Membership Coordinator
This Spotlights honors one of our members as part of our 75th Anniversary Celebration.
- by sandy mclain hochmuth
Sheri is one of the first members you see when you come to a meeting. You know that hair and the giggle – and you KNOW she’s looking for your name tag. She’s been with Illinois Prairie Weavers since 1999, shortly after she picked up a shuttle for the first time with the 2-Bs (Bev Atseff and the late Bev Savel) in their shop in Hinsdale. She discovered that “Okay” was a very
Sheri loves weaving. There’s that “thing” about cloth, the visual and touch, the feel under your hands. When you share a skill practiced for centuries, you love the history. It’s the connection, the string that reaches from the past to the present, from ancient Penelope to Sheri-today’s-weaver. She “hopes others will pick up the string and carry it forward” when she no longer sits at her weaving bench.
But weaving makes her crazy (sometimes). There’s nothing she hates about weaving UNLESS it’s the human tendency to err. Weaving is a like a meditation until she meditates too deeply, and something goes wrong. “I hate that. Weaving is perfect, I am NOT!”
A not-perfect-person weaving experience? As a beginner, Sheri was intrigued by Theo Moorman, loved what she saw as free form weaving, no straight verticals and horizontals, and was convinced that Moorman would be a cinch. She was aware that newbies might want to avoid very fine tie down threads, but our Sheri was certain she could handle them. The warp was very long, and very wide, and her tie-down thread was VERY thin. Two warps in cotton, one warp in very fine sewing thread, polyester. It was only hours into weaving that the beautiful warp morphed into a huge, tangled ball, definitely free form, especially with her cats’ assistance. So it wound up in the trash. Sheri’s life lesson was “It taught me to not get too big for my britches. I needed to listen to wiser weavers. Often weaving is very much about thinking before action and being patient.”
Sheri owns up to multiple embarrassing stories, remembers at least one that involved weaving. While participating in a round robin workshop, sadly, her loom fell apart, mid round robin. It was out of commission until she brought tools from home, cobbling it together enough to be permitted to rejoin the round robin (with a questionable but serviceable tension). (Note: Sheri could have used Dan Winslow, our November presenter). “That loom embarrassed me for many workshops thereafter. It definitely had a “grudge against me.”In earlier years, Sheri experimented with thick fibers and texture for shawls, blankets and scarves. She now concentrates on finer threads, linens or cottolins for clothing. Her favorite weave structure is shadow weave, or plain weave with color play. She has “dabbled in other structures, but thinks she needs about another 50 years to feel like an intermediate student. So much to learn, to try.” And there are treasures. Wonderful wovens have gone to family and friends, some to a pet shelter as a comfort blanket, but since she’s currently focusing on clothing, Sheri weaves for herself and for the pleasure it brings!
Illinois Prairie Weavers Guild 