The Scandinavian Weavers Study Group Meets Via Zoom

Our Scandinavian Weavers Study Group meeting in March was cancelled due to the sudden coronavirus “Shelter at Home” order. April was a first–we met via Zoom. It worked well as a platform to share how we have been faring. It isn’t as fun as our regular meetings, with the ability to see real woven items, of course, but it worked so well that Jan Mostrom suggested it might be our fallback plan in times of bad weather in the future.

What have the Scandinavian Weavers been working on during this isolation interlude?

Mary Skoy finished up thirsty waffle weave towels. Like many house-bound people, she’s been cleaning and organizing. “I know where every pin and needle in my studio are,” she commented. She also said she filled a large bag for the Textile Center Garage Sale. Can you imagine how big the next Textile Center Garage Sale could be?

Judy Larson is a fast and prolific weaver. When she mentioned that she wove five rugs in the past month, Patty Johnson piped up, “Of course you did!” Lisa Anne Bauch later wrote, “I love the blue and green one – it reminds me of summer by the lake!”

Linda Sorrano, who convened our meeting, has been busy at her big loom, but also on a small tapestry loom, where she is playing with a series of abstract pieces.

Here’s a tartan car lap robe that Linda made. Do you see her Instagram handle? You should follow her!

Lisa Anne Bauch has been putting together her brand new Toika loom, as she said, “fresh off the boat from Finland.”

And now she will be able to weave her set of rugs for the upcoming Norway House exhibit, The Baldishol: A Medieval Norwegian Tapestry Inspires Contemporary Textiles. Here is her hand-dyed weft of wool and cotton, inspired by the colors of the medieval tapestry.

Jan Mostrom is a bit farther along on her Baldishol exhibit piece, with only the finishing work remaining. Do you remember the spots on the horse in the Baldishol Tapestry? They become a beautiful abstract pattern on Jan’s rug.

My work this month has also been on my piece for the Baldishol exhibit. You can see the progression of the “Baldishol Duck” in this collage: bottom border, water, duck, and now the almost-finished top border. You can read about the duck and it meaning at robbielafleur.com.

The Baldishol exhibit will be mounted at Norway House as planned, opening June 26. Read about the updated plans here: “The Baldishol Tapestry and the Coronavirus.”

Melba Grandlund had the most dramatic month. She traveled to Norway to participate in Viking-era textile activities. Halfway into her month, she spent days arranging a flight back to the U.S., due to the closing airports. Now she is home with lots of Norwegian yarn to make a wide banded coverlet on her warp-weighted loom.

She also learned about a modern replica of the Bayeaux Tapestry (really an embroidery). She was inspired to embroider some of the motifs herself.

Connie LaTendresse wove samples for an upcoming rigid heddle class, including a houndstooth scarf and a v-necked shawl (pictured below).

Connie wove an inkle band for straps to coordinate with a bag of handwoven fabric for her daughter.

Connie is very productive. In addition to much weaving, including playing with krokbragd, she said she has read more books this year than in all of last year.

Patty Johnson has been productive–or distracted? She wrote that she was surprised at all the projects she has underway, once she tallied them up. “Oh my, when I looked at the pictures I realized how many items I have pulled out.  Just have a couple more weaving on the back of the chair to hem, sewing masks in the dining room, hooking strips on coffee table, design and start up of hooked rug.  Yardage on one loom, start of krokbrag on second loom and a small tapestry loom warped.  Maybe I need to get a focus? Or not?”

Karen Hovermale wove a rosepath pillow top–the same project as we have on the Glimakra loom at the Guild, but she warped her own loom at home.

After weaving the first pillow top with wool, she dipped into stash to work on a second, using linen and a 2-ply mohair/silk.

Kevin Olsen took a rag rug class at North House Folk School this winter, and now has a rug on his large Regina tapestry loom.

Kevin also enjoyed a tapestry workshop with Elizabeth Buckley in Albuquerque in February. Below are the samplers from the tapestry workshop, on hachure, and the rag rug workshop. He’ll have lots to explore during his isolation time–when he is not picking out everything needed for his new house being built.

Nancy Ebner completed several projects, including a stash-busting set of colorful towels (not shown), and a set of towels designed by Marian Dahlberg that feature a hanging tab woven on a supplemental warp.

Right before everything shut down, Nancy had just started on a three-shaft rosepath hanging on a loom at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts, based on one she saw in Sweden last year.

Marilyn Moore was stash-busting, weaving runners in beautiful soft colors with Poppano yarn bought at Patty Johnson’s shop,  Color Crossing, a while back. Next, she has two rugs ready to go on her Glimakra.

Brenda Gauvin-Chadwick reported that she has been doing a ton of knitting in the past month. She has a set of towels on her loom, from a Handwoven pattern. “I even used the same colors,” she said.

That’s a lot of work underway. And I didn’t even post ALL the photos I received. Happy weaving!