fabrics workshop. The last remaining spots for the year!
Jane is working on the 2012 schedule and she plans to have guest instructors come to offer a wider range of workshops. Coming soon to a weaving studio near you!
We are constantly sent fabulous information from our weavers. This one came from Diane McAuliffe in Seattle and we just had to pass it on.
It is a wonderful link (click on the title) to a fascinating visual of the correlation between mathematics and nature. As weavers, we are always using many of these formulas to help us design beautiful graphics in our textiles. It really is worth watching. Thanks Diane!
Changing Prices
We’re sorry to report that our prices on a number of items will be going up.
We’ve tried hard to keep our prices as low as possible for years, but rising fuel costs and flood damaged cotton crops in Pakistan are just two reasons why we must increase our prices on several of our yarns.
As well, prices on Louet looms will increase 10% on July 1 so if you are thinking of purchasing a loom, now would be a great time.
Because weavers put such a great deal of effort into their work we feel that high quality yarns are the best way to go. We will continue to offer and search for the best.
We will always share Jane’s extensive design knowledge through our patterns, keep the wealth of information on our helpline free and continue to offer the excellent support to all of our friends and customers that we are known for.
We thank all of you for your support and friendship.
Remember, we are always here to help :^)
Our Helpline is an excellent resource for all your weaving questions. You can ask your questions directly on the Helpline or in a regular old email to Jane. We will post all answers on the helpline anonymously for everyone to see and benefit from. It may take a day or two to answer your questions, we thank you for your patience!
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