{"id":348,"date":"2011-07-08T13:58:10","date_gmt":"2011-07-08T13:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/?p=348"},"modified":"2011-07-18T18:54:40","modified_gmt":"2011-07-18T18:54:40","slug":"handwoven-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/argoknot.s005.wptstaging.space\/?p=348","title":{"rendered":"Handwoven Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

…or home away from home. \u00a0My husband and I spend some weeks every summer sailing on board our sailboat Pandora<\/em><\/strong>. \u00a0This year, just weeks before we moved on board I spent a week at Becky’s Vavstuga<\/a> taking her Vavstuga Basics class. \u00a0This is an absolute prerequisite for any of her other classes, her way of making sure that students have the same basic training before moving on to her more specific classes. This session’s basic class had five projects: a false damask small table square, a small (30″ x 30″) tablecloth, a dishtowel, a bathmat, and a blanket. \u00a0I decided that all these projects, except the bathmat, would be used on Pandora<\/em><\/strong>!<\/p>\n

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one of the small tablecloths<\/p><\/div>\n

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one of two dishtowel warps<\/p><\/div>\n

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second dish towel with blue blanket in background<\/p><\/div>\n

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Student Susan sleying reed for Blue blanket<\/p><\/div>\n

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Ilona working on the green blanket<\/p><\/div>\n

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The block weave project<\/p><\/div>\n

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The bathmat project<\/p><\/div>\n

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Andi and Patti working together<\/p><\/div>\n

Becky Ashenden’s lovely studio and student residence is furnished entirely in Swedish style (mostly from IKEA) with her handwovens adorning every horizontal surface as well as all the windows! \u00a0The whole place could be a scene from a Carl Larsson painting. In our bedrooms we each had a handwoven coverlet for our bed and handwoven curtains. \u00a0In the main sitting room\/dining room\/kitchenette, there were wool blankets on the backs of the comfy chairs, a tablecloth on the side table in the sitting area, and curtains on the windows. \u00a0All the curtains had handwoven tapes as tie-backs. \u00a0We had breakfast each morning up in the residence dining room. \u00a0Breakfast was made and delivered by Susan (Becky’s business partner), who brought up a different tablecloth each morning, while wearing a matching apron. \u00a0I have a new appreciation for aprons!<\/p>\n

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Breakfast with one of many handwoven tablecloths!<\/p><\/div>\n

Class started each morning at 9am after breakfast at 8. \u00a0Monday we made color wrappings for dishtowels and chose the two designs we liked best. \u00a0Then we began warping for them and also making the warps for the other projects. \u00a0By the afternoon we were putting the warps on the looms. \u00a0I will put details of Becky’s Swedish warping techniques on the weaving page. \u00a0At 11am each day we gathered at a large table in the studio for drafting exercises. \u00a0All of us except one student were experienced weavers. \u00a0Some of us had been weaving for decades, and one student had even spent a year at a Swedish handcraft school just like the one where Becky herself had studied. \u00a0Still, making drafts by hand on graph paper was a useful exercise for all of us!<\/p>\n

The studio lights went off promptly at noon signalling lunch. \u00a0There was one hour to enjoy an amazing lunch with lots of choices served smorgasbord-style. \u00a0The class information stated that while Becky could not accommodate specific diets, most people on restricted diets could still get plenty to eat. \u00a0It was true! \u00a0Each lunch included a platter of raw vegetables, like radish and cucumber, a green salad, a cheese tray, a basket of crackers, a basket of Susan’s still-warm homemade bread, a plate of sliced deli meats and various dishes that were freshly made for that day’s lunch. \u00a0These main courses included shrimp\/fennel salad one day, a wheat berry salad with vegetable and dried fruit another day. \u00a0It was a feast!<\/p>\n

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The dining room table set for lunch<\/p><\/div>\n

Dinner always included the same assortment of platters holding cheeses, raw veggies, sliced meats, etc. \u00a0And there would also be a hot main course. \u00a0There was another loaf of Susan’s delicious bread. \u00a0We loved it so much that we demanded a photo of her with bread before she sliced it! \u00a0Becky made a fresh dessert each day to serve after dinner.<\/p>\n

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Susan with her homemade bread, wearing a handwoven apron<\/p><\/div>\n

The studio re-opened at 1pm each day, so after lunch there was time for a short walk or for perusing the extensive library of weaving books….or shopping in the retail section of Vavstuga! \u00a0We re-gathered at the table at 3pm each afternoon for another session of instruction which included looking at innumerable handwoven items. \u00a0I have never seen so many handwoven items in one location. It was exhilarating!<\/p>\n

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Afternoon class examining some of Becky's handwoven tablecloths<\/p><\/div>\n

Dinner was at 6pm each evening, and again the studio lights were turned off to bring us all to the table together. The studio re-opened from 7.30 -9 pm for evening weaving.<\/p>\n

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Gathering at the table <\/p><\/div>\n

Our days had a definite rhythm because of Becky and Susan’s hard work and organization. \u00a0After working together to warp four of the five projects, we were all weaving by Wednesday morning. We warped each project in groups of two which made beaming, threading and sleying a breeze. \u00a0It is really quite enjoyable to warp with another person (and I’m someone who loves the warping process and looks forward to that time alone!). \u00a0I want to see if I can institute a warping group when I return home in late summer.<\/p>\n

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Warping mill with view of the Deerfield River<\/p><\/div>\n

Each day Becky wore a handwoven dress, and we all enjoyed hearing the plans for her summer solstice wedding, including her handwoven fabric design for her wedding dress. \u00a0She was to be married just a week after our class ended, and I hope there will be photos on her site when she returns! \u00a0While we did not get to see the dress, we saw the fabric leftovers after the pattern pieces were cut….stunning!<\/p>\n

Becky’s studio sits at the entrance to the Bridge of Flowers which is an incredible place in mid-June.<\/p>\n

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Bridge of Flowers<\/p><\/div>\n

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Students' work on Friday afternoon<\/p><\/div>\n

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The class with our finished projects!<\/p><\/div>\n

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Susan and Becky<\/p><\/div>\n

So…..back to Pandora <\/em><\/strong>and my handwoven home on the water…..<\/p>\n

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False Damask table square on cockpit table<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n
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Handwoven tablecloth and blanket from my week at Vavstuga<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

Ooops! I think I left the hand towel at home, and the bathmat was made for our upstairs guest bathroom.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…or home away from home. \u00a0My husband and I spend some weeks every summer sailing on board our sailboat Pandora. \u00a0This year, just weeks before we moved on board I spent a week at Becky’s Vavstuga taking her Vavstuga Basics … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,24,7,25,12,3],"tags":[53,52,50,54,51],"class_list":["post-348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fine-craft","category-inspiration","category-knitting","category-sailing","category-travel","category-weaving","tag-knitting","tag-sailing","tag-tapestry","tag-travel","tag-weaving"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/argoknot.s005.wptstaging.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/argoknot.s005.wptstaging.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/argoknot.s005.wptstaging.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/argoknot.s005.wptstaging.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/argoknot.s005.wptstaging.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=348"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/argoknot.s005.wptstaging.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":440,"href":"https:\/\/argoknot.s005.wptstaging.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions\/440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/argoknot.s005.wptstaging.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/argoknot.s005.wptstaging.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/argoknot.s005.wptstaging.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}