Christina

When he told me I shrieked and ran around the house grabbing all the books I'd accumulated. I'm just glad he's as excited as I am, lol.

I even took Arabic in college and while I remember almost nothing (apologies to my professor who I absolutely loved), but I remember great conversations about modern Egypt and, of course, food. So kid and I will be talking about more than just ancient history. I cannot wait!

I knew what canopic jars were before I could read. In grade school, I'd buy cheap grocery store barbies to mummify as accurately as I could. I have watched so many documentaries and read so many books, and I bought just tons of books for kids as soon as I was expecting.

For a class project, Big Kid (8) got to pick any country in Africa to research, and I am so glad to say he picked Egypt. I feel like I have been preparing for this my whole life. Some of my earliest book memories are looking at the catalog of artifacts from King Tut's tomb.

A close up of a brunette woman holding a black kitten. The kitten is looking up at a pair of sunglasses on top of the woman's head. The kitten has one paw on the woman's face and looks like she's about to climb on her head. The woman's face looks like she is bracing herself for the inevitable climb.

Guess who is finally ringworm free and ready to party? Bast is already over the extra cuddles and is ready to roam and climb after a long quarantine and would not sit still for a photo (not that I would expect her to). Very excited to have my almost black kitty free in time for Halloween.

It is deeply immoral that cashiers in the US are not allowed to sit.

If you want to help save classical music public radio in Kansas (and who wouldn't?) consider throwing a couple of dollars to radiokansas.com.

Absolutely! I have not warped my loom back to front before (I was taught by Madelyn van der Hoogt's video and she's a staunch front to backer), but I know enough to either answer your questions or find out the answer from somebody who knows more than me!

I cannot recommend Learning to Weave enough, though. It's considered by many to be the golden standard for intro to weaving books, and I agree. I hope this helps and if you have more questions, let me know! 8/8

I'm pretty sure most of these books are still in print, and you can probably get them at your library if you don't want to invest yet. (I think Piroch may be out of print, but it's not a popular intro to weaving book so you might be able to pick it up used for cheap.) 7/

Learning to Weave by Deb Chandler is an absolute classic and the one book I recommend every multi-shaft weaver own. Lots of black and white photos and illustrations, very thorough. I'd actually recommend this over the Piroch book. It also has both front to back and back to front instructions. 6/

If front-to-back is what you're after, The Magic of Handweaving by Sigrid Piroch is pretty good. Lots of photos, although they're not the best, and some good information overall. 5/

To Weave the Swedish Way by Arianna Funk and Miriam Parkman is not a bad option. Not as many photos, but the instructions are solid and the projects are gorgeous. Not my first choice, but not a bad supplement. 4/

need to ignore the section on tying up because it looks to me like you have a jack loom. You'd also need to "translate" the tie-ups for the book's projects, but that's easy. Just inverse the tie-up. So if treadle 1 is supposed to be tied to shafts 1 and 3, you'd tie it up to 2 and 4 instead. 3/

Another pretty good resource for back-to-front warping is The Weaving Handbook by Åsa Pärson and Amica Sundström. This book uses illustrations instead of photos and it's VERY thorough. However, it's only for countermarche/counterbalance looms so after warping you'd 2/

YouTube video by High Valley Weaving School Warping a Loom Back to Front

Ooh boy, have I got suggestions for you! If you want to do back-to-front warping with a raddle, Anne Fields' book Learn to Weave is exactly what you want. Lots of photos with clear instructions. I also highly recommend this video from my friend Joan to go with it. 1/

A view of the back of an1890s dress showing the bodice with clusters of oranges woven into the fabric. It has black lace on the sleeves and a high collar

A detail of the front of the bodice of the orange patterned 1890s dress showing black lace at the neckline and the detailed fruit

Sleeve detail of the 1890s orange patterned dress which has a yellow silk trellis work trim with black lace

Full length view of the front of the 1890s dress patterned with oranges and trimmed with black lace

It took a highly sophisticated Jacquard weave to create the incredibly detailed oranges that form the fabric of of this early 1890s dress. You can almost smell the citrusy peel. There so many details to observe here, the pattern matching, the cuff trim, the drama! #V&A #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡

Avoiding doing real work and was checking out some of the workshops and realized Stacy Schulmeister is in that guild! If you want to try out tablet weaving, she is aces! She is absolutely brilliant and really really nice. You are going to have SO MUCH FUN!

Which is all to say feel free to drop my name because it sometimes still carries some weight in the weaving world, lol.

Their annual sale is legendary, too, so just be forewarned there, lol. There are so many cool people in that guild who are active/semi-active so you'll have a blast. I think Anita Osterhaug might come up occasionally. She's my old editor and the absolute best-and I think you two would get along.

Most weaving guilds are super chill! I know more than a few people who learned to warp and weave at their local guild. Also, my profession revolves around weaving so if you tell me what kind of loom you have (jack, countermarche, etc.) I can recommend some resources!

I know few of the members and they're all super duper nice. (If you have the chance to hang out with Liz Moncrief she is AMAZING and the nicest and has forgotten more about loom maintenance then I will probably ever know.) Also, they have really great speakers/workshops because they have a good rep.

I'm 99% I know which guild you're talking about. Most weaving guilds are more like your quilt guild and super chill-they'll even teach you if you don't know how to weave. This guild, if it's the one I'm thinking of, definitely used to be pretty high level which isn't bad, just different.

A skein of green Hobbymia Soft Cotton yarn sitting on a table. IN the background is a coffee cup with an unknown metal utensil and part of a scarf going into it. Weird metal tools sit nearby, too fuzzy to make out. The text reads: Parts that Perform Soft Cotton Designed to match your car perfectly. It is very much an AI image.

An obviously AI created image of Hobbymia Baby Cotton yarn sitting on a wood table. Behind it is a white coffee cup with both steam and two crochet hooks coming out of it, as if somebody just plunked their hooks into a piping hot cup of coffee. A knitted swatch sits in front of the yarn on a very large knitting needle that looks nothing like an actual knitting needle. The gauge is completely wrong for the knit fabric. Text on the image reads: Refreshin spring deals baby cotton enter your cart details once and shop the only parts that match—no more returns or guesswork.

Here are a couple egregious examples of the photos I've seen. Check out that carf going into the coffee cup and the crochet hooks in the other cup. Just absolutely amazing. So watch out, trust your instincts, and whenever possibly, try to find the distributor. 5/5

For example, there are TON of fake pages for Peaches & Creme or Sugar 'n Creme. Just a ridiculous number. Those websites are only for those yarns when really, both yarns are owned/distributed by Yarnspirations. However, rarely does the Yarnspirations site come up when you search either of these. 4/

Most yarn company websites have links to specific yarn lines, patterns, stockists, etc., and usually there's also a search function (although not always!). There's usually links to books, a blog, and about us page--lots of content. Fake sites are almost always just a homepage. 3/

The websites used to just be bad quality photos of the yarn(s) in question and maybe some stock images, but now there's a ton of AI. If you're on a yarn website and it feels...sparse...there's a good chance it's fake. 2/

I spend a lot of time searching for yarn substitutions because certain knitting yarns have the lifespan of fruit flies. Lately, I've noticed a HUGE uptick in fake websites for yarn companies. Usually, they're fronts for Amazon affiliates, but some of them felt more nefarious. 1/

Weaving Words: Two Ways Explore just two of the different techniques used to weave words on an inkle loom.

Psst, hey! Do you do bandweaving and want to try out weaving words? Check out this post and you can download some charts! For free! There are charts for Charlotte's Web themed Baltic pick-up bands and a full pebble-weave alphabet. #inkle #bandweaving #weaver #inkleweaving #inkleweaver