March 7, 8, 9, 2025 -- Kate Larson spinning workshop
Kate Larson, editor of Spin Off and Farm & Fiber Knits led a 3-day spinning work- shop in March. Day 1, Friday, March 7—Working with Gradient Yarns. Day 2, Saturday, March 8—Color & Creativity for Spinners. Day 3, Sunday, March 9—Counting Sheep: Spinning for Breed Specific Yarn and Cloth—is at Fiber Arts On 4th.
February 27, 2025 -- Corey Alston: Gullah sweetgrass basketes
Corey Alston gave a 45 minute presentation on the culture of basket making in the slave culture in the Gullah Geechee Culture Heritage Corridor, the Atlantic coastal area from Jacksonville, FL to Jacksonville, NC. He would not have been allowed to be a basket maker without the cultural connection through his wife Karen and her grandmother. The Gullah Geechee is a blended lifestyle based on slave ancestry back to the 1500s, and is generally from the Ogeechee River area. The grass used for the basket gets its name Sweetgrass from the sweet fragrance. All the materials in the baskets are harvested in and around the marshes: sweetgrass, palmetto, bull rush. Plants are not “grown” in gardens or yards. The sweetgrass is harvested between March and October while it is green. It is dried in the sun before weaving. The baskets can have multiple colors depending on the materials used. The bull rush is used to strengthen the baskets. The threading is palmetto which is used “green” while it is flexible. A small tool is used to make openings in the weaving for the threading to go through.Corey Alston spoke about Gullah Sweetgrass Baskets in a prerecorded Zoom presentation.
January 20, 2025 -- denise kovnat: YOu can't judge a warp by its color
Denise Kovnat presented a program on You Can’t Judge a Warp by its Color. She discussed concepts like color blending (simultaneous contrast) and color chords, the importance of value, and even the importance of pattern when it comes to color blending.
Denise Kovnat is a handweaver and teacher of handweaving living in Rochester, NY. Her weaving interests are in extended parallel threadings, fine yarns, hand-painted warps, deflected double weave, and collapse techniques. Denise teaches, exhibits, and sells her craft throughout the United States and Canada. She is the author of Weaving Outside the Box: 12 Projects for Creating Dimensional Cloth, and has won awards for her work at regional, nationwide, and international shows. Her website and blog are Random Acts of Color, www.denisekovnat.com.
Denise Kovnat is a handweaver and teacher of handweaving living in Rochester, NY. Her weaving interests are in extended parallel threadings, fine yarns, hand-painted warps, deflected double weave, and collapse techniques. Denise teaches, exhibits, and sells her craft throughout the United States and Canada. She is the author of Weaving Outside the Box: 12 Projects for Creating Dimensional Cloth, and has won awards for her work at regional, nationwide, and international shows. Her website and blog are Random Acts of Color, www.denisekovnat.com.