Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Barber’s ~

Getting excited for the next guild meeting!  Al Currier will have a great presentation on the Barber Handweaving business that was on the Lummi Reservation. 

Over the weekend I stumbled upon this Barber outfit at a local antique shop (see below).  Do you have any Barber items?  If you do, be sure to bring them as a show-and-tell item for our meeting on Jan. 13th.  I know that members will be anxious to see what was produced in Whatcom County 40-50 years ago.

Caught a glimpse of this “get up” and knew instantly that it was a Barber. 

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2Shot a picture of the Barber’s tag and the shop’s sales tag ($80!).

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6A close up of the pattern.

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Sunday, December 13, 2009

delightfully bombed ~

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One of the many moods of Mandy ~ Yarn bombing wear.

What a blast ~ the bomb! December is always a questionable month for Whatcom Weavers Guild programs. Many things seem to get in the way ~ holidays, shopping, parties, or snow! But this year’s December program went off with out a hitch.

Yarn Bombing authors Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain visited us in Bellingham last Wednesday and shared a thoroughly entertaining program.

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Leanne (below) worked the PowerPoint presentation while Mandy (above) hammed it up while showing off the items that were featured in their book.

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Leanne Prain sharing a sweater designed for and included in Yarn Bombing.

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One of the ways I’ve learned to judge a good program is by laughter. Mandy and Leanne scored! The room chuckled, chortled, and snorted ~ yep, good meeting!

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The girls also sold plenty of books and happily complied to the many requests to have them signed.

Thank you so much for coming down to Bellingham to share Yarn Bombing!

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Linda Sue, wearing her mitts, quietly prays for the life of the small beast that was killed for her fashion needs.

updates & corrections ~

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Chloe French with her loom and woven work.

Thank you Chloe for your comment, corrections, and additional information.  If you haven’t read Chloe’s comment on my last post, I have copied below so that folks can have easy access to what she shared.

Gunalcheesch tlein (thank you very much - Tlingit)


These are wonderful pictures of the Art Market and Courtney's and my work.


The girls singing are from the George family. The woman behind the spruceroot basket is Kitty Young from Petersburg, Alaska. The man in the hat is Floyd Warbus.


Our style of weaving is not warp-weighted but I can see why you thought that. The coverings at the bottom of Courtney's warp are only there to keep it clean. There are no weights in them. We weave using the basketry technique twining. The warp is free hanging, that is there is no tension on it.

Thank you again for this.
Chloe

If the opportunity arises to view, learn, and appreciate the remarkable woven work created by our indigenous neighbors, be sure to take it. I am certainly glad I did this year and will plan to attend future Native Art Markets at Northwest Indian College.

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And  for those of you who might be curious about my last post calling out the visitor hits from Stavanger, well yes, we did make contact.  And yes!  We are related.  All very cool!  I knew there had to be family in Norway that I resembled ~ had no idea we looked THAT similar.  Genetics are amazing ~ and so is the internet!!!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Native Art Market ~

On Saturday I visited the Lummi Reservation.  They were having their annual Native Art Market at Northwest Indian College.  It is fascinating to see the wonderful weaving ~ baskets, blankets. 

I had a nice visit with Courtney Lipson who is a non-native studying under weaving Chloe French. Both women have work at the Stonington Gallery in Seattle.

Courtney was weaving on her warp-weighted loom ~ she was working on her first blanket. 

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The blanket is a Wedding Robe ~ she’s marrying in August.  She leg-spun the warp from February through September and is now weaving.

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She showed me her weaving draft ~ there’s a lot of work to be done before August!

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Her frame loom was made by her partner who added special carvings.

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The idea that these robes are all created by hand manipulating the warp and weft boggles my mind.  The time and skill it would take to finish a piece is unreal.

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While I was visiting with the weavers, these young women came into the room to sing.

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When they were finished, I walked around and took some shots of the incredible baskets.

  

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As I headed to the door, I took one last shot of this gentleman in his woven cedar bark hat ~ notice all the cedar baskets on his table.

I’m lucky to live only 15 minutes away from the Lummi Reservation. The land is beautiful ~ eagles, hawks, falcons, owls ~ they are all there and it is a perfect bird watching area.

It is wonderful that the Lummi group invites the whole community out to enjoy this event.  Thank you!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Searching for Peder Fosse? ~

YooHoo!  Someone over in Stavanger, Norway has been looking around this blog for information on my great grandfather Peder Mandius Fosse. 

Leave me a comment with your contact information or e-mail me at mabelswish (at) msn (dot) com.  I’d be happy to share genealogy info on the Fosse family.

Ragnhild & Peder Fosse

Ragnhild & Pederfosse11fosse10 fosse6Peder & Ragnhild Fosse_50th Wedding Anniversaryfosse4

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On hooks and needles ~

Can’t wait!  Can you?

On Wednesday, December 9, 2009, Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain will be coming to Bellingham to talk bombing ~ Yarn Bombing that is!

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What marvelous timing (serendipitous even) to have the Yarn Bombing gals for a visit and program just days after Handmade Nation (the indy film) played at the Pickford Theatre. 

For those not in the know, Yarn Bombing (it isn’t just the title of their book and website yarnbombing.com, it’s an activity – a verb!), seems to be finding its place in the fiber world.  Take a look below ~

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From the spooky to the functional (ever been cold in a phone booth?), yarn bombing is for all ages and abilities!

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Most important of all, keep a sense of humor and have fun.

Knitta Bus Nov 2008

To learn, hear, and absorb more about Yarn Bombing, be sure to come to the Whatcom Weavers Guild meeting this Wednesday, December 9th beginning at 6:30p for a social time before the official meeting start time at 7p.  We meet in the same place each month, St. James Presbyterian Church’s lower-level meeting room located at 910 14th Street in Bellingham, WA.  Visitors are always welcome ~ plus it is free!

For more information, contact me directly ~ Julie Barnes at mabelswish@msn.com.

NOTE:  This is a cross post with www.whatcomweavers.blogspot.com.