The Last Blog of 2011

Hello again. Great news! Our new schedule is out for the New Year. We have added a few classes that have not previously been taught here. One of those classes is Needle Felting. Along with this we have a few new products and new books. Books are one of my favorite things to buy.
The Holiday Store in our Gallery seems to be a success with many of you coming and finding unique gifts to give to friends, family or yourself. We plan on hosting this again next year, so mark it on your calendars.
Most of all we want to thank you for your continued support of the business. We are here for you and want to make Eugene Textile Center the place for all of your creative fiber needs. Have a very happy holiday season, along with a peaceful and healthy New Year.
Susie, Janis, Vicki & Leslie

Give a Mouse a Cookie

I bet you have been wondering where I have been and why there have been no new postings. Well I have no good excuse. I went to post photographs from a rug weaving workshop and the spinners guild and became overly frustrated. But that is no excuse. It seems I start writing the blog and then I have to help a customer, or do some other job. I am sort of like the mouse in the childrens book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.
So to fill you in on what has happened here lately. Susie taught an introduction to Rug Weaving which has led to a request for a full rug weaving course. We will have Jason Collingwood come teach in March on rug weaving and shaft switching method. This is a popular class since he comes here from the United Kingdom. Besides the fact that Jason is so handsome and charming and a mighty good teacher to boot.
Our spinning circle continues on each Thursday from 2-4pm. Sometimes we are a large group and other days, (most recently because of the holidays) we are small. But whatever our size we always seem to have a nice time.
This is the first year we have our gallery changed into a Holiday Store. It is packed full of handmade items from various artists in out Eugene area. If you haven't been by yet and still need a gift for someone this is a wonderful opportunity.
I also want to encourage you to read the Jan/Feb issue of Handwoven. Susie has another wonderful project in there. Maggie, Susie's granddaughter is also featured in the magazine.
I want to wish everyone Happy Holiday and a Healthy New Year full of love and peace.

Spinner's Spooktacular Tea Fotos

Our second Spinner's Tea was a nice success. We had a room full of wonderful spinners and lots of good food. We had deviled eggs and mud pie, pumpkin cheesecase, chocoale mice and cheese fingers to name only a few of the delicious items. The gallery show added a lot of color, but the Halloween theme came through with the tablecloths and decorations all around the room. A few people wore costumes, but most wore a mask. The masks came off as the spinning began as it hampered the spinners vision. Our next tea will be in the spring. I am planning some new events and bigger and better raffle prizes.

Janice chose to bring her beautiful Navaho Spindle.

Rachael came all the way from Grants Pass to participate in this fun event. Her spindle of myrtlewood was hand made by her grandfather.

Guests lining up to get some of the

tasty treats.

Maggie in her beautiful costume. She found her dress at a thrift store and made the mask herself. We thought she was a flapper girl, but she said she was a black cat. She did purr all day.

Someone looks happy with her plate of goodies.

Moving Along

There is a lot of moving going on here at ETC. After over three and a half years we have moved ours shelves around and made the store more user friendly. When you walk in the door you will notice the nice open space and a plethera of color that will stimulate your senses. We have expanded the spinning corner and put down a nice carpet. All of our books are once again in one area so you don't need to go from one area to the next to pick up books on different subjects. Our wonderful resource library has been moved back to a quieter area so you can read undisturbed. Alas the resource library is near the sale corner so there is that distraction of low prices on needed or wanted tools and yarn. BEST of all we are now carrying all of DYELOTS products here.
To add to all of this excitement, we also have the most wonderful felt show by Tylar Merrill. I personally have never seen any felt so artistically done. She has wall hangings as well as clothing on display. Above is a tiny portion from a larger piece. I hope you come and see it.
Our Spinning Spectacular Tea is this Saturday. I have planned some great food and fun surprises for the attendees. It should be another fun affair.
Hopefully one of these three changes will bring you in to see us soon.

Weaver's Spirit Power

Last night I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Opening Reception for a weaving exhibit at the Museum of Natural and Cultural History here in Eugene. The weaver Susan Pavel had an exhibit of woven blankets and clothing that she has done, all of which will be gifted to people in her life next February. Susan learned to weave 15 years ago from "Uncle". She spent three months of her summer preparing the fiber from the sheep to the finishing of a blanket. That first blanket was gifted to"Uncle". The following year she spent the next summer doing the same task and gifting that blanket. The third summer of her apprenticeship she actually finished two blankets. Each piece that Susan works on is inspired by the Spirit talking to her and instructing her in her work.
One thing that is different in her work is that the weaving is either twined of done in twill. The yarn used is quite thick as is traditional in Salish weavings, since they area a tribe that lives in the cooler Pacific Northwest.
One of the fibers that she uses is Mountain Goat Wool. This wool must be collected from bushes that have bits of fiber on them from the wild goats brushing against them. This goat wool is extremely soft, quite like quiviet fiber. There is a part of the exhibit that you can actually touch a sample of this lucious fiber. Along with this you can try your hand at twining and a bit of twill weaving. She also dyes her fibers and uses natural dyes that have been used traditionally by the Salish people.
The exhibit will be on display until January29th 2012. I do encourage you to go see it. If you are able to go on a Monday, at certain times, you can actually weave a bit of fiber into a blanket in the Longhouse on the museum grounds.

Weaving & Spinning Week

Here we are in the middle of Weaving and Spinning Week and I have not had a moment to let you in on all the fun around here. We are rearranging the layout of the store to make it more user friendly. All of our books are arranged in one lilbrary area. The resource library is still separate from the sale books. Our spinning corner is larger, getting cozier with a new rug and is a work in progress. I think you will like the finished look. We have also put out our new schedule of classes. We have printed copies here at the store or you may check them out online.
Meanwhile, Suzie is once again up at Whidbey teaching. She will return on October 17th. Vicki is going up to join her next week, and Marilyn is away in Vancouver B.C, so Leslie will be here minding the store.
In the weaving studio here, Joanne is putting on a warp for a Rep Weave rug. Our friend Tom, who is also in the spinning group here is learning and helping her. Last week Tom fixed our Serger sewing machines for us. He is a "jack of all trades".
Our spinning group is still meeting here from 2-4pm on Thursdays. Please come on by and join us. Last week we were treated to fresh baked zucchinni bread.
Have a wonderful week of weaving and spinning. Let us know how you celebrated this fun time.

We're Back

I am so happy to tell you that OFFF was a great success. I worked with Sara (Suzies daughter) on Saturday, and we were so busy I only got to take a bathroom break. I know, TMI. We have many happy people who bought their first drumcarder or first spinning wheel. One girl who bought a wheel is coming in for her first spinning lesson next month. A great buy went to Suzy from Idaho who purchased a well loved Norwood loom. She just had to have it to go with her other Norwood. I must admit it was the deal of the entire show. We all work hard to make our booth nice for you. We try to think of all the items that you would want and need. This year the only item I am still kicking myself for forgeting is the Yarn Gauges with the Diz. I don't know where my brain was on that one. As exhausting as all the work is, I must say it is so much fun. Put me in a building full of fiber and fiber people and I think I am in heaven.

We're OFFF

It is that wonderful time again for the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. Once again we will be up at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds, but we will have a larger booth this time. You know what that means, more of what you want and need for all of your creative needs. Be sure to come on by and enter the contest for the gift certificate to Eugene Textile Center. As always the store itself will be open on Saturday from 10am till 5:30pm.
As summer slowly changes into autumn I seem to be spending less time in the garden and more time indoors with my fiber. I am now spinning some beautiful merino/silk roving in oranges, creams and light browns. I am not sure yet what I will do with it but it just glows on my bobbin so far. I only have 8 ounces so it may be a knitted shawl or part of a nice woven piece of cloth. I still have not completely finished my huck lace on one loom and so until that comes off I will be searching for creative ideas on how to use this beautiful yarn.
I am not sure if i mentioned in a previous blog about the next Spinners Tea. It will be a Halloween Spooktacular Day. We will have apple cider along with our tea and scrumptious food. We may also creep in a few shocking surprises. You should wear a costume or a mask and come and enjoy this wonderful afternoon. It will be October 22nd from 10-4. Reservations and payment of $10 must be made in advance as seating is limited.
Have a great weekend everyone, and see you at OFFF!

Plan Ahead

These days it seems everyone is busy, busy, busy. We all are packing as much as possible into each and every day. Our own work schedules takes priority, with our kids and husbands, and volunteer work all keeping us going 24/7. To keep track of it all I have a calendar in the kitchen, one in my studio and a small pocket calendar in my purse. My favorite calendar is the Handwoven calendar in my studio. It has beautiful fotos of weavings featured in past issues that inspire me. It also lets me know which past Handwoven issue has the instructions for that particular project. 2011 was the first year I got this calendar. The new one for 2012 just arrived, and we have it here in our store for sale. I just love the choices for this new issue. I hope you too can find it inspiring and useful for keeping tract of your busy days.

Halloween Tea Party

I can hardly believe it is already September. This must be the shortest summer of my many years. It didn't seem that summer ever came, with the cool weather that lasted until almost August. I had my mom come to vist last week and we had the most fun playing at ETC. She learned how to use the heat press and made some beautiful printed fabric. We also took a few hikes where I was able to collect some plants for future dyeing.
But now it is September and my mind is thinking fall. I just got some beautiful Merino/Silk roving to spin in shades of oranges and browns. Along with this I was thinking it is time for another Tea Party. So on October 22nd we will have our second tea party. The theme is "A Halloween Tea". So come in some sort of a mask or costume. Spin yarn in fall colors and drink tea or hot apple cider. It should be a fun afternoon from 12 to 4. The cost will be $10.00 since there will be sandwiches along with goodies. Reservations and payments should be made in advance.

Jennifer Moore and her stunning class.


Well I must say it was quite a workshop with Jennifer Moore. Everyone agreed that she is such a wonderful teacher. Her instructions are clear and precise. He calm sweet voice just lulls you into the doubleweave zone. Everyone caught on to the different structures and got a chance to sample on all the looms. Some of the students opted to leave their looms here so that those that live close by could come by during the week and practice more. So if you would like to see them in action, call and ask if anyone is weaving on their loom. Or you can just pop on in and see the work in progress.

Our next big workshop will be with Mary Hettmansperger. The focus of the class will be to introduce and incorporate weaving and metal smith techniques that can cross over to be used in many disciplines of artwork. You will use wire, linens, fiber, copper sheeting, wire, mesh, screen, found recycled and natural items will be used. Along with all of this will be added nuts and bolts, beads and electronic salvage. (Have I got your interest yet? Sounds sort of crazy, as in crazy fun!) We have had Mary here before and got quite a bit of wonderful feedback, as well as a request for more from this amazing artist. I think you will find her marvelous to learn from and will come away with a plethera of ideas to use in your own art work for many projects to come. We still have some spaces open in this class, but please call quickly as it is filling up, and you don't want to lose out. The class starts on September 30, 2011

Doubleweave Workshop with Jennifer Moore

It is so exciting. Jennifer Moore is here teaching her Doubleweave: Beyond the Basics Class. It just started this morning and the students are moving right along. I just wanted you to get a taste of beautiful weaving so I posted a few fotos. I will try and get more up and let you ogle at all the hard work. And on Saturday I hope to be able to show you their finished weaving samples.

Top Teacher

Have you gotten your September/October issue of Handwoven magazine? If you have yours turn to page 8 and in the upper right hand corner is a list of the top ten teachers of this year, and our own Suzie Liles is in the list. She got a nice certificate that we have put on display her in the gallery along with work of her students. The show is quite an eye stunner. You can easily see how she could make that list. When you come into the store be sure and congratulate her. She is a bit shy about being praised, but I believe like all of us she like it. If you don't have a copy of this Handwoven issue you can pick one up here. And ask Suzie to sign it for you.

Rebirthing the garden

We are so fortunate here to have our families support us in our business. Suzies husband, or as we all call him, Mr. Bob, helps by putting looms togethers and most recently rototilling the side yard of the ETC building. In this photograph Suzies brother is planting flowers to brighten the yard.


Look below to see the finished work. I hope you agree that it is

a nice improvement.

The class is almost filled for Jennifer Moore's doubleweave workshop. The drafts have been sent out to the weavers to get their looms prepared. I am so looking to seeing all their work.

Show It Off

In one of my previous jobs, I worked for a school down in hot and smoggy California. I had a lot of different tasks, but the one I especially enjoyed was diplaying student work on bulletin boards and in the hallways. I always made sure to include all the students in the class, albiet we only had a maximum of 10 students in my special classroom. Yesterday in our gallery here I had the opportunity to hang the show with work done by students of weaving from classes here. All of these classes were taught by Susie. One student is a very beginner, but her work is top notch. They are displaying a lot of different weave structures so it is a great show to see. Just a little reminder that the Movable Feast is still here from LCC students, but I do not know for how much longer it will stay.
Life here at the store is busy. Last weekend was a 2 day natural dye class, and yesterday an idigo pot set up class. Both these classes were taught by Marilyn. Susie is away teaching again and Vicki is on vacation so I am here by myself most days. Tomorrow, Thursday will be a fun day as the spinning group will be here from 2-4pm. One of the spinners has been away for a month on a US cross-country/Canada trip. I am looking forward to hearing of her adventures. Come and join us if you'd like.

Sock Summit

Here is our cute little booth at Sock Summit. We packed the space with as much as possible to bring what the customers wanted. Susie posed for the foto after a long drive and setting the booth up.

Some shoppers checking out out books for sale. They are checking out my favorite book of the weekend to sell, Sock Knitting Master Class by Ann Budd. It even has a DVD in the back, and it only costs $26.95. As my grandmother would say, "Such a Deal!"


Of course we brought rigid heddle looms for all those that love to weave using their own hand spun yarn. Below is a Schacht Wolf Pup that I put a nice little M & W pattern on. It is trompe as writ, so the woven material looks complicated but it really is quite easy to do. It got lots of compliments but scared away the non weavers, who just couldn't believe it was easy breezy. This young lady just bought her first spinning wheel. It is an Ashford Joy. She was so excited because she lives in a tiny place and the wheel will fold up and stash away. Oh I must of forgot to tell her once she starts spinning it will not be put away. Spinning is too much fun for that. Another life lesson, but one with a happy ending.

Away and Here again

The previous two weeks Susie was away at Penland School of Craft in North Carolina. She was teaching her favorite class, Weaving Lace with Linen. She said her students were so excited to learn and did some great weavings. I begged her to take some photographs while she was there but she was too busy, she said. Her husband took a class in Metalsmithing. The weather there was hot and humid as we heard on the news. But now she is back for two weeks until she leaves to teach at the Weaver's School in Washington on Whidbey Island.
At ETC we are sending our reliable Leslie up to Portland to have a booth for the store at Sock Summit. Leslie loves going off and doing these shows. She says you put her in a room full of fiber and nice people and she is in heaven. If you happen to be going to sock summit stop in and say hello. Tell her you read about her on the blog.
The sign-ups for Jennifer Moore's doubleweave class are rolling in. Don't miss out on this wonderful opportunity to learn from the queen of Doubleweave. Don't tell her I said that.
At the store we have a gallery exhibit of Marilyn Robert's work and the Moveable Feast from Lane Community College students. I hope you get a chance to come by and see both of these shows.

Rigid Heddle Shawl

This is Laura. She recently, (in the last 6 months) purchased a Schachtt Flip, rigid heddle loom. Since then she has been busy weaving away. This is her latest project that she brought in to share. With beautiful Shetland wool as the warp and Noro Kuryon wool for the weft she wove this beautiful shawl. Notice the subtle color changes in her piece. We also have mochi yarn here that gives the same look. Laura has two young children, one who is learning to weave and wants her own rigid heddle loom. One comment she made was that she can weave and still keep an eye on the kids playing. "It is easy to stop and pick it right back up again. We congratulate her on a splendid shawl, just perfect for those chilly days.

Busy Busy Busy

I have been so busy that I actually forgot to post in this blog. After Black Sheep I was so exhausted. Then two weekends later was Art in the Vineyard. I helped the organizer set up a booth for volunteers to come and spin yarn, knit, weave and to show off fiber work of this community. Several stores in Eugene also had some of their staff or clientele come and demonstrate. The third day was July 4th and many of us stayed and watched the wonderful fireworks together.
Now we are getting geared up for Sock Summit in Portland the end of July. This will be the first time ETC will have a booth there and we are so excited. We ordered some great new books for sock knitters and others. I picked out the books myself so I hope you like them and purchase them. One especially great book is called The Knitters Companion which has all the info you need in a small compact book. Come and check it out and I think you will agree it's a must have.
If you live in or near Eugene I suggest you come on by and see Marilyn's work in the gallery and some fun knitting work from the students at Lane Community College. Their yearly Moveable Feast is even larger this year. And don't forget the spinning group meets here every Thursday from 2-4pm.

Art and Independence

I have posted a few pictures from our booth at the Black Sheep Gathering. It was a wonderful long weekend for both myself and Vicki. We so enjoyed meeting every new person and serving our old friends. Suzie participated in the Sheep to Shawl on Friday morning and for the second year in a row came in first place. I must say though that this year only one team competed. But even then the judge gave their shawl a 100% score, and that is the best you can get. On Saturday and Sunday she taught classes while Vicki and I got to be in the booth. Thank you for all of your support of ETC.

The photo above shows a hand knitted piece from one of our customers here at he store. She draws a picture and then graphs it out by hand. No use of computers here. Then she finds the color yarns she needs and begins knitting. She calls her business Losch Designs. I must say she is quite a talented artist.

This forth of July weekend some of ETC's spinners will be at Alton Baker Park for Art in the Vineyard, demonstrating spinning. There will also be other artists there knitting, beading and weaving. Come on by and encourage us on as we bring fiber arts to the community.

Also if you are interested in purchasing a Sidekick Spinning Wheel, come on in and make a deposit. We have already sold the first four that came in and have deposits on two of the next four due to arrive mid July in the store. It is an amazing wheel and I promise to write more about it soon.

Have a very happy Independence Day.

Weekend of Wonderful

Are you ready for the Weekend?!!!!! Remember that old rock song? Well this is the weekend all of us local and not so local fiberholics love, The Black Sheep Gathering. As usual it will be held at the Lane County Fairgrounds and Eugene Textile Center has it's booth in a new location. This year we will have a larger space in order to bring you more product and make it a lot more comfortable to shop. Look for us in building 3.
In the last blog I mentioned two new books we have for you. Today I want to mention one more quite excetional book, The Big Book of Flax. This book has everything and more that you could want to know about Flax. The two authors have been raising and processing flax since 1983. I especially love the information on taking care of old linen, since I collect old tablecloths and many of them are of linen. I got a copy of the book for a friend who is learning to spin her own linen. She is finding the book quite helpful in her search for answers to spinning this fiber
Also in the booth we will have the new sidekick to try out. Our next shipment is due the middle of July so if you are wanting one of these spectacular wheels come on by, try it and have us hold one of our orders for you.
See you at the gathering!!!! ETC staff

A Good Book

One of my favorite pasttimes is reading. I am a sucker for a good book. I am not particular about whether it is fiction, romance or a good book of non-fiction. A new book that we have in the store here is called the Fleece & Fiber sourcebook. This book is quite excetional as a reference for any fiberholic, be you a hand spinner, crafter or just a hobby farmer. This book covers more thatn 200 fibers. The photographs are exquisite too. I can almost count the number of crimps in the merino photograph. I highly recommend this book for all fiber teachers and crafters.
Another wonderful book we just got in is called harvesting color by Rebecca Burgess. This book inspires me to use the natural resources of my area for dyes rather than always buy them from the store here. Rebecca gives nice instructions on how to set up a dye bath and prepare the fibers prior to dying. What I love are the photographs of the plants and the dye color that it makes.
It is my hope that you will come in and check out these wonderful new additions to our store. And if you can't make it in before Black Sheep, we will be there with the books for you to purchase there too. But remember the store will also be open during the Black Sheep show. Come by and say hi to us.

ANWeg Fashion Show

Another event I attended at ANWeg was the Friday evening Fashion Show. I came away so inspired to weave fabric to make into clothing. I have done it once and liked my results, but they are nothing in comparision to the clothing items in this show. Our own Susie Liles had a beautiful black beaded dress in the show and a jacket woven with metallic thread that changed color depending on how the light hit it. Also Marilyn Robert had a shawl, woven from Alpaca and felted.
Most of the items were jackets. I am so impressed on how many different style jackets were made and the fabric for them coordinated so nicely with the style. I am sure they planned all this.
Two very unusual items in the show were a felted hat. The cap had a tree coming up from the top of the head with little animals among the branches. A bear below was trying to get to the animals. Along with this wonderful piece was a dress made with a peacock train from the owners own pet peacock. Both of them were the topic of much conversation at the wine and cheese reception that followed after the show.
I am so looking forward to my next weaving convention. I am aiming to enter one of my clothing pieces in the show next time. I hope some of you also enter along with me.

Weavers Guild Conference

Hello Everyone, I have finally recovered from my adventure at Association of Northwest Weaving Guilds conference. I arrived on Wednesday to help set up the vendor booth for the store. That took two days of hard work. I was fortunate to be able to attend the opening speech by Madelyn Van der hoogt, editor of Handwoven magazine. She spoke on the evolving future of fibers in the weaving world. Friday morning I took an amazing workshop on weaving with blocka with Madelyn. My Saturday classes were with Bobbie Irwin on using painted weft in weaving and another class with Teresa Ruch on painting my own fibers. During my off time i worked in ETC's vendor booth with my bosses daughter. I meet the most interesting people while working the booth. Everyone is so friendly and excited about the things that they are learning. I feel like I made some amazing new friends at this conference just by working in the booth. One of them is Tom, and I hope he sees this and calls to say hello. I told him i would put him in my blog.
One of my great aha moments was in my meeting many of the famous teachers at the conference. I am such a groupie person who is in awe of their work. If it can be imagined I feel so inadequate around them and never know what to say, so I just blabber. What I found to be true is that these talented artistic people don't put themselves up on a pedastal. They are very humble and just love sharing their creativity as much as we like learing from them.
On my next blog i will write about the fashion show. So until then, create your dreams my fellow fiber friends.

More NwRSA

I must tell you about my other purchase at the show. This was a big one for me. I got a Woolee Winder from Nathan Lee. I had heard about them for years from other spinners. Personally, I felt I could just move my sliding hook along just fine and didn't need another contraption to spend money on. But on Saturday I finally gave in and sat down and tried one on the same type of wheel that I have at home. WOW! I was so amazed at the difference it made in my spinning. I just kept on treadling and the yarn just wound onto the bobbin so nice and neatly. I learned it allows the bobbin to hold more fiber by the way the Woolee Winder wound it on. So I have added a foto of me with my newest addition to my spinning reportoire. Next time you see the booth at a show, stop by, and tell them hi, and that you heard about them here on the ETC blog.

NWRSA show

I have just returned from the NWRSA show held in Salem this past weekend. I had a wonderful time in the booth smoozing with the participants in the conference. I was fortunate to get enough time to chit chat with with Stephanie Gaustad, who was the featured Speaker for the conference. If you don't know who she is I will fill you in. Stephanie is the illustrator of Alden Amos' Big Book of Handspinning, as well as being his wife.

I also met Anita Osterhaug who is the editor on Weaving Today eNewsletter. I had to ask her how she gets so many creative ideas to write about. I was trying to find ways to make this blog a bit more interesting for all of you out there who read this blog.

I am always amazed at the beautiful artists who create so many beautiful fibers to weave with or rovings to spin. I got on 4oz skein of roving from Alexandra's fibers that is spinning like butter with beautiful fall colors that i am making for a friend of mine in Virginia. I am looking forward to working in our booth again at ANWeg in Salem, at Willamette University the end of this month. They have two days that are open to the public to come in and see all the gallerys and shop. Thoses days are Friday and Saturday, June 3rd and 4th. I hope you come by and see us whether you are a conference attendee or just a day visitor.

ANWEG buzz

I am starting to get more and more excited about the Weaving Conference for the Northwest Weaving Guilds up in Salem the end of this month. I have never attended a congerence before. There are so many great people teaching there that I want to meet. A special bonus is getting to see Jason Collingwood, who I took a rug weaving class from years ago. Here at the store, Suzie who is the Conference Chair along with Vicki as the regestrar and Marilyn is teaching. I am an attendee, so we are all a buzz with anticipation, and preparation for the event.
If you are attending the conference and read the blog, come by and see me in the ETC booth and give me feedback. I am always up to a challenge or suggestion.

Knit & Spin

I have some good new for all of you knitters and spinners in cyberland. At ETC we just received a new magazine titled Knit & Spin. My first thought was "Oh, just what we need, another spinning and knitting magazine." But I have to tell you this magazine is wonderful. The first section of this publication focuses on all the basics for a spinner. For the newer spinner it answers all those questions about differences between carded fiber and roving. There is an article on washing wool, do's and don'ts. Now I think everyone should read that article. It even offers tips on how to choose a wheel. One article by Rita Buchanan tells you how to estimate the yarn requirements for knitting projects. But this magazine does not stop there. It has patterns galore for gloves, hats, socks, sweaters and patterns for kids too. You could be happy spinning and knitting for quite some time with just the patterns from this one magazine. I already bought my copy. Yours is waiting here on the shelf.

Foto's from ETC

A student spinning her first yarn

Winding yarn onto the niddy noddy. Ta-da

Here are a few fotos from people working in the Dye Lab today.

Spin Off magazine

Are you a spinner who loves Spin Off magazine? As you know we sell the magazine here. But the good news I have for you is that some lovely person donated a lot of back issues of Spin Off to ETC, We are keeping them here as a reference. You can come in and browse through back issues and get reinspired or read up on some technique you may have forgotten over the years. We will have them back in the reference library for you.

Double the Fun

The big buzz for today is the Royal Wedding. I was not one to get up to watch it at 3am PST but I did catch to news stories this morning. I absolutely loved her dress in its elegant simplicity. I think she has set the trends for fashion in the flower petal bottom skirt.

I have been doing some weaving lately in Doubleweave Pickup. It took me awhile to really get the hang of it. At first I was so frustrated that I thought I would give up weaving all together. But I worked through it and now I am loving Doubleweave Pickup. I don't want to stop weaving because I am enjoying watching the next block pop up. My weaving is only a four shaft pattern. In August Jenninfer Moore is coming to teach Doubleweave Beyond the Basics here at ETC. I can not wait to see what other possibilities are out there for me to discover in Doubleweave.

A new class has just been added to the schedule, Rep Weave to be taught by Suzie Liles starting on May 13th. We have openings for a few more students, so sign up soon.

Only in L.A..

Where can one find some blue socks made from skimmed, dried and bioengineered milk. Impossible you say. No way! Well let me tell you at the Los Angeles Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising you can find just those socks. They also have a skein of Dungeness Crab fiber (like spider silk) and recycled cassette tapes spun into a mini dress. How cool is that? Unfortunately these items are not for sale, but they are in the library there along with 15,000 other items. Fortunately this is open to the public by appointment. You can even have one of their staffers wrap you in a woven banana leaf.
reference LA Magazine.

Inspirtation from Spring

I have been loving this warm spring weather that has finally arrived here in Eugene. The daffodils are blooming in the front of the shop and our native plants along the side of the building are sprouting beautiful buds. The currant plant has lovely flowers on it too. Inside the shop people are also budding with wonderful ideas. Two blossoming students are doing doubleweave for the first time. They have painted their warps with bright colors and are warped up and ready to start weaving. Other students have been learning layering color in dying and resist dying on fabric. Each persons work is so unique. I marvel at their ideas. I know the sunshine shining in through the windows illuminates all the colorful fibers on the shelves. If you are short of ideas of what to do for your next project, come on in and walk around, and browse through the books. I think you will find you will go away prepared to create.

Happy Birthday Boss

It is a wonderful day here at the Textile Center. Today is Suzie's Birthday and hopefully she is having a fun day. Marilyn is here teaching her Layering on Cloth class. The students are so enthusiastic and I am really looking forward to seeing their finished work. Every class is another layer on the fabric and no two are alike. We did a bit of rearranging here at the store. Hopefully this will make it easier for you to find the right size fiber for your project. I love moving things around as it refreshes my mind of yarn that I have not seen for a bit, and gives me new ideas for a project. We received a large shipment of 5/2 mercerized cotton in various colors. I have already picked out two colors for my next doubleweave project.

Felting demonstration

I have been so busy around the shop lately putting 5/2 mercerized cotton on the shelves. We got a shipment of so many beautiful colors. Now is the time to find the one you want to weave that perfect project. We also have a lot of 10/2 mercerized and unmercerized cotton in natural colors use. It would be wonderful to dye first in a group of colors and then weave them up. I am excited because I am going to felt some cute little animals, (bunnies, sheep and chicks) for my grandsons. I got the plans from Wool Pets, a wonderful step by step book we have here in the shop. If you are looking to learn a new felting technique come by ETC on Saturday at 1pm and join in on the free demonstration using Art Felt Paper. It is easy and fun, and no physical work involved. Hope to see you here.

Blog Reader Rewards

We wanted to have our blog readers to get a reward. If you print this out and bring it in you can get a 10% discount on one item in the store. You can also call in with an order let us know you have read our blog. 541-688-1565. This offer will be good till April 15th

Check out our products on http://www.eugenetextilecenter.com. If you see something on line you like call us and order.

We also have much more in our store.

Thank you for supporting us.

The Eugene Textile Center Crew

Spring Editions

We received the Spring editions of Handwoven and Fiber Arts magazines yesterday. I was so pleased and surprised to see and article in Fiber Arts by Janis Thompson. Janis is the owner of Dye Lots here in Eugene. We proudly carry and sell her wonderfully dyed fiber here. Recently she has added to her reportoie a line of naturally dyed fiber batt blends and yarns. I hope you come by and purchase the magazine and read about this wonderfully creative person and get a glimpse into her creative process.
This issue of Handwoven is full of diverse projects from rep weave to ply split brainding, overshot and color forecast. It is a must have issue.
Don't forget our Spinner's Tea is this Saturday from 1 - 3pm.

Have a Happy St. Patricks Day tomorrow!

Thank you Doramay/unannounced sale

There is a republication of a much loved book from Doramay Keasbey now in our store. It is called Designing with Blocks for Handweaving. Over the years Doramay had received many requests to reprint this book. After much hard work and editing on her part it is now again available to you the handweaver.
By the way, Doramay will be speaking about weaving with blocks at the next Eugene Weavers Guild meeting, which is held here at ETC on the fourth Monday of the month., 10am-12pm. She will also be giving a small workshop after the meeting for only $5 per person. If you are interested in attending, and are not a guild member, please call in advance and reserve a spot.
Also only to be advertised here in the blog, we have 10/2 unmercerized cotton for only $8/lb. You would be lucky to find any fiber so nice, so inexpensively priced. It is a limited supply, so hurry in.

ETC goes to the Caribbean

Suzie Liles and Katherine Cranston went to Maho Bay Camp on St John in February to set up a weaving studio. The Maho Bay Camps Trash to Treasure Art Program bought three looms from ETC. Suzie and Katherine went down and set up the looms and taught Annalisa and Ginger how to use the looms and make beautiful rag rugs, runners, place mats and mug rugs. It was alot of fun. They are getting sheets from the resorts in the area and recycling them to make great items. They will be selling them at their gallery. What a wonderful idea they have.

We had alot of fun while we were there.We brought our husbands which made it all the better. On our off hours we went sailing, snorkeling, sight seeing and yes laying on the beach and reading a book.

This place is very great and if you want a place to go to get away this is the place. I wanted to stay. I plan to go back.

They will be looking for weavers to volunteer to come and weave rugs. Any interest?

If you want to know more about maho camps go to maho.org

The images are from our trip. The studio is a tent with open walls with just screens the windows.

It is a beautiful snowy day here in Eugene. I am here inside the store enjoying watching the soft white fluffs fall from the sky as i stock the shelves with books and new fiber that arrived today. I will spend a chunk of time finishing a weaving for a gaelic singing group. They are having a special festival where among other songs will sing some waulking songs. They will use this weaving to full for demonstration. I will try to let you know when the date is, so if you are interested you can go and watch. It should be fun.

Spinner's Tea Party

You can say you read it here first. ETC is having it's first Tea Party on March 19th from

1 - 3 pm. We will have delicious treats, such as is served at an English High Tea. All you need to do is bring your wheel or your spindle. We are charging a small amount of $3 or free with a $10 store purchase. Our hope is that you will come and enjoy a wonderful afternoon with us.

Please call and let us know if you are coming so we can be sure to have enough treats for everyone. 541-688-1565

Travel Guide for Fiberholics

This is the time some people start planning their spring break and summer vacations. You pick a wonderful place and look for exciting activities to keep you busy. Well for a fiber fanatic like myself I also like to shop. When I arrive at a destination I will look in the yellow pages for a store to spend time and money in. Well now there is a book that lists all different stores that sell knitting, weaveing, spinning, quilting and other fiber art supplies. This book covers the entire United States. So if you are planning some time away, come by our store, pick up the book and plan to visit some fiber vendors while away from your favorite store, Eugene Textile Center.

Special Students

We are fortunate here to have two young adults studying with us. They are home schooled students who have chosen to learn about fiber arts and weaving. Both students warped and wove a scarf on a rigid heddle loom. You can see Ryan here with his scarf just off the loom. He still has the job of twisting the fringe on the edges. Alayna is currently weaving a bag on a four harness loom. She has chosen to use two twill weaves alternating, also using different colors. We are so proud of the accomplishments of these students.

Working It

I am sitting here on this gloomy morning, drinking my coffee, envying my boss Susie right now. She is in the Virgin Islands on St. Johns Island teaching weaving at the Maho Eco resort. I checked their weather and it is presently 74 degrees with a high of 81 expected. I take little solace in the fact that it is cloudy there also. Tropical clouds in the Carribean are beautiful, unlike the grey that has loomed overhead for too long. Susie insists that she is "working". I hope she also takes some time to have fun. Maybe one day they will need a spinning class there, and I will apply for that job, until then I will be here to happily serve you our faithful friends and customers.

Painting on Silk

Today was the day for the Painting on Silk demonstration. It was sort of sad for me because no one came to see it. We will do it again in the future, but I wanted to show you a photograph of what I did with my first attempt at Silk Painting. I was initially very intimidated because I am not a painter. I have tried painting in acrylics and that is ok because you can go over your mistakes. This to me was like watercolor painting, once it is on the fabric it is there to stay. But I found you can blend colors similar to overdying and that gave me some freedom to err. It really is very easy and a lot of fun.

Updates

I went Monday to the Spin-In at the Laverne Krause Gallery to spin with Rob Mertens and others. We had cotton batts prepared by Rob, some Corriedale Cross from ETC and polyester stuffing. I had never spun the polyester so i thought I would give it a try. It was really strange to spin as it does not hold together unless it is overspun. I did like using it to do wrapping around a wool single. It is much more slippery than silk to spin. Personally I prefer to spin natural fibers but I enjoyed the experience. Rob is using the fiber spun to "weave" or wrap over a wooden structure he built. I will probably go by on Friday to see how the work has progressed. Rob actually encourages people who have never spun before to try spinning. There is still two more days to spin if you want to participate. If Rob lets me take a photo I will post it on a future blog.

The spinning group that meets here at ETC, has voted to meet every Thursday instead of twice monthly. I hope that makes it easier for people to remember when to come by. We do have a nice time, and would love for more people to join us.

A Fun Opportunity

Rob Mertens at the University of Oregon is hosting a very special Spin In at Lawrence Hall in the Laverne Krause Gallery Jan. 1rst thru Feb. 4th, 4-6pm. This is part of a larger installation and curated show entitled "Historicity". Wheels and fibers will be provided if you don't want to bring your own. The yarn you spin can be donated to contribute to a larger evolving-installation throughtout the show. The purpose of this is to connect the university with the larger fiber community of Eugene and promote spinning to the nation. Both Suzie and Leslie from ETC will be particitpating and hope that some of our wonderful friends will join us. Spinners of all skill levels are wanted, even new beginners as they make some of the most wonderful creative yarns. Feel free to contact us here at ETC for more information.

She is soooo cute!

I am happy to announce that Suzie has a new granddaughter, Lillian Liles. She was born on January 19th in Lemoore California. In this photo she is wrapped in the blanket Suzie wove for her and is featured in the last issue of Handwoven Magazine. Congratulations to the Liles family.

Synergy

Synergy. Just the sound of the word brings a smile to my face. Wikipedia defines synergy as the potential ability of individuals to be more successful or productive as a a result of combined action or functioning. In other words, lets say you are here at ETC working on a project of felting. In the weaving studio someone else is weaving and the spinning group is also here making beautiful yarns. Just the presence of the weaver and the spinners help the felter be more creative and productive. In reality we are all chatting and sharing ideas. We take breaks to oooh and aaah over the others work. And when asked we can offer our ideas too. And lets not forget that while using the studio space here you can usually get help from one of the staff. We are starting to get more peole who are taking advantage of renting the studio space here. Our two newest artists are Abby and Wendy who have found the space invaluable. Come on by and join the fun and spread more synergy.

Spinning Group

Just a reminder that the Spinning Group that meets at ETC will be meeting this Thursday from 2 - 4pm. It has been many weeks since we were together so I am looking forward to seeing everyone again. Hopefully some of you new spinners will join us too.

Resolutions

Happy and Healthy New Year Everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. So I am wondering, how many of you made a New Years resolution? I have a few things I want to accomplish this year. I want to finish spinning enough yarn to weave a queen size blanket for my bed. I want to weave the blanket this year before summer is over. I want to try more of the fibers we have here at the store that I have not yet worked with. Just before Christmas I used some of the recycled Sari Silk. Oh my it was so nice. I made one scarf witht the yarn and one with the ribbon for gifts. Both gifts were a hit. I hope you come on by the store to get some ideas to work on your next project. Remember we are here to help you with any questions you may have so take advantage of our resourceful staff.