Tokyo Spinning Group 2014 Show

This was on Monday and was the tenth annual event they have held. This is their website and they are on Facebook too. I went along with some of the others from the Tokyo Stitch n Bitch group (which has daytime and evening factions - I occasionally do both). I had no idea what to expect but it turned out to be a kind of smaller version of a UK Knitting Show, except with weaving as well. This is the view from the main room looking into three rows of exhibitors.

By Tokyo standards it wasn't crowded at all because you could easily move your elbows. There were some great things on show.

There were some practical demonstrations going on too, although I had missed the live sheep shearing the day before.

There was also the usual straying into needle felting that seems so common now. This lady had made her own horns and pet dragon that way (and was very happy to pose for my horribly blurry photo).

While this guy had had his horns made for him.

It did all feed my desire to get more into weaving. Especially after I discovered a book about Sakiori - Japanese rag weaving. This photo is on Flickr and belongs to Jim Austin so I have merely borrowed it to illustrate.

Not only is it rag woven from indigo cotton, but it is also sashiko embroidered on top. Pretty cool. There were two people wearing tops made from sakiori on one of the stands and their clothes were seriously amazing. I've done a bit of reading about it since the show and the cunning thing about making clothes from the woven cloth (and I suppose from most handwoven cloth) is not cutting it as that will make it unravel. This either leaves you with seventies boxy things like tabards (uk style) or avante garde draped angled creations (japanese style).

So many crafts...so little time. Meanwhile though I am spreading the with my first taught workshop tomorrow - Sashiko for Beginners. It is full (although who knows if they'll all come) so hopefully by lunchtime tomorrow there will be six new sashiko-rs making their way in the world!