"There and Back Again"

I spent the last few days at the Michigan Fiber Festival in Allegan, Michigan. My "excuse" for going was a finishing techniques class taught by Joan Sheridan Hoover titled "Take it All Off". My sampler is the lovely green thing in the photo. It is decorated with no less than 10 finishing techniques! My favorite technique is the one that doesn't show well in the photograph--it's on the top edge, second in from the right. It is a netting made by tying overhand knots at the edge of the weaving, followed by a second or third row of overhand knots lower down the fringe to create a simple netting.

Some of the best parts of taking a workshop class include:
-interacting with other weavers--we are an amazingly diverse group of people!
-interacting with instructors--these are people who in some way, shape or form, "do" weaving for a living (or some portion thereof). I like seeing who these people are...learning skills and techniques. Technically, Joan was teaching a finishing class. However, she was also teaching teaching skills. I learned lots listening to her.
-working on samplers! Samplers are cool! I want to have an excuse to do more samplers! Silly, I know, but look at all the information I have in that one piece of weaving! 10 edge treatments!