Weaving

by: Gretchen

Ready to Weave? Classes available now!

This is the year to learn weaving!

Whether you want to work on a little rigid heddle loom or advance your skills on an 8 shaft floor loom, we’ve got a class for you! Our spacious and well-equipped classroom studio is a wonderful space to spend a few days learning to weave. Plus, if you’d like to keep working on your project after the class we make the studio available to students for the week following the class. In the case of rigid heddle looms, you can rent the loom following the class so you can continue to work at home. Materials are included and all equipment and tools are either provided or available to rent. Please call or email for more details or with questions.

Plus, as the holidays approach stay tuned for quick and fun fiber arts “make it, take it” days, and make this a handmade holiday!

Here’s what’s coming up:

Intro to Rigid Heddle Weaving • Saturday & Sunday, October 28 & 29 • $195.00

Weaving 101 – Weaving on a Floor Loom • Fri, Sat, Sun, December 1st – 3rd • $295.00

Next Steps in Weaving • Fri, Sat, Sun, December 8th – 10th • $295.00

Tapestry Weaving: Beginning and Beyond • Fri, Sat, Sun, January 26th – 28th • $275.00

by: Emily Werner

New Handwoven Magazine Nov/Dec 2017

Handwoven November/December issue – just in time for holiday weaving!

Handwoven Nov/Dec 2017

Prim Rose Table Runner, in 10/2 Pearl Cotton, by Norma Smayda and Ann Rudman.

As a perpetual lover of overshot, I was instantly drawn to by Madelyn Van Der Hoogt’s article The Draft: Overshot Threading Then & Now. It’s a wonderful guide on how to use overshot patterns no matter how they are written. She demonstrates how a single overshot pattern can be written twelve different ways, depending on the weaver, the publication, the time period in which it was written, whether it’s balanced or unbalanced, and the manner in which it’s treadled.

Deb Essen’s article, Record Keeping, discusses the importance of taking good notes as you weave and having a standardized method of recording information. She includes the types of information that are relevant to record, as well as how to use technology like cameras and computers to store valuable weaving data. Tom Knisely tells us about his recent trip to Hartland, Michigan, a town rich in little known weaving history and Norma Smayda talks overshot and how she unknowingly became the owner of 270 handwritten weaving drafts by Weaver Rose. The story gives me goosebumps!

Combinatory Play Miniature Table Runner, in 10/2 Pearl Cotton and tapestry weight wool, by Krista Richey.

The issue also includes 10 projects for rigid heddle, 4-shaft, and 8-shaft looms. They range from a Goose-Eye Baby Blanket by Nanette Mother (inspired by Mary E. Black, author of A Key to Weaving), to a Finnweave Runner and Oven Mitts by Marty Benson (inspired by David Xenakis), to the Combinatory Play Miniature Table Runner by Krista Richey (inspired by Bertha Gray Hayes), an 8-shaft pattern that actually combines two overshot patterns into one project by threading one on the first four harnesses and another on the the last four harnesses. The only thing better than one overshot draft is TWO overshot drafts! I may need to get an 8-shaft loom…

Finnweave Runner and Oven Mitts, in 5/2 Pearl Cotton, by Marty Benson.

The rich history of weaving is what continually draws me back into the craft and it is inspiring to see new weavers using historical drafts and patterns as jumping points to design contemporary projects. Be sure to grab yourself a copy of this Handwoven issue, you won’t want to miss it!

P.S. For help with record keeping we offer great Project Worksheets, available for download. If you’re looking for things to make for the holidays, or to put on your wish list, the annual Gift Guide is a treat too!

Weaver's Project Sheets -Downloadable

• Weaving Magazines
• Multi-Craft Equipment

by: Gretchen

Waffle Weave – a favorite for the holidays!

Your favorite holiday towel kit is back in stock!

Welcome, Weaving Today readers!

Sign up now for our weekly newsletter and make sure you don’t miss a thing this holiday season! We’ll send you plenty of great fiber arts tips, details on new products, and exclusive opportunities to save at Halcyon Yarn. (We’ll never sell or share your private information though.) We’re so glad you found Halcyon Yarn… Please join us today!

Festive Waffle Weave Dish Towels

Homestead 8/2 Cotton Yarn

Kits are available in Red or Green with gold highlights, or Blue with silver highlights. Each kit contains the instructions and enough yarn to make three towels, approximately 17″ x 28″ finished. You’ll need a four shaft loom and a reed capable of a 20 epi sett (10, 15, or 20 dent will work), plus shuttles. Strong, pretty and machine washable, with cute little waffle pockets, these towels are easy to weave, even for new weavers.

Waffle Weave Dish Towel Kit - Holiday Reds

Waffle Weave Dish Towel Kit - Holiday Greens

Waffle Weave Dish Towel Kit - Holiday Blues

Waffle Weave Dish Towel Pattern - 8/2 Cotton - Pattern download

Waffle Weave Towel pattern draft is available available separately if you want to choose your own colors too. The Waffle Weave Dish Towels are a favorite gift and a fun project for weavers of every skill level!

Looking for more holiday gift ideas and weaving projects? Here are a few more of our favorites!

Maine Made Cherry Swift by Tom Siske

Bluster Bay 14 " Double-Bobbin Closed-Bottom Boat Shuttle

Halcyon's Engraved Brass Hook for threading and sleying

Quick Start Floor Loom Accessory Package

Halcyon Yarn Gift Certificate for $25.00

Yarn Store in a Box

Color Gamp 2 - A Study in Color and Weave Kit, 10/2 Pearl Cotton

Organic Cottolin Tea Towel - Pattern download

Camp and Cottage Towel Pattern - 8/2 Cotton - Pattern download

Homeward Bound - Table Runner and Placemat Set - Pattern Download

Cashmere Confection Scarf Pattern Download

Rep Weave Placemat Pattern - 10/2 Pearl Cotton - Pattern download

Woven Bath Sheet -Pattern download

See more Weaving Kits here!

Whether it’s dish towels, a loom, or a Gift Certificate, we hope you have a very happy handwoven holiday! Remember, Floor Looms ship free in the contiguous USA. Please let us know how we can help!

• Our yarns
• Lace weight yarns
• Cotton yarns
• Weaving Kits
• Weaving Patterns
• Multi-Craft Equipment
• Weaving Equipment
• Equipment

by: Gretchen

Waffle Weave – A holiday treat!

Our favorite holiday towel kit is back in stock!

Homestead 8/2 Cotton Yarn

Kits are available in Red or Green with gold highlights, or Blue with silver highlights. Each kit contains the instructions and enough yarn to make three towels, approximately 17″ x 28″ finished. You’ll need a four shaft loom and a reed capable of a 20 epi sett (10, 15, or 20 dent will work), plus shuttles. Strong, pretty and machine washable, with cute little waffle pockets, these towels are easy to weave, even for new weavers.

Waffle Weave Dish Towel Kit - Holiday Reds

Waffle Weave Dish Towel Kit - Holiday Greens

Waffle Weave Dish Towel Kit - Holiday Blues

Pattern draft is available available separately if you want to choose your own colors too. The Waffle Weave Dish Towels are a favorite gift and a fun project for weavers of every skill level!

Waffle Weave Dish Towel Pattern - 8/2 Cotton

Waffle Weave Dish Towel Pattern - 8/2 Cotton - Pattern download

• Our yarns
• Lace weight yarns
• Cotton yarns
• Weaving Kits
• Weaving Patterns

by: Kate Comaskey

Tapestry Weaving at Halcyon Yarn

Continuing Education in Tapestry Weaving

Halcyon Yarn is a great place to learn or advance your tapestry weaving skills, and to find excellent resources and products.

It’s been a pleasure hosting Barbara Burns and a wide range of tapestry students for her workshops. The excitement and creativity flows throughout these workshops. Taking a Line for a Walk – Continuing Education in Tapestry Weaving just wrapped up last week and it offered students a deeper dive into the technical aspects of tapestry weaving.

Students of various skill levels worked on how to control a line within the tapestry, honing the skills of choosing where and how any two colors in composition meet, whether it is a thin line or a large shape. Students learned how to weave a smooth line of consistent thickness no matter what direction it travels. Students explored using highs and lows, stealing and stepping, to create smooth curves and angles. This class provided the opportunity to work on the tapestry surface, warp and weft tension, work in opposing sheds, consider weft thickness vs. warp, sew slits, and other skills.

An excellent next step for the beginning to intermediate tapestry weaver with some experience, or for a seasoned weaver who wants to sharpen skills. We’ll be offering this, as well as introductory tapestry weaving, again this winter. Check the class calendar for more dates soon!

About Barbara Burns:

Instructor Barbara Burns studied tapestry at West Dean College in Sussex, England. She has also studied here in the US, most notably with Archie Brennen and Susan Martin Maffei. She has taught private students and workshops in NY and Maine. Barbara’s tapestries have been exhibited both nationally and internationally. She has received awards from as far away as Serbia and England.

Barbara also contributes to the American Tapestry Alliance through her blog on the Mastering of Self-Promotion as an artist. This wonderful resource is a great tool for those looking for “the tools you need to promote your work in a professional manor…”. Please visit Barbara’s blog here for further information on topics ranging from writing artists statements to the business of art and selling. Barbara will be among the fiber arts demonstrators at Halcyon Yarn’s Open House on Saturday October 7th as well.

The video below gives a brief look into a Tapestry Workshop that took place earlier this year at Halcyon Yarn. It’s a great overview of what you can expect if you plan to join us for a class!

TWiNE (Tapestry Weavers in New England) at Halcyon Yarn: September 30th

We are also excited to announce that we will be hosting the Tapestry Weavers in New England at Halcyon Yarn this month! Join TWiNE on Saturday, September 30th at 1:00 pm for a tapestry show-and-tell and discussion.

TWiNE, one of several regional tapestry weavers groups in the United States and Canada, was established in 1991 to support contemporary tapestry artists from New England and afar. TWiNE consists of approximately 45 members with experience ranging from full-time professional artists to fairly casual weavers, including teachers, textile professionals and gallery owners. TWiNE members have put on numerous group shows in their 23 year history.

In addition to showing members’ work, TWiNE also focuses on educating the public about contemporary tapestry design and technique. Membership is not limited to residents of New England and currently includes members from every New England states as well as California, New York, Colorado, and Canada. Currently. Members organize three meeting a year. They share news of their own work and projects as well as maintaining regular contact through email.

The event does not require registration and is free – we hope you’ll join TWiNE and Barbara Burns at Halcyon Yarn on September 30th!

Past blog posts, and member work can be seen here: TWiNE

by: Emily Werner

Ondulé Textiles – new weaving book!

Ondule Textiles

Ondule Textiles - Weaving Contours with a Fan Reed

Japanese yoroke (fan) reed; Ole Akhoej.

Because of the nature of looms, weavers are used to warp and weft threads intersecting each other at right angles. Typically, the warp is stretched between the front and back of the loom, with each warp string parallel to the next and spaced evenly across the loom by the reed. The weft is then inserted perpendicular across the warp, and pressed securely into place with the beater. This creates a textile with a gridded structure. Curved designs are based solely on the interactions and placement of the warp and weft.

Detail of green and white cotton fabric; photo: Pat Foster.

Yet with ondule textiles, the warp and weft strings are purposely curved to create interesting undulations within the actual structure of the fabric. The undulations are created by using a fan reed, which has sections of dents fanned out at various angles. By raising and lowering the height of the reed relative to the warp, the warp strings gradually alternate between tightly packed or more spaced out throughout the length of the piece. Wefts are also manipulated using beaters or reeds with curved, rather than flat, forms.

Apron; photo: MaGee Grundmann.

The book covers the history of this technique, from it’s first mention in 1827 in John Murphy’s Treatise on the Art of Weaving, to it’s brief popularity in New England Mills during the 1930s, to beautiful 19th and 20th-century Japanese kimonos and obis, to modern machine woven shoes, socks, curved sleeves, elastic fabric and more. She also highlights the work of several contemporary weavers who specialize in ondule weaving, including Margaret Arafat, Pat Foster, Amy Putansu, Karina Nielson Rios, and Anne Selim. The rest of the chapters are dedicated to analyzing ondule projects and how various patterns, fibers, and weave structures can be enhanced with the use of a fan reed. She also provides a list of helpful hints on adapting your loom and reeds, and drafts for 21 of the patterns to help readers get started on their own projects.

Three silk scarves in plain weave; photo: Anne Selim.

Ondule Textiles - Weaving Contours with a Fan Reed

Twill sampler, showing two tie-ups; Norma Smayda.

In progress on the loom, Norma Smayda.

About the author:

Weaving Designs Miniature Overshot Patterns - No Discount

• Weaving Books

by: Emily Werner

Highlights from NEWS!

New England Weavers Seminar 2017

Gretchen and I recently took Halcyon Yarn on the road! We had the pleasure of attending the New England Weavers Seminar at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. The New England Weavers Seminar, or NEWS, is held every two years and is a highly anticipated event for weavers in the region. It is a long weekend full of classes, lectures, shopping, and galleries showcasing the work of newcomers and established weavers side by side. With over 350 attendees, dozens of classes, tours, lectures, exhibits, and unique vendors all in one beautiful place, NEWS is a great opportunity to connect with a vibrant weaving community. To stay up to date on details and make your plans for NEWS 2019 please visit their website, and sign up for their NEWSletter.

 

Gretchen and I rented a van and filled it with as many of Halcyon’s signature yarns, tools, and books as we could! It was lovely meeting and talking with so many passionate members of the weaving world, many of whom have been shopping with us for decades. We also saw lots of new faces that we hope to see again in the future! In addition to vending with Gretchen, I was lucky enough to take several classes over the weekend, ranging from the history of weaving with Marjie Thompson, to sewing with handwoven fabric with Sarah Jackson, to card weaving with Marilyn Romatka! Before this weekend, I’d only taken one formal weaving class. Being a mostly self taught weaver, this weekend was a great opportunity to converse with other weavers and learn from their experiences. You can only learn so much out of a book!

Gebrochen examples, from Marjie Thompson’s class.

Magnifying Pick Counter Glass with Rule

Card weaving, from Marilyn Romatka’s class.

One of the most exciting things about the weekend was witnessing firsthand the importance of weaving guilds. I had a chance to see the Traveling Library, which is a collection of over 50 notebooks of handwoven swatches and drafts created over the years by NEWS guild members, who are then able to borrow the notebooks for study and inspiration. It is a reminder of the way that weaving drafts were shared in the past. Before weavers had easy access to unlimited weaving books and online sources, handwritten drafts and samples were passed from weaver to weaver. (Remember, if you’re a guild member, take advantage of Halcyon Yarn’s Guild Rewards program!)

Louet Jane 27.5" 8-Shaft Table Loom

Seeing the library and guild exhibits really brought to light that strong sense of tradition and community in the weaving world, as did the evening lectures on the first and last nights from Tom Knisely and Lynda Teller Pete. I’ve seen numerous books and articles by Tom Knisely, but I had no idea he was an avid antique textile collector! His lecture was called “What We Can Learn from Antique Textiles,” and he brought some pieces from his own collection and even generously passed them around the room for us to gawk over. Tom is a very engaging speaker, and his delight in the craft is contagious. His favorite pieces (and the ones that told the best “stories”) were the ones that had worn away in spots or been lovingly mended. Rather than being disappointed by holes in the fabric, he looked at them as an opportunity to see exactly how the fabric was woven and used. While we may never know exactly who wove these early textiles, Tom and many of us in the audience enjoyed speculating about the anonymous weavers and owners of the textiles.

Lynda Teller Pete’s lecture was equally fascinating. Lynda is a fifth generation award-winning Navajo weaver and her lecture was called “They Will Know Our Names.” She spoke about her family’s legacy, where weaving lessons are mandatory and weaving is viewed as a “way of life.” The Two Grey Hills pattern is a traditional design that has been woven into rugs and tapestries by the Teller family for generations. It was fascinating to see how each generation interpreted the pattern a little differently. Hearing about the amount of skill and passion and history that goes into each and every piece woven by the Tellers was inspiring and it was wonderful to hear how highly valued weaving is within this family.

Learn more about Lynda, and her family, in the Craft In America: TEACHERS episode, from PBS.

• Multi-Craft Equipment
• Weaving Equipment

by: Sierra Roberts

New! Obladi Oblada woven cowl pattern and kits

Obladi Oblada Cowl

Obladi Oblada Woven Fringed Cowl Pattern

Halcyon Signature Hand-Dyed Mohair Yarn

JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk 2/18 Yarn

Obladi Oblada Woven Fringed Cowl Pattern Download

JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk 2/18 Yarn

Halcyon Signature Hand-Dyed Mohair Yarn

[Sorry, item discontinued or temporarily out of stock]

[Sorry, item discontinued or temporarily out of stock]

This project is a great option for weavers of all levels, and it’s an easy introduction to working with mohair. Make one for yourself or get a head start on holiday presents!

• Weaving Patterns
• Our yarns
• Medium weight yarns
• Mohair yarns
• Lace weight yarns
• Wool yarns