Sunday, April 20, 2014

No Contest


scarf #2 - weft is actually a 'pure' yellow, not the green/yellow it looks on my monitor


Rolling along, here is scarf #2.  The weft for #1 was a deep red, almost brown.  The next scarf will be woven with a dark chocolate brown weft.

Quite often when I demo how I do what I do I will hear a voice in the background exclaiming that they will never be that fast.

Thing is, weaving isn't a competition to see who does what faster than anyone else.  So much depends - on your own personal physical skills, your equipment, the yarns you are using and last but not least, what you are doing with all of that.

So why do I offer to demo when I am teaching?  Do I want to show off?  Brag on my skills?  Taunt the audience with my expertise?

No.

Absolutely not.

What I am hoping is that people who are struggling might find an easier more ergonomic way to work with their own equipment and tools.  That something that feels awkward can be streamlined.  That injury from repetitive stress motions might be reduced.

One reason I do this is because one time a new weaver came to me after the demo and said, in effect, that she was struggling so much she was about ready to give up her dream of becoming a weaver.  That if it was always going to be slow and tedious and down right painful, she didn't want to continue.  But after seeing me at work, she knew that it didn't have to be that way forever.  That things would get better, she could become more efficient.  And that some of the techniques she'd seen were so very obviously an improvement over what she had been doing she was going to incorporate them into her learning curve.

And if I do show off once in a while?  Forgive me.  I'm only human.  ;)

2 comments:

LA said...

If there was a big LIKE button, I would push it! Just keep doing what you do....I have learned so much from your blog (and getting to meet you!)

Peg Cherre said...

Here, here! And like everything else in life, it's a process. One means of efficiency that you demo'd via video a few years ago and I THOUGHT I was doing, I FINALLY got it. Now my weaving is fast AND consistent.

Plus I recently bought a brass reed hook. I was resistant, now I'm 'hooked.'

THANKS!!