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March 2019 Newsletter

The Great Snow Storm of 2019 follows on the heels of The Great Wind Storm of 2018

I know that so many of our readers put up with snow four or five months of the year but we don’t get too much of it and when we do it is a lovely treat… for a couple of days 🙂 After a couple of days it becomes quite apparent that we are wimps out here on the west coast of Canada – a snow conversation around here starts like this… “Hey Honey, where’s the snow shovel?” “Oh, I think it’s down in the orchard under all the snow.” We got 18 inches worth of white stuff and we never did find the shovel. But all the whining aside it was peaceful and beautiful, until it wasn’t anymore.

The Producers!

We’ve had multiple requests lately on making a repair heddle and how to read a reed substitution chart. The easiest way to do this was in a little video, so here you go…

How to make your own repair heddle.
Do you only have one weaving reed? Don’t let that get you down! Here’s how to use the handy dandy Reed Substitution Chart. It will help you access the many possible ends per inch with only one reed!

Fibres West 2019

A lot of people are asking if we’re going to Fibres West this year. Alas, we are not. Jane has the opportunity to travel to Ethiopia and work with the weavers of Sabahar once again. It was a chance that was too good to pass up. The JST crew refused to go to the show without her! Boo yah! We hope Brenda and all the vendors at Fibres West have a fabulous show so please go support them.

Spring cleaning!

We’ve given our website a facelift! We’re always trying to make things more user friendly and cleaner looking. We’ve updated a lot of our photos, the next thing we’re going to tackle is the Online Guild forum and make it easier to use.

Next Online Guild episode

The next Online Guild episode airs on March 14. Come and learn all about log cabin.

The Coneheads are coming!

We have a brand spanking new cone winding machine. Grant has read the manual and is ready to rock and roll. This should mean we’ll have fewer gaps in our inventory.

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June 2017 Newsletter

Louet Sale until July 31st

Until July 31st 2017 all our Louet looms (but not the Louet accessories) have a 5% discount. So if you were splashing out on a Louet Megado Floor Loom, you’d save almost $1,000… and yet still incur the wrath of your bank manager.

Due to high demand, delivery may be anywhere between mid-August through November, depending upon when you place your order.

Take me to those Louet looms

Dr Beckmann’s Color & Dirt Collectors

We have finally received our large consignment of Dr Beckmann’s Color & Dirt Collectors.

We’ve done some sampling and you can see the “before” and “after” pictures below; they speak for themselves.

Even after washing and pressing these things will get dye run out.

I want those Color & Dirt Collectors!

ANWG is just around the corner

We’ll have a big booth at this year’s Association of Northwest Weavers’ Guilds (ANWG).

If you want to pre-order and collect at ANWG, order on the website as normal but at the checkout make sure to click on the checkbox next to “Ship to a different address” and enter our address (142 Richard Flack Rd, Salt Spring Island, BC V8K 1N4, Canada). Don’t forget to add in the “Order notes” that you want to collect at ANWG, otherwise your order items will be sitting forlornly in our office.

Call me a stick in the mud but I won’t be entering this year’s ANWG Shuttle race.

New products

Two new products we’re very excited about are the Thread Count Magnifier and the Traditional Heavy Duty Scissors. The Thread Count Magnifier fits into your pocket and unfolds to allow close examination of your weave. The Traditional Heavy Duty Scissors are reassuringly heavy, giving precise control over your cuts.

Website progressive search

We’ve added progressive search to our website to help you find the product you want quickly. Start typing in the search box and progressive search will show all products that match your typing.

Kits by weaving level

We’ve started to classify our kits by the level we think they’re appropriate for:

Beginner weaving level kits
Advanced beginner weaving level kits
Intermediate weaving level kits

Please let us know if you found them too hard or too easy for your level.

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JST November Newsletter

jst-maple

This beautiful Japanese Maple is what I see when I come home from the studio every afternoon. I wait for this time of year so I can see it in all its glory.

Autumn is my favourite time of the year, right after Spring. In the Spring, spring is my favourite time of year, right after fall…go figure.

I guess I can hardly wait to get out in the garden in the Spring and then I can hardly wait for it to wind down in the Fall. I love these two polar seasons.

We have had one heck of a year in the garden and it is really nice to put it all to bed. The freezers are full, the garlic is in, winter brassicas are in fine form and now we can just sit back and eat :^) How good is that!

Update on Registration for 2017

Registration Day was a tad hectic….it was a record year….every seat was taken in 2 1/2 hours. Wait lists are nicely filling up. If you were unable to get your spot, please, please, please make sure you are on the wait list. We take people from the wait list every year….after all, life isn’t perfect, stuff happens and we get cancellations.

Shelves are Stocked

Knit City was a blast last month, it was great seeing so many old friends in our booth in Vancouver. You took your jobs seriously and we were pretty depleted at the end.

Fresh inventory has been arriving everyday for the past few weeks. Our shelves are stocked and overflowing ready to fill all your weaving needs this fall.

Christmas is coming kids so you better get at. Cheryl has been hanging out around her dye pots a lot lately and our silk wall is looking pretty delicious.

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Win 1 cone of every colour of 2/8 cotton – $580.00 Value!

Get automatically entered for every order you make at https://janestaffordtextiles.com

Contest starts today and ends December 21, 2016.

Imagine the possibilities if you had all these colours in your stash!

all-cotton

20% OFF All Euroflax Linen Until Nov 15!

Available in 28 colors. Whether weaving or knitting, Euroflax linen creates exquisite, elegant textiles.

Click Here to Shop Euroflax Linen Now

Website Update!

We are still fine tuning our new website and we love your input…it has helped so much. Thank You.

For all our friends south of the border we have added a feature that shows you the US price as soon as you view the site.

Items are put in your cart in the US price and when you check out you will see the CDN Prices as we have to process in Canadian $, but your credit card company automatically does the exchange on your statement.

Our next newsletter will be out in a few weeks with news about new products and great ideas.

Happy Halloween,

Jane

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JST June Newsletter

It’s June! And here’s what we’ve been up to. And what’s coming this month. Happy Weaving!

 



New JST Online Store

It’s been a long, long road, but we are so pleased to launch our new online store! And we have a little sale in store for you since it’s because of you that we do what we do.

We sincerely hope that you like what you see on our new store. We love it – the big, bold pictures, the clean lines, and the mobile responsive platform are just what we needed to bring our products to you. Over the next months, we will be updating our images, adding even more full resolution pictures to the store to help you make your choices even more crystal clear.

Just a few notes about the new store:

  • Please update your bookmarks! The old link to the store doesn’t work anymore. Here is the new one 🙂 – janestaffordtextiles.com/shop
  • If you are having problems accessing the store, please clear your cache on your device. Here are some instructions on how to do it.
  • While we endeavoured to get it totally right the first time, we will inevitably find little boo-boos here and there. If you find something that isn’t quite right, or you think we should know about something, please shoot us an email.

Because it’s so new to us and new to you, we’d like to offer something to all our early adopters and yarnies who will do us the honour of testing the store for us.

We are giving you 10% off all YARN orders placed online until June 30th, 2016!

Just use coupon code MIDSUMMER at checkout.

Let us know what you think! Tell us on Facebook or email us – Jane would love to hear your comments!

JST Helpline Update
Sometimes even the helpline needs a little help – and we are finally ready to give the Helpline the help it deserves. We are going to be spending lots of time connecting our thousands of pages of info to well ordered categories in the next week, but we could use your help. If you find something that is supposed to lead to the helpline, but is a broken link (404 message, dead link), could you please take some time and let us know? We would be so thankful 🙂

Summer Unplugged

Going on a road-trip? Heading to the cabin or cottage this summer? Grand kids coming for a visit? Summer is a great time to unplug. We brought in just the things to help wile away the hours and to occupy your hands while listening to the FM radio or the sounds of nature.

We have Harrisville Potholder Deluxes and Lotta Loops, Schacht Zoom Looms, and Cricket Looms (and cool bags!) all in stock.

 

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JST April Newsletter



It’s Alive! It’s Live! It’s JST’s New Look.

The picture above is what we’re so excited about. It’s our newly launched website. We have been working on a very special project for some time now and we are happy to say that the web face of JST has received a facelift.

Although we loved our old site, time isn’t kind to websites, and technology just keeps marching on. We thought it was important to stay with the times and provide our customers and friends with a mobile device optimized website since so many of us are using these types of devices now. You will notice that the website will look different depending on whether you are using a smart-phone, tablet, or computer. This is completely normal and is why we redesigned our site in the first place.

We would love to hear what you like about our new site, and if you find any errors or omissions, do let us know.

Now on to the next thing – our online store! If you experience any troubles ordering, please just let us know and we’ll be happy to take your order either via email or over the phone.

JST Helpline Update
Sometimes even the helpline needs a little help. We are in the process of working on our Helpline so we can better serve weavers with questions, but at the moment, the Helpline is under construction. Thank you for your patience.

 

Silk, Silk, Silk

Just a little note for all of you silk weavers and lovers out there about our 2/20 Bombyx. This silk produces a lusciously soft fabric. We recommend that when winding your warp that you wind it with two ends in your hand at a time. This will reduce the number of interlacements going through your lease sticks, and make winding on much easier. If you can’t buy two skeins – no problem! Just wind your single skein into two balls. Easy peasy.

Have you worked with this new linen? We would love to see a picture of your project. Drop us a line at jane@janestaffordtextiles.com or find us and share with us on Facebook.

Presenting 40/2 Linen in 17 Colours

A few months ago we decided to bring in some new linen to the shop to mix it up a bit and offer an even smaller gauge of linen for those finer projects. Overwhelmingly, people seem to love this new line. We have just finished making up our new linen sample cards as well. You can get to the this new line in our shop by clicking here, and sample cards can be purchased by clicking here.


Cuddles on Sale

We have a small quantity of our hand-dyed Cuddles Alpaca blend on sale and we just wanted to let those of you who would like to try this yarn, or those of you who love this yarn. Why? Because we are not going to be dying any further batches of Cuddles. Cuddles is a wool/alpaca bulky, cushy yarn and we even have a knitting pattern for a cute little hat that we’ll throw in for you when you pick up a skein or two. The pattern uses only one Skein. It’s also lovely for the odd shot of texture in your weaving. Here’s the link to the store….

Rosemary’s Recipe Corner

One of the first things that burst forth in the spring is the old fashioned staple Rhubarb. As at home in many homestead gardens as in our kitchen, Rosemary has given us her delicious recipe for Rhubarb Muffins.

2.5 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups chopped rhubarb
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Topping (set aside)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp melted butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare your muffin tins.

Mix all the wet ingredients, including the sugar together in a bowl. Next, mix the dry ingredients together so they are well distributed. Incorporate the wet ingredients.

Add chopped rhubarb to mixture. In a separate bowl, mix your melted butter and sugar for the topping. Add batter to your tins, sprinkle with topping and bake for about 20 minutes. Then grab your butter, sit back, and enjoy!

Show and Tell

We’ve been playing with a pattern lately here at the shop and we’ve seen a few student interpretations of the pattern. Here is Claudia Cocco’s version of our Alpaca shawl. It’s a pattern that uses denting to produce some really stunning results. This shawl is made with the Alpaca Tweed and our hand-dyed bouclé. Thanks Claudia for allowing us to show this lovely shawl off!

Copyright © 2016 Jane Stafford Textiles, All rights reserved.

 

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Summer 2013

Please note that JST will be closed  June 19th-July 2nd for Fibre Week in Old’s, Alberta and Canada Day on July 1st.

We will still be monitoring emails.  If you place an order while we’re away and we have the stock with us, we’ll just ship from Alberta.

Contest

Our next draw will be July 1st and all purchases between April 1 and June 30 will be entered into the draw box for two $125 gift certificates!  Even if you place the orders while we’re away, don’t worry we’ll ship when we get back and your name will make it in the box.  The two winners from the last draw had a some fun choosing yarns for projects.

Silk in Stock!  In 32 Scrumptious Colours!

 

It’s Here!  It’s really here!  We’ve got both weights of bombyx silk, 20/2 and 30/2, on the store and in stock!  All the other yarns will be up in the coming weeks.

Those yarns are 20/2 Tussah Silk, Mohair Bolero Boucle, Prime AlpacaAlpaca TweedCuddles Alpaca and Silk Noil.

Fibre Week at Old’s College, Alberta

We are heading off to Olds Alberta for Old’s College Fibre Week and to help the HWSDA celebrate its big anniversary.  We will be closing down the shop on Salt Spring for that event so we are sorry if you were planning a visit during the days between June 19th-June 27th.  We are looking at this trip as our summer holidays.   Jane will be teaching and Charlotte will be at the booth.  If there is anything you’d like us to bring, just let us know.  (Make you sure you call or email by Monday June 17 because we’re leaving on Tuesday!)

The S90 is Back!

Our S90 Ultimate Wheel will be making a special appearance for spinning aficionados and wheel collectors alike.  When it was originally released, the S90 was the ultimate wheel for any spinner.  Though previously discontinued, we’re bringing it back for a limited-edition production run of 50.  Here’s a taste of what you have to look forward to:

The S90 Ultimate is a bobbin lead wheel with our standard brake on the flyer.  Compact and portable, it folds up completely assembled – all parts stay on the wheel, including the optional skein winder!  This wheel possesses all of the elements a great spinning wheel should have: three settings for thick, medium and fine yarns; ratios of 6,5:1, 9,5:1 and 15:1; and a wide treadle which alls you to spin with your right or left foot – or both feet, if you prefer!

The built-in lazy kate holds three bobbins sung to the wheel for storage or it can be repositioned out to the left for plying.  The lazy kate is designed to control the speed of the three bobbins automatically without any adjustments!  Made of beautifully-lacquered birch plywood, this wheel comes ready to use, complete with four bobbins.

Barking Up the Right Tree with Joan Carrigan

This wonderful workshop still has places available.  We are unable to provide B&B for this event but if you check out the link to Salt Spring Accommodations I’m sure you will be able to find a wonderful place to stay.  Joan has thrilled so many basket weavers all over North America.  Come and spend 3 days learning to use Cedar Bark.

New Online Store

We’ve just upgraded our online store, it looks a little different right now and we’re still adjusting some of the features but it’s the same fabulous place for you to find all your favourite weaving equipment and yarns, spinning equipment, toys to get your grandkids weaving and exquisitely designed kits.

New Beater for the David, cute little feller!

Louet North America has developed a new beater system for the David Loom based on the fantastic feedback we’ve received from our customers over the years.  All new looms purchased will have the beater already installed, and there will be a retrofit available for older models.  David is a unique sinking shed jack loom, and has become a popular small floor loom.

Don’t forget about our Group Discounts, they’ll make you dance

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 $200 or more of yarn we will pay for your shipping costs.  If you buy $500 or more of yarn we’ll pay for your shipping costs and take off 10% before taxes.

Mailing List

We want to expand our mailing list.  If you like getting the Old Ladies with String Digest, even if you’re a young lady or a gentleman, please spread the word.

Remember the Helpline.  We are always there for you.

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My First Blog

At Christmas time we always exchange magazines. My son Eben bought me an Organic Living magazine. On Christmas morning I looked in my stocking and found this magazine that looked kind of interesting, and then I HAD to make the comment: “Hmmm, this is just full of advertising and marketing!” Eben, slightly offended, retorted with: “Well, gee Mom, I’m sorry but I couldn’t find any ‘Old Ladies with String Digests’ “!

And so we make available to you, all you ladies with string – our blog!

Happy Weaving,
Jane