{"id":9,"date":"2011-08-23T17:24:46","date_gmt":"2011-08-23T17:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spindizzy.net\/weaving-blog\/?p=9"},"modified":"2011-09-19T13:44:23","modified_gmt":"2011-09-19T13:44:23","slug":"after-the-summer-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spindizzy.net\/weaving-blog\/archives\/9","title":{"rendered":"After the Summer School"},"content":{"rendered":"

The best laid plans …..<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Summer School was so intense, then family problems came along (my Mum is ill) and the blog never happened. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

So, belatedly, here’s a summer school summary:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The first challenge was warping the table loom ready before I left, I’ve done a <\/em><\/strong>weekend course with Janet before and what she likes to do is give you a warp <\/em><\/strong>pattern with several sections, each different, so this was typical, around 3 <\/em><\/strong>yards of cotton, 250 ends, 3 different threadings across about 15 inches. I took <\/em><\/strong>real care with this, no shortcuts or “that’ll do” –\u00a0 it had to be beyond <\/em><\/strong>criticism, and finally I had an absolutely immaculate warp<\/a>, beautifully even <\/em><\/strong>tension, lots of packing sticks, perfect threading etc……. I then had a quick <\/em><\/strong>panic – would my rather large home made and definitely not folding loom, fit in <\/em><\/strong>my new micro sized car. Phew, it would. So on Sunday I was off heading North, <\/em><\/strong>not too long a journey, (around 220 miles) mostly motorway and main roads – <\/em><\/strong>around 4 hours of driving plus a short break.<\/em> It rained.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

At QMU, the organisers Doreen Marsh from Scottish Fibres<\/a> and members of the local guild, got everyone settled in in time for supper then there was a short “meet <\/strong><\/em>your tutor” session and an early night. The University is only around 4 years <\/strong><\/em>old, and the residential blocks just a short walk from the main study building. <\/strong><\/em>The student rooms were very small\u00a0 – about the size of our bathroom \ud83d\ude42 <\/strong><\/em>including a minute en-suite.\u00a0 Not brilliant, but just about OK. We had all our <\/strong><\/em>meals provided (plus coffee and biscuit breaks) , and the cooking was mostly <\/strong><\/em>excellent especially the veggie options).<\/strong><\/em>
\n <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"QMU<\/a>

QMU in the rain<\/p><\/div>\n

On Monday we got started, did I say it was still raining.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Janet is a very rigorous teacher and her aim was not to tell how to weave patterns from books, but to teach us how to design them from scratch (for 8 shafts). She went straight into a seriously technical lecture, which suited the way I think, but threw some of the class a bit!<\/em><\/strong> <\/strong><\/em> <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Finally she let us get weaving. our first thread<\/strong><\/em>ing was<\/strong><\/em> for block weaves.<\/strong><\/em> With 4 shafts <\/strong><\/em>doing one weave and the other 4 doing something else. A bit like <\/strong><\/em>rubbing your stomach and patting your head at the same time. We did twill <\/strong><\/em>blocks, double weave blocks, satins and more. and kept on doing different block <\/strong><\/em>combinations for the next couple of days.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Twills<\/a>

Twills and Blocks<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/strong><\/em> <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One interesting thing from Janet’s teaching, is that while you’re weaving <\/strong><\/em>particualar patterns designed for the threading on the left hand side of your <\/strong><\/em>loom, all sorts of serendipity happens in the the middle and right <\/strong><\/em>hand sides. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Typically our weaving days started at 9am after breakfast, and finished around <\/strong><\/em>5pm. Supper was at 6pm, then you could continue with weaving if you wished, <\/strong><\/em>until they threw you out and locked up around 9pm. There was network access <\/strong><\/em>available This was a bit hit and miss, in theory all universities now have a <\/strong><\/em>scheme called eduroam to let people from other uni’s log on as a visitor to the local WiFi. In <\/strong><\/em>practice, this only seemed to work after 7pm it was also firewalled on ports that I needed to use to check in to work. I did wonder if they locked the <\/strong><\/em>whole WiFi\u00a0 while students were supposed to be working to stop them using it <\/strong><\/em>during class time. The wired access was OK – but that was a different login and <\/strong><\/em>I was too mean to pay the extra tariff for it.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I’d previously looked up the <\/strong><\/em>different folk music sessions in Edinburgh, and on monday I dashed for a bus and <\/strong><\/em>got to Sandy Bell’s<\/a> at a bit after 9pm. (The rain had paused for while which was lucky as I spent quite a while wandering the streets of the Old Town clutching a page of directions. )
\nThis is a very famous pub in the old <\/strong><\/em>part of Edinburgh, it’s quite a tourist attraction and has musicians every <\/strong><\/em>night. I was aiming to just look in and have a listen, but there was small <\/strong><\/em>group playing and room for one more, and they kindly let me join in – so <\/strong><\/em>I had a couple of hours of music there. The etiquette of sessions is <\/strong><\/em>complicated. Not all sessions are open (some are gatherings of people who will <\/strong><\/em>welcome visitors, some are more a performance sponsored by the pub to entertain <\/strong><\/em>tourists and even though they appear the same – you can’t join in unless <\/strong><\/em>invited. The session in Sandy Bell’s was said to be open to visitors with <\/strong><\/em>caution, so it was good to be asked to sit and join them. They even ousted a <\/strong><\/em>tourist from his seat so that I could sit \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 There were even enough tunes <\/strong><\/em>played that I knew well enough to join in, though they also played some scottish <\/strong><\/em>stuff that I didn’t know at all. I rushed for a late bus back to the college <\/strong><\/em>and fell into bed around midnight with twills and tunes rushing through my head. (This was the time that I started to notice the rather unpleasant smell of my new room – traced to the en-suite but never got rid of in spite of pleas for it to be purged with strong chemicals)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Rethreading\"<\/a>

Rethreading<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Threading<\/a><\/em>

Threading draft<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/strong><\/em>By <\/strong><\/em>wednesday, Janet decided that at least some of us had exhausted block <\/strong><\/em> <\/strong><\/em>weaves, <\/strong><\/em>so we cut\u00a0 off the weaving we’d done and started rethreading in another set of <\/strong><\/em>patterns. \ud83d\ude41<\/strong><\/em> <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Now we got <\/strong><\/em>started on the next set of lessons, network twills, echo twills, 8 shaft twills, <\/strong><\/em>“trompe as writ”\u00a0 (echo twills look interesting – a bit like shadow weave in <\/strong><\/em>twill.)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"8<\/a>

8 shaft Twills<\/p><\/div>\n

Thursday night was again free later on (they scheduled something every evening, <\/strong><\/em>but these mostly finished by 9pm) and I went in search of a pub called the<\/strong><\/em> Antiquary just off the centre of the City. I took the car this time and managed <\/strong><\/em>after some navigating around diversions and road works to find it – yes it was still raining). This was a <\/strong><\/em>bigger session with excellent players, 6 fiddles, a guitar, bouzouki, fretless bass, whistle, <\/strong><\/em>bodhran, and <\/strong><\/em>me on concertina! <\/strong><\/em>I had a lovely evening and because Edinburgh in August is <\/strong><\/em>full of tourists for the festival, all these sessions have an audience <\/strong><\/em>(something that our local session doesn’t get) so we got a free drink and the <\/strong><\/em>occasional round of applause or request for a tune.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

On friday we carried on with our 8 shaft twills, and also tried some other <\/strong><\/em>
\nweaves some looms that the tutor had brought along already threaded for trying <\/strong><\/em>some other weaves.<\/strong><\/em>
\n <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Looms<\/a>

Looms are Leaving<\/p><\/div>\n

We had to get packed by saturday afternoon but I was pretty burnt out by then <\/strong><\/em>and didn’t do much.\u00a0 On Saturday they also held a suppliers fair, so we could <\/strong><\/em>get a good dose of retail therapy. I would have spent more but the weaving <\/strong><\/em>supplier I was buying some bits from only took cash and cheques … and cash <\/strong><\/em>always feels worse than using a credit card! <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Sunday was time to set off for home, uneventful journey but wet (in fact it <\/strong><\/em>rained pretty well the whole week, which may be why scotland didn’t see the <\/strong><\/em>riots that happened in other UK cities, a downpour seems to put off looters <\/strong><\/em>quite effectively.)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Both DH and cats seemed happy to see me back. DH said that the cats had been yelling <\/strong><\/em>at him all week, and how much did I usually feed them (more than he <\/strong><\/em>does, it seems!)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

2 hungry cats with their catnip mouse - a present from Edinburgh<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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

The best laid plans ….. Summer School was so intense, then family problems came along (my Mum is ill) and the blog never happened. So, belatedly, here’s a summer school summary: The first challenge was warping the table loom ready … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10,15,14,11,16],"class_list":["post-9","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wsd2011","tag-association-of-weavers-spinners-and-dyers","tag-handweaving","tag-loom","tag-summer-school-2011","tag-twill"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spindizzy.net\/weaving-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spindizzy.net\/weaving-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spindizzy.net\/weaving-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spindizzy.net\/weaving-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spindizzy.net\/weaving-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/spindizzy.net\/weaving-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60,"href":"https:\/\/spindizzy.net\/weaving-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions\/60"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spindizzy.net\/weaving-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spindizzy.net\/weaving-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spindizzy.net\/weaving-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}