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I am asked this question often, by students, by other weavers and knitters, by clients. The answer is complicated, as there is definitely not one source. As a production weaver, I use up a great deal of yarn. AND, I try to only use natural fibres, wool, mohair, alpaca, cotton, silk. I really cannot consider purchasing much yarn at retail prices! So, I cast a wide net to locate yarn I can afford. I am drawn to colour and texture and have lost sources for many favourite yarns over the years as they have moved out of fashion or just out of production or out of my budget price wise. This post will describe how I acquire my raw materials these days as opposed to how I found them in the past.

If I were to purchase yarn from a retail outlet today, I would contact Maurice Brassard et Fils in Plessisville P.Q. They have a good variety and reasonable prices for a retail outlet. Very pleasant people and good service. I have stopped in there enroute to the East Coast. They are in the same building as LeClerc Looms.

Another retail source I have ordered yarns from is Briggs and Little Woolen Mills in New Brunswick . They have heather tone wools, not very soft to the touch, and the colours aren’t fabulous somehow. Sort of grouchy sales people . I have stopped in there as well, enroute to Nova Scotia. Sometimes they have had “reduced” prices on some overstocked or somehow not perfect yarns in the shop.

As well, wherever I travel, I research local yarn stores. It’s fun to walk around, and often I have found “discontinued” or “reduced” Yarns. I remember an amazing winter sale at a yarn store in Nanaimo B.C. Such fun to scoop up such useable and beautiful mohairs!

Beautiful yarns can be found at Fleece Artist in the Maritimes and Webs in Massachusetts, but these sources are too expensive for production weaving. So that is retail, but that is such a small percentage of my yarn purchases,

Wholesale type prices can be found online at Ice Yarns. They are located in Turkey, but offer amazingly fast delivery. Their “Reduced Prices” section can be amazingly affordable. The end cost is often double what one pays for the yarn, when shipping and Duty is added. But it still is very affordable. The yarn all comes in balls, not cones, but I still use it for weaving.

I have purchased a lot of yarn from “Dead Weavers”. That is when a weaver dies, or can no longer weave for any reason and they or their relatives try to dispose of the stash. Sort of a cautionary tale, for any of us aging weavers! I have obtained such beautiful yarns that way! Most memorable was from a diplomat’s wife. That woman had purchased yarns all over the world. The yarns from England, France and Germany are often very beautiful. Currently, I am working with a local woman who purchased an enormous yarn lot from an online auction. We are working on a yarn sale of the ones she and I do not want. I scooped up some ABSOLUTE treasures recently from her. I really wished I had known the previous owner of these yarns as our tastes really coincide. I purchased some beloved yarns I had used over the decades that are now totally unavailable, reminding me of the shop, The Newfoundland Weavery, which used to be in the Yorkville Village in Toronto.

The Newfoundland Weavery purchased bulk orders of yarns from Galashiels, Scotland and then sold them at a very reasonable price. They had beautiful colours, textures, fibre contents, the exact yarns which often were to be found otherwise in very expensive shops. I started making my own bulk orders there. I also made a point of going to Galashiels one time, walked right up to the door with the address that I had used over the years, and chose my bulk order from their shop. Another place I really loved to order from was The Handweaver’s Studio in London, England. I fell in love with mohair loop boucle because of that shop, and purchased lots when shipping fees were lower than they are now. Also, I would ask travellers like my daughter or my husband to stop in and bring me back yarn from there in those days when a reasonable amount of luggage was included in Air Travel.

Another international shopping adventure was a huge warehouse just north of Atlanta, Georgia. The shopping area was the size of a football field and had snakes lurking in it. We would stop in enroute home from more southern sites, and my husband would also shop there solo for me. They had great cottons at great prices. Now, alas, closed.

I also used to order some primitive yarns in great colours from Greece, but stopped when I lost an order due to an epidemic of anthrax there. I think I first bought these yarns at the Newfoundland Weavery shop, and I also visited that mill in Crete.

More International shopping. Surprisingly fabulous mohair can be found in South Africa. I brought home as much as I could. There is a sock industry called Thermohair, located in my own community, which uses South African mohair. New Zealand has fabulous yarn and beaches, and I shipped home large bags full of yarns which cushioned the treasures I had found on beach walks.

OK, on to Thrift Stores! Again, lots of yarns from “Dead Weavers” can be found there. Also just yarns that people have grown tired of and plan to never use. I always check out that section if I am thrift store shopping. You would be surprised what lurks there.

People also give me yarn! The most amusing gift was a huge collection of vintage balls of wool that someone had inherited and did not know what to do about it. I met her at a craft show and she actually even delivered it all to my home studio, all these balls with adorable vintage labels and of many colours. Much thinner yarn that I usually use but I would add it to mixed yarn wefts. And somehow, at this point, it is almost totally gone. Another weaver gave me gorgeous yarns which she said she would never use, but when she saw what I made from them, she expressed regret that she had given up on them. I try to remember to be generous.

Writing this, such nostalgia, such memories. I am currently very inspired by my latest acquisitions and anxious to…. get back to weaving!

I am very involved with my garden in every way, time wise, my aging body is very involved, and my finances are drawn into play as well. I could talk about my garden ad nauseum! And do! The joy it gives me. What I am planning. The new techniques I am trying. The concept of switching from “exotics” to native species. The list goes on. Today, however, I want to talk about how many basketry supplies that are to be found growing in my garden.

VINES

Let’s start with vines. They can be very useful in basketry, as superstructure elements in Rib Baskets, as long cores for Coiled Baskets. As a tangled element in the Random Weave Baskets, they create any shape. One of the highpoints of my garden is my Wisteria vine. It is quite an agressive plant and needs to be cut back often. Up the archway that leads to the lower half of my backyard is Bittersweet vine. Both of these vines I moved from my old house to my new house 8 years ago and they are very happy here, although I think my ‘5b’ location is at the northern limit of their climate zone. Down by the river grows wild Grapevine and Virginia Creeper. The grapevine is much stronger and especially beautiful when the bark is peeled off. The Virginia Creeper is not as strong, but it accepts dye beautifully, so I have to work a bit more carefully with it when I want vivid colours in the completed basket. Its the same as in my textile weaving, I want the warp threads to be coloured to complete the colour intensity of the completed piece. And I do love colour!

CORDAGE AND COILING

OK, moving right along to plants that supply material for cordage,. Cordage is a way to combine shorter elements to make a long rope like element. It is twisted into a 2 strand braid is the best way to describe the process My latest experiments are with daffodil stems. Yes, you read that correctly. I have so many daffodils. And after they bloom, the stems are sort of strong but squishy in the nicest possible way. They remind me of rushes (not cattails which are flat leaves) Rushes are plant stems and sedges, sedges have edges, they have sort of a triangular cross section, and have the same feel somehow as the daffodil stem, but they are much longer. (Rushes are found beside and slightly in water, unfortunately they are not common in my garden, even by the river.) I have not (yet) used dandelion stems, but I understand they too can be used in this way. Dandelions should be dried in a cool dark place until they are sort of crispy, so I have been told. Also, I love to make cordage from day lily leaves, iris leaves and corn husks. Day lily leaves have such a softly varying natural colour palette, especially when picked after the first frost and then dried. The other 2 can be dyed. and look gorgeous. Iris leaves look like silk batik and corn husks can get quite colourful. Dying plant materials can be accomplished with any dye that will work on cotton, in other words, on plant fibres not animal fibers like wool and silk. One can also use indoor plant fibres like spider plant leaves, New Zealand Flax leaves, etc. One can make cordage very even and regular, but, I like the texture and variations from less processed materials, like the adorable curl from the edge of a corn husk or New Zealand Flax peeking out from the cordage. All these cordage elements should be dried first. Then dyed. Then dried. Then rinsed. Possibly left to dry or used at this point. Then woven into a basket. They can also be braided using 3,4,5,6 etc., strands. If the cordage has dried, I soak it until it is useable, I do use daffodil stems but not the leaves as they are toxic and can cause a rash. Coiled baskets are another way to use shorter elements. Pine needles have a long tradition of being used in coiled baskets. The longest needles are nicest, but, any length can be used. There is so much online about pine needle baskets, something for every taste and skill level. Grasses! Another useful plant material for coiling especially.

OSIER AND WILLOW AND MAPLE

Osier, with striking red, lime green, or a soft brown stem are good for structural elements or weavers. The colours are photo sensitive, which means they turn red or lime green when the sun reaches them and then they fade to soft brown when the leaves come out and shade the stems. If picked when red or lime green, they stay that colour. Wild willows also grow nearby in vast quantities . Looking for long fine pieces is satisfying but slow. It can be used just when picked or after dried and then soaked. Warning! Do not use your bathtub to soak willow! There is quite a resultant stain. I stand them up in water in a garbage can. Willow can be gathered in the winter, when ice makes it possible to reach areas of the pond not otherwise accessible. Also, they can be used when picked (and thawed) but all green basketry materials I have been told, and have learned through experience, well, they shrink as they dry. That is why the most exact process is gather, dry, soak just enough to make the fibre useable. Oversoaking means that the fibre can dry and then shrink in your basket. It shrinks in width, not length BTW. You can add more fibres as time goes on to fill in any spaces. Maple stems can be split and used in basketry. People tell me Rose of Sharon twigs as well. If you have a stick of some kind and as you pull the ends together, it forms a nice bend, use it! Basket appropriate sticks have a spine and a belly, another clue, they will only bend one way. Weeping Willow should only be used in cordage, its not strong as Wild Willow or Cultivated Willow.

DECORATIVE ELEMENTS

Decorative elements are a favourite aspect of Basketry Materials from the Garden for me. Just try to remember that, for example, that flower or seed pod or stem of berries never imagined they would be woven into a basket. They can be crushed or broken easily as the basket is being woven. I like to start with a live flower, let’s say daffodil, weave the stem in, weave carefully around it, then let it dry in place. Daffodil flowers dry beautifully. If things break over time, I just add something new. A feather? A bone? I have some long gorgeous porcupine quills from my time in South Africa that have been waiting for the right basket. I want to use them as uprights.

CONCLUSION

I so enjoy making baskets using foraged materials. They are suited to every kind of basket, indeed our ancestors knew just what to do with what grew all around them. Let me know what has worked for you, be relaxed, keep trying, have fun as I do. Sometimes I wish that all my time could be solely devoted to basketry.