It’s been fun cleaning up and re-arranging our new store/office area since the construction dust has settled. Every once in a while one of us will proclaim, “Oh that is where I put that!” Routines are once again becoming the norm.

Besides the reorganizing of workspace, the month of August had three classes in the studio: Vavstuga Basics, Bands Plain & Fancy and Swedish Rag Rugs. The Bands class was a new offering and a real keeper. We extended the format of the Swedish Rag Rug class to 3-days with rewarding results. Students spent a great deal more time on design, techniques and finishing than in the past.

We are now offering a new item in our store: a Heavy Duty Ball Winder. This American-made workhorse winds a center-pull ball with ease.

The next time you hear from us it will officially be Autumn and with that newsletter we will be publishing our 2011 calendar of classes …. stay tuned!

August 2010 Basics

Some folks will jump through hoops to attend a class .... wearing a pink wrapped cast!

Bands Plain & Fancy

We know it is mid-August and like our newsletters out the first of each month. Believe us, the wait is worth the beautiful pictures below.

We hung up our freshly painted sign this past Saturday, signifying the end of the construction project. Hooray! Oh sure, there still will be contractors trooping in and out from time to time, but much of the chaos is behind us.

store renovations complete!

our freshly painted sign

We are officially back in our little storefront with a new part-time employee. Paul Bombardier joined the Vävstuga team earlier this month. With the addition of Paul we now offer store hours from 1-5pm Wednesday through Saturday. As the business grows we look forward to adding more hours and days.

Paul Bombardier, our new store employee

We have a Bands class in process the first part of this week. The eight students are having a blast and learning more about bands than they thought possible.

this week's bandloom class

Our September Classics class has three openings; if you are a Basics alum you qualify for enrollment. Our warps will include the following techniques:

• Treadled Finnish Opphämta, 30/2 linen warp
• Smålandsväv in 16/2 cotton
• Satin in linen and wool
• Monk’s belt and rosepath on the same warp, 20/2 linen warp
• Turned overshot on two beams, cotton warp
• Rep rug or runner, 16/2 cotton warp
• 8 shaft twill shawl, Mora wool warp
• Plain weave with singles linen!

Enjoy what remains of this extremely hot summer.

We will be placing our Autumn order with Bockens & Borgs at the end of July. We anticipate delivery by mid September. Both companies are closed for their annual summer holiday until August 2nd.

If you’ve been dreaming about projects that you want to weave this Fall with these beautiful yarns, now is the time to plan! We will be more than happy to include your special orders with ours if we receive them by July 29th.

We are on the downward slope with our building’s construction project, hooray! The store area has new windows, a new entry door, new walls, air conditioning and central heat! August 1st is our scheduled date for having most everything back in place. We are still keeping our regularly scheduled store hours (Wednesday through Saturday 2–5pm) but our presentation is a bit helter-skelter.

temporary location of our store during renovations

A new fence enclosing our backyard was installed in early June. As you can see from the photo, it is quite elegant and has created a haven for us to enjoy.

new fence enclosing our back yard

Becky has been working with a well-known local cutlery manufacturer, Lamson & Goodnow, to design some unique tools for your studio. We are quite proud of the results and now offer a Vävstuga branded reed hook and bandloom knife.

Vävstuga reed hook, by Lamson & Goodnow

Vävstuga bandloom knife, by Lamson & Goodnow

Check out our Books page for three new additions and two new sale items:

• Warp with a Trapeze & Dance with Your Loom
• Favorite Scandinavian Projects to Weave
• Tvåändstickning: Grunderna (Two End Knitting: Basics)
• Hemvävt: 45 inredningar (Home Woven: 45 weave plans) – now on sale for $37
• Vävkalender 2010 – now on sale for $16.50, plus $2.50 media shipping if ordering only this item

Happy 4th and enjoy this birthday of our very special nation!

We moved into our new office this week and it is a very pleasant space indeed. We are about to begin Phase II, which requires our closing the retail store from Saturday, May 29th through Tuesday, June 16th. If you would like to purchase anything before we close, please call us either on Thursday, May 27th or Friday, May 28th between 2-5 pm EST. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause our customers.

With our new retail space coming to fruition, we would like to announce a newly created job position at Vävstuga. We are looking for a part-time employee to assist in our retail store as well as with fulfillment of phone and mail orders. As one of the premier weaving schools in the country, we are willing to train a candidate. Hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 1-5 pm. Starting wage is $8/hour with room for advancement. Computer skills, accurate keyboarding and attention to detail are a must. Please send your resume via email to our office address no later than June 17th.

wild onion runner

Our looms are dressed for Spring Vävstuga Days this coming week, May 11-15, and we could not have done it without the help of nine competent volunteers. We have posted photos of the spring-y and summer-y warps to entice you to join us. We do have a few slots remaining; if you are interested, please email or phone us and we will get you signed up.

• Tuesday, 5/11, 9am-1pm (2 openings)
• Wednesday, 5/12, 9am-5pm (1 opening)
• Saturday, 5/15, 9am-5pm (1 opening)
• Saturday, 5/15, 9am-1pm (4 openings)

Alumni Week, May 17-21 (Monday-Friday), also still has a few positions available for those of you who have completed the Vävstuga Basics course. The very same warps from Vävstuga Days will be on the looms but you have the added bonus of having access to the studio from 9am until 9pm. So when you are not weaving you may peruse the library, mangle your handwovens and enjoy a one-hour show-and-tell from Becky.

We’ve just filled our last remaining spaces in Vävstuga Basics for 2010. We will publish our 2011 class schedule at the end of September.

Our construction project is still going strong despite numerous interruptions by our fully enrolled classes, which is difficult on the contractors. All in all the end is in sight and we’re quite excited about the future of Vävstuga.

Enjoy the beautiful flowers that are appearing everywhere this time of year.

Vävstuga is buzzing (literally) with activity. The construction project on our building is slowly coming along with a finish date of mid-June???

Spring Vävstuga Days will be May 11-15th. We will begin to take sign-ups for this very popular event on Wednesday, April 21st. Don’t be left out and do bring your friends so that they may have a Vävstuga experience to remember.

Our Dressing the Loom class has a few openings remaining. You’ll find this class useful either as a review or as your first class at Vävstuga. Design and wind your own napkin warp to take home, in addition to experiencing all aspects of dressing our looms. All stages of our loom dressing techniques will be covered, including winding a warp on a warping mill, pre-sleying the reed, winding onto the back beam with warp sticks, threading Texsolv heddles, tying up to the front tie-on bar, and tying up the treadles. You’ll learn about both countermarch and counterbalance tie-ups.

Wishing you a very happy spring!

March is here and we’re heading into the next phase of our building’s construction project: the interior of the office/retail space. There will be times between March 13th and April 2nd when it will be next to impossible to reach certain portions of our inventory. If you have a special project that you may need yarn for, please check your stash now.

All orders need to be placed prior to this coming Friday, March 12th. We will do our utmost to fulfill orders during the above-mentioned dates, but mass chaos may get the best of us.

Everyone here has fallen in love with the new Julia loom with 8-shaft countermarch. Cute as a button and affordable, this loom offers the comfort of a full size floor loom with a petite footprint.

Julia countermarch loom in action

Becky's new handwoven ski skirt and belt, and John's handwoven gaiter project. They were a blast to ski in for a week in Maine.

We continue to build synergy at Vävstuga with the core team consisting of Becky Ashenden (Sole Proprietor) and Susan Conover (Operations Manager). Two talented women are now “veterans” of the Vävstuga apprenticeship program: Celeste Johnson from Naples, NY (March-September 2009) and Lisa Bertoldi from Williamsburg, MA (September 2009-February 2010).

The 2010 class format has been altered to address the many requests from our alumni. We are now providing specific classes so that you may concentrate on a larger project for the duration of your visit (see Vävstuga Treasures) or explore a multitude of techniques within a week-long class (see Vävstuga Classics.) Each of these two classes does require completing the Vävstuga Basics class, which continues to enjoy a waiting list. Speaking of Basics, our Scholarship Fund is accepting applications for this excellent foundation class (and only this class) at the present time.

We’ve seen major upgrades to the studio with state of the art lighting and air-conditioning throughout the entire building (even the dorm area). Don’t be surprised to hear jackhammers in the background if you phone us. The retail store and office areas are getting a “roof” lift.

As always, if you should have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us. Our store/phone hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 2-5pm EST.

We are certainly looking forward to the coming year with eagerness!

~Becky & Susan