Can you knit both yarn and two groups of people together at the same time? Of course! It all happens during the week of Sandy De Master and Mary Germain’s Creative Knitting Retreat class and the companion Open Knitting Studio. Returning students, new-to-Sievers students, past and present students of Sandy and Mary, Carol Anderson, Carol Huebscher Rhoades and others “K2Tog”, picking up and knitting from year to year, working as established. In both groups, students bring projects of their own choosing. It can be a time to focus on mastering color work as in Fair Isle knitting, starting, working on and/or finishing anything from shawls, cowls, sweaters, hats, mittens, socks, a knitted pig (it’s true!) and more. The Creative Knitting […]
The Sievers Gathering
We want to share some images from the Sievers Gathering with you, held September 27-29. Starting with two workshops on Thursday afternoon all the way through the “wine-down” on Saturday evening, it was a fun, fiber-filled weekend! In the Bead Embroidery/Kumihimo workshop taught by Francie Broadie, students added bead embroidery around a cabochon and finished their pendant with a kumihimo braid. Geri Rock’s students completed two splint-woven baskets in the day-and-a-half Beginning Basketry workshop. Saturday’s events began with the ever-popular fiber arts garage sale. Thank you to everyone who donated and helped organize all the many items. The garage sale brought in just under $3,600! Some of the proceeds from the garage sale will be shared with the W.I. Rec Center, Trinity Lutheran […]
Going Well Beyond
It’s time to catch up on the two classes that took place before the Gathering, Beyond Beginning Weaving with Nancy Adams and Garment Construction Intensive with Daryl Lancaster. The beautiful handwovens as well as the exceptional garments created went well beyond anything either class description could convey. Nancy guided her students through weave structures such as shadow weave, overshot and log cabin for shawls and elegant home handwovens. This class was woven together in other ways, with friendships formed at Sievers. One of the students celebrated her 80th birthday during the week. What an inspiration! Daryl brings so much to her class…her treasure trove of garments, skills and positive energy. New students work on the tailored “Daryl Jacket” and returning […]
Another Gathering Update
We are just a few days away from the 19th Sievers Gathering! Tomorrow we’ll begin our two Gathering Workshops and are looking forward to seeing all of you who plan to attend any of our events. Some of what’s been added to the Gathering weekend since the last update include a silent auction of baskets made by Jeanette Biederman and Rich Prange in the vendor area on Saturday. Joining the demos/show & tell in the Walter Studio on Saturday afternoon will be Cindy Steinke and Ginnie Killough with their handmade, tailored garments. Both Cindy and Ginnie have been long-time students at Sievers and just finished the Garment Construction class with Daryl Lancaster. They’ve brought a beautiful array of their finished pieces. Diane […]
Baskets and Bluebirds
When “happiness is in your hands”, it shines through in the finished work, just like the baskets made in class with Jeanette Biederman and the bluebirds from Jerry Landwehr’s Carving Songbirds class. The week was filled with patterns, colors and a multitude of baskets just like previous Independent Study classes! A number of students focused on trays with many complex designs seen in the studio. We like to think the happiness generated in class was tucked inside all these baskets before they went home! Using basswood or butternut and starting from a rough-cut form, the carving students brought their bluebirds to life in just two days time. If “happiness is in your hands” could these be […]
September
Before these glorious days of September turn to more traditional fall weather, we wanted to share some Washington Island views and an old elementary school poem about this lovely month. September The goldenrod is yellow; The corn is turning brown, The trees in apple orchards With fruit are bending down. The gentian’s bluest fringes Are curling in the sun, In dusty pods the milkweed Its hidden silk has spun. The hedges flaunt their harvest In every meadow nook, And asters on the hillside Makes aster in the brook. From dewy lanes at morning The grape’s sweet odors rise, At noon the roads all flutter With yellow butterflies. By all these lovely tokens September days are […]
Sievers Gathering Update
It’s getting closer to Sievers Gathering time! The weekend begins with our workshops, Bead Embroidery Basics with a Side of Weaving offered by Francie Broadie and Beginning Splint-Woven Basketry with Geri Rock. The workshops will run Thursday, September 27 at 2pm until Friday, September 28 at 4pm. Some of our updates since the last posting in July: Our Friday evening social time with cookies and refreshments will be held in the Walter Studio from 5 pm to 8 pm. Some of the Sievers history and photos will be on display there. The Sievers Shop will be open until 8 pm as well. Judie Yamamoto will be demonstrating Japanese Temari on Saturday afternoon. Two additional vendors have been added: Island Edibles and […]
In contrast
There’s been a definite contrast this past week between Kay Rashka’s Metalwork Jewelry Boot Camp with students using hammers, drills, motorized hand tools, torches and all sorts of shiny and possibly even sharp-edged components for fabricating jewelry and Betty Glynn Carlson’s Navajo Rug Weaving class where students quietly and reflectively place each strand of authentic wool yarn within the warp. Come along for a tour! With Kay Rashka’s instruction, each student leaves with a collection of interesting, personalized and textured art jewelry. Navajo Weaving in itself is a journey, using unbroken warp threads and meaningful designs woven out of (often) specific naturally dyed wool. To finish one piece in this 5-day class is a real accomplishment. Some of the students had started a rug in a prior year […]
