Rose Poe
~ by Julia Pearson
Rose and Richard Poe have carved out their own pocket of home comfort and creativity off the beaten path near Gnaw Bone, Indiana. The green branches of the trees are echoed on the soft green walls of the small cabin that serves as Rose’ s weaving studio. A four-harness floor loom, 60 inches wide, fills the space, with a piece being woven in the“ blooming leaf” pattern on the loom. On the floorboards is one of the“ looper” rugs that Rose has made from socks. Stacked on shelves and nestled against the walls are some of Rose’ s handmade baskets of different sizes and decoration.
photos by Marti Garvey
In many ways, the baskets are kinfolk to Rose’ s beautiful overshot pieces from the loom. While living in Cincinnati, Rose started making baskets and going to craft shows in the 1980s. The small shop that supplied her reeds for basketry also sold looms. Her interest led to the purchase of a loom in 1986, and the owner of the shop provided a couple days’ instruction on threading the loom.
Fed by the memory of a picture of a beautiful coverlet in a history book that she saw when she was about ten years old, Rose taught herself to weave the overshot patterns of the Colonial period. Not many weavers do overshot, where perle cotton is used for the warp. Some of the old pattern designs are“ log cabin” or rep weave,“ Lee’ s surrender”— a dark blue with white overshot— and“ wheel and cross.” Another pattern called“ barley corn weave” has a back that looks like netting. Other overshot pieces have the backside looking like the reverse pattern of the front.
Working several hours every day, Rose has produced an inventory of table runners, scarves, and towels. Some other patterns include“ huck lace” and“ M’ s and O’ s”. She has woven rugs of varying sizes and she plans to weave a traditional coverlet.
In a way, Rose is a craftsman handing down history. She tells of a battlefield photo of Abraham Lincoln and General McClellan that includes a coverlet draped on a table. With the carefully graphed pattern of this coverlet found in Handwoven Magazine, Rose reproduced the piece.
Rose was born and raised for ten years in Rockford, Michigan. Her parents then moved her and her sister to Arizona. When she and Richard married, they lived in San Diego and Seattle while he was in the Navy. They have moved several times as they raised their two sons,
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24 Our Brown County • Sept./ Oct. 2014