Why did you decide to attend this program?

I’d always wanted to weave since I was a little kid.

I had taken week long workshops here and there over several years, but I didn’t have the confidence nor the time to weave on my own. I looked on the Vavstuga website to see if I could get in a basics class when I noticed the Immersion program.  Although 15 weeks seemed like a long time,  I thought if I weave everyday for 15 weeks, particularly under the guidance of Becky,  I’ll  know what I’m doing and have the confidence to go home and actually weave on my own. I started rearranging my life so that I could attend. I was also excited about being in New England in the fall.

 What has it been like living here?

I rented a little house in town by the railroad tracks. I share it with my joyful dog, Addie, a lab corgi mix. The communal workspace has been great and we all get along. For someone like me who had less knowledge of weaving when I got here, it is wonderful because all of my fellow students are also teachers for me. The food is great and it’s a magical, wonderful thing that it just appears.  Someone else does the shopping, the cooking, and the cleaning. It has been a while since I’ve had this much structure in my daily life. It’s really kind of nice to know that you are going to get up at a certain time, have three meals a day at the same time every day, have regularly scheduled breaks, and spend your day concentrating on weaving.

What will you take with you?

 Several things. Obviously much more knowledge and experience about weaving, but also the structured practice of showing up and just spending the time to plan, prepare, and weave the project.  We have been turning our cellphones to airplane mode for the duration of class, it’s amazing to me how much I appreciate the lack of break in concentration from checking e-mail and taking calls. I’m going to take that practice with me when I get back home.  There is also no TV in either the farm house nor my house in town which has proved me the opportunity to realize that it is not all that necessary in my life.

What did you think of the weaving tour?

It was really fascinating to see the different styles and techniques of each of the weavers.  Some of the weavers where working in less traditional, more complex structures which I found quite interesting. It was also interesting to listen to how the different weavers treated their finished products- some babied their items and others just threw it in the washer and dryer even if it was made from the same material and structure.

As we see different weave structures and materials we want to keep add projects to our list of things to experience while we are here.   Becky is really an enabler when it comes to learning more. We are working hard so that we can squeeze in weaving a few more types of structures before we leave here.

If you’d like to learn more about Joan and her work, please visit her website.