Thursday, March 26, 2015

All About the Therapy




Two shots of the same shawl.  The top photo was taken with the ordinary flash, the bottom using the 'red-eye' feature of the flash.  The bottom photo is much closer to real life than the top photo.  I discovered by accident that using the red-eye feature gets me better representation of reds, especially.

This shawl has been wet finished and in the bottom photo you can see how open and airy it is as the blue of the table top shows through the cloth.

Some people get bored very quickly with weaving and won't even weave four place mats with the same threading/tie-up/treadling.

OTOH, I find weaving the same thing over and over soothing.  I don't mind any part of weaving, including weaving repeats of a textile to develop a line of scarves, place mats, shawls.  The colours may, or may not, vary.  Weaving the same quality of textile then becomes a working meditation or, as in the case of these shawls, very much therapy as I try to reclaim my physical fitness after surgery.

I'm still far from recovered, but healed enough that the work of rebuilding my muscles can begin.

On Tuesday I will start physio, but in the meantime I am gently working my way through these textured silk shawls.  My colour selection is limited to what I have left in inventory, but that's ok.  I have four shows coming up in Oct/Nov and if shawls continue to sell the way they did last year, having depth of stock will be A Good Thing.

And I am determined to use up as much of my stash as possible.  I have promised Doug I will not win the estate sale contest.  To that end we are doing two fibre shows this spring to try and sell off more of the re-sale yarns I have.  Whatever is left after those sales will have to be woven up by me, preferably as quickly as possible.

Since I am officially turning into a 'senior citizen' this summer, coupled with the long list of health issues that have suddenly (it seems like) reared their heads, I have some serious thinking to do about the future and how much I am willing - or able - to do.  But I really don't want to think about that too much until I find out what my new normal is going to be.  In the meantime, there will be a lot of repetition as I use up my rather extensive stash.  And that's ok by me.

Currently reading To Dwell in Darkness by Deborah Crombie

7 comments:

Charlotte said...

These shawls look lovely, is it wool? Ido lots and lots of repetitive weaving, because I make folk costume yardage. In my experience, the more I weave of the same fabric, the better the quality gets. I hope your health issues will resolve soon!

Laura Fry said...

No, it is a very textured silk. I bought it natural and dyed it to re-sell but it isn't very nice until after it is woven and wet finished and people weren't willing to try it in many cases. So I wound up with a whole lot of yarn that needs to be used up. I think I am up to 16 warps with another 5 or so to wind. Each warp produces three shawls so by the time I am done I should have a good inventory for the shows.

Cheers
Laura

Sandra Rude said...

Glad you're working your way back to "normal," whatever that turns out to be. I've found that "normal" for me changes, sometimes quickly, sometimes very slowly. It's all part of the process of being, of living.

Sandra Rude said...

Oh, and thanks for the tip about the red-eye function - I'll try that soon!

Dianne said...

I so needed the tip about the red-eye function this week, thank you. Will have to go back and do a reshoot.
Glad to know you're back at the loom.

Peg Cherre said...

Glad to see you're back at the loom, Laura. Yes, life presents us all with surprises, sometimes nice, sometimes not. It's the way it is. The best we can do is retain mental and emotional flexibility to adapt. And you are doing that.

I'll have to try that red-eye trick!

Laura Fry said...

I don't know if it will work on every camera...it just seems to help on mine.
cheers,
Laura