I want to discover Saori!

Saori
What is Saori?
Saori: its beginning

Here are new books that look interesting:

Saori: Self Discovery through Free Weaving by Misao Jo and Kenzo Jo


Handmade Style: Weave by Wendy Cartwright, an Australian


The Ashford Book of Projects, Vol. 1, a follow-up to The Ashford Book of Weaving for Knitters. This is for weavers who use the Ashford Knitter's Loom or the Rigid Heddle Loom.


And finally, an updated edition of The Ashford Book of Dyeing by Ann Milner.

Update: Charkhas for Africa Project

So, at the beginning of this year I pledged a delivery of one Babe Pinkie and one Strauch hand carder a month to Malian spinners through the National Center for the Promotion of Artisanal Arts in Bamako headed by Sidiki Ouattara.

The shipment for January went out. I put the address, a PO Box, that was in Mr. Ouattara's business card. Two weeks went by and while tracking the package which goes out by DHL (at a wholesale rate of $55 through my employer), it seemed to me that it was stuck at the DHL depot in Bamako. I emailed Mr. Outtara and asked him to check with the DHL office because the package had arrived. He said he would go there personally.

More weeks went by and still I hadn't heard from Mr. Outtarra. I had the February shipment ready to go, but I didn't want to send it without confirmation of the first delivery. Usually I get a prompt reply or update from Mr. Ouattara; this time things were quiet on the email front. So, I emailed him to check.

Mr. Ouattara reported that, because I had put the (wholesale) price of the items on the shipping form, he was taxed 100 percent. OMG!

Unfortunately, I always have to put a price when sending by DHL as labeling a package a "gift" is not an option. Probably for insurance purposes, in case the item is damaged or lost. I had been sending PVC spinning wheels and Strauch carders to two women's coops in Segou three hours away and all items were always received without any problem.

Probably, sending to a PO Box was a bad idea. Probably Bamako, being Mali's major city, the people there have less of a sense of community that you would find in a more rural place like Segou where they would give a non-profit organization like Mr. Ouattara's a break. Who knows?

Anyway, the February package was sent to a physical address and I underpriced the items; I mean WAY under price. In less than a week I received a thank you note from Mr. Outtara:

"I have just received this morning a package containing a wheel and a pair of hand carders this time without having to pay anything. I think that we have found a system that works.

"On March 19 I met the members of the women's association of Nonsomboubou located 62 km from Bamako and I took the opportunity to talk to them about your availability to help them in their work with cotton. They are very pleased and would like to get to know you better.

"I will be in Antananarivo (Madagascar) for the conference on Indian Ocean textiles. As soon as I return, I will contact you again for the next one."

By the way, I have moved the Charhas for Africa online shop back to Material Whirled. I find that Etsy has become so big it's so easy to get lost in the crowd.

Looking forward to MSWF in May

The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival 2008 website is up and for the first time in two years, I'm in town in May. Yay!

One more thing to be happy about, this is the first time I'm not going alone. My friend, Florence, from Liège, Belgium, is coming to the US just for the festival and we will do the 40-minute drive to Howard County together. Yay! Yay!

Florence runs an online fiber business, Les laines du Mouchon, and raises sheep in her neighborhood where she has over 70 of them. Florence breeds an assortment of them, but among the Tricofolk Forum spinners, she is best known for the soft wool fibers of her Gotlands whom she fondly calls, my "gogottes".

Florence in her backyard.
When Florence is not tending her flock, she joins craft fairs and holds spinning and dyeing workshops at her home with the help of hubby, Jean-Marc, who is gifting her the MSWF trip for Mother's Day this year.

Jean-Marc assisting with a drum carding demo.
A few days ago, Florence, her sheep and her spinning were featured in a Belgian television as part of a series on women who have unusual interests. See the video here.

Jean-Marc and Florence taking the sheep to graze in a field near the neighborhood.

Springwater Fiber Workshop Reopens!

In mid-November I wrote an obit for Springwater which had suddenly closed down for lack of funds (it's a non-profit organization). Since then the fiber school and shop has rebounded with over $100,000 in donations.

The grand re-opening happened yesterday and along with it came the Spring issue of the Springwater newsletter. In it you will see that I will be teaching a half-day class on Carding Tricks and Techniques.

By the way, Jacey Boggs is also teaching. She's doing a full-day class on Coils and a two-day class on Spinning Art Yarns. I met Jacey when Pluckyfluff came to the East Coast in Fall 2005 for a spinning workshop in Pennsylvania. At that time her monster hat knit kits were already selling like hotcakes. Since then she has moved on art yarns and is coming up is her own spinning video.

To further help support Springwater, I'm taking John Marshall's class on Clothing Designs of the World - Creating Your Own Fashions Based on Ethnic Traditions while Mr. JumpSheep is signing up for Roderick Owen's class on Japanese Braiding on the Marudai and Takadai

Majacraft Magic Weekend is back!

The camp will take place from Friday the 18th until Sunday the 20th of April. This will be a weekend packed with learning and fun, and the chance to meet the wonderful Majacraft team, which is also the entrie Poad family (Owen, Glynnis, their sons Rob and Andy). During the 2006 Magic Weekend, Rob and Andy gave our wheels a maintenance check, gratis et amore.

Not that maintenance of a Majacraft wheel is necessary, but if you treat it badly, that's another story. I remember there was one spinner who kept oiling her wheel and that was a disaster. So remember, no oiling those sealed ball bearings!

On Sale: Yarns from France for Charkhas for Africa

I have just uploaded donated skeins of yarn on Etsy. You may check them out by clicking on the Charkhas for Africa button or "Goes to Etsy" on the right column. The one on the photo is of Collie dog hair. All the yarns are donations from France. Mille mercis, Muriel et Yvette.

Francophone Spinners' Annual Yarn Exchange

I was away overseas for the Valentine's Day yarn exchange of the Tricofolk Forum so I only got my package today when I went to pick up two week's worth of mail at the post office. Here's what I found in the mail.


It's a beaded yarn from Yvette, along with Scottish soap, British chocolate and a handknit pouch. On the greeting card, she wrote: "I have only been spinning since August; I hope that you don't mind being paired with a beginner." A beginner? This yarn looks like a pro's! Yvette is Scottish, but lives in Echirolles, France. Merci et tant de bises, Yvette!

My "godlchild" was Elo and this is what she received.


I find that a sampling of KoolAid always perks up a care package headed towards Europe because it's not available there. : )

When family comes to visit...

...spinning takes a break (note Suzie in the foreground).

Prepping crackling roast pork (recipe based on Nigel Slater's and Jamie Oliver's).




Portrait of the bro as a gourmand.

Lunch over, Mr. JumpSheep is ready to take my niece shopping.

Indeed, this long weekend has been eat, sleep and shop.

A Happy New Beginning for Charkhas for Africa

Charkhas for Africa. The name has stuck, but it has actually moved on to spinning wheels. Following my Skype conversations with Sidiki Ouattara of Tissutèque, I have pledged a delivery of a Babe Pinkie and a Strauch hand carder for every month of the year 2008. Each package, a wheel and a hand carder, will be given to a Malian spinner.

As always, I'm grateful to Otto Strauch and Nels Wiberg of Babe's Fiber Garden for giving me a favorable arrangement. The packages will be sent by DHL and they should be received in a matter of days. My office is kind enough to extend to me its discounted rate.

Happy New Year to all!

Mali: A country with a Ministry of Artisan Arts #2

Yes, Mali does have a ministry of artisan arts and it's an honest-to-goodness government office. It's complete name is Ministère de l'Artisanat et du Tourisme. Every year, the ministry even mounts a festival of Malian artisan arts at the Bourse de Commerce in Paris -- only five hours away from Mali by plane -- and last October, over 18,000 people came to visit. Click on "galerie photos" to see the local marketplace.

La Bourse de Commerce, Paris

Moreover, the Malian artisans get support from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and other donors, Japanese and European. How cool is that?

I met Sidiki Ouattara, national coordinator of the UNIDO pilot project called Tissutèque which was started in the early 1990s jointly by the governments of Mali and Japan -- both aware that West Africa has a rich heritage in artisanal textile, but the dyers were abandoning the trade because it was becoming less and less profitable.

National Center for the Promotion of Artisanal Arts.

Sidiki Ouattara, Tissutèque project coordinator


So far, the seed money provided has produced 10 spinning wheels, 500 pairs of handcarders, 100 weaving looms, 20 woolwinders, 20 warping boards, 10 new types of fabrics and training of 100 people. There are also three manually-operated dyeing machines and two electric ones that have been converted to gas power. (Electric power is expensive, but gas is subsidized by the government!) Over the years they have developed 50 repeatable dye recipes using scientific instruments and have trained 300 women in the art of dyeing.

Instruments for measuring dye solutions.

The various dyeing machines.




Looms at Tissutèque.


I had a lively chat with Mr. Ouattara in his office while an info tech person was installing his webcam to enhance his Skype use. I talked of Charkhas for Africa and the equipment that is available to spinners in the US.

He was very excited and as soon as the webcam work was done, he asked me to show him the works of American spinners and the equipment shops available online. And then he turned to me and said, "Madam, you coming so late in the game. We could have used your advice when we were starting."

He went on to explain, that though they had financing, they didn't have technical advice. He said that the donors wanted to provide heavy-duty machines, but he said, that wouldn't have worked. "You have to start from the bottom and work your way up to find a sustainable solution. First you have to build the capacity of the people before you give them sophisticated equipment."

As I left, Mr. Ouattara gave me a list of things that he wanted assistance with: a quote for 1000 pieces of carding cloth, a sample of a spinning wheel made of PVC, and information on a small dyeing machine or a large washing machine that is gas-operated. He was concerned that the women who dye the traditional way with just rubber gloves and masks were not adequately protected from the toxic effect of chemicals.

The sample Babe spinning wheel, I'm happy to report, has be sent off to Bamako via DHL. The super-durable carding cloth from Strauch turned out to be out-of-reach despite donor financing; thus, they are going for the cloth that is locally available. I've started the research on the dyeing machines made in China and India. However, I have not seen one that is gas-operated. If you have any suggestions, please email me.

When I returned home, I received this email from Mr. Ouattara. He wrote: Following your visit to Mali, I'm writing to say that I look forward to our partnership in our common passion: the promotion of artisanal textile.

A very nice way, indeed, to end year 2007 and begin a new one.

Mali: A country with a Ministry of Artisan Arts

Work was going to take me back to Bamako in early December and -- having found a new job that was to start at the beginning of the 2008 -- I wanted to make wise use of my final(?) trip to Africa.

Since making the trip to Mali in September 2006 I had resorted to commercial courier service for sending tools, equipment and supplies to Ethiopia and Mali. So, I only needed to pack a few things that were ready to take. Once I established new contacts, sending more stuff would be easy by courier.

I was leaving Bamako at midnight of Dec. 6 this year and in the morning I decided to explore the Artisan Market. I figured, if I didn't meet spinners or weavers at the market, I would drop by the DHL office downtown and send the hand carders and dye powder to the two fiber guilds I had visited previously.

Ready to DHL, just in case.

The Artisan Market


It turned out to be a lucky day for me as I checked out the weaving studio of the Artisan Market. I met Bina, an old man working on a floor loom.


Interesting touch: Bina adds a stick of broom material every several row of cotton thread.

Broom on the floor.


I asked him if he had handcarders and could he show them to me. He very nicely did. I said I had three pairs with me, could they use them? He replied that the handcarders would be welcome. As he opened the box that I had packed, he delightedly leafed through a Japanese book on rigid heddle weaving and then he saw the plastic bags of dyes.


At that point Bina invited me see their dye lab and the spinning wheel that he had built. We went out of the market and walked some blocks to a fenced-in building. Outside, women were dyeing bazin (like damask) fabrics to sell in the market.



Bazin cloth from Holland. They can cost anywhere from a few dollars to over 10 dollars depending on the thread count. The top-of-the line is called "bazin riche", while the lower quality kind is called "bazin moins riche."


To be continued.

And that is how Charkhas for Africa began #2

My project to introduce charkhas to Africa spinners acquired a name and gained momentum thanks to two spinners from Pennsylvania: Angela Place and Reenie Hanlin of Material Whirled. They had brought Lexi Boeger to Harrisburg, PA for a two-day workshop and I had signed up. That was how we met.

We kept in touch and when they learned about my having gone to Ethiopia, they offered to help with a fundraiser. I'm not a go-getter and am squeemish about handling money donated by other people. We made an arrangement where I would procure the equipment and Angela and Reenie took care of paying off the suppliers with proceeds from donated yarns.

With the fundraising momentum in full swing, we bought 10 Indian box charkhas, a few Babe wheels and lots of hand carders from Otto Strauch. I redeemed frequent flyer miles and arranged a visit to Segou -- noted for weaving -- three hours away from the capital of Mali. On the way, I stopped in France for a spinning retreat with francophone spinners who also pledged yarn to sell for the project.

The trip was not easy. First of all, traveling on my own, I did it on the cheap and lugged everything through train stations in France. In addition, the Little Gem was also traveling with me. Upon arrival in Bamako, arriving passengers have to take their luggage to an x-ray machine and the customs people saw the charkha boxes. I was being asked to pay taxes on the items! I had to explain they were donations to spinners in Mali. Eventually, they let me through without having to do anything else.

I hung around in Bamako a couple of days while I waited for my friend, Dr. Youssouf Diallo, to finish his office duties during the week. I had requested for a driver and a car, but he wanted to drive me personally so we planned to go on a Saturday. He said, "You've done so much for my country; it's the least I can do".

Youssouf was thinking of driving to Segou leisurely and driving back the next day. I said I wanted to make it a day trip. He then accelerated his speed. He wanted to avoid being on the road in the dark on the way back. Problem was, the road was filled with potholes and it was only a matter of time before we hit one that badly damaged the rim of one of his tires. The damage produced a loud and alarming noise, so we had to stop. At this point, we were in the middle of a forest reserve.

Youssouf tried to phone for help, but his cell had lost signal. We tried to flag buses and other motorists; no one wanted to stop. Then we heard a shot. "What was that?" I asked. "Oh, hunters," he replied, more concerned about the tire than the presence of poachers. I got nervous as I was reminded of Dick Cheney and his well-publicized hunting trip.

We had no choice but to ignore the wheel noise and just drive on. Eventually, we left the forest reserve and commercial activity resumed along the highway. There were shacks serving as phone booths and bottled liquid for sale like vinegar or oil. I asked what were in those bottles and Youssouf said nonchalantly, "Gasoline." Needless to say that was a concern for me, but we soon found a car mechanic to change our tire and we were back on the road.

And that is how Charkhas for Africa began

Spinners who read my blog invariably ask me in person or by email, "You seem to have traveled extensively and go to Africa repeatedly. What exactly do you do?"

True, I never talk about my day job, but that's because it has nothing to do with fiber. After all, it's a day job.

Well, okay. A large part of my day job is handling the logistical arrangements for conferences and workshops in Africa. That goes from identifying the hotel, requesting bids, securing contracts, engaging interpretation services and equipment, arranging airport transfers, planning meals and banquets and, finally, settling the bills. On top of that, I look after the well-being of 150 traveled-exhausted participants who may sometimes lose their luggage or get sick.

It's not uncommon, either, to find at the very last minute that the hotel has overbooked and, therefore, the management announces that a number of the participants will have to be taken to another hotel, at least for one night. That is never acceptable to the team I work with. Therefore, with all sangfroid, I go to the hotel management and tell them calmly, "it's in your best interest that you keep all of us right here". That seems to work everytime. Talk about the bottomline.

At the end of the day, I would spin on my Little Gem for a cool down. When colleagues would insist on a drink at the bar, I would take my knitting along. One time someone quipped, "I've never seen a woman knit in a bar -- it's the last place you think you'd see someone knitting".

Then on the last day, I'd make a quick trip to the market to see crafts and fabrics. Then, even more knitting -- at the airport this time.

After three years, I started to get tired of the whole routine. Plus, I'm really scared of flying and my anxiety would show up two weeks before departure. Skin rashes would appear and my suitcase would be packed and ready at about the same time. Strange and conflicting behavior. However, the team I belonged to was almost like a second family and my colleagues were a pleasure to work with.

But if I had to continue doing the job, I felt I needed to find a way to make the trips less predictable, more worthwhile, and even more interesting. And that is how I thought of starting a personal project of buying with my own funds spinning wheels made of PVC and bringing them to Ethiopia. It didn't have a name. It was a diversion and form of sharing spinning experiences with women who I would not -- but for my job -- have the chance of meeting.

Caption: Our first workshop: Nairobi 2002. How could I leave such a warm bunch of people and the coolest manager (second row, left) ever?

To be continued.

Back from Bamako & Yarns from Lyon for Africa

The moment I took my seat in the airport shuttle at Washington-Dulles last Saturday, I felt a sore throat. Two days later, I was experiencing a number of the symtoms of malaria, including chills, perspiration and diarrhea. A couple of more days later I'm still sick in bed, but I begin to recover and open my laptop to catch up with email. At this point I learn that two other colleagues fell ill: one of them back in DC; the other, still in Africa wondering if it's not malaria.

Anyway, on to more pleasant news. While in Mali I received an email from my friend, Muriel from Lyon, France. She had just finished spinning two skeins of yarn for my project, Charkhas for Africa. Muriel has mailed off the yarns and I will put them up for sale on Etsy once they arrive. Email me and I will reserve either of them or both, if anyone is interested. The yarns are lovely and I would understand if the buyer will take her time before knitting any one of them up. At any rate, there is one request from Muriel: that the buyer please send her a photo when the project is done.

"Lingerie" is of silk-wool blend handdyed in pink, navajo-plied and embellished with strips of tulle of burgundy color. Length: 218 yards. Price: $60

"Frou-Frou" is of merino and plied with yarn from Houard, the famed manufacturer of novelty yarns in France that closed down in mid-August. Length: 73 yards Price: $40

Paula Simmons' Rover No. 1 finds a new home

I called Paula Simmons inquiring about the Cottage Industry Rover made by her husband, Pat Green. She informed me that Pat no longer made them and she suggested I look for a secondhand one. I said there was no way I would consider buying a secondhand as it's a delicate machine and I was concerned not just about its provenance, but also about its history. Then she offered her very own machine, 15 years old and which she said hadn't been used in 10 years.

It took about two months before I finally got it. First there was the weight: 360 lbs. They had to find a way to take down the machine from upstairs their house. Then Paula agonized over parting with it. She said on the phone, "Once it came down the stairs, there was no turning back. I loved it. It even has my name on it. It wasn't easy." [True enough, on the infeed tray is a metal plate that reads: "Paula's Rover #1".]

Finally, before calling the shipper, Pat took it apart to make sure it was in excellent working condition and called Mr. JumpSheep to give detailed instructions about uncrating and putting it in functioning order. The crate, once empty, was to be turned upside-down to provide a convenient table. There were more technical instructions that just went over my head. The phone call took two hours because the conversation eventually drifted into political and economic philosophy.

Just right now, the machine is still sitting in the garage because the house has been undergoing a much-delayed improvement (14 years!). I have made a number of center-pull balls that I'm sending to Sandrine of Alysse Créations in France to test. I would love to do loose rovings, but since the machine is sitting very low right now, the center-pull ball was the way to go. Once it's put on a table, I could put a basket underneath and create the loose rovings.





Initial attempt: