The glories of April fill every sense!  The feel of the wind in my hair thrills me; and I’m not even outside – I’m in the house in a windows-open day! After the immediate barrenness of winter, spring seems like a dream. Everything wild and cultivated takes on a new life of color, texture, sound, and smell…truly more than the senses can contain in any one moment or hour! Anywhere you go, the new green color is heading up the slopes. By the River Cane Trails and the fields that edge the Folk School campus, the new grass is thickly growing.

Delicate pink blossoms

My first destination at the Folk School today is the Louise Pitman Fiber Arts Studio, where Nancy Hinds is teaching a “Playful Piecing” quilting class. The machines are humming as I enter and partial quits line the walls and tables. Seeing all the variety of styles, colors, and quilt block patterns reminds me of why I love this all over again! Today I get to present some art quilts to the class: my own special blend of images made with paper, pigment, and fabric dying techniques. I’m very non-traditional, of course, which is why Nancy likes her students to see this kind of work. The creative process thrives on different points of view. Besides, inspiration flows both ways – one day I may decide to learn some traditional sewing and cutting skills.

Walking by the goldfish pond, I reach the Dining Hall as the bell rings. Today I am being honored at lunch for my 25 years as a faculty member. I announce that additionally I am celebrating my birthday this week! Well, I get some hand claps and hurrahs for that! Turns out too, that some of you, and people just like you, keep coming back to the Folk School. Over the years we return, like a migration flight to a source that feeds our creativity. I conclude my announcement by saying that while I am not giving out autographs today, I am giving out hugs!

Dee Dee Triplett, Julie Sibley, and Nancy Hinds have all been teaching at the Folk School for over 20 years.

Next, Nancy and I visit Dee Dee Triplett to see what she is making in the Nuno Felt Making class taught by Lynn Ocone. This is a place where my hand dyed skirt gets admiring glances and feels. (Fiber artists love to touch.) What I like the most is the many types of soft and fuzzy textures, plus the inclusion of wool wisps into pictorial design. I am getting new ideas about where I am going with wool scraps, hand dyed colors and weaving samples. Once again I am inspired here!

Last week has been a wonderful exploration into weaving history for me!  My dear friend and “weaving Mom,” Barbara Miller and I traveled to Berea College in Kentucky. We spent several long days looking through archives on early weaving programs at settlement schools in the Appalachian region.

Barbara Miller taking notes

Fireside Industries in Berea was one of the first settlement schools to start a thriving weaving program. In a 40-year period many strong-willed women associated with the settlement schools started weaving programs in the Appalachian Mountains. These “Fireside” programs helped the local women earn money during hard times.

Inlay from Berea Fireside Industries

Below are examples that came from the settlement school weavers at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown. Although Brasstown was mostly known for wood carvings, lovely cotton, linen, and wool runners and wall hangings were also produced and sold.

Folk School Settlement School

Barbara and I have been researching the nine settlements schools that were first accepted into the Southern Highlands Craft Guild. We are teaming up to teach a class July 11-17 at the Folk School about the schools that played a huge role in the economic development of the Appalachian region.   We will examine the history as we weave finger towels, wall hangings, table runners, and other items that were woven and sold by the schools.  It is going to be an exciting time in the studio!

Last week turned into Fiber Fanatic week on the Folk School Blog.  I followed Charley Orlando’s knitting class around and they didn’t seem to mind one bit.

Let’s pop on over to the Fiber Arts building to the tapestry class taught by Tommye Scanlin.  What did they get into?

Karen Vander Weyden, a work study student at JCCFS, does her second tapestry--one based on the surrounding landscape.

Also in the fiber arts family, tapestry weaving is a means of creating images with yarn.  Remember when you were a kid and your teacher, or parent, or cool adopted adult taught you the concept of “over under over under?”  Well – take that to the next level and you’ll find yourself able to weave wonderful images into the fabric.

Work made by the Tapestry Class at Show-and-Tell

When I asked Tommye about her class, she was very optimistic.  “What a wonderful group of eleven who came together for the tapestry
weaving class, March 28-April 2!  My assistant, Lena Grace Adams and I
were so glad that everyone met and exceeded their expectations for the
experience.  Several had never woven tapestry before and for at least
a couple of those, this was their very first weaving experience of any
kind.  I am scheduled to teach an intermediate tapestry class in
January 2011, and I’m hoping some of these folks will join me then!”

Sounds like they had a great time!

Here's the happy group on the last day... fingers idle for a few minutes while we grabbed Lisa's husband to take the photo!

Take a look at Tommye Scanlin’s blog to get more details about the class: http://tapestry13.blogspot.com

2010 Aran-Gansey Knitting Class

Well it is the last day and time to review the week’s learning activities, using the notes I distribute at the end of each week. A class picture is required for the blog and my website, so we all went out and squinted in the deliciously bright spring morning.  Check the website for more information.

Certificates are given to those who requested them and my class notes are handed out for later review.  What does this mean?  What do I do when….?  Where do I find …..? The notes triggered many review questions, which were answered or explained. We are all just knitting as fast as we can while the breeze blows through the open studio doors, not wanting the end of the week to come. Right now, the class is chattering about how good the clam chowder was at lunch, and how our projects will continue tonight at the concert. One of the best things about taking a knitting class at the Folk School is that even when the studio closes, you are free to continue working– in the library, or the community room, or even out in the grass!

Here's Rosy Devane and her "dog" Bobo, modeling the cape she knit for him during class this week.

4:23pm: It is done. Our class is over. We have almost all departed, and the last of us are sweeping up. Time to go wow the crowd at the Student Exhibit.

We had a great time last night, sitting in the library of the Keith House and having our knit-in. Students who are not in the Aran class were welcome to join us, so we had a refreshing mix of familiar and not-so-familiar faces. Today is a day of knitting to establish and work on patterns within projects.  We need mistakes in the work so we can identify what the students have not mastered as yet.  Let’s hope for a lot to keep us hopping.  I have a feeling that this class is going to plunge right in. Let’s see…

A mixed media student takes a break

Yep, I was right.  Here they go.  I am going to get out of the way before they run me down.  A few problems come up and are quickly solved.

By Jessica: 11:26am: It’s almost lunch time already? Wow, it is so pleasant to knit with a group of people when the mistakes are only coming once every ten minutes or so! People are really grooving along. The word on the street is that the local yarn store in Blairsville is having a 25% off sale on everything in the store to celebrate their anniversary, so a few of us are commandeering a Folk School vehicle and will drive over after we finish our lunches. Not that any of us need more yarn, mind you… but it’s always nice to just take a look, eh? I want to check and see if they carry my “desert island yarn,” SilkyWool by Elsbeth Lavold. It’s a 3-ply wool/silk blend in great tweedy colors, a sport weight, that you can do just about anything with.

The term “desert island yarn” means a yarn that you cannot live without, and that if you had to be stranded on an island with no yarn store in sight, you’d know just what you’d want to bring. I go through phases, like any other knitter, but SilkyWool is a constant love (and no, they are not paying me to say so). Back after shopping…

What is your “desert island yarn?”

Charley and a workstudy student

Mary-Louise is moving right along with her project

Great weather today.  Just in time to end the class and head home.  Tomorrow will be winding down projects, cleaning up and heading for the student exhibit to show off.

Here are some thoughts on the week from Pam, a student from Rocky Mount, NC: “It’s been a wonderful class. It turned out to be just as much about the people as the learning.” Christine from Madison, WI says, “I see knitting, and the language of knitting, in a different way as before I started this class. To actually look at the stitch, and to understand the work, is new for me. I feel so much more comfortable with my knitting, and I’m less fearful of it (not that I was afraid of my knitting before!).”

Time for reviewing and updating our goals to start off the day.  We found that most of the goals had been accomplished or were being worked on.

Learning review update:  What new ideas have we gleaned since yesterday’s review?

What makes a sweater an Aran sweater?  Let’s see.  The designs come from the Aran Islands off Ireland.  Their fishermen wore them at sea and at home to keep them warm and to indicate in some cases where they came from.  They include many cables, twists, blackberry stitches, and purl bump stitches like seed and moss.

10:42am:

This is how those purl-bump designs go.

Wow, we are just cruising peacefully along here. Everyone is either working on their own design or the challenge from yesterday, with the twists. We are at the point, as a class, where everyone can chatter away as they work– much better for the morale than when we were all hunched over our samples, feeling stressed! And it’s a sunny day out, to boot.

I sat down with every student and went over different cable patterns and discussed their upcoming projects with them.  They are raring to go with scarves, small sweaters, and samplers.  After I review the traditional Gansey design, the finish projects will begin. What are Ganseys anyway?

Well – Ganseys are fishing sweaters or knit-frocks from the ports of England and Scotland made of sturdy yarn on size one needles.  Distinctive individual patterns are common.

2:50pm: “We are feeling great!” “Confident!” “Yes, we can!” Those are the things the students shouted out when I asked the class how they were doing just a second ago. (Okay, they also shouted out something about Cool Whip and sang some jingles, so we may be going, well, a little loopy. Sorry…knitting pun.)

This afternoon we’re continuing to puzzle out our own patterns, inventing as we go.  ”I can make a smiley face from purl bumps.   Does anyone else feel the sense of accomplishment?”

Jennifer decided to work outside because it was finally a nice sunny day. As she left she said, ” I am going outside and I am not taking my notes because I no longer need them.”

Outside on a beautiful day without notes

A day of steady progress.  Tonight we have a “knit in” in the living room from 8 to 10PM to share our accomplishments with other students.  We will let you know how it works out.

“Hey mister smarty-pants instructor, you threw so much stuff at us yesterday that our minds are scrambled.  How about helping us sort out that information?”

“Okay, I have lots more information and skills for you to learn, but we can stop and review to fill in some holes.”

We started with a review this morning of everything we learned yesterday. Thankfully, all the new information soaked into our heads overnight, and this morning, everyone could speak with relative confidence about cables, and various stitch patterns that are common in Aran and Gansey knitting.

10:34am: Wooohoo! Jennifer, a student in class, just jumped up to hit our “easy button” (the kind you can buy at Staples). After a concentrated hour spent setting up and working the blackberry stitch (aka Trinity stitch), we have achieved blackberries! The sweet little stitch clusters are popping up on everyone’s swatches. We’re still needing to take deep breaths, but the sun is out.

Here is a completed blackberry (trinity) stitch

2:00 The sample designs are in full swing and many learning opportunities have presented themselves. Ahh, a whole hour of just working on our own designs! Think we’ll take a break from cables and learn how to knit button bands on sweaters.

4:30pm: You can tell it’s just about the end of class time. We just spent an hour and a half learning how to twist three stitches of stockinette out and across a background of purl stitches, also known as “twisting” (as opposed to cabling, which is strictly knit-over-knit or purl-over-purl). I am hitting the easy button every ten minutes or so, which the students find encouraging. Hooray for everyone for coming this far!

Jessica wrapping up the blog for the day

The students seem to have enjoyed all the learning they can stand for today.  Tomorrow we’ll discuss the differences between Arans and Gansey designs, and each student will begin a bigger project that will last them through the end of the week (and beyond…?).

What is Aran knitting anyway?  Aran knitting, sometimes called fisherman style, comes from the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland.  Knitters use one color of yarn to create textured patterns like cables, diamonds, and bobbles.

Today we started out with basic stitch patterns like ribbing, seed stitch, fisherman’s rib stitch, moss stitch, and two-stitch cables. Wow sounds like a lot but not really if you move through them deliberately.

"I can't believe I made all those stitches!"

From host Jessica Kaufman:
11:00am: This is a live report from cable knitting class. Here are some things you’d be hearing if you were a fly on our walls: “pshhhhhhhh!” (that was a slightly frustrated student letting out a therapeutic exhalation); “Is it time for a joke yet?” (that was our teacher, lightening the mood); and “If it’s ribbing, knit ‘em as you see ‘em!” (that was our assistant, teaching us a mantra for making things easier to remember). So far this morning we’ve plowed through 1×1 ribbing, 2×2 ribbing, seed stitch, moss stitch, stockinette, left cables, and right cables (both with and without a cable needle!). And it’s not even lunch time yet. Diane, the only Folk School First Timer in our class, says she feels encouraged, but that the cable on the far left side of her knitting has been mysteriously obscured somehow. We’ll work on that after lunch! Today is “square salad” day, featuring locally raised Brasstown Beef. More reporting later!

2:45pm: “Oh, shoot!” is the plaintive cry heard across the room, now that we’re in the thick of our cable lessons. The new skills are piling up and students are struggling to remember when to purl, when to knit, and what all the different terminology means. How many do we cable, and how often? Once the students had finished their first cabling exercise we made them do it all again but with cables going the opposite direction! If mutiny doesn’t happen, I’ll report back later this afternoon.

4:00 Time to visit the Yarn Circle, but only one student wishes to go. Most are ready to call it a day. They are not used to knitting so many new stitches and patterns in one session. Tomorrow is another day. A few more corny jokes and a wonderful rendition of Mrs. Fogarty’s Christmas cake by Rosy rounded out the day.

Students hard at work discussing the assignment.

When you bump into Charley Orlando at the Folk School, one can’t assume he is teaching Blacksmithing, though he’s been teaching it here since 1989.  This is because Charley also teaches Tin Can Art and Knitting.  Charley’s classes are usually full with students waiting patiently on the sidelines hoping to get in.  Maybe we should make two of him.  That’s why this week we’re just going to follow Charley around as he takes his class into the world of Gansey and Aran knitting.   Let’s see what we’ll be discovering as the week progresses.

Charley Orlando

Class description
This class is designed to help students learn how to identify the varied Aran and Gansey patterns, learn strategies for understanding individual patterns, reproducing them, and designing new and interesting patterns of their own; all without written directions.  You say it can’t be done!  We shall see.

Prerequisites:  All students have the pre-requisite skills of performing knit and purl stitches comfortably.

Rules for the class are the same as the overall focus of the Folk School:
- Enjoy the learning process.  Relax
-Learn by doing
-Learn from mistakes and find out why they occurred
-Compete only with yourself.  Learn what you are able to learn without being concerned with the progress of fellow students.
-Realize that if you find that a task is hard for you, it is only because you have never done it before.

Individual goals are:
-Learning the cable and bobble patterns so the student doesn’t have to read the book to do them
-Learn the history of traditional Aran and Gansey sweaters and the differences between these two sweater patterns
-Learn to read patterns and to correct errors in knitting
-Knitting tips
-Understanding knitting better and be more comfortable while knitting
-Learn new patterns and how to use them in sweater design

Let’s get started!

When twelve spinners begin spinning, the Wet Room Studio resembles a maze of tools with fiber and wheels in every available space.

At one end of the room, the drum carders were set up, piles of wool lay in the middle of the floor, and on the stove tops the dye pots were simmering.

Jeanne carding

Before spinning can begin the raw fleece must be picked and carded into rolags.  When the fleece was prepared, Martha made her way around to each spinner to help them turn the rolags into yarn.  “Let the twist in, keep treadling, pull the right hand pack, let the yarn go into the wheel.  Pat your head, rub your tummy, dance a jig.  Vwalaah! You have yarn!”

Instructor Martha Owen preparing an Indigo dye pot

Order was kept… until – color was introduced!

Here we have colors made from black walnut, onion skins, Osage orange, matter root, copper and ammonia, and cochineal.

Tufts of dyed wool were carded with natural tones.  Everyone continued practicing putting the right amount of twist into their yarn and skeins began to appear.

A skein made from naturally dyed wool

And the sun came out.

View from the Wet Room Studio