Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Room for the loom


I have taken over yet another room in the house, this time for the yarn stash. This is the smallest bedroom. It was sort of mustard and baby poop brown, which made the room feel very small and close. I painted it Secret Scent by Behr, with a white ceiling. It's a gentle lavender and I love it.



Tapestry, like quilting, requires a bit of a stash. Getting a gradation of values with yarn can be even more challenging than with fabric. But there are interesting tricks. Please check out Sarah Swett's blog post on value, Go ahead, I'll wait. Really, her post is genius and so beautifully written too.

I got to meet and take a workshop from Sarah almost three years ago. I was too new to spinning (and knew nothing about tapestry) to fully appreciate how lucky I was to spend time with her. The class was on mixing colors and values in wool for spinning, but it covered so much more. This was my first ever selfie, taken with Sarah at the workshop.

The class was very meaningful to me, in a lot of ways. I was wrestling with the decision to curtail my teaching travel and dealing with creative burn out. I learned a lot in a few days, and about way more than how to blend wool.



When deciding how to set up a room I often start by checking out what will be seen first. Does anyone else do that? I consider what little vignette will be seen when passing by the door. I'd like it to be intriguing, welcoming, to pull us into the room and then see that there is more to discover.

There's more to do, clearly, but setting up the loom room meant unpacking six more boxes. We're getting there. I'm on the fence about bringing up the floor loom, it will fill up the room fast, but I'm sure not going to use it in the basement. We're still waiting for the old house to choose its new family. There's been a lot of interest in the last couple of weeks, we're hoping for good news soon.


3 comments:

  1. Oh I do like the look of a new tapestry studio. Love the baskets and the yarn collection. Also the selfie with Sarah. Your Mirrix looks very very happy.

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    1. Oh Golly Beth, what a glorious space. Those bins on the wall are genius. Congratulations. Not only am I thrilled that you've taken Rebecca's class and are now weaving tapestry, but am flattered as can be by your kind comments about our workshop and the value post. Well do I remember the discussions about teaching. And your amazing embroidery. And, and, and....

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  2. "When deciding how to set up a room I often start by checking out what will be seen first. Does anyone else do that? I consider what little vignette will be seen when passing by the door. I'd like it to be intriguing, welcoming, to pull us into the room and then see that there is more to discover."
    This sounds like what we do as quilters. What is seen from a distance and what draws people closer to look. Beth, you're just doing what comes naturally. :)

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