Convergence

 Team Handwoven (Annie, Lorraine, Marilyn, Madelyn, and I) just got back from Convergence in time to put the newly redesigned Handwoven to bed. Now we are all coming up for air and comparing notes.

My favorite part of Convergence is the people. Some of these people I e-mail daily and some I only see at Convergence.  A few stand outs include a night out in Ybor City with Cindy Howard-Gibbon of Foxglove Fiberarts and the Ashford crew from New Zealand (I was mortified to be told to hush on the trolley because it was a tour and I was speaking, too loud.) That evening we stopped in to see the Coptic Textiles exhibit—ah what you can do with plain weave.

I snatched an hour to catch up with Rita Buchanan, whom I had not seen in ages. She is author of A Dyer's Garden and long-time contributor to Spin-Off before her retirement. (The Tropical Weavers Guild must have some pull to get her to leave her lovely retired life to teach in Tampa in July!) We talked about oxen training and well digging.

I sat down with Peo Dungel. He, along with his partner Bengt Jonasson who used to work with IKEA and is a leading expert in selecting woods for manufacturing, bought Glimakra in 2006. They have a nifty little rigid heddle and a compact red! floor loom coming out in the fall.

Then there is the vending hall. I road tested Schacht's new Cricket—a cute, cute, cute mini rigid heddle loom. Leclerc has added two new colors to their high impact plastic shuttle line—yellow and green. These bright colors come in handy when weaving with multiple colored wefts. AVL's new Jacquard was a very popular attraction at the show, too.

There were a lot of yarns in silk, Tencel and other fibers in lovely space-dyed colors that we had never seen before. Earth Guild's Dragon Tales and Just Our Yarn are two vendors that come to mind.

Hot items? Joy of Yarn and Redfish Dyeworks sold out of orange and red colors first. And, here is an interesting thing, Tracy Kaestner of the Lone Start Loom Room told Madelyn that neutrals are flying off the shelves.

There was so much more than one post can handle. The treasures we found will begin to show up in pages of Handwoven before long.

We always enjoy chatting with Handwoven readers and contributors. Thanks to everyone who stopped by the booth to say hi and check out Handwoven's new look. Once you get your copy in the mail, we trust you will let us know what you think, too!

 My copy of Handwoven arrived yesterday. I must say I'm pleased with the format of the magazine. Love the larger project photographs. I will miss some of the old features such as Welcome, New Weavers.......but overall, thumbs up!

Betsy Martin

A Loom with a View

Newburyport, Massachusetts

Thanks for the vicarious tour of Convergence!  I am a new weaver and hope to attend the next one. I think attending this one would have been waaaayy too stimulating.

I just got my new issue of HANDWOVEN the other day and I can't wait to start on the Saki ori vest, the kimono (and at least 3 other projects).  The new cover is very cool and I really look forward to each issue.  Handwoven has become my favorite 'cookbook' for weaving.  I like to make garments, rather than just do weaving samples so it's great to have so much garment info included in the issues.

Special thanks for publishing the woven plastic bag shopping bags on your website.   I now know what I will be making as holiday gifts to many family members. 

 And now I look at my bin of plastic-bags-to-recycle as 'stash' not trash!

I love that "stash not trash".  We should have a weaving challenge under that title!

 That's a great idea! My stash isn't trash - its just out grown the studio! Time to get a larger studio?

I've been to two Convergences & was wowed by them both. I hope to make the next one out west. Next year, in my area, we have MAFA and EGLFC. Both are smaller & I get to meet so many friends I wouldn't see normally when I attend.

I also liked the new Handwoven format. I especially like that there is additional content on-line. That could be an issue for those who aren't connected - have the editors found that to be true?

PS I have every issue of Handwoven, as well as the initial Interweave Magazine. Does that make me an old weaver at 56?

Glad to hear you like the new look of Handwoven. We have had a few readers who would prefer to have all the content in the magazine, however they are very few. It is rare these days that a person has no access to the internet. Libraries, and internet cafe's offer easy and mostly free access not to mention the help we can get from family and friends.

We are very intentional about what we put on the web. Although we fully embrace the potential of the web here at Handwoven, we are doing our best not to leave anyone behind. It is so exciting to have this medium to connect with weavers in a way that hasn't been possible before.

(Having every issue makes you a seasoned weave. We would never use the word "old". So, unless you acquired a collection of magazine that means you started weaving when you were 23!)

 Actually, I was younger. But I have to admit there were times when I took my loom down, so the boys didn't use as a monkey bars.

There are elder weavers & some not so old in my guild who have troubles accessing the internet. We have offered help for them, but have gotten few takers as yet. Many guilds are distributing newsletters now via emails or web sites, so the problem multiplies.