Please come see us at http://www.weavolution.com . This blog  will no longer be updated, since we’re live.

Yes, that’s right…we have a launch date!!  And we couldn’t be more excited.   The last major functional components have been delivered by the developer, and as soon as we finish polishing up the site, we’ll bring it to http://www.weavolution.com and open up the gates!

Feedback from the alpha testers has been extremely positive, and we already have over 50 projects and 30+ yarns entered into the system by our 80+  alpha testers.   We’ve still got a couple of kinks to work out - about 160 open bugs that will need to be fixed next week - and we need to write the help system, but on the whole the site looks great and it’s almost ready for our open beta.

And I’m pleased to say that we already have 19 advertisers!  If you would like to advertise on Weavolution, email claudiajane AT weavolution DOT com and she’ll get you all the details.  We’ve got ad slots for everyone’s budget - with introductory pricing as low as $20/month.  And if you buy six months’ advertising, you get one month FREE!  Can’t beat that!

So get ready folks…THE WEAVOLUTION IS COMING!!

- Tien, Claudia, Alison, and the wonderful, AMAZING Weavolution volunteer team

Exciting news!  Weavolution has just entered its alpha testing phase…a select group of 15-20 users have entered the test site and are starting to enter projects, drafts, and yarns, as well as use the groups and forums.  They will be giving us feedback on the system over the next 3 weeks, so we can fix bugs and spruce up the site before throwing open the doors to everyone!

I’m super excited by this, as you can well imagine.  After nine months of gestation, we have live users playing with the site!  And we are SO close to launch…we still have some bugs, but will be stomping them out over the next few weeks.  And we will be throwing open the doors and entering our LIVE beta early next month!

Heady times, indeed.

A rousing thank-you to our volunteers, who have been putting in hours and hours getting the alpha test ready: Sharon, Marian, Dawn, Cynthia, Amelia, Diane, and Tina have been indispensable, hardworking, and very generous with their time.  Without them, we would not be able to bring this site LIVE in June!

Yours from web development,

Tien

OK, it was a cold, wet, gray day and a few brave weavers came by our picnic tables to say hello and check out the site. Alison, Janet, Marian and Claudia braved the lousy weather (Saturday was okay, Sunday was awful) to meet future users of Weavolution. With t-shirts on, brochures in hand and a computer loaded with the Weavolution test site we were prepared to greet the masses. Marian, our development volunteer extraordinaire, was on site to conduct tours of the future Weavolution. Janet, marketing consultant, was poised to sprint back and forth to headquarters (her van) at any moment to retrieve additional brochures. Alison, accounting partner and marketing trainee, was at the ready to help with any problem that might arise.

And, when the dust finally cleared, we had enjoyed intimate conversations with a few hardy weavers who stopped by to check it out.

The remainder of our day was spent meeting vendors and introducing them to Weavolution. We distributed over 2000 brochures during the two days of Maryland Sheep & Wool (MSWF) and had lengthy conversations with about two dozen vendors about advertising and marketing . All in all, a great, and soggy weekend.

Thank you to all the good friends and supporters who wore t-shirts and handed out brochures as they walked around. Thank you to all the brave weavers, spinners and fiber enthusiasts who ignored the horrible weather and stopped by to say hello.

The real magic of this weekend occurred after MSWF when the three Weavolution partners (Weavettes? Weavolutes? Weavolutionaries?, I sense a future contest) met for the first time.

Happy weaving!
Claudia, Alison and Tien
claudiajane [at] weavolution [dot] com
alison [at] weavolution [dot] com
tien [at] weavolution [dot] com
ads [at] weavolution [dot] com

Weavolution (Alison and Claudia) will be at MSWF on Sunday, May 3 from 12-2 at the picnic tables across from the dinig hall on the north outside food vendors. We are near

We will be at Maryland Sheep & Wool on
Saturday, May 2, 11 AM to 1 PM
and Sunday, May 3, 12 N to 2 PM.

Meet us at the picnic tables in the area of the North outside vendors on the Route 70 side of the Howard County fairgrounds. Claudia Segal and Alison Giachetti will be there from 11 to 1 PM on Saturday, May 2 and 12 to 2 PM on Sunday, May 3 near the soft ice cream vendor (if they’re still around). We’ll be wearing t-shirts that say:

If you have trouble finding us, look for anyone with a Weavolution t-shirt on.  They’ll point the way.

For directions and information about Maryland Sheep & Wool go here.

Hope to see you there!!!

Claudia, Alison and Tien

Hi all,

Thought I’d give you an update from the development team.  We’re full of excitement!  Our contractor has now delivered 90% of the functionality and I and our two dedicated development volunteers, Sharon and Marian, have been going through the system with a fine-toothed comb making sure it is ready for prime time.

It’s really exciting being able to play with the system - every time a new delivery comes, it’s like opening a gift box!  Ooh, I wonder what they’ve put in this time!  I thought it was really cool when we could just enter projects, and drafts, and watch an uploaded .wif file magically transform into a graphic showing the drawdown.  (Credit there goes to Kris Bruland of Handweaving.net, who developed this technology and is letting us use it in Weavolution.)

But now it’s even cooler…we can see what our favorite users have posted recently, create and respond to forum threads, start groups, and search for people.  You can browse by tag, look at people’s profiles, or use the advanced search function to find projects, drafts, yarns, looms, and people.

It’s a really exciting time for us, as we can see the dreams of the last eight months coming to fruition.  It’s not quite ready for release yet, but in another two weeks or so we expect to start a (very limited) alpha test with about 15-20 users, followed by a beta test in June that is open to all.

Later in the cycle we’ll need to put together our help system, so I’d love to hear from volunteers who would be willing to join Weavolution, learn the ropes, and then write up tips and tricks to help new users get around.  If you think you could help with that (especially if you have experience with writing documentation), please email me at volunteer AT weavolution DOT com.

Thanks, and I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to the upcoming release!

Tien

No kidding, this is it. We are close to launch and it’s time to focus on advertising and marketing. I have received several requests for brochures and I have more available. Please contact me if you would like some Weavolution brochures for your shop, studio, guild, local fiber festival, wherever you think weavers reside or visit. We need to spread the word because the launch date is coming, very, very soon. I said that, I know, three time now. I am so excited.

We have some wonderful, advertising opportunities including a Marketplace for anyone who would like to post a business card sized ad. The cost of that ad is only $20/month and, if you pay for your ad before June 1, you get one month free.

On to the auction. We have 5 items left that are pretty special. Take a look, all proceeds help pay for legal fees, development costs and marketing costs. Funds raised in the auction do not pay salaries or administrative costs. We are an all volunteer organization and at this time have 8 very dedicated people working, for free, on development, marketing, accounting, etc.

Here are a few tips and tricks:
There will be 5 items in this auction.
We are not responsible for bids which do not register. If you place a bid, please keep track of it by clicking on the “refresh bid” button in the pop-up window.

If you have bid significantly above the current bid, the program assumes this is a maximum and will notify you if someone else outbids you.

There are no additional fees for shipping and insurance.

All bids are final and you will receive an invoice from Paypal. Once paid, the item will be mailed.

During the auction, I am available by email at claudiajane [at] weavolution [dot] com. Feel free to contact me.

There is a countdown clock on the right side of this blog. When it hits zero, the auction is over.

We want to thank the following businesses and individuals for the generous donations:
Just Our Yarn http://www.justouryarn.com/
Halcyon Yarns http://www.halcyonyarn.com/
Earth Guild http://earthguild.com/
Kris Bruland of Handweaving.net http://handweaving.net/
Sandra Rude http://www.3springshandworks.com/
The Wheel Thing http://www.the-wheel-thing.com/
Paradise Fibers http://www.paradisefibers.net/
Ed and Joanne Hall of Glimakra USA http://glimakrausa.com/
Alice Schlein http://aliceschlein.com/
Dalis Davidson of Dancing Leaf Farm http://dancingleaffarm.com/
Laura Fry http://laurafry.com
Sue Helmken http://www.barefootweaver.com/
Peggy Osterkamp http://www.weaving.cc/
Bonnie Tarses http://www.bonnietarses.com/html/studio.html
Marsha VonDuerckheim
Lizou Fenyvesi
Carol Weymar
Penny Peters
Tien Chiu

Here are a few additional pictures:

Handwoven Two-sided Table Runner

The ladies behind the creation of Weavolution, Claudia Segal, Tien Chiu and Alison Giachetti, were interviewed by Syne Mitchell for WeaveCast, her weaving podcast. It was great fun doing the interview, which included a little surprise at the end. Syne has published the interview Color Matters for all to hear. Take a listen, Syne did a great job interviewing and editing.

The marketing campaign is in full swing. Please contact me, Claudia, if you would like to distribute brochures at your guild or if you are attending a fiber show, festival or workshop.

Advertising opportunities abound on Weavolution although all 5 slots for Ad A, our most visible ad, have been sold to Halcyon Yarn, The Woolery, JOY (Just Our Yarn), Glimakra, and WEBS. We have lots of opportunities available at very reasonable prices including a Marketplace which is our mall type area for business card sized ads.

And, finally, a word about the auctions. The final 3 items are on ebay. There are five final goodies which I have saved to auction on our blog this Thursday, April 16th. Please stop by and take a look. I preserved some excellent items for the end.

Happy Weaving!
Claudia, Tien and Alison

Tags:

What can I say, people have been very generous donating wonderful items from their personal stash. I will continue adding things for one more week, until April 10th and then it’s all over.

Thanks for checking the site, thanks for bidding and watch for the countdown to launch to start in May.

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