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My daughter has helped me make a new website. In honor of what people have been calling me lately, "the sprang lady" the website has a new name as "sashweaver and spranglady".
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The organizers of the Intermountain Weavers Conference asked me back for this year. I taught three classes: intro to sprang, sprang lace and sprang in S&Z. The students were eager and enthusiastic. The world has a few more practitioners of sprang!  Single Circular Warp  Vertical stripes  Sprang lace  Pattern writing and pattern reading exercises Then on to the DC area, to be specific, George Washington’s Mount Vernon. I’ll gave a talk on the subject of sprang. I also handed over another replica of the Braddock sash. This time the beneficiary was Carlyle House. They will soon unveil a mannequin dressed out as Edward Braddock in his military uniform.  Carol at Mount Vernon Then on to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. They have a collection of some 200 pieces of sprang bonnets, some complete, some just little bits.  Carol at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, in Ann Arbor, Michigan Researcher Julia Galliker and I had a look at these pieces. We’re intending to compile our findings into a database (Julia has a gift for databases) and we will present this information at the Textiles of the Nile Valley Conference in Antwerp, Belgium, at the end of October.
I’ve been wanting to make a sprang shirt or sweater for my husband. He says that wool is always too hot. So I found some linen yarn, and made a vest recently. I set up a ‘false circular warp’ to make the work easier. I worked from hem towards the shoulders. Here is the front and back on the frame, the sprangwork done, a knitting needle in the meeting place at the shoulder.  Front and back all finished, ready for the chain line and neck hole When the two sides met, I chained from selvedge towards the middle, starting at the right side, working towards the place of the neck hole, and then starting from the left side and working to the place where I will put the neck hole. I then cut the threads across the center line, just to the front of where the chain line should be. I took photos as I formed the neck opening, cutting threads and tying knots.
To cover up the knots, I knitted a length of i-cord covering the knots and encircling the neck hole, giving it a nice finished look. Measurements now indicated that the width was insufficient for the intended waistline … I expected that, and made side panels. This started out as a warp that was a bit shorter than the front-and-back. I made the side panels both at the same time, cut them apart, as I tied knots.  Assembly plan Now for the sleeves … made two-at-the-same-time.  Assembly plan But before assembling, I added ribbing to the cuffs and at the waistline.  4-needle knitting at the wrist And then the final assembly to make a lovely sweater for him.
There was this skein of yarn that I purchased a while back from Redfish, a rainbow dyed tencel. I’ve been meaning to work it up into something. Last month at the Regina Shindig, I was inspired by Terri Bibby, and her Saori techniques. She demonstrated an origami approach to garment design. With this in mind, I set up that rainbow dyed skein on a circular warp, and created a circular piece.  Rainbow warp on my frame Once the sprang was finished, I chained across the place where the two sides met. Here is my schema, how I transformed the circular warp piece into a shrug.  Schema for the shrug I folded the circular warp piece, trying to align the color scheme. To make the color scheme work out best, the chain line does not exactly line up with the starting rows. I sewed up part of one side, leaving open places for the arms, and it became a shrug.
The Saskatchewan Handweavers held a Shindig, and invited me to come, to teach sprang, and to give the Saturday evening keynote address. The drive across the prairies was a stark contrast to the sights of earlier in the year, the giant redwoods of California, and the Rockies in Colorado.  The prairies are as difficult to photograph as the mountains and the giant trees. The Saskatchewan handweavers asked me to teach a sprang class, and to give the Saturday evening Keynote address. Participants in my class were eager to learn. The organizing committee hired photographer Sparkling Medusa Creative Services, Angela Reddekopp to take photos.  Thanks to Sparkling Medusa I have a photo of me, teaching. Photo by Sparkling Medusa.
 Carol’s display table, sprang items: shawls, hats, vests, socks … Photo by Sparkling Medusa And later the next week, Jenny sent me photos of projects completed in the days following the class.
Back to the folks in California. Janet recently posted a photo of a sprang vest she made, using her handspun cotton. Well done Janet!!!!  Janet’s handspun cotton sprang vest Here I am, on a 3-city teaching tour of Colorado. Spring weather is living up to it’s reputation, sunshine, rain, snow, sleet, and then sun again.  mountain view I am teaching classes in Montrose, Boulder, and Colorado Springs.  So happy to be teaching individuals who are so adept and eager to learn. Everyone works on her own frame, creating several sample pieces. In the introductory class, we explore the basic interlinking stitch, and then some variations. You learn the basic stitch, some finishing techniques, and then how to start from ‘scratch’. My hostesses to date have been lovely. Many thanks to Bobbie, Mary, Janet, Sue, and Cheryl. I’ve been treated to a tour of Black Canyon of the Gunnison Park, and a drive through the Rockies, from Montrose to Boulder. Looking forward to a tour of the Schacht Loom factory. In-between teaching, I’ve kept myself busy working on some Coptic designs, working out the pattern, and then testing them by making sample pieces.  Red Coptic bonnet, inspired by a piece in the Kelsey Museum, 13395 Susan Foulkes is an amazing textile artist, teacher and researcher. In her blog she records things she sees on her travels. Her most recent post on https://durhamweaver64.blogspot.ca/ tells of her trip through the Baltics, and St Peterstburg in particular. She includes a photo of the 1709 uniform of Peter the Great, and a closeup of the sash … sure looks to me like sprang.
I always learn things from my students. Today Janet taught me about dealing with sticky warps. She is exploring the circular warp technique, and set on a warp using her very own handspun. All by herself she came up with a great technique. I had recommended spacing the threads out sideways. She decided to take the shed sticks and push them two at a time. That way they stay spread out as she moves them around. Here are some photos of the technique in action.  Pushing the pair of sticks up  Pushing further up the back side  And over the top. Smooth as silk. We will call this the Janet Finch technique for dealing with sticky warps.
Here I am back in California in February. I started out at the Lacis Museum of Lace in Berkeley. I hung out there for two days, teaching. I then travelled to Aptos, where I met with the Santa Cruz Handweavers. Some of the students from last year wanted more. Some were new to finger weaving and sprang. Here are photos of some of what they produced during the workshop:  fingerwoven bag, in progress  fingerwoven strap and belt, in progress  sprang bonnet, with diamond S&Z design, bonnet in progress  sprang, exploring twining, diagonal lines  A sampler, completed by a student on her first day of sprang class. Well done! Such a pleasure to be working with individuals so eager to learn and spread the good word about these amazing techniques. In my spare time between teaching engagements here in California, I continue to work on mapping out the patterns in those pieces I saw at the Kelsey Museum, in Ann Arbor, Mi, last May. IMAGe(Twined patterns from the collection at the Kelsey Museum, in Ann Arbor, Michigan) Hoping to publish a set of twined patterns, following up in the idea of the sprang lace book of last year. Sprang is such an amazing, adaptable textile technique. The historic record is exceedingly rich in ideas.
Working on a new vest. A friend allowed me access to her stash, two boxes of yarn skeins, a pallet, varying from green to red.  A box of several small skeins, the color shifting with each skein IMG_6430 I set the yarn on my frame, false-circular warp, and the colors blend nicely, one into the other. And here it is, partially done. I worked in some twined stitching, dragging colors along into other color zones. We’ll see what it looks like when it’s finished.  The white string is because I'm working a 'False Circular' warp. The white strings hold the initial loops, which will eventually become hemline at front and back. A week later the cloth is now finished. How to form the neckline? Sometimes the V neck stretches stitches, causing a less-than-desiralble pattern. I’ve decided this time to try cutting threads near the center line. Two inches up the front side I cut threads in pairs, so I can tie them in knots. At the back of the vest, I tied the knots right there along the center chain line. On the front I unravelled a center thread to form the slit down the front, and then sewed it partway back up toward the chain line. This thread I tied with a partner thread. The other threads I tied at intervals to create the V neckline.  Cut threads unravelled and tied in knots, forming the neckline.  Pick up and knit stitches (rib pattern) around the neck to form a nicely finished edge.  the back  Close up at the back of the neck I find this method makes a much nicer finish at the back of the neck.  The front of the finished vest |
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