Second Verse: With a little Help From Your Friends 🎵 🎶

 A second helping of an annual towel exchange that honours the memory of Wayne Nicholson or Padre Wayne as he was known on weaving groups at Ravelry.    It's been a lot of fun exchanging towels and making new friends and that was the heart of Wayne's inner light. To reach out and touch people in a light hearted way.    He and I swapped towels, samples and conversations so he would have just loved this.

This time, my towel swap partner was Nari in San Francisco who sent me this lovely towel of all over Swedish lace; sett 18 epi and has an 8/2 cotton warp and cottolin weft.   For a relatively new weaver she did a lovely job with nice selvedges and lovely finishing of the hems.

Nari tucked in some goodies: English Breakfast teas, a chocolate rice krispy bar and a box of Meyer Lemon Shortbread cookies from Rustic Bakery. My husband spotted those right away and so we'll be counting them out over cups of tea.

This was the 7th annual exchange at the group and there will be many more to come.   The group is at Ravelry and called  Woven Dishtowels .  There will be another exchange next year and you have 2-3 months to weave, exchange and then post your exchange towels.   

Reverend Wayne Nicholson 1948-2019   🕯️

With a Little Help From Your Friends 🎶

 Some of you long time readers may recall my memorial for a friend Rev. Wayne Nicholson. He died tragically in June of 2019.  He was a friend to many, an active weaver and fibre enthusiast, and husband to Harry.   He touch a lot of lives, especially through his good works at his church.

His posts at Warped Weavers, a group of weavers that carved out a (large) niche at Ravelry endeared him to many all over the world.   One group, the Woven Dishtowels hold an annual towel swap in his memory, as Wayne loved to weave towels and gift them.  The rules are simple: advertise you would like a swap partner and someone teams up with you. Normally it's one towel but you could agree to swap more. Some swap with one other weaver, and this year I'm shaping one towel each with two weavers.  One of my towels has arrived in the mail, just in time to help cheer me up after our recent family events.

Wayne seated at my Woolhouse Tools loom  and having fun!

My towel swap partner, Jessica, in Vancouver BC sent me this lovely set of goodies and canvas weave towel.  Jessica says she has been weaving 5 years and I must say that her weaving is lovely!   Great choice in colours that all pair nicely.

 

The goodies?   Premium Earl Grey loose tea from the East Vancouver tea company.    Sachets of ginger tea and divine shortbread cookies from The Bench Bakehouse, half dipped in white milk chocolate to nibble on. They were yummy!

Jessica is taking classes from Jane Stafford's on- line weaving school, and given Jane's love of colour, Jessica has taken to it very well! I hear back from weavers world wide about the classes and they seem to really make a difference from being a newbie who is hesitant, to a more confident weaver who embraces colour and gets a good grasp on weaving theory.....all at your own pace if you follow the videos sequently.  I sure wish this had been there for my start back in the 1990's!  There was only in person classes, books and helpful friends then. The internet has opened weaving up to a much wider audience.  Take a look at the link and see if it's right for you.

A warm thank you to Jessica! Your towel will be along soon....  😁 🌺