Fare thee well, John Neil

I had sad news on Saturday - John Neil Davidson passed away last week. He was 24, a brilliant, funny, delightful human being who has been struggling with cancer for 6 years. He had almost reached his 5 year anniversary last December when it his cancer back with a vengence - we had the news in the same week that we heard our Lily Rose's first scan was clean. It was a bittersweet juxtaposition of joy and grief, renewal and fear.

My girls and I know John Neil through the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina. My teacher and mentor, Norman Kennedy brought me there to take a traditional rug weaving class in 1996 and in that class I met Ruth Truett, Nanette Davidson, Lucy Best and Beth Johnson - some of my favorite weavers. Ruth was then the program director at Campbell and she encouraged me to start teaching there that year. Nanette's husband Jan is the director of the Folk School, and they had 2 children then - John Neil and Chloe, and a few years later their Sam.

I returned in June that year with my three daughters for the Little Middle Folk School week. The girls participated in the children's classes and I taught an adult Treasure Pouch class in which we made tiny vessels and bags with wool felt, waxed linen and beads. We all came back for Little Middle week year after year, until each of the girls was too old to participate and became busy with work at home. We brought other girls with us some years - one year I had 6 girls with me, but after that I always brought a second adult!

John Neil was the same age as our Lily Rose and they teased and antagonized one another as 12 year old boys and girls will, but over the years he was a good friend to every one of our girls. He developed spinal cancer during his last year in high school, and was left with chronic pain issues that kept him out of college. He maintained his wry sense of humor throughout all his trials.

I feel honored to have known him. I remain delighted in his sense of humor and his spirit. I mourn for the loss that his family and friends are feeling. But the greater part of John Neil with be with us for as long as we remember him.

It's been a little busy!

Honest. The summer season at Bluemont is always rather hectic, but this year I got to fill in for the business manager while she was out on maternity leave along with my other duties, and then we moved our office in early August. Crazy, mon!

And in amongst the work-type busy-ness, my sisters & I took our Mom on a 5 day cruise to Canada for her 80th birthday - I promise a separate post on this trip soon, complete with embarrassing family photos and a report on our visit to Fleece Artist!

I helped Miss Ruby get ready to go off to college, and I got myself ready to teach two new classes: District Checks & Tweeds at The Mannings and Modular Knitting at the Campbell Folk School. Both were very successful classes with great students. I'll be teaching the Checks & Tweeds class again for the Blue Ridge Guild here in Virginia in February. My next Folk School class will be Knit to Felt in March, and then Tartan Throws in September.



In the Modular Knitting class, we made Log Cabin blocks:

And we made Triangles:



We made Mitered Squares:




And we knit Lizard Ridge squares, with one bold knitter even trying her hand at Entrelac:


We had one brand new knitter in the bunch who made a brilliant start with a roomful of encouragement. Here is the entire crew on Friday afternoon...note the picture perfect Smoky Mountain day - the weather was simply perfect all week long!


So I'm back home, trying to catch up on things at work after a week away and trying to figure out what to cast on next... two socks on two circs? More hats? What is on my holiday gift knitting list - it's certainly time to start thinking about that.

I will be singing at the Waterford Homes Tour & Craft Fair October 6 & 7, and helping at the Waterford Weavers booth there as well. We are planning a trip to visit Misses R & H at college after that, and I'm rooting for a swing by the New York State Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck on the way home as a)I've never been and b)I'm thinking about selling there next year. Then I will be appearing at the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival Oct. 27 & 28, and teaching a Tartan Scarves class at Misty Mountain Farm in November. A busy fall season ahead!

Martha, my dear

Miss Martha is the resident spinner & dyer at the Folk School, and a kindred spirit. She keeps sheep & angora rabbits and dyes with plants & natural dyes and she cards & spins wool and knits lovely things. I am very pleased to have one of her creations - I've been wearing it all the time since I bought it on Saturday morning on my way home from the Folk School.

This tam (mine!) has handspun wool/angora in natural colors and yarn dyed with indigo and with cochineal.

Our lovely model today is Hedgie, knitted & felted from the Fiber Trends pattern. He looks pretty good in the tam, yes? I just felted a purple one for Ruby, but it still needs to be finished - eyes, nose and a short seam sewn up.

18th century Floor Coverings

I will be teaching a weaving class at the John C Campbell Folk School from January 14th through the 20th on old rug styles. The link for the description is: http://www.folkschool.org/index.php?section=class_detail&class_id=822

It's a very interesting weaving class, and although this is listed as an advanced class, I often have a brand new weaver or two in my classes and that would be fine for this class as well.

There are 3 students signed up right now, with a good promise of a fourth, but as this is a round-robin style class with 6 different rug warps, it would be great to have a few more students.

We are going to weave samples of Swedish drall, Venetian carpeting, Jerga from the American southwest, Shaker rag rugs, boundweave and all wool overshot from Canada. There is a brown & blue sample of the overshot in the photo below of Cath Dodds - it's on the end of the table and is brown & blue.

For those of you who have never been to the Folk School, it's a wonderful place to spend a week immersed in craft and community, and the food is great. I've been teaching there for ten year and I try to go once or twice a year. I'll be back again in September to teach a modular knitting class.

Drop me a line if you are interested and have any questions!