Fiberside Chat Follow-up; Notes to Future-Self

 

Photo from Longmont Yarn Shoppe's follow-up email, thank you!

I just LOVE this photo.

I had a wonderful time on Thursday being hosted by the Longmart Yarn Shoppe (and affiliate yarn shops) last night for their Fiberside Chats series.  It was my first Zoom event where I was the speaker (which was going to happen sooner or later) and I learned a lot.

First, it was really weird talking to absolute silence as I went through my presentation.  I was nervous and I think I blew through my talk a little faster than I had practiced. I couldn't see or hear people's reactions so I was trying not to rattle on too long about specific pieces. I was later assured that everyone was engaged and smiling or nodding. My friend who was on told me she was so interested that she didn't get any knitting done. That's a good sign. I'm going to start to post more video to get the hang of speaking to "nothing." This made me realize I don't talk out loud when there isn't anyone around.  When I'm home alone I barely even talk to the cats.  I walk around in silence just thinking.  Maybe I should start to think out loud?  I do need to make notes for my slides in the future.  I quit doing it because they were just distracting when I spoke in front of people.  On Zoom I think notes will help ground me.

Second, we have really great internet at our house, but it wasn't so great on my new laptop in the studio. I was struggling with Zoom video via the laptop live video feed.  The presentation was fine and I had my phone logged into Zoom for my weaving demo which was clear for everyone to see.  I think in the future I need to take the Zoom video settings off of HD so it's not trying so hard and I should be clearer (something Sarah pointed out to me the next day).   

Third, I really loved being able to answer questions about my work while weaving.  I get fidgety when I have to stand there and go through questions, talking and weaving (and explaining what I was doing as I wove) went better than I could have imagined. My next talk is with the Kalamazoo Handweaver's Guild and I am going to try to have a demo prepared for them too now!

Lastly, I think my talk did what I always hope to do, inspire fiber artists.  I became a weaver and fiber artist because of my exposure to guilds, programming and creative memberships.  Others' creativity pushes and inspires my own and I hope I will be able to do the same.

Fiberside Chat on February 18, 2021 is almost here!

I'm terrible at posting video, but with the way social media is right now, I'm trying to get used to it.  Unlike the 45 takes it took me on the last video, I tried to just roll with it his morning before work (with only 9 takes this time).  This is me, lots of "uummmm"s but very excited to talk about my weaving with Fiberside Chats on February 18, 2021, 6pm EST 4pm MTS.

Register HERE.  Pick a yarn shop to support, anyone can join!

Fiberside Chats with Jenny Schu

When I met on Zoom with the ladies of Longmont Yarn Shoppe I agreed to help the promo work for my Fiberside Chat.  I usually post to social media just enough to stay relevant but I can forget and let it go a week or two.  I'm trying to post something daily.  They requested I do a video, which I'm not usually too keen on doing, but I'm trying to get better; video is popular for online marketing these days.  46 video takes later and a few hours I got this one together:  

Topic:

In this Fiberside Chat Jenny will be sharing her weaving journey, beginning in college where her fiber artwork incorporated hand dyeing yarns for the draft of a piece all the way through to fixing & adapting mistakes for expertly finished pieces. Her early interest in the unique structures of Double Weave Pick Up and Theo Moorman Inlay have continued to be the focus for her creativity. Jenny will do a live demo using the Double Weave piece currently on her loom and talk about her design process, personal inspiration and how her weavings start with a concept which eventually comes to fruition. Whether you’re an experienced weaver or have a newly developed interest there’s something for everyone in this Chat!


Register here:
https://www.longmontyarn.com/shop/Fiberside-Chats/p/Fiberside-Chats-Jenny-Schu-February-18th-x54882092.htm


Past and Current Fiberside Chats: https://www.longmontyarn.com/shop/Fiberside-Chats.htm

I've gotten a ton of compliments on my wool blazer, thank you!  I love mustard yellow and when I was working at Talbots I couldn't pass it up. 

Beginning Weaving for "Is There a Thing to Which Brings Us Less Joy Yet We Devote More Time"

I started this post on 1/6/2021 and have gotten a bit further than the above photos, once I start to weave I can get on a roll and other things (like this blog post) may be overlooked or forgotten. 

It seems like it's been a long time since I've tried to add float warps to either side of my warp in order to try to get my selvedges looking better. I still pull in too much on the left side. I haven't a clue why I still struggle with selvedges, but I'm trying on each piece to get them better. I know that part of my selvege struggle lies in the fact that I make 2 passes with the weft before beating it.  I'd be fine if I only did one pass, but then that's twice as much time spent picking up the warp for the pattern. It already takes me about an hour to weave a quarter of an inch, maybe I'll do one pass on a future smaller piece.

If you want to see a LIVE DEMO of me weaving this piece on Zoom, it's coming up in February!  I have been asked to be the feature for a Fiberside Chat session hosted by Longmont Yarn Shoppe. I'm very excited to be doing my very first Zoom talk about how I use supplemental warp structures in my weavings. Don't worry, I will not get too technical. It's more about my work, what inspires me and my weaving process.  It's $20 and you can register HERE.