Birthday's, Blues & Barn Looms.

After our influx of new men weavers in early March, we were then inundated with projects featuring the color blue. Another new student from Brooklyn - Renata (Ray) Mosci - came up for the last two weeks of March to work on Saki Ori, huck lace linen and an alpaca throw. Fortunately on her second day here, March obliged us with one of the beautiful 60deg. days so we were able to set up the indigo vat outside and get all the fabric dyed for her project. Dosia also experimented with dyeing her already woven rugs in the indigo vat with some amazing results!
Another highlight of March was that we celebrated 5 of our local students birthdays with two great potluck lunches. The first was for Jerusha Fox and Jen Eger (sorry no photos of that one) and the second was for Emily Falta, Ada Schenk and Linda Gabrielson. There was no shortage of desserts for either potluck which is always a good antidote to the crazy weather this time of year. And then to top off the month, another one of our "for sale" barn looms had headed off for a new home in Brooklyn. Ray was so enchanted with the one that she worked on during her two week stay that she decided to take one home with her. It's nice to know that yet another barn loom now resides in Brooklyn!

Dosia's latest creation -
A warp faced rug dyed with Indigo.

More of the same warp.

A beautiful day for dyeing Indigo!

Ray getting ready to weave her Saki Ori.

Ray planning the next color sequence.

Ray's finished rug and mat inspired by
Saki Ori.

A Birthday Lunch!

The three birthday girls - Emily, Ada and Linda.

Ray sorting through the parts of her newly
acquired barn loom.

Ray and Drew washing and oiling the loom before
disassembling.

Jerusha's 8 yards of beautiful blue
wool/silk fabric to be made into a suit.

March, Men and Maple Syrup

March has stayed busy with new students and surprisingly we have had a "male" streak. This month started off with our first work study student of the year, Drew McKenzie, from Monkton, VT and he has been weaving some amazing things in his short time here. Starting off with the Scottish Wedding Throw he then moved on to using Scottish tweed yarn to weave a scarf and his current project is a fine cotton/linen fabric to make a shirt. Down the list is a hand spun, hand dyed tartan blanket which Norman is going to supervise the making of. Drew has already told us that he never wants to leave so it may be that we have to be creative in finding him a job! Next of our new men, was Jeff Priest, from South Burlington, who also wanted to weave a throw but not in our typical colors of blue and white. He (or rather, his wife!) chose a beautiful coral and grey Maine Line mixed with white in big bold bands. It was stunning when finished and if he didn't have to work a real job, he would be here on a regular basis as well. Former student, Amy Danielson's husband Bill was our other male student this month and ostensibly he only came along to watch the warping that Amy was going to do for their new loom. But there was no holding him back and he took to warping like a duck to water.

 And did I mention maple syrup?? Sugaring season is in full swing in a year where everyone was dubious that we would have any runs at all…. with this crazy weather that we had this winter. But in fact, the sap started to run and has not stopped….keeping my trim weaver, Sue Carpenter, chained to the sugar house and the St. John the Divine gallon that she was supposed to be weaving sitting forgotten on the loom.

Our new work study student, Drew McKenzie,
weaving the Scottish wedding throw.

New student, Jeff Priest, weaving a throw using 3/8 Maine Line.

Amy Danielson's husband Bill, learning how to warp.

Drew's second project - a tweed scarf.

Close-up of Drew's scarf.

Drew's cotton and linen shirt fabric.

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.