Island Hopping

I had one day to get over my whirlwind 3 day trip to Vancouver and then I was back on a ferry again! This time, a short hop over to Salt Spring Island with two guild members, Lois and Dawn. We're heading to Jane Stafford's weaving studio with our Louet Jane looms in tow. We are there to get our Jane's autographed! Oh, and some retail shopping therapy... Its a bit of a changeable day with rain squalls dashing through and the wind picking up as the day progressed.

Here's our boat in the process of loading cars to return to Crofton on Vancouver Island. We stopped and had a bite of lunch in Vesuvius Bay and then headed to the north part of the island

When we turned down a trail through the woods to the studio, we were greeted by Jane's "official greeters". The girls were pretty much busy looking for good eats and the rooster was all about guard duty and making sure they didn't go too far. Their plumage was beautiful!

Once inside we were in heaven with looms, all Louets of course except for one lone Leclerc Fanny and yarn, books, yarn and people who spoke our language!

Jane is known for her British mohair throws and also for her chenille throws. I found a colourful stack waiting for finishing that caught my eye.

Dawn was happy to be able to review some difficulties she been having with her Hollandia with Jane and get suggestions on how to remedy them. This is a Delta above. There is pretty much every model Louet makes all around the room: a David, a Spring, and a 32 shaft Megado.

I didn't get this lady's name but she is busy tying onto a dummy warp with some luscious mohair for another throw. Her loom is the Leclerc Fanny counterbalance.

Here Lois is perusing the cones for a project she has in mind. She wasn't disappointed! She has some Christmas runners to warp up with a view to being ready for gifts and the guild sale. Now that's smart!

This picture and the one below show the rainbow selection! Each colour has the various sizes ( 3/2, 5/2, 10/2 etc) all in behind one another. So you choose your colour, then your yarn size. She has cottons, linen, fine wools, wool/silk blends....and mohair of course.

The bags on the shelves are for knitters and have wonderful storage compartments. If there had been a suitable colour, one would be great for me as an everyday purse!

So yes, I did some shopping and I bought some 10/2 mercerised cotton in white and natural for lace weaves and another in a Christmas red. Lois apparently got me thinking!

I also bought a book for my library:

This book has come down in price from when I first saw it 18 months ago and so I picked up a copy. I guess its the various exchange rates between Canada and England perhaps? If you click on this link Janet Phillips , it will take you to Janet's web page where she explains her book in far better detail than I could. I'm looking forward to reading it in depth!

I mentioned earlier that we had just got back from Vancouver. We had gone over to see my father and also to help my brother with his move. As soon as I saw my Dad, I knew he was better! You can see it in the eyes ...

He still has a long road ahead to get stronger before he can go home but he's well on his way!


The owner of the dog kennel where we left our senior terrier said that she could not believe that he is 13 years old as he played with the other big dogs like he was 2 years old... and ate like a horse. He came home and headed straight for his bed and slept 6 hours , ate supper and then went back to bed. He wore himself out pulling the wool over those youngsters!


So with all our spring showers, I'm hoping to hit the looms and have something to show you soon.