Episode 17: Weaving Periodicals
This episode is all about those wonderful weaving periodicals that inspire and delight us. We talk to Madelyn Van Der Hoogt of Handwoven, Jean Scorgie of Weaver’s Craft, and Tina Ignell of Vävmagasinet. We discuss a summer reading list of fiction books that feature weavers, ask for your thoughts about an online weaving magazine, and finally, I share the details of my torrid summer love affair.
Summer Reading List
Resources (mentioned during the show)
Musical Guest
Summer Reading List
- Wintersmith
by Terry Prachett
- Avielle of Rhia
by Dia Calhoun
- The Last Mortal Man
by Syne Mitchell
- Silas Marner
by George Eliot
- Pelle's New Suit
- Sophie's Masterpiece
by Eileen Spinelli and Jane Dyer
Resources (mentioned during the show)
- WeaveCast: Backstage
- ColorCache4 (a cool color-design program)
- Handwoven
- The Complete Book of Drafting for Handweavers
by Madelyn van der Hoogt
- Weaver's Craft
- Vävmagasinet
- Favorite Rag Rugs
by Tina Ignell
- Australian Hand Weaver and Spinner
- Journal for Weavers Spinners & Dyers
- Complex Weaver’s Journal
- Twist
- Shuttle Spindle and Dyepot
Musical Guest
- "Blue Summer Day"
from Blue Summer Day
by D.C. Anderson
LML Music
posted by Syne Mitchell at 5:18 PM
27 Comments:
Hi All,
There was a momentary glitch with the RSS feed for this episode, and some people may have downloaded the song "Blue Summer's Day" instead of the episode itself. I've (hopefully) fixed the issue, so if you were one of those who downloaded before I got the changes up, please try again. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Kudos to Katie for telling me about the problem!
Syne
I very much love Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching series. Wintersmith is a great addition to the series.
Syne: Excellent episode. It is so inspiring to hear that others share my thoughts. I have a dye pot for weaving going on most of the Summer too.
Weaving related books:
Moving Target by Elizabeth Lowell and
The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier
Both are excellent and weaving centered. Available on CD for weaving ...
Great episode - with lots of helpful information. You asked for other book titles that incoporate weaving or weavers into the storyline. I listened to one on audio several years ago that should still be around in print as well. It's Moving Target by Elizabeth Lowell. It concerns a secret long buried in the past and a long ago woven scarf with protective properties and a current weaver who is the victim of foul play. I enjoyed it very much, even before I began weaving.
Kristie Davis
Hot Springs, Arkansas
You can see a sample from the current issued of the UK Journal here:
http://www.wsd.org.uk/
Kate
Syne, I keep trying to download the podcast and I'm not able to get it. I've tried via iTunes and directly through your site but I keep getting an error message. HELP!
Thanks!
Hi Susan (and anyone else having connection woes)
My Web server is having issues. Details are up at http://www.weavecast.com/
I apologize for the inconvenience, and hope everything will be working tomorrow.
In the meantime, you might want to check out my new blog, blog.weavecast.com.
Happy Weaving!
Syne
I also want to recommend The Lady and The Unicorn
http://tinyurl.com/383uom
I listened to the on CD some time ago and at that time had not even thought about weaving. It gives a wonderful account on how the weaving industry worked emphasizing that women were not allowed to weave. A weaver could be kicked out of the guild if he let a woman weave. Women could sew the tapestries together.
Between this book and your podcasts, I have bought a tapestry loom. I haven't done anything with it yet, but I will. I also spin and knit and do a lot of other things.
Thanks for a great show.
Weaving-Fiction Reccs from Dave Robinson, a weaver and bookseller in Alaska
-------------------------------
"Imperial Purple by Gillian Bradshaw,
0-395-43935-4 published by Houghton Mifflin. The first line is ‘She was weaving a picture of Christ giving sight to the blind when the supervisor came to fetch her’.
The Virgin’s Knot by Holly Payne published by Dutton 0-52594657-8, first line ‘ Nurdane moved between the looms inspecting knots’.
And, the one I am reading now The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani published by Little Brown v0-31606576-4 ‘Her mother taught her to make dyes from orange safflowers, cochineal bugs, pomegranate rinds, and walnut shells and to knot the dyed wool into rugs’.
A young adult title is The Water Mirror by Kai Meyer published by McElderry Books, 0-689-87787-0.
Orson Scott Cards series about ‘Alvin Maker’ centers around a loom where everyone is a thread and only the weaver knows how long your thread is (how long you are going to live) if I remember correctly its been several years since I read it.
Some kids picture books are, The Goat in the Rug by Geraldinr,
Songs From the Loom by Monty Roessel and How to Spin A rabbit by Helen Von Ammon."
Some book reccs from Laura Fry:
------------------------------
A book I found very interesting was Michael Legat's The Silk Maker
It's now out of print, but it centres around a weaving manufacturer and the making of silk crepe.
Loads of information on how the silk was used from reeling it off, to the making of the embossed rollers for the finishing. A bit of a bodice-ripper, but.....
There was another book - The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds, where the young protaganist is a rug maker. She was abused and used her weaving partly as therapy, mostly as her income.
Have read Elizabeth Howell's Moving Target and enjoyed it.
Shirley Maclaine was in a movie - something about Summer - and she played a weaver. In the movie she had a big old Leclerc loom in her studio and at one point her friend was "fixing" a Dorothy for her. :) No weaving going on tho. :D Perhaps in the book from which the script was taken, but I never managed to find the source material"
Not specifically about weaving, but about the wool industry during medieval England - Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth - epic read.
Cheers,
Laura Fry
http://laurafry.com
Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
Based on Irish folk tales, story about a girl who needs to spin and weave thistles to turn her 7 brothers from swans back into men without talking the entire time
Hi Syne! Thanks to your show, I'm heading out to buy the new TP book (love his stuff, especially the ones with Susan and Death), and about to download and install the ColorCache thing, too cool!
Oh, and there was a weaver in the store today, getting ready to experiment with some Mission Falls cotton yarn, whee!
You mentioned the Journal and asked if anyone had any info. The Journal of the Association of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers is the voice of the Association. It really is an association of guilds. You don't join directly, but if your guild is affiliated to the association, you are a member (guilds pay fees per member to the association). The magazine is completely volunteer run and written. They are always happy to have contributions! I have been getting it since I arrived in England in 2001 and it has been fun to see how much it has changed and improved. Link to the Journal's web page:
http://www.thejournalforwsd.org.uk/
You don't have to be a member of the Association to subscribe!
A guild that is part of the association that might interest you is the Online Guild. It is a very active group with members all over the world.
Link to the Online guild:
http://www.onlineguildwsd.org.uk/
Beverly
This post has been removed by the author.
My mom just sent me a weaving-related novel, The Virgin's Knot. I haven't read it yet, but it looks good. Here's the blurb from the cover flap:
"She is called Nurdane, the famed weaver of Mavisu. From her remote mountain village in southwestern Turkey, she creates dowries for young brides: dazzling rugs that are marvels of shape and color, texture and light. Her unique rugs possess remarkable healing qualitites that hane inpired local legend, but it is her hands that are at the heart of her mystery. An artist's hands. A virgin's hands.
An extraordinary series of events drives Nurdane to question the limitations of her faith and culture as she is caught between the cost of remaining pure in body and spirit...or risking everything for the chance to live a loving life."
Thanks, Mom!
I just finished reading "The Tooth of Time" by Sue Henry. It is a mystery which takes place in Taos, New Mexico and Weaving Southwest with owner Pat Dozier is the focal point of the story. It is a good fast reading story.
I was in Taos and visited Weaving Southwest where I bought the book.
Thanks for your podcasts Syne!
June in East Wenatchee
You mentioned in your July podcast about wanting to know about other fiction books about weaving. My favorite is "The Rose Rent" by Ellis Peters. It is a Brother Cadfael mystery, but the story is based around a young widow, Mistress Perl, who owns a carding and weaving house. And one of the men pursuing her hand is Master Fuller, the cloth dyer and fuller in the town.
Hej Syne,
Based on your recommendation of Terry Pratchett, I borrowed Wee Free Men (I always prefer to read series in order!) and enjoyed it very much. The next one is at the library waiting for me to fetch it, and then I'll dig into Wintersmith.
Cheers,
Laura Fry
ps - Doug has also begun Wee Free Men and is looking forward to the rest of the series....... :)
Loved the show, although I was disappointed you didn't include Wild Fibre. But then it is more for the spinning crowd.
I have a bibliography of 20 adult and juvenile fiction titles that have weaving in the subject headings. I tried to figure out how to post it here and couldn't, so I'll send you a copy and maybe you can.
Keep up the good work.
John Sandstrom
Collection Development Librarian
The young adult novel _Gathering Blue_ by Lois Lowry features a main character who is a weaver. This novel is part of the series that also includes _The Giver_ and _Messenger_, and the character also appears in _Messenger_.
Hi Syne,
I'm just catching up on episodes missed during the summer while painting my family room. Silas Marner has been a favorite of mine since long before I became a weaver in 1980.
Am not sure if you know that George Eliot is the pen name for Mary Ann Evans. She also wrote Middlemarch. Once you know this about the author, Silas Marner becomes even more engaging.
Thanks so much for Weavecast.
Janis Saunders, of BraidersHand sent me this great weaving-book recommendation:
"_Goat in the Rug_ by Charles L. Blood and Martin Link with illustrations by Nancy Winslow Parker. I love this book, I think my kids got a little tired of it but I never have."
'Anahita's Woven Riddle' By Meghan Nuttall Sayres. Newly published.
I recently found your podcast, and am working my way backwards in time, and enjoying the process thoroughly.
I wanted to elaborate on your description of TWIST. While Janis Saunders runs Braidershand and is interested in kumihimo and all, TWIST is purely a tablet-weaving journal, and despite its small size is on a par with much larger, more elaborate publications. TWIST stands for Tablet Weaver's International Studies and Techniques, and has 2-300 members from around the world. It's a great publication for anyone interested in tablet weaving.
Two more reccommendations from a listener:
The Weaving of a Dream by Marilee Heyer: this is a fantastic telling of a Chinese fairy-tale which in centered on a tapestry so beautiful and detailed that the fairies steal it in order to copy it. Every other page is a beautiful full color illustration, making the book as rich as the tapestry it describes.
Juniper, by Monica Furlong: this is a fabulous coming of age tale, intermeshed with a beautifully crafted story of magic and creativity. A key element of the book is the preparation of yarn for and weaving of a cloak which protects and reinforces the magic of the wearer.
Precious Bane by Mary Webb is a beautiful story about a Shropshire woman and the love of her life -- a weaver! This is a lovely, lovely story about life in a harsh but beautiful place. If you can find an audio version narrated by Jill Masters, you're in for a treat.
Cathy
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