Static

 

Over the summer I worked on my silk stash for a bit, but then other deadlines cropped up so I never got to weave off the last three silk warps I had wound.

Today we are halfway through October, well into autumn.  The weather is changing and will soon become winter.  With winter comes a drop in relative humidity as the cold arrives.

This morning I checked the relative humidity in the house and saw it had dropped to 44%.  I mentioned we should stock up on filtered water for the little humidifier I run in the studio when the relative humidity drops below around 40, definitely by 30%

With one thing and another I didn't get to the rough sleying of the next silk warp until this evening.  It took no time at all to discover the silk was already objecting to the lack of humidity.  It's hard to see in a 'static' (ha) photo, but believe me, those loops are practicing social distancing!

So my goal now is to attack the three silk warps and get them woven before the humidity drops much lower.  And if I have to, I'll drag the humidifier out to encourage the silk to be more co-operative.

Tomorrow morning is the last Sunday Seminar of 2021 and hopefully Doug will get my little flat bed press running again.  When I went to use it today, it started to heat up, then quit.  If I have to start doing all my hard pressing by hand I am going to have to set up my ironing board so that I can sit down to do it.  I cannot - at this point in my life - justify buying a new flat bed press.  Doug is working on it now and maybe by tomorrow it will be working again.

I am still mulling over continuing the Sunday Seminars on into 2022.  I have three booked, with a couple more people who might be approached.  But I have also committed to teaching virtually which will mean more time on Zoom.  So I will think on it and make a decision by the middle of November.  My right hand person is also extremely busy right now and she would be the person updating the guild website so she may not have the time to do anything before the end of the year herself.

I finished reading Lindsey Davis' latest Flavia novel, set in 1st century Rome - it's been returned and I can't remember the exact title - The Grove of the Caesars, perhaps?  Then I read a memoir by Michael Caine, Blowing the Bloody Doors Off, and started Michael Walkers Shot at Castle Rock.  His next one is already waiting for me at the library so I'm going to try and read a little bit every day.  The pandemic has interfered with my ability to concentrate and I have not been reading much at all, in spite of what I thought 18 months ago.  But I hear I am not the only one - it seems to be a common pandemic response.

But I'm going to try to beam the silk warp tomorrow afternoon and see if I can't make a start on getting the silk scarves woven, fringe twisting the others that I managed to weave before I got sidetracked.  

Always something to do!