So here I am in Vancouver, British Columbia. My husband is attending a conference at UBC, and I’m tagging along. The drive out was long, but the scenery was lovely. Starting out in the prairies Finally on day two we started to see the Rocky Mountains. How long did it take? Well I had time to weave a sock. The sock was started at home, only the toe complete. By the time we made it to Kamloops it was up to my knee. And here’s the view out my window at the University of British Columbia. This afternoon I was the guest speaker for the Vancouver Handweavers and Spinners, spreading the good news of sprang. Thanks to the VHS for such a warm reception, hope to visit you again.
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I was invited to teach sash-weaving techniques in The Pas.
Sharain Jones from the Sam Waller Museum received funding from the Moffat Family for arts programming, and invited me to come. I gave a workshop at the Sam Waller Museum last night, and at the Scott Bateman Middle School today. The world now has over 100 new weavers here in ThePas, Manitoba. My husband needed to go for a bit of a road trip, get out of town. We drove west, to Batosch, Saskatchewan. I was thrilled to hear that personnel there had learned to fingerweave from my book. They had several examples of work done by employees as well as visitors. They are working towards leg ties for the interpreters, and eventually sashes. The Saskatchewan prairie is beautiful My husband said I had to include a photo of me as a passenger in the car. It was a ten hour drive. He can’t expect me to just sit there. I attach my weaving to the visor, and tension it under my feet.
The delivery man from Friesens Printing phoned this morning. My books were ready for delivery! Luckily I had help to assist in moving 2000 books from the truck to my living room. This afternoon I’ll be busy taking packages to the post office, all you who pre-ordered! Keeping my fingers crossed that you’ll like what you see in Sprang Unsprung. I should add some photos from my adventures in Grand Portage, Minnesota. We were greeted by a rainbow as we set up camp. I was impressed by the number of people wearing fingerwoven sashes. Michelle Delorme was proud to show me the sash made by her Québec mentor. I always learn new things. Another participant showed me her method for securing the weaving while riding in a car. She uses a pillow. Her weaving was very nice and tight. Kudos. Amazing stories of how sashes call out to people to become weavers. And they have been able to create amazing pieces. She told me the story of the first time she saw a fingerwoven sash, how it moved her, how fingerweaving has helped her re-connect with her French Quebecois heritage. There were lots of other activities, lacross and twoball The setting was really beautiful. I did take an evening to do a bit of hiking. The view was spectacular. Back home, back at work, I’ve set to re-creating those little coin purses, such as the one found among Lord Nelsons things, and featured on the front cover of the book by Martyn Downer: And for the ladies, pockets. This one is based on an image I found on-line from the Williamsburg site.
The Rheault Farm in Fargo was the site of the Fargo Fiber Festival. Amazing demonstrations of diverse fiber techniques, spinning, knitting, quilting, embroidery, stumpwork, tatting, felting, kumihimo, basketry, on and on. I brought my fingerweaving and sprang. A great idea for using up all those extra quilt tops. I’ve set up another pair of sprang socks. This time I want the socks to be long enough to be ‘knee socks’. Here is my inkle loom where I set up the warp. I wove the feet all in one evening. More as the socks progress.
Drove to Thunder Bay last Thursday to attend the Great RendezVous at Historic Fort William. On the way I stopped in at Quetico Park to see the sash I wove for them while artist in residence two years ago. At the RendezVous, I gave a workshop on fingerweaving to participants and Ft William Staff. This woman had learned fingerweaving by herself. She found the book Fingerweaving Untangled in her local library.
In August I went on a trip with my husband to the Islands off the coast of British Columbia. We stayed on Mayne Island for a few days, then on to Saturna Island. On Saturna, I met a wonderful weaver, Teresa Higgins. She toured me through her studio. We shared ideas for working with grade school students. She has a wonderful ‘worry doll’ kit. A delightful thing! Back home, it was back-to-school time.
I participated in the annual Scottish Heritage Parade in downtown Winnipeg. In 2012 they will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the first Scottish settlers in the Red River area. The Living Prairie Museum held an end-of-the Summer event on Sunday, Sept 12. I attended with my sash display, and of course, the sash weaving dance. In September as well, I was invited by the Alliance Française of Manitoba to speak with Pascal Jaouen, an amazing embroiderer. Mr Jaouen is participating in a cultural exchange. Have a look at his website http://www.ecoledebroderie.com/pascal_jaouen.htm Photos cannot do justice to the quality of work done by this man. Yes, the decorations on the clothes on that website are all hand embroidery. Anyhow, Mr Jaouen was in Winnipeg to have a look at Métis culture. Alliance Française called on me to show him Métis fingerweaving. What an honor to meet such a master. It seems that a set of pieces are to be created, I cannot wait to see them. In the midst of all this, yes, I am seriously working on another book, this time on Sprang. I’ve located several examples of the use of this technique in North America before Columbus. It’s such a lovely, flexible technique. I’m working on the step-by-step of it all. I had a few pages written up and laid out. I took them along on my travels in early October. Yes, in early October I did a bit of travelling. First up was the Textile Society of America Symposium. I met up with textile enthusiasts and specialists from all over, Textile Museum curators from the US, Mexico, and Canada, weavers, academics, and others. Hoping to put these contacts to good use, learning more about sprang, and marketing my fingerweaving book, as well as the soon-to-be sprang book. Next was the annual War of 1812, that is to say Mississinewa 1812, held annually near Marion, Indiana. There I display my weaving, sell a few sashes, as well as fingerweaving books. I met up with Peg, who has been participating with me on the Yahoo sprang list. She saw my sprang sweater in person, and reviewed my prototype sprangbook pages. Thanks Peg, I’ll have more for you to look at soon. Then on to Chicago to visit with my cousin, Peg. And to the Field Museum, where I was granted a look at sashes in their archives. Too bad, as the collections manager stressed, the Field Museum collection began long before museum science existed. Some of their sashes look pretty old, but without provenance the age and culture of origin is anyone’s guess. Ah well. Nevertheless, it is lovely to see sashes done by other people, come to better understand what has been done in the past, collect ideas for future work. Last but not least, I was able to attend a meeting of the North Shore Weavers. It’s always fun to meet other weavers. This group was as lively as any, a real treat to meet you gals. Monday I stayed in Hamilton. A finger weaving student from London, Gloria, came to Hamilton for another lesson. We explored Hamilton in the afternoon, and then agreed to do the same in London on Tuesday. Gloria and I talked about taking in a play at Stratford. She phoned me bright and early on Tuesday morning, encouraged me to buy the tickets on line, to go to the Archaeology Museum, and then meet her for lunch. I ordered tickets to The Tempest with Christopher Plummer, for 2PM, and set out for London, Ontario. I found the Archaeology Museum right where my google map said it should be. Getting there just before lunch, I did not have much time to speak with the giftshop manager before they were inundated with a school group. Yes, the London, Ontario Archaeology Museum is interested in selling copies of Fingerweaving Untangled. I phoned Gloria to let her know I was on my way to her place for lunch. She suggested that I also speak to folks at the N’Amerind Center, as they should be interested in the how-to of fingerweaving. We met up there, and yes, indeed the London, Ontario, N’Amerind Friendship Center teaches all manner of native handicraft, and yes, they are interested in my book. Gloria had brought along sandwiches. She recommended I leave my car and ride with her to the Stratford theatre. I hesitated to leave my rental vehicle in such a small parking lot. The daycare would be needing the spots for parents fetching their kids. She agreed. We planned that I’d follow her to the outskirts of town, a shopping centre where I could leave my vehicle. A few blocks from the N’Amerind Centre the car ahead of me turned into a parking garage. I thought, “What a good idea. This is a nice, secure place to leave my vehicle.” Imagine my horror when the driver of the vehicle ahead of me emerged … NOT GLORIA! Oh No! I’ve been following the wrong car! I exited the parking garage and tried to find my way back to the N’Amerind Centre. Trusting that Gloria was ahead of me I had not paid attention to where I was going. Then my cellphone rang. It was Gloria. Whew! We met up again, drove together, me following the RIGHT car this time, all the way to a shopping mall. I got into Gloria’s car and away we went to Stratford, Ontario, and the Shakespeare Festival. We arrived at the Festival Theatre with 6 minutes to spare. Lucky I had pre-ordered the tickets on-line. I went to the wicket to redeem the tickets. The young lady at the window was struggling with her computer, said she’d been having troubles with some of the keys. Nevertheless, my purchase number worked, and she printed out my tickets. Four minutes to showtime we presented our tickets to the usher. “I’m sorry ma’am, these tickets are for Kiss Me Kate on the 26th,” said the usher. “Oh No!” I said. “This cannot be!” Back to the wicket went I. There had to be some mistake! I was quite certain I had clicked on the button for The Tempest with Christopher Plummer for today! If indeed I had made an error, there must be a way to exchange! Presenting the original credit card on which the tickets had been ordered, the problem was solved, two tickets for this afternoon’s show were printed, and we entered the theatre with one minute to spare. The director came out on stage to talk with us. Apparently this is still technical dress rehearsal. They are still ‘tweaking’ the show, our comments are invited. Then the show began. Spectacular! Ariel diving down from the ceiling, swimming to the bottom of the sea to retrieve something, and then back up to the surface. Then there are the mariners, fighting the elements on board a ship in a mighty thunderstorm. Suddenly it all stopped, the lights came on, and we were informed there had been a glitch, the trap door was supposed to have been opened. Please be patient. Wait a minute and the play will resume. Gloria said that she had intended to get us hearing devices. It was hard to understand the words of the actors. She went out quickly, figuring she’d have time to rent the devices and re-enter before the ‘glitch’ was fixed. Apparently not. Gloria did not return to the seat beside me until a few scenes later. She had missed the first part of the performance … BUT … Christopher Plummer had come walking past. He had to go through the lobby to get from stage right to the upper balcony, and walked right past her! The performance was spectacular. Those devices for the hearing impaired work great! (maybe I am hearing impaired?) Afterwards I said I wanted to take a photo of the two of us in front of the theatre for my blog. Gloria said we could go over to the stage door, and see Christopher Plummer as he left the theatre. I ran to the parking lot for my camera, hindered by a huge delivery van that was backing in to the theatre complex. Returning with my camera, I noted that the van had backed up to the stage door where Gloria was waiting, and was now leaving. “Christopher Plummer is in that van,” I said. Gloria replied that the Beatles would do such a thing, but not Christopher Plummer. Others had joined us, so we waited another few minutes, and indeed The Man, Christopher Plummer himself, emerged from the stage door. I took a photo of him speaking briefly with Gloria, and then she took a picture of me, and the little crowd that had gathered, around Christopher Plummer. What a day! Back in London, Gloria introduced me to her sister, Dolly. They showed me the sash that had been presented to their father at Fort William many years ago.
So, I had a great time with a girlfriend, met her sister, sold books, saw a lovely sash, and had my photo taken with Christopher Plummer! Sometimes The Universe just opens up and blesses us. What a day! So here I am in Ontario.
My husband is attending conferences, so I’ve tagged along. Having met up with Virginia Barter at the Rupertsland Colloquium earlier in the month, she invited me to Métis events in her neighborhood. Saturday we went together to Peterborough, Trent University. We participated in a celebration of Métis Culture, music, dance and history. I learned some jigging from Yvonne Chartrand, and also had the honor of meeting members of the Métis Councils from Peterborough and Oshawa-Durham. On Sunday, I was invited to a community picnic at Lambdon House. I got to talking with people and missed the walking tour of the Umber. Maybe next time, I’d love to check out this little bit of Nature in the midst of the Big City. Virginia then took me on to the Black Creek Pioneer Village. They seem eager to have my book for their giftshop. That’s great. Then somehow someone mentioned that they’re hosting the Toronto Spiders and the Back-to-Back Wool Challenge. Now that’s something! I participated in the Back-to-Back several times in Manitoba. I hear these Toronto gals are really fast, and, yes, I did get to see them. And yes, they’re mighty fast knitters. How fast are they? What was their time this year (or did they finish, why did they have to quit)? Nope, I will not divulge. You’ll have to wait for the Official Report from Wendy Dennis Down Under. Mum’s the word on my end for now. The University of Winnipeg hosted the Rupertsland Colloquium this year. I presented information on the subject of sprang, why it should be of interest to individuals interested in this time period, what sprang looks like, how it is made.
As at the last Colloquium, held in Rocky Mountain House in 2008, I met many interesting people, learned lots about this interesting period in Canadian history. This time around I gained a greater appreciation for the traditional west coast tradition of Potlach. Misunderstanding this tradition and European rules of trade clashed spectacularly, resulting in disaster for the Native Americans. I also introduced several people to ‘sprang’, the technique in military sashes of the time period, also a textile technique known to some Native Americans. Meeting up with Virginia Barter of the Métis Artists’ Collective. Through her assistance I am hoping to be able to bring fingerweaving to Toronto in mid-June. |
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