MasterWeaver Azala

Colors: Lavender and white.
Emblem: Lavender bolt of cloth on white background (Weavers).
Emblem: Lavender needle & spool on white (Tailors).

Main Crafthall Location: Roma Hold.

Weavers learn which fibers make the best cloth, how to spin thread, tapestry and rug weaving, sweater knitting, dying and printing patterns on material, construction and repair of looms. Weavers find their Craft widely sought after, since not only do they supply the most intricately-made clothing, but Holds, Halls and Weyrs constructed from bare stone are desperate to add color to their homes with tapestries, and take the chill out of stone floors with rugs. The WeaverCraft has a number of SubCrafts including: fiber production, dyeing, knitting, tailoring and weaving.

On SouCon, the WeaverCraft is based in the Unified Crafthall and is under the direct auspice of the Craft Wizard. To become an Apprentice, Journeyman or Master please read through NEWS CRAFT JOINING. Characters may also request a posting to any open Hold or Weyr.

At Roma, the new home of the Southern Continent's WeaverCraft Hall, the crops raised are predominately those used by the Weavers. Flax and a Pernese fiber similar to it, sisal, as well as cotton are grown here, the Hall providing employment for a number of Roma Hold's men and women. Roma also has the advantage of being close to the river and thus a number of waterwheels power the large looms. Roma is now known as a source of fine quality weaves and occasionally the source of a new fashion trend.

Flax, when prepared, produces an elegant crisp cloth that is durable, standing up to hard wear Turn after Turn. Sisal, a crop that is difficult to make smooth does, when beaten and pulped, make a silky fabric. This fabric is easy to print or dye, and light enough to be worn in the hottest of weather. Furthermore, it can also be woven into near invisible sheers. However, it is cotton that is in the greatest demand. In the past it has been in short supply as the crops were ruined during the Pass, but with the introduction of grubs and the opening up of the Southern Continent this has changed and cotton is now available from Pass to Interval. The earth at Roma is sand-and-clay, a soil type in which cotton flourishes. Cotton is durable and extremely flexible and is in demand in both Northern and Southern climes alike. It wears well next to the skin and soaks up perspiration. Cotton can also be worn in layers for warmth. Felting is also used for making objects such as felt hats and decorative slippers for the ladies. It can be used to overlay the heavy fleece sweaters, rendering the fabric much warmer and less likely to catch on hooks or barbs. There are also more durable. Silk does not exist on Pern because the mulberry bushes on which the silk worms use for food, brought from Earth, did not survive on the planet.

The WeaverCraft does trade for some goods, even though it grows most in its local vicinity. It barters for fleeces from the mountain ovines, for their coats are much thicker than those found in the warmer climes. Azov and Suweto Holds also trade Ilama hair. The expansion of the Southern Continent became so far reaching during the Tenth Interval that Ovines and Herdbeasts had more grazing and breeding ground, and so the supply of wool increased exponentially. Wool mattresses therefore, once reserved for the high-ranking populace, became more commonplace -- Apprentices, however, still suffered with a reed mattress.

Holders made use of drop-spindles or spinning wheels, a frequent pastime for the evenings while listening to music or sharing a chat with friends. Even dragonriders are known to spin or weave in the evenings and there are looms in every Hall, Hold and Weyr. Every Hold makes it own handlooms, crochet hooks, spindles and shuttles because the WeaverCraft is unable to supply that quantity. Practically every Major Hold has an upright tapestry loom or two on which wall hangings and floor coverings are made to break up the endless stone gray.

There are different wheels and looms for each type of fiber: flax wheels, wool wheels, sisal wheels (extremely delicate) and cotton wheels of all sizes and strengths. Looms range from the very simple to the considerable complex. Once a Weaver spinner finishes drawing a spool of thread half as big and fully as heavy as themselves, then passes it on to the dyers. They then dye or bleach and dry the spools.

The Northern WeaverCraft Hall is known for the rich golden, brilliant orange and purple hues, while the Southern Hall is known for its gentle pinks, rich purples and brilliant blues. These formulas are zealously guarded by the MasterWeavers. Many of the dyes are harvested from shellfish, found in plenty off the coast, particularly the Southern coast, and the others are found in plants.

Subsequent to coloring or bleaching the thread is either covered and stored or passed on to the Weavers or Knitters. Weavers are trained in making looms and other devices for working yarn, and indeed some Weavers specialize in complex knitting stitches, including cable, lattice, raised knit, shell, star, and rib. There are some looms that can only be used by the most talented of Weavers, and these produce the more complex fabrics like slubbed, velour, cotton velvet or brocade. Flax, polished cotton and metal wrapped threads reproduce Earth-made patterned fabrics of silk, examples of which can still be seen in the WeaverCraft Hall museum.

Hardwood was once difficult to come by and so the Weavers used soapstone and agate, both light enough and easily smoothed into the right shapes. Now that hardwood is easier to come the shuttles and spindles are gradually being replaced.

Although the initial technology came with the colonists they blended together all the ancient home Crafts as they settled on Pern. Patterns are copied over and over, passed down from generation to generation, the pieces replaced as they wear out and an occasional new pattern added to the old. Spindles, embroidery hoops, knitting belts, standing looms, braiding trees -- all have found favor at one time or another through Pern's development. Afghans, granny circle blankets, flannels and burlap are all created by the WeaverCrafters. Even silk-screening and dye patterns are recorded in the Hall archives, some of the more talented attempting to copy them. Some cloth is reserved for the very skilled artists at the Weaver Hall who paint the dye directly onto the cloth for one-of-a-kind designs, similar to ancient kimonos on Earth.

The WeaverCraft has an ongoing rivalry with the Tanners as the fashion centers of Pern, and they often persuade prominent figures, such as Lady Holders, Weyrwomen and Craftmasters, to wear their designs to promote their needs. The Weavers also create decorative scarves; shawls and gloves made of tatted lace and even knit lace, each painstakingly made from flax or cotton thread. However, most everyday gloves are sewn of fine, soft fabrics woven from the neck fleece of young ovines.

A Weaver may specialize in thread spinning, tapestry and rug weaving, knitting, dying and printing patterns on material. Journeymen and Masters are also responsible for the construction and repair of looms and spindles. Tailors specialize in designing one-of-a-kind outfits for Pern's elite, their designs setting trends all over Pern and fetching high prices at Gathers. The price that a MasterTailor's creation earns is well out of the reach of most of the Pernese.

SubCraft

CrossCrafts

Weavers weave their way into the fabric of crafts other than their own, as crosscrafting slowly becomes more popular. A very popular crosscraft is that of Papermaker, working in conjunction with the Woodsmiths. Fabric ends and battered rags are important to the papermaking process, and certainly the idea of creating a sheet of useful substance from component pieces is not foreign to a weaver's trade. Work with the woodsmiths and metalworkers also lends the understanding to better refine the looms and other tools of their primary trade.

Azala was born in the low caverns of Igen Hold, daughter and only child to a shiftless woman whose primary occupation involved acquiring possessions not her own. Azala never knew her father, and Marata considered her another source of income -- she trained her daughter as a thief and pickpocket. Ironically, that's exactly what led to an abrupt change in Azala's lifestyle. Plying her trade at an Igen Hold Gather, she was rather frightened when somebody abruptly grabbed her wrist. She was sure she'd been caught out, but that couldn't be further from the truth -- it was a Igen bluerider dubiously looking over her tangled hair and dirty clothes, and he crisply informed her that his lifemate wanted her for a clutch hardening on the Igen Sands. Azala leaped at the chance, and has never looked back. She didn't Impress, but she did discover pure delight in the clean, honest living she'd never known before. Most especially, she fell in love with the clothes given her as a Candidate. They were fairly simple, but made her old clothes look like rags. After she was left on the Sands, Azala looked into the possibility of making beautiful clothes herself, and ultimately apprenticed to the Weavercraft, moving to the Southern continent to get away from her greedy mother. She ascended to the rank of Craftmaster shortly before the plague hit Pern, and still mourns for the Weavers lost to the disease.

Azala used to be known for her merry nature; that changed with the advent of the plague. Adopting a morose demeanor, she has realized the change in her behavior, and is making an effort to smile now and then. She is wholeheartedly devoted to her Craft, and while she is known for only occasional flashes of brilliance when it comes to creating new dyes and designs, she is rock-steady, keeping the Weavercraft firmly on path.

All the Plants of Pern