Recently, I blogged about test driving the new Cricket Loom from Schacht Looms.

I gave The Cricket Loom a rave review and showed a bit of the healing/prayer shawl that I wove for my sister in law.
She’s been terribly ill and has scared the bejabbers out of us….. She had an abscess in her brain, which was life threatening and harrowing. She’s had surgery and it was successful.
Weaving a healing/prayer shawl for her was very soothing for me.
It allowed me to pour my love for her into every stitch…

I hope that it will bring her comfort. I love to think that …read more

I’ve been weaving with the Schacht Cricket rigid heddle for a few days, and I absolutely  L O V E  it.
Why?
Because:

It’s really solid, well made, and the ergonomics are a dream.Obviously, a lot of thought went into designing it.
The heddle glides along the tracks and it stays in position perfectly, in both the down and up modes.
I really like the wooden handles on the warp and cloth beams.
The ratchets and pawls mesh with each other beautifully – they hold solidly and don’t skip or jump.
It’s very portable and compact- we had to drive for a couple of hours yesterday, …read more

The new Cricket rigid heddle Loom from Schacht has arrived, and I am impressed.
It comes shipped flat in a smallish spiffy box that works as a project/tool box but won’t hold the loom once it’s assembled.
It needs to have 6 screws inserted to assemble it.  That took only a few minutes.
The loom is solid and beautifully designed.  It doesn’t fold like their Flip or the Ashford Knitter’s loom, but it’s compact enough to be truly portable. Popping it into a tote bag is not a problem.
I am going to be weaving a healing/prayer shawl in rainbow colors.
One of my beloved …read more

 Yesterday, I told you about some of Pinkie Bear’s adventures at the photo shoot for my new book:
The Woven Bag….
On the last day of the shoot, we finished shooting the step-by-steps  before we went to lunch.
We were scheduled to shoot the author portrait in the afternoon, so since I looked be-draggled, weary and snuffly, we went off to Aveda to get a makeover.

Michelle Marx is a wonderful makeup artist! She has her own company, freelancing with makeup artistry.
Her contact info: Michelle

Pinkie decided that she needed a makeover, too, and, luckily, Michelle had the perfect makeup for a small bear!
I …read more

 When I was a little girl, my most treasured teddy bear was pink and white, and named, ahem, ‘Pinkie’.
The original Pinkie got lost in a move along the way, so in my early 20’s, I made a replacement Pinkie.
Pinkie has been  my travelling companion ever since.
And, when Jim and I got together, I made him Bluebear.
Bluebear fell madly in love with Pinkie, and they got married and have had oh so many adventures together.
We have photo albums of their travels.
Anyhow, Pinkie accompanied me to Cincinnati last week to help with the photo shoot for my new book, The Woven Bag.
(Bluebear …read more

 Yesterday, I posted about the photo shoot that I was at all week in Cincinnati.
It was for my  new book, The Woven Bag.
Here’s the photo studio at F & W Media where we were working:

There are the tables with 35 woven bags, looms and other equipment:

This is Christine, ace photographer and Jenni, editor extraordinaire, playing ‘Vanna’

Here’s Jenni at her lappy and Christine at her huge screen computer.
The camera is digital, and cabled across to Christine’s computer so we could see the pics up on the screen.

And, here I am, getting ready for a ‘how to’ shot.

Another shot of the tables …read more

I can  F I N A L L Y  tell you the title of the book that I’ve been working and working and working on!
I’m so excited! They have confirmed that the title is: (drumrolls, puhleeze…….)
The Woven Bag: 30+ Projects from Small Looms
I am publishing it with Krause Books, which is part of  F & W Media. And, yep, the publisher chooses the title of the book.
I am really happy with it because they’ve nailed it. yay!
I am sad though, because the release date has been moved to November of 2009 from July of 2009! boohoo!
anyhow……….
Last week, I was …read more

I am so pleased! My new Journey Loom has arrived!

The Journey loom is a lovely small frame/tapesty style loom that was designed by Susan Barrett Merrill. The loom came to her in a dream and she’s been working with her husband to create it in many ways for a number of years.
The first thing that struck me when I put it together was that it looked so much like the wall dollhouses that my dh, Jim, makes me!
The second thing that just blew me out of the water, was reading the chapter in Susan’s book, Zati, The Art of …read more