Upcoming WI Fiber Events

First, fiber-related news,...

The WI Sheep and Wool Festival is coming up Sept. 10-12, 2010, at the Jefferson, WI Fairgrounds. Classes, workshops, vendors, sheep, it's a great three-day event.

I Googled "Wisconsin Spin-In" to find the dates of this years event and found that since it would have been a week or so after the WI Sheep and Wool Festival, and that it has been postponed to April 7-9, 2011, at the Schauer Arts Center in Hartford, WI, sponsored by the Friendly, Feisty, Fiber Guild.

The Midwest Felting Symposium took place several days ago, held in Madison, WI, and sponsored by Susan's Fiber Shop.

Website links for these events are in "WI Links," just scroll down the page, right hand column. Check the sites for further information.

The WI Surface Design Association blog is listed as well. I was recently asked if I would like to contribute three or four posts to it, so must work on those before long.

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Re-threading the drawloom has taken me quite awhile, and taken a toll on my back. Not wanting to remove ground shafts, lamms, and treadles, and only so much room when sitting inside the long back extension, I've had to resort to bending over the sides of the back extension when threading the outer quarter (300+ threads) on each side, not nearly as comfortable as when I could sit inside the loom. I'm happy to report the pattern heddles will be done tonight, then I can begin re-threading the long-eye ground shaft heddles, which doesn't take nearly as long, and I can do that sitting comfortably at the front of the loom.

When I needed to relieve the discomfort, I would putter around the studio for a few minutes, and recent puttering included adding a couple blog posts. I found Blogger had added a few new Design Templates. In keeping with the changes coming in my weaving, I decided to change the look of my blog, too, and am slowly adding new features including a couple more weaving blogs as well as starting a Felting Blogs list.

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There are quite a few weavers on Facebook, and an amazing number of felters from around the world. It is inspiring to see the work of these people! What is needed is finding a balance between reading and seeing what other fiber artists are doing, and ensuring plenty of time for your own work.