It started in May 2023, when Janaki’s daughter Shanthi came to visit Maryland with the specific aim of attending the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. Shanthi & Gareth came from Ireland for the event. Harvey’s friend Betsey Cogswell, a talented fiber artist, also joined us, as did Janaki’s friend Bonnie Guralnick, who knits and weaves, and makes wonderful jewelry.
One of the highlights of the Sheep & Wool Festival is the Sheep -to-Shawl Competition:
Sheep to Shawl from pam kaplan on Vimeo.
It was amazing to see these craftsfolk turn wool into finished shawls within a few hours, and Janaki has always dreamed of learning to weave. She wandered around the festival, and spoke to some of the weavers demonstrating their techniques, and learned about the rigid heddle loom. Shortly after the festival, we had one:
Janaki started a little project, but it wasn’t turning out as she expected, and she put the project aside (as she does with so many knitting projects – called WIPs – works-in-progress). And, then Harvey and she decided to get married so, she pulled the failed project off the loom, started over and ended up with this:
Two of three panels woven (the top was my first effort, the bottom shows more skill)
Three panels sewn together
We invited folks to bring anything they liked to attach to the chuppah, and the final canopy looked like this:
Check back – Janaki has grand plans to turn this into a wall-hanging!!