My dining room this morning.
Foreground - last of the green shawls being fringe twisted.
On chair - shawls ready for wet finishing.
In bucket - four shawls to be fringe twisted.
On bucket - stack of table runners needing to have their tags attached and pricing affixed.
What is just out of sight on the blue chair is a stack of knitted shawls that need to be blocked.
Waiting in the wings - my chequebook to be reconciled to my bank statement, stack of bills waiting for cheques to be written. Then a trip to the bank to pay them.
In the studio - well, lots more, because I'm still trying to weave more for craft fairs. But also a box of homework to be packed up and mailed. And, oh yeah, mark to be submitted to the college - next on my list, I guess.
One of the reasons I keep track of how long it takes me to do tasks is so that I can allocate my time in order to get everything done that needs doing.
The creation of textiles is labour intensive. It takes time. Lots of it. Right now I only have so much energy so I have to conserve what energy I do have in order to focus on the things that require being done on a priority basis.
Weaving (designing, preparing warps, dressing the loom, actual shuttle throwing) is just the first in a long list of steps.
Dry finishing. In the case of shawls and scarves, fringe twisting.
Wet finishing. Getting things through the washer/dryer (or done by hand, as appropriate). Then further dry finishing such as hemming. And then a 'final' press. For the twisted fringes, a final trimming of the fringes.
Last but certainly not least, tagging with legally appropriate cleaning instructions and fibre content. And pricing.
I work in batches because once I have my work station set up it's just a whole lot easier to get all of that bit done before I clear the decks for the next task. So this morning I finished fringe twisting the green shawls, then cleared the table so I can deal with banking.
The end of September marks the end of the third financial quarter of the year. I have to report any GST (goods and services tax) collected and paid out. I also need to review my finances because I have been carrying debt (travel and show fees) and need to make sure I can pay the current crop of bills. But in order to report the GST I have to finish entering my financial records into my ledger, balance it and figure out the figures to submit. Not my favourite job.
So I keep track of what needs doing and try to keep the work flow logical. And timely.
And good choices of weight to keep it all in perspective!
ReplyDeleteThose who forget history are bound to repeat it....?
ReplyDeleteHave you considered a battery powered fringe twister? Would save you lots and lots of time.
ReplyDelete