Simplify?

Got to Puff on Saturday evening and got some pressing done. These towels were woven a while ago but they are now 'done' - ready to be tagged and priced and put up for sale.

But I've been doing a lot of thinking lately.

For 30 or so years I have woven pretty much every day - or at least done something weaving related - winding warps, pulling yarns for an upcoming project, teaching, writing - unless I've been out of town, or sick.

The reality is that I have more than sufficient inventory of woven textiles to last a good long time. There is really no need for me to continue to weave 3 to 5 hours a day, every day. Apart from the fact that I enjoy it, of course. :) The problem becomes - what do I do with all that inventory if it doesn't sell very quickly?

Well, some of it I give away as donations for worthy causes. Some go as gifts. Some just sits and gets dragged around from show to show until it finds the perfect customer. :}

On the other hand, I have been given a second chance at life and I've been wondering if sitting at a loom most of the day, every day, is the best use of that second chance?

So what is it I actually do?

I weave textiles and sell them. I dye yarn and sell it. I write. I teach.

All of those things require stuff - looms, shuttles, bobbin winders, reeds, *yarn*!

Dyeing - skein winder, pots/kettles, bottles for dye, jugs of vinegar, buckets to transport the wet yarn there and back (I use the guild room for my dyeing.)

Writing - lots of books, notes, paper, yarn to do proto-types, binders of samples. Copies of books not yet sold - boxes and boxes of them. Plus the sample packets produced for CD Weaver, and the Cd's themselves, the jewel cases etc.

Teaching - back to more *yarn* especially for the workshop topics I teach, more binders of samples, handouts, reference books, magazines, notes, etc.

Selling yarn - the yarn I dye, other commercially dyed yarns to go with the hand dyed yarns, labels, proto-types/samples, etc., etc.

All of the above has resulted in a studio filled to overflowing with all of this plus all the support stuff that goes along with it - shipping boxes, envelopes, sample cards, and so on and so forth. So much so that I have a separate rented storage area for what doesn't fit into my studio.

I'm beginning to feel as though I'm drowning in STUFF!

So - I ask myself - what do I want to do? What can I get rid of? Where do I make the cuts in what I am doing that will still bring in an income, because there's no way I can 'retire' - as in weave for a hobby, passtime, recreation - and not generate some sort of income from it.

This year I'm travelling a lot and teaching. I love being there (where ever 'there' is) - it's the getting there that isn't so much fun. :( But if it isn't necessary for me to be at the loom personally, then passing on my experience and knowledge is a worthy cause. So I'm thinking maybe I will look more towards teaching - now that I'm feeling more energetic and my bp seems once more to be more under control. :)

Someone once asked me how I decided where I would teach. I told them that I went where I was invited. Guess maybe I need to let more people know I'd like to be invited? :)

Currently reading: What Angels Fear by C. S. Harris