Sri Lankan weaver visits

In July we had a woman visit who learned to weave at school in her native Sri Lanka. She knew all about the flying shuttle and told us about weaving with silk. Folks were in recently from Kerala state in India and Abyssinia (Ethiopia) who had also grown up with handweavers using a flying shuttle. Many have […]

Kurdistani visitor

August 2014 Had a very interesting visit from a man originally from Kurdistan, in the north of Iraq. He had his two daughters with him and told me stories about his grandmother’s looms that they had never heard. She apparently had several looms, a huge upright rug loom against a wall and a floor loom […]

Weaving on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Tulum is in the state of Quintana Roo on the Yucatan Penisula, the thumb of Mexico. We have been coming here since our family drove all over Mexico in 2001. Recently my husband, Ted and I drove through beautiful clean Mayan villages to Merida, on the tip of the ‘thumb.’ I have not seen looms […]

Korean poetry

I’ve had many Korean customers tell me about weaving in Korea, but one of my favorite moments was the day a Korean man and woman come in the door and then came up to the loom with great excitement. The man declared that this was just like his mother’s weaving in Korea, he recognized the […]

Afganistan

This summer I spoke to a woman from Afghanistan who told me in Persian about the loom she had worked on that was three times the width of my largest loom. This family cannot easily go back to their homeland and she was thrilled to see the looms. We were thrilled to meet them.  What […]

First Snow – Scandinavia

Today, the first snow. Yesterday our Liisa loom made in Finland was put to bed. (covered with a tarp) Now the flakes are falling and the coloured lights look far more appropriate. Fittingly two Finish fiber artists visited. I have always had a love affair with Scandinavia – colourful weaving, skiing, primary colours, the need for […]

New Twist

This is my second post! I have finally stopped weaving long enough to write and the stories will mostly it will be about the amazing weaving stories our customers tell us about weaving around the world or in another century. This one however will be about our twisted wraps and a new way to wear […]

Romania

There was a beautiful dark haired young woman from Romania, Alex who lived here on Kootenay Lake a few years ago. Involved in making beautiful medieval looking clothes, she, her sister and mother came in the shop many times to see the looms. Alex told me that when they left Romania people in the mountains still wove […]

Kenya

When first open to the public, in 1995 or 96 at the old shop, Weavers’ Corner, one of my stand-out memories involved Swahili. I was weaving alone one afternoon when suddenly the shop was filled with the most beautiful black women speaking Swahili and snapping photographs. I don’t speak Swahili but a childhood friend whose […]