Saori Smiles

 

I am still wired from weaving yesterday with these fine folks!!!

I drove 2+ hours to the Wimberly Saori Studio yesterday to study with Kathleen Utts. https://www.wimberleyvalleysaori.com/about/

I had been there one time previously.......before the flood........before all was lost.......before I thought I would be starting over with a different Saori loom.

However, the magic reappeared. My loom with all its parts survived the disaster and is now a working loom in my "loom room!"

I did not take my loom to Kathy's workshop. It is a chunky loom, not foldable like those pictured, the models we wove on for six hours. It seemed like six minutes. Kathy's stash of yarns are better than any candy store could duplicate. Drawers open to beautiful yarns, towers spin revealing cones of imported yarns, within my arm's reach while weaving were sparkles and the most creative yarns one could imagine. 

In the photo above, I am the second one from the left. My weaving is the result of no plan, no pattern, no justification except that it is about the creative journey. Kathy said, "Let the weaving tell you its use, what it is to become, what life it breathes." 

I shall embellish it today with beads and perhaps a button to accent the pink. (Handmade buttons are my new interest. I shall blog about my Etsy button order as soon as I unwrap them.)

Our teacher Kathy Utts, is well known in the Saori world. She travels frequently to Japan, continuing her learning with the Saori family. Her soft voice, perfect stories injected with humor and delight, guidance with any problems, her wealth of Saori knowledge and so very willing to share.

It's all part of the package I unwrapped yesterday.

I arrived home at 6:30 p.m., a bit tired but feeling blessed to have a Saori studio within one day's drive to and fro and then to study under the tutelage of Kathy. 

Beginners relish the ease of Saori weaving yet once one gets the knack of Saori weaving the potential is limitless. Next, after I weave for a few months, Kathy is offering a November workshop teaching how to transform one's weavings into vests and jackets. 

I am hooked, heddled, loomed and ready to keep this commitment warped!