Next?

While I was out of town, total page views of this blog rolled over the 1.5M mark.

Several friends have asked me that, now I'm 'officially' semi-retired (if I keep saying it often enough, I might actually come to believe it?) what's next?

Well, frankly, I don't know.

So, what does 'semi-retired' actually look like to me?

It means I no longer try to import and sell my own hand dyed yarns.  Stopped doing that a few years ago when I had to decide if I imported more or just dyed what I had and either sold it or wove it up myself.  In the end, I wound up selling some, but weaving most of it.  I still have some left - too much to give away/donate, too little to try to weave it.  It may show up in my 'worthy cause' shawls that I've been knitting and donating to fund raisers for organizations/causes I feel will benefit by selling or auctioning the shawls.  (The latest batch will be going to my local guild to sell at the craft fair and/or the guild room sale, this autumn/winter.)

It means I no longer take booths at fibre festivals and try to earn some money by selling weaving yarns.  Gave that up soon after I gave up the dyeing.

It means that I have been cutting back on the craft fairs that I do.  This year, two local, one in Calgary.  Plus the guild room sale where I can deeply discount discontinued lines.  I may do Calgary again next year because the timing of that show means we get a week to recover from the two local ones that are back to back weekends.  My ultimate goal is to stop doing any shows but the local ones by 2020 when I turn 70.

It means that the workshop and guild program I just did is intended to be the last guild event(s) I do.  I will continue to teach via the Olds College for a while yet, but that all depends on whether or not they want me as much as whether or not I can do it.  But I want to save whatever teaching energy I have for the program.

Now, I may, from time to time, offer a workshop with the local guild.  No traveling involved.  Which means no trying to find two or three guilds to form a tour, no financing the cost of the trip for several months (in some cases), no stress of worrying if I'm going to make my flights.  Hopefully no more face plants hurrying to the next gate.

I may from time to time, accept a booking with a conference or other event if it suits me to travel to that area and if I can combine the trip with visiting with friends.  In other words, a true working vacation. 

And of course there is still the conference here which is taking up a rather lot of my time and will continue to do so from January to the end of June.

This autumn I had another article in Handwoven.  I participated in two "Look Books" with Interweave Press.  I think I will have an article in SS&D's winter issue (no email saying what I sent was rejected, so...)

I continue to work on The Intentional Weaver - Ms Editor requested more text just before I left for Vancouver Island and after falling and hurting my knee badly enough I could not weave, there was time to provide the additional text.  We are still on track for publication Dec. 2.  We'd better be - my tickets are already purchased so I can meet with her and we can do the final edits and polishing.

There is still way too much yarn in my stash, so semi-retirement is going to look a lot like stash reduction continued. 

However, I may also work on the part of weaving that attracted me in the first place - looking at the different ways thread can be made to move through a textile to produce design.

I may feel inspired to write more articles for publication.

I may just find that sitting in the recliner with my feet up reading some of the heaps of books on my hearth looks mighty fine!

I may find that making jigsaw puzzles, sipping tea suits me down to a T.

What I will continue to do is to be as supportive of weavers as I can be.  That means amplifying their publications (Heddlecraft) or on-line classes (Jane Stafford's on-line guild, Janet Dawson's Craftsy class, Tien Chiu's on-line class on colour in weaving) and so on.

I will continue to encourage weavers to learn as much as possible about the craft, either by answering emailed questions, or who knows?  More small publications such as the A Good Yarn series.  I think I still have card stock for stapling samples to and the electric stapler with staples.

But all of those decisions are going to have to wait.  They can simmer on the back burner while I deal with the next 8 or so months of Big Projects - the craft fair season, getting the book published, the conference over and done with.

But one thing I can promise - I will no doubt continue to use this forum to explore my own thoughts on all things weaving.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll make 2M?