News from the Loom

The summer has come and gone and thoughts gather, reflect and move on to what's ahead. The CRAFTed project I worked on with 6th Class in St. Tiarnach's School ended in June. The produced a wonderful piece called 'Woolscapes'. It's their interpretation of the landscape over the last 100 years - a response to the 1916 Centenary Year. Pictures to follow. Good luck to them all as they move on to secondary school.   My piece 'Waiting Patiently', part of the 'Thread Song' exhibition has been to Dublin an Sligo. My wedding dress was selected for exhibition in the RDS...

John William Waterhouse-Penelope and the Suitors (1912)   In Homer's Odyssey, Penelope is the intelligent and faithful wife of Odysseus. While he goes off to war (taking twenty years to return), she waits and has to plan many diversions in order to delay marrying one of the 108(!) suitors who believe she is eligible to remarry. She pretends to be weaving a burial shroud for Odysseus's elderly father Laertes, claiming that she will choose a suitor when she has finished. Every night for three years, she undoes the part of the shroud that she had woven that day. The story...

It's lovely to be able to have an uncomplicated project that you can work on in the unexpected free moments that may occur in your day - the waiting room or train journey (or the car in my case, when you're waiting for the football training to finish!) I have a drop spindle that travels with me. As I create the yarn I'll be using it in a cowl (or scarf perhaps) using an old stitch called Broomstick Lace. It will be easy to add in the new yarn as I go. Broomstick lace is like a mix of 'casting on'...

Finally, the pictures have been taken and the products uploaded. I've swept under the table, polished everything and turned the sign on my virtual shop door to 'Open'. This is something I've talked about for too long and it's a great feeling to have a little 'tick' put in this particular box. I hope you enjoy browsing.....you may find something you like! I'll have little bits of information and pictures now and then to keep you up to date on how work in the studio is progressing, be it spinning, weaving, stitching or any other crafty work I may get...