Three Days with Jason Collingwood, Learning Weft Faced Plain Weave

 

Earlier this month Jason Collingwood, a well-known UK rug weaver was a guest instructor at Heritage. The following is written by Sammie, who was lucky enough to take the class (me, I was back at the shop teaching and working - I have to leave town to get my education, which happens this weekend in Ypsilanti - watch the blog for details next week).

Sammie, Guest Blogger, weaver and Heritage staffer writes:

Who would have thought you could do soooooo  much using only plain weave ? My head is spinning.

All 12 of us in the class pretty much mastered the first days lessons: vertical stripes and dots, both staggered and aligned. Then, day two brought a whole new set of challenges: crossed wefts and both “contrary” and “parallel” motion. Most of the group picked up the contrary motion and have a beautiful 6”-8” insert in our sampler (and then some of us have a 3” insert done entirely by Jason that we can look at in wonder).  Crossing the wefts more than once in a “parallel motion” requires that you change the sheds 6+ times as your shuttles go left and right etc. After the first demonstration and all subsequent demonstrations (probably five or six),  Jason would say, “Pretty straight forward. Have a go at it!” And, in unison, our eyes would glaze over as we looked down on our warps, and prayed for enlightenment. Usually we got the first one or two picks right before we started unweaving.

 

The third day brought lighter fair.  Meet and separate,  clasped wefts — so easy, no selvage issues, many design possibilities.  And gave us all new hope. Maybe,  just maybe, we could weave rugs that looks as good as  Jason’s. 

What makes Jason a great teacher?1. Depth of knowledge.  He has been weaving for 20 years and has only woven rugs.  He is truly an expert at all of the techniques he teaches.2. 10 pages of hand outs. Somehow I feel I get my monies worth, if I have paper to take with and refer to later.3. An hour and a half lecture in the morning, and an hour lecture in the afternoon. He is very informative and has a great sense of humor. We laughed a lot.  And he is sooooo patient.4. Constantly paces the classroom never letting you get tooo far down the wrong road. After taking this class, I would say that all of us really appreciated the skill and strength needed to make one of his beautiful rugs, and that we believe we can weave a rug — using one or two or more of the techniques he taught us. 

All of the  rugs on Jason’s website are done on a four shaft loom — WOW!!!! Of course the looms have been modified to suit the needs of a rug weaver and the shaft switching system has been perfected for production and quality.  All of the techniques learned can be applied to any type of weaving, that is, you could design placemats using the learned structures.

 I am in awe. I would recommend that you do not pass up the opportunity to learn from him what he learned from his father if ever he comes to your town.

As in all things: the more you know, the more you realize you don’t know. Prior to the class, I began reading the Techniques of Rug Weaving–and now I am motivated to read and or own all of Peter Collingwood’s (Jason’s father and mentor) books, not because I intend to learn the techniques, but because the DEPTH of knowledge is overwhelming.(no words to express)How blessed the weaving world is to have you Mr. Peter Collingwood.Sammie

Pssssst! Pass it on.

 

 

Welcome new knitters Ellie and Taylor. In the picture above they are sporting their new knitted and felted bags with twisted cords that they finished this past weekend. Talk about two proud girls! They had a great time learning to bind off, make cord and then finish the bags . . . and giggling! Sunday was a busy day with four classes going at one time, so the girls had their class in my office – it was a pleasure to hear their cheery voices and their enthusiasm. While Laura was busy with Ellie and Taylor, Christel went from a beaded scarf class to a private lesson with another young knitter. Yael is the same age as Ellie and Taylor and has a very active fiber mom. Problem is, sometimes kids don’t like to learn from their mom (which my mother can confirm!), so we get the priviledge. Yael returned to us for a learn to purl lesson – and, since she knits continental, it was a natural fit to have Christel take her to this step. Yael’s next goal is to learn to spin on the wheel (she says she doesn’t like the drop spindle at all).

 

 

And, in the big classroom, was the two day class with Beth Brown-Reinsel, author of Knitted Gansey’s, Traditional Construction Techniques for Ganseys. Beth is an incredible teacher and one of those rare gifted individuals that actually makes her living from knitting. This small but enthusiastic group really enjoyed “dissecting” a gansey technique by technique and knitting their own teddy-bear sized gansey. Pictured here is Beth (blue sweater) and most of the group hard at work (you can tell because the table is so messy!).

 

The bottom line is this . . . you, too, can pass on your fiber skills. Have a spare wheel or loom? Loan it to a friend and get them started. Know a neighborhood kid - boy or girl? Invite them in and teach them how to knit. Share the pleasure, perpetuate the art. Through teaching, we learn more. Not only will you be passing it on, you’ll also become a better spinner, knitter or weaver.

Sally Cuts!

Sunday was a follow up session for our Focus on Fair Isle class. At the point of this “reunion,” three sweaters have been begun and Sally’s was ready to be cut in preparation for the sleeves to be knit on. Thanks to being without wheels for several weeks, Sally had more time than normal to devote to her project and made it a goal to be able to cut the steek with us in class. Needless to say, she was more than a little nervous. Her hands quivered with the first cut, but she gained momentum and a steady hand rapidly. True, it is only a 9 inch cut, but try it after you’ve knit 350 stitch rounds on size 3 needles and see how you feel! Thankfully, the class really does teach that cutting your knitting is “safe” as students work practice steeks in class. Also pictured are some of the hats knit in the class, made by Lisa, Keith, Sally and Lynn. In the FFI class, hats are swatches! If this all looks interesting to you, you may want to join the next class that starts in September.

The first weekend of the month is always special at Heritage. It’s Girls Nite on Friday and the Spinning and Weaving Groups meet on Saturday. That means everybody brings their projects in so we can see them! Sharon knit the blue shawl (the wool peddler shawl from Folk Shawls) from our Handpainted Bloomfield yarn. She says she “blocked the heck out of it” and it is gorgeous. This pattern is an easy “first lace” as it is easy to see where you are in the pattern and it isn’t all-over lace. The lace pattern itself is usually called “horseshoe lace.” The socks were hand painted by Sharon at Knit Michigan in Christel’s dye class. They are simply stunning (and finished already - we are all impressed!).

 

Finally, I promised you a photo of the lace I was weaving for my parents for placemats and table runner. This is a close up of one of the placemats. They wove up quite quickly and I found it very easy to keep my place in the pattern. They were woven on an 8-shaft loom using 6 shafts.