This week we will weave our first pinwheel. If you haven’t warped yet, there is still plenty of time. The value of a weave-along is the opportunity to see a pattern come to life. I’m a big believer that weaving in your head counts.  Sometimes we need to see a process in order to apply it. The full experience is realized when we actually do the handwork. 

We are officially underway! Gather your warping pegs and get ready for a new batch of videos this Friday. The warping is fairly straightforward for this project. I’ll offer a few general warping tips and how to approach working with multiple colors. In the meantime, we are having some interesting conversations about sett and modifying the project.

This Friday we start a new weave-along. These events are designed to give rigid-heddle weavers support around aspirational techniques. While project based, the idea is often to explore a new aspect of weaving that you may have always wanted to try, but don’t quite know where to start. Yarnworker weave-alongs have always been open to anyone who would like to weave along and although the format has changed the core philosophy hasn’t.

We have our first book club meetup scheduled for tomorrow September 22 at 5pm Mountain. Not having any weaving to post this week, I took a picture of a double cloth with supplemental weft, a technique that Alvers used often. This would not be a composition she would have embraced as there are too many repeating elements.

Part of visiting my family is seeing textiles from various eras of my weaving life. Unlike a lot of the weaving in my home that sits in a sample box, here they are scattered on sofas, resting under bits of pottery, hung on the wall or oven door handle, or displayed on a table. In use as they should be!

I’m writing from the Chicago O’Hare airport during a four hour layover on my way to the Shenandoah Valley.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been running on adrenaline. This weekend, it caught up with me, and my brain and body felt like they were trudging through molasses. I did what I typically do and turned first to the outside world to pull weeds—it was too hot to hike—and then to my loom. In particular, I turned to a warp that I just can’t make friends with. It is a wide, fine linen warp intended to be curtain material for our new-to-us trailer, but it is fussy. I sat at the loom discouraged and almost cut it off. Then I thought to myself, “What would Anni [Albers] do?”

It is little surprise that the Traveling Pinwheels won with 70% of the vote. I’ve set up the course landing page with the tool and yarn details. I’ve set up a schedule kicking off on October 2. There is a forum thread setup for preliminary questions.

The WAL vote when out last week to the Super Supporters and True Believer members. If you haven’t voted yet, you take a look in your inbox.

I spent last week following a whim, which is another word for sample. I decided to see if Yoga Yarn would react to Fiber Etch.

It is the last week the Bordering on Perfect WAL is open for guests. Thanks to everyone for weaving along. A special shout out to pledging members from the bottom of my yarn laden heart. You keep me in my seat doing what I do.

I’ve officially finished my towels. Reweaving these patterns is like visiting old friends. For guest the material is available to you until August 7, a week later than planned since I was running behind during finishing week. Keep posting those finished projects! I’ve extended the guest discount code deadline for Handwoven Home through August 7 using code WAL2-2026 for 20% off the digital edition. Pledging members can find the book in the master list of patterns.

Done and “finished”  towels are beginning to spill off our looms. Check  out the latest in the forums to cheer on your  fellow weavers.

We all have them, projects we weave, then stall at the finishing work. Let’s cheer each other on to get over that finish line.

I’ll keep this week’s missive short and sweet. I’m not going to make it home to post the finishing materials on Friday. My family is calling for a few extra days on the Texas coast. I’ll post the finishing tips on  Monday or Tuesday. Thanks in advance for your patience.

I’m back at my desk after an inspiring four days at the WARP conference. I’ll have nine videos for you this week including getting started, joins, the fundamentals of beat, managing multiple shuttles, weaving the pick-up borders, and more. I love answering questions. Keep them coming!

Surprise! I have posted the warping tips today instead of Friday, as I am heading to Guelph, Canada, tomorrow for WARP’s annual gathering. If you are attending, please come by and say hi. While I am traveling, I will still check in regularly to answer your questions and offer support in the forums.

The pattern and welcoming material was posted last week. Weavers have two weeks to look over the pattern and gather their materials before I start posting weekly tips. On June 26, we’ll start with warping including how to warp a specific number of ends and place the pick-up stick.

Welcome to those who have newly joined us for this weave-along and much thanks to those of you who keep weaving along. We are a beginner-friendly group and love cheering each other on.

The Bordering on Perfect Towels WAL is open for guest registration. If you know someone who would like to join us, please share. Cotton Clouds has put together a kit with small spools of the border colors and fine ground weft, so you don’t have to purchase full cones. We are already chatting about yarn over in the forums.

I’ve created a landing page for our upcoming weave-along with the schedule and materials you will need to gather and added the event to our calendar. If you don’t have Handwoven Home, I’ll provide you pattern when the WAL launches. I’m working on making digital copies of the full book available for the WAL. Cotton Clouds is working on a kit and I’ll let you know as soon as it is available.

I’m into Part Three of the manuscript, and while I still have about 75 pages to go, if my plan holds, I’m hoping that I’ll be able to start filming the weave-along on Friday. First I have to uncover the demo table which is buried in workshop prep.

I hit the halfway mark with the Guide manuscript copy edit review this weekend. As someone who writes a lot, it is humbling to see your sentence structure laid bare for all its flaws. I have a terrible habit of using the word “this” without saying what “this” is. I’m sure I do the same thing when I speak.

Survey says . . .

Somehow the first two days of this week got swallowed whole and I did not get to this missive. I did however draft the next weave-along vote email, which should be speeding to Supper Supporters and True Believers in the next 24 hours. 

I had the utter privilege of teaching swatching at the Española Valley Fiber Art Center (EVFAC). I have not been back since before the pandemic. The organization has gone through some rocky times, but the organization is on firm footing with the current leadership team and staff. When they asked if I would teach swatching, I was thrilled. I don’t often get a chance to teach this class. When I mentions “swatching” or “sampling” weavers have such violent reactions. I will hear a variations of four themes: “I hate sampling”, “I would never sample, I just want to weave”, “That sounds like too much planning”, “I don’t want to waste yarn”. 

We have officially wrapped up the Monk’s Belt After Party. That doesn’t mean the party is over. These resource nuggets are there for you to dive in any time. When this adventure started way back in 2016 it evolved into quarterly offerings either a foundational class, aspirational weave-alongs, or study session on a specific topic. I’m working on a survey for the True Believers and Supper Supporters to give me some feedback on what we will weave next. Stay tuned!

I am humbled to return this week to say regarding the left border, I was right all along. I’ve posted my final findings on the pattern download page.

At the moment I have a lot more warped looms than I have woven cloth. My goal this week is rectify that and weave off the white warp on the far left and share my results in next week’s wrap up video. I’m knee deep in getting our next vote ready as well—more warping. 

Greeting from Austin, Texas. I spent some time this morning working up a few new figures for you.