It's been more than a week since we were in Estes Park and I'm finally writing about our trip.
JoAnne and I flew out of Cedar Rapids on Friday, June 8th and were up in Estes Park by 9PM.
Saturday was our day for assembling the loom, warping it up, creating the Educational Board and doing some shopping! As always there was a great selection of beautiful fibers, yarns and tools. Sadly, we also had a good view of the fire which I believe is still burning as I write this so much later.
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| Forest fire from the Estes Park Fairgrounds |
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| Rhonda and I warping the loom |
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| Duct tape - what can't it do? |
We've decided that we are the Murphy's law team. Rhonda forgot the braces for the loom at home, but JoAnne got to the lumberyard and found some workable replacements. We got everything finished in time to get some sleep before the big day with only one other major glitch. We were teaching our new team member, Audrey, how to use the Clemes and Clemes drum carder when the drive band broke. JoAnne went off in search of a replacement something (at 10PM in Estes Park - good luck). While she was gone Rhonda had an epiphany. She had watch Mythbuster's "Duct Tape Island" episode. We twisted the tape, doubled it up and taped in the ends together. The second band works as well as the original. Thanks Adam and Jamie!
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| Bumble on sage |
We had fun spinning and chatting with the onlookers, but Rhonda was not able to finish weaving the shawl in the allotted time, but it will be beautiful. We chose a broken twill pattern with a couple of bands of Soumak tapestry and vertical bands of color by blending the white warp fleece with the black weft fleece.
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| Assembly line - from back: Audrey, Rhonda and JoAnne |
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| Rhonda weaving - Sumac tapestry band |
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| Catriona production spinning on Jensen wheel |
When the shawl is finished we are giving it to our former member Tamara (it would have been her year to get the shawl). By the time we headed down to the airport to fly back home bright and early on Monday morning we were bushed. Wake up call at 3:30AM and catch the shuttle to DIA at 4AM at the gate by 5AM and the plane was full to Minneapolis a short wait and then home to Cedar Rapids and a nap before going to a High School baseball double header.
Update to original post: I heard from Rhonda last week and the shawl is finished. I'll need to add a picture of said shawl, hopefully one with Tamara wearing it.
