Late August 2025

In this newsletter you’ll find:

• Adventures in Denmark

• Studio news & updates

• Things to See & Read

I’m home from a wonderful time in Denmark at Det Vilde Spinderi.

I spent an equal amount of time at the studio and the beach and saw some incredible art and craft work and made exceptional new friends.

I have so much to share that I’ll be using the next several newsletters to unpack my adventures through Nykøbing, Copenhagen, Malmö, Båstad, Haraldsted and elsewhere, introducing you to some of the people, artists, places, and art and craft works I experienced. I’ve come home feeling as though I’ve been away for a lot longer than one month!

Several small things happened while I was away in Denmark.

Gist Yarns has re-released my Tidal Towels pattern using Duet and Mallo, and has added a new treadling variation — the “king tide”, where the wave motif travels the entire length of the towel. I have one of the king tide towels and feels like such a luxurious upgrade to the original way I wove them. The pattern is still free to download and is available on the Gist website here.

While we’re on the Gist website, you may have seen two articles I wrote that were published mid-July: Reading and Understanding Profile Drafts and Understanding Block Weaves Vs Unit Weaves.

If you’ve ever come across a draft like the one above and felt confused as to how it was supposed to be monks belt or summer and winter, this article should help you on your way to understanding profile drafting.

There have been so many interesting projects, exhibitions and things I’ve saved lately…

• The Weaving Futures workshop with Blessyl Buan at Craft Ontario “invites participants to explore and engage with traditional Philippine weaving of banig, reinterpreted in a contemporary context using dried palm and upcycled materials. This hands-on community workshop invites participants to contribute to a growing tapestry; The Dream Weave,” which will be part of Nuit Blanche 2025.

  This workshop is taking place on Saturday, September 20, from 2:00-4:30pm at Craft Ontario, 1106 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON. Please visit the website to register if you’d like to attend.

• More Than Human at the Design Museum London asks why design has traditionally focused exclusively on the needs of humans when we share this earth with animals, plants, and other living beings. It includes an 8 metre long commissioned tapestry by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg titled Pollinator Pathmaker: Perceptual Field.

  

• Another exhibition I’d love to see is Flaxen, by Alice Fox, which can be enjoyed virtually through her newsletter. Alice Fox’s land-based practice thoughtfully engages with flax, thorns, roots, branches and stems through weaving, twining, ink, and basketry. The exhibition is open for a few more days, until August 31, 2025 at Kestle Barton in West Cornwall.
  

• Carpet weaving in Kashan, Iran, in 1989!

• I am really looking forward to hearing artist Ekta Kaul speak at the Contemporary Textile Studio in Toronto on August 28, 2025. In case you haven’t seen her work, Kaul explores stories and place to create highly specific and personal hand-stitched textile maps. She’s also written a book about kantha! You can read more about her on the Tatter website, or visit her Instagram here.

See you next month,

Amanda