February and our new Non-Profit status!

It's been another busy month here at MSW ….even though it's winter…and we had three new students,  our usual complement of Vt. Folklife Grantee's and our trusty regulars. We started off with new student, fellow Vermonter, Katie Dembinski, who came to weave a throw and some towels and then Melissa Goetz from upstate NY and Jolie Lerner from Brooklyn. Melissa and Jolie both wove a Scottish wedding throw and some dishtowels in their five day stay. Emily and Ada continued on their Folklife Grant projects and Ada finished a beautiful piece of 16/2 cotton clothing fabric. Emily has finished her spinning and is now getting ready to weave her full sized wool blanket. Jerusha Fox also finished a piece of fabric using rayon/linen and Jen Eger cut off a warp of beautiful rugs.

 The biggest news of the month is that the school has now become a non-profit organization again. We have an incredible group of dedicated Board members who are working hard to deal with all of the IRS paperwork and to shift the school from Kate's personal business to a non-profit educational entity. There is much to sort out but we are meeting every two weeks to get things completed before our busy summer season begins. The new Board consists of Sue Carpenter - local dairy farmer and Eaton Hill trim weaver - as President, Bruce Wescott - husband of Ellie Blachly our Eaton Hill upholstery colleague - as Treasurer, Linda Gabrielson - former dean of VT Community College and one of our local weavers - as Secretary, Gregory Sanford - former archivist for the State of Vt and Dosia's dad - as member, Justin Squizzero - master weaver and embosser for Eaton Hill -as member, and yours truly - Director of MSW and owner of Eaton Hill Textile Works - as member. Our greatest hope is to establish a scholarship fund, find more grants to fund students and to get the word out to the weaving world that we are alive and well!

Emily Falta - Folklife Grantee - making a warp for
her blanket using her own handspun weft.

Katie Dembinski weaving her Scottish wedding throw.

Dosia's latest warp painted fabric.

Jen Eger's multi strand wool rug.

Jen's finished weft faced rugs.

Jerusha Fox's rayon linen fabric.

Ada Schenk - Folklife Grantee - cotton clothing fabric.

Melissa Goetz - chocolate in hand - weaving cotton toweling.

Jolie Lerner's - also chocolate in hand - weaving cotton toweling.

Melissa's finished towels.

The new MSW Board of Director's hard at work.

Sue Carpenter - Board President.

Justin Squizzero - member.

Gregory Sanford - member.

Bruce Westcott - Board Treasurer.

Linda Gabrielson - Board Secretary.

Rosie Bee - Official Mascot

January Happenings….

January started off with a bang this year with  three new VT Folklife Grantees  along with our other regulars and new students.  Emily Falta will be learning to spin wool to weave a double bed blanket,
Joann Darling will be putting together prospective dye and flax processing classes and Ada Schenk will be working on clothing fabrics with a goal of doing some teaching on this subject in the future.

Of our regulars - Jen Eger has decided to focus on rugs for a few months and has woven a length of warp faced carpeting and some weft faced tapestry rugs.  Stevie worked on some beautiful 8 shaft wool throws and Dosia wove off another warp painted warp.  New student - Kathleen McVeigh - came for a week and wove off a wool throw and a series of multi colored striped dishtowels.

To end the month we had an exhibit open at Frog Hollow State Craft Center in Burlington curated by our very own Jerusha Fox.  For the opening, Norman talked about the early history of the school and then lead a tweed walking of Dosia's tweed.  The crowd were mesmerized and we have already heard from a few folks who want to be prospective students.  The show is up until Feb. 29, 2016 if you happen to be up in Burlington.

Our new Vt. Folklife Grantee -
Emily Falta - learning to spin.

Emily starting to spin on the walking wheel.

Ada Schenk weaving cotton clothing fabric
from a historic draft.

Norman and Joann discussing her
next grant project.

Joann's natural dyed mohair yarn for an
Autumn flavored throw.

Jen Eger working on her warp faced rug.

The finished rug.

Jen's weft faced rug using some of her
Icelandic sheep's fleece.

Our exhibit at Frog Hollow in Burlington.

Norman leading a waulking of
Dosia's tweed at the Frog Hollow opening.

The past, present and future…..
Craig Evans, Bruce Egebretson &  Justin Squizero.

Kat McVeigh weaving her throw.

and then some dishtowels.

Stevie's latest throw in 2/8 Jagger Spun.

Dosia's latest warp paining in cotton and silk.