Experience our recent week of rigid heddle weaving exploring color at Sievers on beautiful Washington Island in Door County, Wisconsin. Weaving, dinners together at quaint Island restaurants, and even daily calisthenics (memories from the 1960’s!) left us with many special memories! Enjoy!
Our story in photos of our week spent spinning at The Clearing Folk School in Ellison Bay in Door County, Wisconsin. June 18-24, 2023. Spinners Boot Camp focused on skills in drafting fibers, understanding ratios, spinning fine and bulky yarns, and fiber preparation and spinning techniques for woolen and worsted style yarns. Armed with their new knowledge and skills, spinners designed and spun yarn for their selected knitting and weaving projects. View another fun video of our boot camp “drills” … Continue reading →
July 25-30, 2022 at Sievers School of Fiber Arts! Rigid heddle weaving. Five beginners; five “beyonders”. Lots of weaving…lots of learning…lots of good evening dinners together…lots of memories made. Thank you to the ten weavers who spent their week inspiring me with all of the beautiful pieces they created at this wonderful place on Washington Island, WI!
It’s been two and a half years since we gathered as spinners for one of our biannual retreats…since the fall of 2019, to be exact. Then we had a pandemic. A long, isolating pandemic. Until…finally…it became safe to gather again. Of course, there was a new set of safety protocols as an extra layer of protection for everyone. But at long last, we were back together again. And how sweet it was! The Cloquet Forestry Center in Cloquet MN was a new venue for us and it fit our needs perfectly starting with the very accomodating staff, to the private lodging rooms, a comfortable gathering space, and absolutely delicious meals. And we sat at our spinning wheels and visited and spun beautiful yarns and renewed old friendships and built new ones. Enjoy these highlights. And if you are a hand spinner and would like to join us for a retreat, be sure and check out the events page!
Ten weavers, most new to the rigid heddle loom, spent a week with me on beautiful Washington Island in Door County, Wisconsin in July! All I can say is WOW! These weavers took full advantage of their five days. Beginning with a simple scarf to learn the basics of warping and weaving on a rigid heddle loom, they went on to weave samplers to learn pick-up and various hand-manipulated laces and embellishments. And then they were unleashed to weave projects of their own choosing. And weave they did!!! Enjoy these photos of their Sievers weaving retreat…
For more information on Sievers School of Fiber Arts, visit their website and become inspired!
After a very long wait, the Fiber Garden is ready to welcome fiber friends back for workshops! Although our October workshop is currently filled, cancellations have left us with one space available in the August 20-22, 2021 workshop coming up soon! If you want to learn to weave on a multi-shaft/harness loom, we would love to have you join us. Likewise, we welcome “beyond beginning” weavers to participate in any of the other workshops offered during the weekend. For full details and a link to register, visit the event page.
It was a “first” for Sievers and a “first” for many in the class. The rigid heddle Sievers class of 2019 has concluded and everyone was a “Sievers Achiever”! We pushed the limits of this loom to the max with plain weave, pick-up, lace, krokbragd, double heddles, clasped warp and more! Enjoy this video review of our week and plan to join us next year on inspiring Washington Island, Door County, Wisconsin. This year was the first…of many…for rigid heddle on the Island!
Color was everywhere! Every step on every path throughout The Clearing (Ellison Bay, Door County, WI) and on every table and spinning wheel in the inspiring schoolhouse. We carded and hackled and blended and spun and plyed every color of the rainbow! Take a look at our week together…
Whether on the road teaching; traveling the lowlands, highlands, and islands of Scotland; or welcoming people to the home of the Fiber Garden here in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, 2018 was a year to remember! I am constantly reminded of the good people and the spectacular places I experienced throughout the year. I hope you enjoy watching some of the memories we made and the faces and spaces that were 2018. I hope that the new year of 2019 will be a landscape for many more extraordinary moments together!
I love the holiday season! I love the end of the year which makes me especially contemplative as I review the year past and give thanks for the people and opportunities that were part of it. I love the “stroke of midnight” on new year’s eve as I shift focus to all of the questions and curiosity about what the new year will have in store. Part of the contemplation is compiling a montage of photos from the journey past. … Continue reading →
