Threads from the Library
I took the loom to the Idaho Falls Public Library and had lots of threads brought in. I have lots of pics to share too. It was a great day.






















Here I am in front of my display





























This lovely lady brought me embroidery thread of her mothers purchased in the 1930's. That was pretty cool





















Earline brought thread from England, Peru and then fabric from her sister prom dress she made in the 1950's
































Earline adding her story

































































Cutting fabric, once again its the boys who are interested in weaving.


























My friends Sylvia and Ruth hamming it up for the camera
















































Ginny, Noreen and Carlene talking about their threads.





































Ginny finding her thread.




























My friends from Switzerland, Arthur and Anneleise Kull.

In the News
I Have lots to share so there will be several posts. Here is an article from the Post Register that was in Saturdays paper.

Weaving for peace
Osgood woman takes part in 'One World, One Cloth' project
PAUL MENSER
pmenser@postregister.com



There's nothing Kate Robertson of Osgood would rather be doing than weaving, so when she learned of the "One World, One Cloth" project, there was no reason she wasn't going to take part.
All around the world, weavers are at their looms, putting together sections of a cloth they hope to see hanging at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.
"The idea is to inspire people to work together to inspire unity and diversity," said Robertson, who has collected strings from Alaska to Ecuador.
The Thread Project's origins go back to writer Terry Helwig's reaction to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. "She felt like the world was hanging by a thread, and that maybe a thread is all we need," Robertson said.
Each panel of the cloth is to be 7 feet long and 2 feet wide. When they are finished, organizers hope to have an 80-foot-long cloth made up of materials from all over the world.
Once she got word that she would be doing a section, Robertson began telling her friends that she needed thread.
Two classes at Dora Erickson Elementary School, Lori Farnsworth's and Ximena Schneide's, answered the call.
When the students tied together all the string they had brought in, it measured 126 feet. The strands included ribbons, raffia, leather strips, twine and even a guitar string.
The children watched Robertson wind the string around the shuttle, which she took home to use on her loom.





Kate Robertson hopes her time spent on the "One World, One Cloth" project will help be a source of unity and peace among the people of the world. On the INTERNET The Thread Project: ? www.threadproject.com

"I thought it sort of a fun and different thing to take part in," Farnsworth said.
Robertson said she enjoyed the visit. "It's always interesting to go to schools because it's always the boys who are most interested," she said.
Robertson has encouraged anyone with a thread they want to see woven into the cloth to contribute a story as well. "Threads can be intensely personal," she said.
One person gave her a thread from her daughter's christening dress. Another gave her thread spun from buffalo hair and another gave her thread that had been blessed on a church altar.
The most unique threads she got came from her friend Celia Quinn of Homer, Alaska, who gave her threads made from musk ox, otter and moose, and another with crane feathers in it. Robertson said she is waiting to reach the end of the cloth before she decides what to do with the crane feathers.
"You never know what some people are going to send," she said.
Robertson started weaving about 15 years ago. The owner of a flock of sheep, she had begun spinning yarn before that.
"I'm just a textile type of person," she said.
When she weaves, she listens to music she thinks is appropriate to whatever project she has going. Whether the music is from Norway or Africa, "It's interesting to add that into the wishes in the cloth," she said.
Because peace is the focus of this particular piece of cloth, she said she plans to be listening to John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance" before she's done.

What's next?
If you would like to have a thread of your own woven into the One World, One Cloth project, Kate Robertson will be at the Idaho Falls Public Library from noon to 3 p.m. today and at the Eagle Rock Art Museum from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 12. For more information, call Robertson at 525-8089.

Well my first public event held by the Idaho Falls Art Council was last night and it was well received. I got several threads donated and promises for more to come. One lady donated a scrap from a bandanna. There was a kids show that night so there were many kids to explain the weaving to. It was a fun night.



A volunteer at the Art Council donates threads from am afghan in progress.























My friend and fellow weaver Ginger came to help.































Molly Leecaster and her children look at the weaving.























A woman donates part of her bandanna.





















Showing the weaving process to a group.






















Another group learn about The Thread Project.





















Posing with Grey Gardner from the Idaho Falls Art Council

Well I have not been able to get on to blog, I had time yesterday but tripod was down, so here are tons of pictures of the day





This is Lori Farnsworth a teacher holding her students threads.



















































students with their threads




















Explaining the Thread Project


























Winding the shuttle




Threads tied together























Ximena and her classroom


























Kids intently watching the weaving




















Weaving the cloth

I have more that I will post another time.
The weaving for the kids was great.

Moving along
Now Playing: Dances with wolves - Soundrtrack
I have a scheduled weave in at Erickson Elementary on Friday and then next week with a Charter School, the Art Council, Public Library and a Buddhist Peace group. It will be a busy week.

Got some really great threads in the mail yesterday. Some from Saskatchewan, and Switzerland. So I now have 3 countries outside the US represented. I am hoping for more.

One family sent in yarns spun by every member in the family. Plus yarn from Alaska using native animal hair and feathers and a wonderful story. I have gotten lots of threads that have been blessed on church or personal altars. They come with such wonderful wishes. Its been so rewarding to do this.

A Promised some pics of the weaving,



First threads on the loom.

































Beating in the weft




















My sister Marianne weaves her thread.



















Marianne enjoying working on the loom


















The weaving looks great.


















A closer view

Peace Weaving
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: Andreas Vollenweider
Well the Peace Weaving has begun. I started by lighting a candle and then some Sage and honoring the four direction. I said a prayer for the people of the earth that they might learn to work together to create peace in the world.

I wove my families threads in. I had a piece of my Green Alpaca Merino Silk that has won all those awards. I have always thought it is the best yarn I have ever made and several judges agreed. Its a 4 ply cabled yarn. I just wish I had pound of it. I chose that yarn because it represents excellence and I believe it will take all the people of the worlds best effort to create peace.

I added to that some green tartan yarn that I got while I was in Scotland this past summer, it represents thread in the Robertson Tartan, then I added a small amount of yarn made from my 2 sheep. Emily and Gabrielle are Shetlands, whose ancestors come from an Island off the coast of Scotland. Gabrielle is from Oregon and Emily is from Montana. Then I have some yarn from my dog Flynn and my dog Molly who passed on a few years ago. Now Dave added some of the string he uses to tie his Chickens when he uses his favorite cooking item his rotisserie, Sarah added a white ribbon that she wore in her travels to Japan, England, Scotland and France last summer.

After weaving those in my sister Marianne offered her prayers for the world and wove in her threads. She used yarn from her very first weaving.

The music I played with Enya because of my Celtic roots, I played an Eastern European womens group and then Carlos Nakai, Native American Flute and then a French singer.

I proceeded to weave a large shuttle worth of yarn that was sent to me with the warp. The piece started looking quite Guatemalan all the colors seemed to look great with the green and then a lot of reds and pinks were added so now it has quite an attitude in its look.

I promise pictures soon!
Pictures are in my sisters camera so I will put them on later.

I found it almost intoxicating, seeing how all the different colors just blended together. I had to force myself to stop weaving or I would have done the whole piece. It was almost as though I could feel the energy of all the people who donated the yarns. What an incredible feeling.

I have scheduled times in the schools and I need to have some warp left for them.

Ready to Go
The warp is threaded and tied on and ready to go. I just finished two rows of twining. I have woven about an inch of the heading needed. Another 7" of that and I will start with the weft.

I received 3 sets of threads in the mail Friday and one Saturday so they are starting to come in. I sent out reminder emails so hopefully that will help get things moving.

I have heard from a teacher who is really excited about the project and already has her kids collecting threads. I will get with her sometime this week to schedule a class visit.

Since I really like to weave to music I decided that I would weave to International Music this time. So far I have African, Celtic, Irish, Japanese, Andean, Spanish, English, Scottish, Finnish, Russian and American Music . If my piece doesn't have threads from everywhere then it will at least have music from around the world infused in the cloth.

Things are moving along very nicely, here are a couple views of the loom with weaving started on it.

Well I have the warp wound and ready to be put on the loom. Here are some pics.






















Winding the warp


















This is a side view




















The warping board on a stand.


















I am starting to get more threads which is exciting. I have threads from Michigan from my cousins, from Idaho spinners, from one person in Utah, Pennsylvania and New Zealand.

I went to our spinners guild meeting on Tuesday and met some new members. I was deligted to meet Judy whose husband is from Iran. So I should be able to get threads from both of them. I thought that was pretty neat.

I got my dates finalized for some weaving in public. I will be at the Art council March 3 from
5-8 pm, the Library March 5 from 12-3 p.m. and the Eagle Rock Art Museum on March 12th from 10:00 am to 1 p.m.. Now I just need to get the Newspaper to write an article on all of this.

I am threading the warp today. I wound some of the thread sent to me with the warp on a shuttle. That was great, the amazing diversity of things was fun to see. Yarns both smooth and textured, some twisted together several starnds. There was a string of beads, ribbons, fabric, shoe laces, and more. I can't wait to see how it all weaves up.

Warp is Here!!!!
Mood:  lucky
Saturday afternoon the warp package came in the mail. Ooh it was fun opening it. I will be weaving the green cloth titled "Weaving Reconcilliation".



Here are the cones of warp, a bright green pearl cotton.




















Balls of weft thread























Here is one strand that has small piece of red thread tied to it, I think it signifies each member of a family.

It was fascinating looking at the ball of thread. To see all the different colors and textures and then to wonder about who the people were who donated them. This is such a satifsying thing to be involved with. I am so lucky.

Progress continues to be made connecting people to the project. I proposed the idea to my church and there are a lot of people who plan to enter a thread. I hope to get the warp wound sometime in the next couple days.