May 2022
In this newsletter you’ll find…
Studio views
Live Textiles Artist-in-Residence
Local wool
Colour & knitting
Studio Views
A roaming studio this month, more thinking than weaving, a necessary part of healthy process, if you ask me.
Clockwise from top left: fantasy weaves (trying out markers as a drawing medium); Janet Kigusiuq’s Composition from the TMC’s exhibition ᑕᑯᒃᓴᐅᔪᒻᒪᕆᒃ Double Vision: Jessie Oonark, Janet Kigusiuq, and Victoria Mamnguqsualuk (link here, a truly excellent exhibition of three important Inuit artists. It’s on until March 2023, so please go if you have the opportunity!); a representation of my time tending the garden; and my new friend George, who came for a visit.
Live Textiles Loom Shed
Megan Samm’s new textile-based artist-in-residence program is now accepting applications for the summer 2023 season! This exciting new residency is a dream — this is what Megan has to say about it:
The Live Textile studio can be found in Katalisk, Ktaqmkuk or Codroy Valley, Newfoundland. The ‘Valley’ as it’s lovingly referred to is my home territory and is located rurally.
The workshop, like our home, will remain off grid and will house looms, dye materials, fibre and yarn, a library of books and tools and will also be my working space. But more importantly, this studio will also be a place for community art events, it will be a learning hub for local youth interested in textile arts and it will also be an annual artist in residence space.
Megan told me about her dream to start this when we first connected years ago, so I can only imagine how excited she is to finally see it come to life. The full details of the LTAiR can be read here, and I encourage you to apply or get involved by donating or purchasing Megan’s patterns or gorgeous cloth — she is offering this residency free of charge (further evidence of her generous and giving spirit!). Her first resident is Jane Walker, but she’ll also be having a printmaker, rug hooker, and natural dyer visiting this year, and I can’t wait to see what they make.
Local Wool
My friend Laura Sharpe at Twin Oaks Farm has some wonderful local wool available on cones right now (& I bought way too much, oops). The wool is from Manitoulin Island here in Ontario and it was spun at Custom Woolen Mills in Alberta. It is natural white, 2 ply, and, for knitters, it’s very much like a Shetland wool (heavy fingering/light DK).
Laura has cones and skeins available. The cones are ~1600yd, and the skeins are 400yd/100g. I wove some samples and found that 10epi for plain weave and 12epi for twill gave me beautiful cloth. I’m eyeing the waffle weave blanket in the 1/2022 issue of VÄV Magasinet…
I think Laura is great and I thought I would mention the cones here because cones! Local wool! The price per cone is $35-40 (depending on how many you get!) + shipping. Laura’s farm is just outside of Guelph and she’ll be at a number of festivals this summer if you’d prefer to pick up. You can contact Laura through her website here if you’d like to know more.
Colour & Knitting
In case you missed it, you can read my third and final article on colour at the Gist Yarn blog here.
This month I’ll be looking at using Gist yarns for knitting. You’ll be able to find it on the blog on or around May 25th. Here’s a sample my colleagues at Handknit Yarn Studio made last year holding Mallo double.
Studio work continues on what I keep calling “my chair project.” I’m at a stage where I am stuck — there are too many ways to go forward, so I am reading and doodling and otherwise distracting the part of me that overthinks everything so that I can get back on track. The garden is also very distracting, as is my riding my bicycle. And my moldy indigo vat needs attention and to eat some more bananas this afternoon…
There is still ready-to-go weaving in my online shop, if you’re looking for finished work, and plenty of patterns to keep your loom full this summer. It’s been so nice to hear many of you picked up the book I recommended last month, I’d love to know what you think if you’ve started.
be well,
Amanda