A demonstration of blogging

This is a demonstration of how to blog for Susan and Marcia.

Galleries CNCH2010

Want to enter something in one of the galleries at CNCH2010? See the information on the CNCH website and view an explanation of the galleries presented by our Gallery chairs for the Conference.

Registering for CNCH2010

November 1 is the big day to registration for CNCH2010 opens! This year everyone is encouraged to register online. The BIG advantage for you is that you will know instantly what is available and what is full. Registering online also helps CNCH save valuable volunteer time and money. There will be full instructions at the Guild meeting but I am also posting links to a YouTube video that was taken at the coordinators meeting where the process was explained clearly. This will provide information for anyone who needs it. If you have additional questions, post them here.

Woodstock Placemats

Finished last Friday just in time to use them on Saturday night when we had friends come for dinner! I squeezed out seven full-sized mats from a 5-yard warp with precious little loom waste.

I followed the directions and washed them before cutting them apart. There was a little problem with the warp ends at the beginning and end of the piece. I left too much warp and it tangled in the wash. But by not cutting them apart before washing, the fringe on the rest of the mats came out beautifully once they were cut. I normally prefer hems to fringe on mats because the fringe tends to disintegrate with repeated washings. I am sure that will happen, but each was hemstitched at each end on the loom so they should hold up for quite a while.

As you can see, they are a nice size. I think we will use them a lot. This would be a great and rewarding project for new weavers. By hemstitching while the mats are on the loom, they are essentially ready-to-use when you finish weaving.

Reluctant Weavers, Time to Start Blogging!

With many new guild members who are just learning to weave, I hope I can entice at least a few of you to start sharing what you are doing, answering questions, and providing a forum for information, ideas, tips, pitfalls, and discussion. You will notice that we have already attracted a follower who might join in our discussions. So to practice what I preach, here is a start.

I know some of you noticed the theme of the September/October issue of Handwoven. It features projects designed to use materials that are inexpensive or, even better yet, things many of us have in our ever-present stash. What a good idea! I happen to have some Rainbow Ends that I got from Cotton Clouds more years ago than I can remember. I have used some occasionally but there's plenty left. So I was attracted to the Stash Reduction Placemeats on p. 28.

I even happened to have similar colors, so I decided to follow Laura Fry's directions almost exactly. I put on a five yard warp and plan to make six placemats. So far I have finished four. This is great fun. It goes fast, uses up what I have had languishing in the drawer for many years, and reminds me of projects I did when I first started weaving. That was around the time of Woodstock so I have christened them the Woodstock placemats.

So now its your turn. Post something or comment. Let's get this going.

Harriet C. Douglas rug

The Glenna Harris librarian has received an email from a gentleman who has a rug that he believes may have been made by Harriet C. Douglas. He lives in Chico and would like any information he can get about the rug.

I have seen a reference that indicates that Harriet C. Douglas may be better known to the weaving community as Harriet Tidball, the author of the well-known Shuttle Craft Monographs. In 1949 and 1950 there are books listed on various weaving topics that were written by Harriet C. Douglas. There is also a notice of the death of Harriet Tidball in 1969 that was published by William H. Colburn who lists himself as her brother (hence the middle initial for Harriet C. Douglas?) and a picture captioned Harriet D. Tidball (the middle intital taken from the earlier name Harriet C. Douglas?)

If you have more information to help shed light on this inquiry, please post your comments here. The rug in question can be seen in the photo. I do not know any of the details about how he came to acquire the rug or what has led him to believe it was made by Harriet C. Douglas.

Getting Started

Here is a little info that I hope makes it easier for our members to start posting their comments and showing off what they are doing. Please try using this post to practice responding with your comments. You can comment by telling me if you are having trouble figuring out how to contribute to this blog. Use this post as a practice.

Here is what you should do. When you click on the blog, you will see a link on the bar at the top that says “Sign In”. Your user name is your email address and your password is, well, your password. Once you have logged in, you will see a screen that says “Dashboard”. From here you can post a new post including a picture if you want. If you want to comment on another person’s post, click on the link on the Dashboard that says “View Blog”. This will take you to the blog page. If you click on the link at the bottom of the post that says “0 (or 1 or more) COMMENTS”, you will get a screen that says “Leave your comment”. This is where you post your reply. You have to sign in first in order to post something or leave a comment

Try it and see how it works. If you have any problem, let me know.