fibre space Weaving Retreat with Liz Gipson

FIBRE SPACE WEAVING RETREAT WITH LIZ GIPSON

Join us for a rigid-heddle experience over Memorial Day weekend. With a simple loom and a Zauberball, Liz will tackle the fundamentals of weaving fine and a two-day workshop on making floats on purpose. These workshops are for adventurous beginners and anyone who is interested in deepening their skills at the loom. Special attention will be paid to working fine yarns, making the most of pooling, and the fundamentals of deflection, a basis for lace. 

Friday Day: Weaving Fundamentals—Gradient Table Scarf

This day is for the new weaver. Participants will warp and weave a table scarf and learn how to work a lattice fringe. We will cover the basics of project planning, sett or the spacing of the yarns and setting up the loom. Then we will dive into weaving and finishing strong with lots of tips, techniques, and belly laughs along the way. Although the information applies to weaving yarns of any size, the fine yarns we are using provide some particular opportunities for the weaver. 

Friday Night: Open House

Join us for a truck show with Liz. She will bring projects from her books and most popular weave-alongs and give a short talk about the breath of the rigid-heddle loom. Have a weaving question? Liz will be happy to answer it. 

Saturday and Sunday: Floats With Purpose—The Shapes of Lace

A two-day workshop on making floats on purpose. Although the term “pick-up stick” brings to mind picking up lots of ends, in the rigid-heddle world you pick up the ends once and leave the stick in place to create interlacements common to complex looms. Pick-up patterns can be used to create texture or lace. We will focus on the latter, using fine yarns and a sett that allows the yarns to move after washing to create holes with purpose. Weaving lace allows you to create wearables, but also household goods such as table linens, curtains, and wall hangings. Even if lace is not your jam, understanding the fundamentals of using a pick-up stick paired with yarn spacing to get you the results you want is powerful information. 

Tools and Supplies: Rigid-Heddle Loom with at least a 10-inch weaving width;12-dent rigid-heddle; threading hook, clamps, warping peg, embroidery needle, scissors, tape measure. 

Two-Day Workshop requires a pick-up stick at least 10-inches long, but not exceeding your loom’s weaving width. 

Yarn and handouts will be supplied. 

Yarn requirements: One skein/ball of Skacel Zauberball Cotton or Crazy cotton + One skein Kelbourne Woolens Skipper for Friday Workshop and/or Kelbourne Woolens Mojave for Saturday/Sunday Workshop.