THERE IS A DIFFERENT GREEN
I sit beside the fire and think of how the world will be
When winter comes without a Spring that I shall never see.
For still there are so many things that I have never seen:
In every wood in every Spring there is a different green.
- J.R.R Tolkien, "The Lord of the Rings"
 |
| Ruthe Stowe 1996 |
I got married in '51 to Albert Jack Stowe..........need I say more?
Jack and I had four children (Margaret, Beverley, John and Ann), various dogs, cats, fleas, horses, etc......but that was long ago. ;) The children are still here, thank God, and have lives of their own now, but the others .........are gone, not forgotten, but gone.
I have been interested in crafts since I made my first doll dress, I guess I was about four or five! My mother always had her sewing machine out and I used it. Have tried my hand at everything I could since. You name it, I tried it......... I got into weaving and that was it.......!
I thank my sister, Jean, for my loom. It is a 4 harness Leclerc Counterbalance. I love it! I have been using it for 20+ years. Jean patiently taught me, writing long letters with 'how-to......' ! I still have some of the letters and the pictures she took when she taking the loom apart to send to me. So I would know how to put it together again!
I, mainly, learned from books about techniques and patterns, and all those other things that I seemed to learn by reading-osmosis. Later, I took classes and went to workshops. I love a workshop setting because of the input of other weavers. I like going to conferences too, for the inspiration that I get from seeing what other weavers are doing. And of course the suppliers!
It seems that I have an addiction. It is called "Thread-Benderitis"! (or 'Fibreitis' for short) Every time I see (feel) a beautiful yarn, I have to have it to weave with, no plans what to weave with it, but I must have it, if only to look at and feel! I have one of those areas which I call 'The Room'. It is full of yarn, and all the things that you use to 'bend' yarn into something useful and beautiful (or not!). Now-a-days I do not do as much weaving as I should. Ideas keep popping up though! I was never a 'full-time' weaver. I weaver for fun. By-the-by, the background on this page (slightly altered in colour, it is dark green) is a profile draft that I wove in turned Swedish Lace for a curtain. The warp is 2/16 cotton, the weft 2/16 linen. I call it "Moonlite Evergreens". It was woven for a Guild Juried Show.
Oops, almost forgot!
I joined the Burlington Weavers Guild sometime along the way, I think it was in '87. Time passes! The first job I volunteered for was 'loom convenor'. The second was 'librarian'. I loved both jobs. I am still librarian. We, in the BWG, are very lucky. We have a large studio, full of looms (anything from a Dorothy table to a 120", including 60" with a flying shuttle and a Macomber Dobby), in the Burlington Art Centre. Any member can use the looms. We have meetings on the first Monday in the month. We meet at 7:30 pm, the program comes before the business meeting. So, if anyone is in the Toronto, Hamilton, Guelph area, come and see us. We also have a group that meets on Wednesday afternoons and a Thursday group too. The guild has fine programs, and we run a big workshop every other year (4-5 day) and a small one in the years between (weekend or one day). There are many "Master Weaver's" in our guild, in that we are doubly lucky!
Computers.......? that is another story! I seem to go through computers like 'a mouse thro' cheese'. I got my first one in Sept. '90. Only a 8088, and Dos. Since then I have been upgrading every 6 months or so, it seems. Until Sept. '95, when I finally got one that I don't plan to upgrade for 3 years or more. (famous last words ) I need more RAM now!
My first program was 'Deluxe Paint II'. I still have it, but hardly use it anymore. This program is why I bought the first computer! I have many programs now and I use them all. My 1 gig hard drive is more than full, and that's with some programs on CD's! I say 'more than' because I've got a second Hard Drive now and I'm thinking about more! Where does all that space go?
My daughter, Margaret, the computer whiz, introduced me to 'the web'. She gave me a 'server' for my birthday, once I saw it I was hooked. At her urging, I downloaded 'Hotdog' and started fooling around with a web page, with her help. Margaret eventually got tired of my procrastination, next thing I knew the page was on-line! "There," she said "now you have to do something with it!" That's how the 'Weaving Resources' started.
The "Weaving List" was just getting going, so I talked with Lili (list mom) and she and I thought it was a good idea to have one website (one Bookmark!) that had all the weaving links. There are others now, but in those days mine was it, and still is according to many. I had to put something on the page, didn't I? ; -)
I bet you thought I forgot about 'et al', didn't you? Those are parts of my family that share my homepage. Isn't this fun?
There are none, sad to say, "et al" anymore that share my page! So I think I'll say about my offspring and their offspring.
Margaret, I've already mentioned her. She is a fine guitarist well know among her peers. Her website is "Hello, Central" All her up-coming gigs and shows are posted there. She makes web pages for others too.
Beverley and her husband Jaro have a photography business in Oakville, Ont. They do photos for advertisments and posters for big companies. They are very "good"! Bev is a true artist at what she does! They have 2 sons, Stefan and Adrian. Stefan is studying Engineering. Adrian is Computer Animationist (is that a word?). They both are very smart (and handsome too!).
John has his own business too. He is 'Eastway Glass Centre', Auto Glass, in Hamilton, Ont. He has a son, Kevin. Kevin is into hockey and rollerblades. He must be good, his team wins a lot!!
Ann is a nurse at McMaster Medical Centre, Hamilton, Ont. She has a son, Joel, and a daughter, Katelyn.
I am so proud of them all! I am so lucky to have them all. I love them all always.
No comments:
Post a Comment