Hello! Welcome to 2024. Are you as amazed as I am how fast this last year has gone? Phew! Let me introduce myself: my name is Amanda Dussault and I will be your new TWG Blog Admin. I am very excited to be part of this amazing group of artistic, creative, and welcoming people.
I joined TWG in September 2023 and am relatively new to weaving – starting with a 15” Cricket Rigid Heddle loom that I purchased in April 2021. I bought the loom for two reasons: 1) I was bored with all my (COVID bound) hobbies and 2) I thought this would be a great way to plow thru my yarn stash 😂. Two days later, Amazon delivered my loom, I assembled it that night, and I wove two pot holders (with the included yarn. LOL). I was hooked! I got to the point where I could weave a beautiful plain weave scarf in about 7 hours. I pushed myself a bit too far and attempted a two-heddle project using 120/2 silk which ended up being cut off the loom in disgust. I will leave that learning for another day.
A few months later I purchased a 25” RH loom, then an Inkle loom, then a 4-shaft table loom. I created baby blankets, shoe laces, fancy hand towels, and dish towels. I learned a ton! Like:
– how I love the look of well-loved dishtowels woven with Organic Cotton.
– how mohair is so sticky and so beautiful at the same time!
– how ‘crispy’ Cottolin is as a fabric.
– how I am not really a fan of the Inkle loom
Then, in March of 2023, my Mom and I went to the Carolina Fiber Fest. There I bought more yarn and, as an impulse buy, purchased a drop spindle. Two months after that an electric spinner magically arrived on my doorstep. I have been spinning up a storm ever since. My favorite spin so far has been a 50/50 blend of silk and baby camel that will hopefully become a pair of fingerless gloves or a hat. I am currently spinning linen, which I have to say is a bit more challenging than I expected.
My back ground, however, isn’t in the arts. I have a Bachelor’s of Science in Design and Drafting, a Master’s of Science in Computer Science, and an Associate’s degree in Photography (which was more for fun than anything). I spent 8 years working as a draftsman before jumping into computer programming and I have never looked back. I have been programming for almost 30 years now and I can tell you that computer programming is an art in an of itself; it has processes and patterns, it has a format, it has a flow. I often wonder if my love for weaving somehow was born out of a love for programming!I have some ideas for this blog – ideas I hope all of you can contribute to. Along with posting articles and stories from the study groups, I am hoping some of you would consider writing an article! Perhaps under the heading of Noobie News; things a new fiber artist would love to know when beginning this journey. Maybe consider having a Member Spotlight; an article about a particular member – I suppose this intro article would qualify as that! Or maybe simply an article about something newsworthy – the recent post about asking ChatGPT about how to warp a loom was particularly interesting given my recent work projects around Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.
So, feel free to send me articles or ideas at: aj_dussault@hotmail.com.
Thanks for reading and I am looking forward to seeing what great things you have to share!
Amanda