Chance 'Discoveries'

 

Yesterday I spent some time messing with the next draft since I cut the warp off the loom and it was time to prep the next.

I've woven this motif multiple times over the years. But I finally(?) noticed that if you combine the straight draw threading with a straight draw treadling, you get a 'windmill' effect.  Hmmm.

Given a windmill is part of the tie-up, you'd have thought I would have noticed this effect a long time ago.  But I didn't!

I'm reminded of someone who was a 'teacher' who would pay their employees to go take classes from other instructors.  At one point, one of their employees returned from such a sponsored workshop, raving about what they learned.  Finally the teacher said, but, I've been telling you that for a long time!  How was this 'new' to you?  The employee said "But this time I heard it."

Or, the other way to put it is that when the student is ready the teacher will appear.

I've gotten past using this adage, because the truth is, the teacher is *always* there, waiting for the student to be 'ready'.

And that includes me, apparently!

When we assume that we already know everything there is to know, is when we stop learning.  We are never too old or too knowledgeable to continue learning new stuff.

Human beings find comfort in familiar things - and we get uncomfortable when challenged by new ideas.  But without continuing to learn, we stagnate.  By challenging our brains, we stay open to new ideas, new techniques.  

Granted, we will also 'fail' at times, but knowing what *doesn't* work is sometimes a lot more valuable than just knowing what does.

In many ways I am incredibly grateful that WEFT continues to engage with me as an author.  They set me 'new' challenges to explore.  Given the brain injury, it is helping me to get back onto my feet, so to speak, and exercise my brain wondering what would happen if...  

And sometimes the lessons are not what they - or *I* - expect!  Because sometimes the results are surprising.  Unexpected.  And then I have to have a wee think (or a huge one) and try to explain what happens, and why I think it turned out the way it did.  And honestly, I think that process of thinking it through is a lot more 'interesting' and in many ways, 'important' than putting a warp into the loom and producing exactly what I expect.

This week I started writing down the process, but since I essentially 'failed' in doing what I expected, and I still haven't fully digested the whole exercise, AND I have a word count I need to be aiming for, it has been a bit of a challenge.  Especially with the adverse effects of the current pain meds.

But I have been thinking it through and once my hands stop hurting so much (pleasepleaseplease) I will finish tagging/labelling the samples and go through them to find what information I can tease out of them.

Part of the difficulty is that threads don't always do what you expect.  When that happens it might be a very tiny and very subtle effect that is at work.  And generally it almost always winds up being the fact that threads have a mind of their own.

Holding On

 

I am close to exhausting the options for pain meds.  Tomorrow I will (hopefully) talk to my doctor about trying something else - something that isn't in the category of 'nerve blocker'.  Every single one I've tried has created muscle and/or joint pain, such that I am finding doing 'simple' things, difficult.

Lately I've been seeing a meme going around with the information that in Norway a common reply to 'how are you' is to say 'Up and not crying'.

Which pretty well sums up where I am, right now.

I had hoped to finish the current warp yesterday but the wheels fell off when once again I could not get to sleep.  The current pain med/nerve blocker seems to also be interfering with my sleep.  I cannot fall asleep, regardless of having pain - or not.  So the drug appears to be helping with blocking the nerve pain, at the cost of muscle/joint pain *and* messing with my serotonin and sleep.  

I would cry, but I don't have the energy.

OTOH, I am now officially registered for the pain management classes being hosted by the local pain clinic *and* they can be attended remotely.  I expressed my gratitude to the person registering explaining that I'm immune compromised.

And tomorrow I hope to get a new drug, one that is not well known, but is showing promise in helping to control nerve pain for fibre neuralgia.  So maybe it will help control mine?  Dunno.

But I'm definitely running out of options, and some people are patting me on the shoulder and telling me I might have to choose my pain.  But since both types of pain 'cripple' me, I'm not sure if I can live with either.  Or at least weave, or do much of anything.

I wet finished the samples for the next WEFT article, and now I have to tag/label them.  But my hands are so painful I can barely write.  I had to put away the spinning wheel because the 'pinch' hurts too much.  So I put some things on 'hold' until I get the next drug and see how things go with it.

Hopefully I can get it tomorrow, so just one more sleep (or not-sleep, such as the case may be).

We finally have some warmer weather, but that just means everything is dirty.  Spring 'break up' has got to be the worst season ever.  Other than fire season, and cold weather season.  

Right now I am channeling The Little Engine Who Could...I think I can, I think I can, I think...

And maybe I can carefully, gingerly, beam the next warp tomorrow and hope the new pills help, not hinder.

Sending gentle hugs virtually, for any who needs them.

The Learning Curve

 

If you are in the US, the books are printed there so no tariffs will apply

One of the challenges teachers face is to provide information in a format that is accessible to interested students.

Over my lifetime, things have changed radically in terms of the technology that we use in our effort to teach.

The down side of that is the technology has changed so radically that older formats are no longer accessible - anyone remember floppy discs?  

Given that most 'modern' technological formats are aging out faster than I can keep up, I have decided to spend the rest of my life working within the tried and true - books, magazines (although digital is a new thing that might last for a while.)

Ultimately, writers/teachers need to be aware of the changes, but the bottom line?  They need to provide materials that a variety of people can access, and explain the craft in a variety of approaches so processing the *information* can be available to as many people as possible.

One student put it this way:  If I don't understand what you are trying to say, just saying the same thing but louder isn't helpful.

While I had always tried to have a number of ways to demonstrate or explain what I was doing, since then I have tried to be aware that different people process information differently and have several ways to demo or explain what I'm trying to convey.

This is actually harder in the written format, in no small part because I'm not there to see when the light goes on in someone's eye and they finally 'get' it.  So, when I write, I work really hard to explain things clearly.

For the past few years I have been helped by a friend who is good at grammar and spotting typos, especially now when my brain is full of sinkholes.  Although it is getting 'better', I find myself typing up a blog post like this, knowing what I want to say, then when I re-read it I find places where I have doubled a word or left one out.  So as I work on the articles for WEFT, my friend says she will alpha read for me and make sure I haven't overlooked an awkward phrase, or lost my words along the way.

I'm seeing a slow but steady growth in new weavers coming into the craft.  All want information, answers, and many expect the information to be 'free'.  As if instructors don't need to eat, or pay for their internet, etc.

I get it.  When I chose to be a weaver I had very little in the way of resources that were 'free'.  And at times I could not buy something I needed, or had to forgo workshops, conferences, etc.  So I try very hard to keep this blog free.  But there are things that I need to be paid for, and my books are a welcome small income, as are the classes I teach on-line.  For people who aren't aware, the websites to host classes are not free, and the staff costs for the people running the cameras, doing the editing, including captions, the generation of the class 'handouts', etc., all mount up.

I have a couple dozen video clips uploaded to You Tube, but the quality isn't great in no small part because I didn't have a camera crew, editors, etc.  They are what they are and I don't charge for them.

For each class I have online, I personally spent at least 60 (or more) hours writing the class plan, sorting out what examples I needed, what I needed to demonstrate, generate the documentation, then spent hours (days) filming the content, which was then edited and published for the students to use to learn more.

The current article for WEFT has taken up about 30 or more hours (I stopped counting) - and I haven't even finished writing the text yet.  Another 10 or so hours to generate the text, then edit, edit, edit, send to my alpha reader, who will likely spend another 3-5 hours going through the article, mark the changes, then I have to clean up the text based on her input and send it all to the 'official' editor.  Then all the work in the production of the magazine, with my article and many others.  Each of which will have about the same amount of preparation, just to bring the weaving community quality (hopefully) information for people to add to their foundation of knowledge.

I had also been hoping that the president of the US would forget about his obsession with tariffs and wanting to invade my country, but apparently he's been reminded of his threat to 'crush' my country economically.  Since I have just last month renewed my ko-fi shop, I will continue to list things for sale there (including a digital book/memoir of my life as a professional/production weaver/teacher), and see what happens with the tariffs.  In the meantime, Canadians don't have to pay anything 'extra'.

Lastly, I have been mulling over what I ought to be doing with all the 'samples' I've been weaving to illustrate the WEFT articles.  Most samples are large enough that I can cut each one into 9 pieces, then mount them on card stock and sell the packets of samples.  If anyone is interested, I will look into doing that once the magazine starts appearing in mailboxes.

And no, they won't be 'free'.

Inspiration

 

Where does inspiration come from?  Dunno.  All I know is that I am nearly always in the planning stages of 3 or 4 warps 'ahead' from what I am actually working on.

Inspiration can be sparked by something I see - the weather, flowers - or by the yarns in my stash that I decide to weave up.  

The types of motifs can be symmetrical, or asymmetrical, but I like to design curves and break free of the 'rigid' grid of the woven format.

Sometimes it is an aspect of weaving that I want to explore - which I then piggyback a project onto the end of the warp so that I get something 'material' out of it, not just the knowledge I gain by exploring the craft further.

Sometimes it will be a magazine article that sparks my curiosity and I'll put a warp on to see if I can work with the thought sparked by another weaver.  Sometimes it will be a teaching 'sample', which could be 'just' a sample (or series of) or sometimes I will make a 'thing' - again so that I can possibly have some income to help cover the 'cost' of making the warp for samples.

The big thing is to always keep my mind open to the possibilities - the 'what if' questions.

The opportunity to go deep into the nuts and bolts of the craft was one thing that appealed to me - and still does.  I love to learn stuff.  And there is So Much to learn about how the way threads interlace and interact in the woven forms.  I know that I will go to my grave still wondering 'what if'...

And no doubt with an unfinished warp on my loom!

On a chat group a few (many?) years ago several of us started talking about this very thing and I said that if there were no looms in heaven, I wouldn't be going there.  Allen Fannin then responded that he would see me in the other place, then.  Well, Allen died far too soon, but I hope he found a loom.  I'll be looking to find him when I go there so that we can keep exploring...

FAFO

 

stacks of samples to be documented and analyzed

In high school, I had a love/hate relationship with Chemistry.  I enjoyed *doing* the experiments, hated writing them up.

And now, here I am - a lifetime (pretty much) of doing the experiments, and in some cases, writing them up.

Turns out it was just a *different* science that I enjoyed exploring!

The piles of samples don't look like much, but they represent days of work.  What is in the bin are the loom state samples and the two piles represent the two different yarns I was exploring.  I'm not going to tell you about them because you will be able to read all about it when (if) the article gets accepted for WEFT.

Today is a 'light' duty day as I have massage at 12:30 and ran out of time to weave this morning.  (Truth be told, I just didn't have the spoons.)

When I get home I'm all set up to start going through the samples.   First I will match the loom state and wet finished samples, then the comparison between the two will be done for each iteration.  This is when I will measure the samples and record the epi/ppi and identify the different yarns used for weft.

Once I have all the stats recorded, I will begin to compare the samples and draw some conclusions - if I can - and perhaps suggest some things that could be done 'next', if anyone wants to take this initial step further.

I don't know that I have enough information to make firm conclusions, but the whole exercise has been quite fascinating.  Some things behaved the way I expected; others, not so much.

The big thing when doing this kind of exploration is to keep one's mind open and not to force forgone conclusions on the results.

I have a couple of my own warps in the queue before I tackle the next WEFT FAFO.  As usual I need to think about it for a while, consider how to most efficiently approach the FA part of the experiment, then take the information and design some 'examples' to show what I mean.  It would be nice to be able to apply what I do to my own weaving (all about the efficiency) so it may take me a while to finish designing the experiments/projects so that I can weave some 'samples' to share in the article.

One thing about advancing age (and health issues that make things difficult) I don't want to waste time!  My time/energy banks are vastly diminished these days.  Not that I ever seemed to have 'extra', I always worked to the limit of my time/energy.  Now I cannot assume that I will have stores of either to draw on so I have to be even smarter about how I do things.

I suppose this is what they mean when they say 'with age comes wisdom'?  Perhaps, it is just exhaustion...

Not Done Yet

 

not very far from my house

Seems winter is not done with us yet.  Honestly mid-February truly is too early for spring, so I am not all that upset with the fine snow coming out of the north this morning.  OTOH, I'm not the one who has to deal with it, so I have the luxury of pretty much ignoring it.

I'm well into the current warp and it's coming along nicely.  Plus I'm using up some of that huge cone of 16/2 cotton I inherited from a friend.  It won't all get used up, but there will be a good dent made in it, so there's that.

I'm still struggling with adverse drug reactions and I'm unsure what to do 'next'.  It seems I am to be crippled by some sort of pain.  I'm not ready to accept that - yet.  I've emailed the pharmacist to see if she has more information on a 'long shot' drug as I'm not finding fact sheets for it being used for nerve pain.  And asked if there is something else that I could try 'next'.  But it seems the nerve blockers all come with muscle pain - for me (spechul snowflake that I am) - and so far none of them have brought relief without the side dish of muscle pain.  

And the shenanigans politically continue.  I need to remember that the people doing these things are banking on people becoming exhausted and giving up.  That it is always much easier to 'burn it all down' than it is to build functioning societal benefits.  Oh well, it's 2025 and here we are, no one knows when it will all come crashing down.

Since I can do very little to prevent any of this, I continue to head to the studio and try to produce something, anything, creative/productive.  With the additional benefit of an increase in endorphins and ability to shut the world out of my thoughts for a couple hours a day.

So far this week I've wet finished the samples for the current article.  Now to 'marry' them to their loom state samples so that the finished woven samples can be compared to the loom state, and see how the wet finishing has transformed the samples.  What I had on the loom was, to put it in one word, disappointing - as cloth goes.  And yet when I took the finished samples off the drying rack after being wet finished, the transformation was remarkable.  :)

For me, at least, the journey of 'finding out' continues.  I've just agreed to write another article, and letting my thoughts percolate on the back burner while I finish up the current warp.  And get the next one set up.  I still have to finish doing the math (number of ends/picks).  Last night I started hemming the tea towels I just wet finished and I continue to be pleased with them.  

As for my ko-fi shop, since no one knows if the tariffs will be applied - or not - or if US mail will accept parcels from Canada (as a further way to 'squeeze' Canadians) I will just leave my shop open and go with the flow.  

What will be, will be.  And we'll all just have to figure things out as the circus continues...

Taking Stock

 

Yesterday I pressed the white linen on natural merc. cotton warp and no, they are not 'perfect' but I'm quite pleased with them.  They have the linen 'stiffness' but the cotton flex, and woven of fine threads they should be really nice tea towels.  I only wound up with 11 of them, but I still have about a pound and a half of the singles linen, so I decided to change directions and the next warp will be wound of the merc. 2/20 cotton at 40 epi and woven in this tried and true draft.

It's a fairly simple threading, just point progressions over 16 shafts with straight twill progression borders and since I'm still playing pain med roulette, keeping things simple is probably a good idea.

I've used this draft many times over the years.  I like the visual 'pun', which actually won't be obvious with the white/natural yarns.  It will look like damask even though it's a block twill.  I usually get around 18 or so towels per warp, but I will make them a bit smaller and may get 20.  

The yarn will last longer than just one warp so there will have to be one more to finish off the linen, then perhaps some of the white 2/20 merc cotton.  During my digging I found not one but two huge cones of the stuff.  Not sure what that will look like, yet.  Maybe the draft I showed the other day.

I've also been asked to do another article for WEFT so I'm mulling over what I will say for that one.  In the meantime I have time to do at least this warp before I start working on the article.  

The US continues to live an 'interesting' life.  Will the tariffs be forgotten about?  Or will he just go full on with plans to annex Canada (and Panama, and Greenland, and, and, and...)?

One thing about weaving so many samples is that I'm not producing so many textiles for sale.  So that's a win-win situation given the state of the world right now.

Doing the Same Thing...

Two yarns, spun to 3360 yards per pound.  Are they the same?  Will they behave exactly the same in the cloth?

One of the definitions of 'insanity' is doing the same thing, over and over and over again, and expecting different results.

Also, that people who do not know history are bound to repeat it (while those of us who *do* know history watch them do it.)

We have been inching towards today's 'reality', while historians have been warning us, and climate scientists have been warning us, and somehow, too few of us were paying attention.

Another post I saw yesterday was someone making the observation that ignoring what we don't like doesn't prevent what we don't like from happening.

All of these things are applicable to present day politics, but also?  Weaving.

I don't think there is another, better, metaphor for life than weaving.  Maybe it is why I find it endlessly fascinating.

As I have explored the craft for 50 years (next month), I have tried various things, read loads of books, taking classes with various instructors.

I learned that all of the 'best' advice was based on very specific circumstances, not necessarily 'true' in every way that can be found when dealing with fibre, string and cloth.

Over the years I became less rigid, more open to other possibilities. allowing for unique specific aims and objectives of the weaver.

And this is what I have found endlessly fascinating about weaving - the width, yes, but also?  The depth.  The information can be interpreted in so many different ways, depending on the aim, or intention, of the weaver.

It was the challenge of writing books.  Pick a set of circumstances, then give as much information and possibilities as I could think of.  As I look at the literature surrounding the craft, I see other authors have made similar conclusions, and moved to address them in the way that made sense to them.

But that's the thing - we all process information in different ways.  We all respond to circumstances according to who we are, our core values, and our level of knowledge and/or understanding of what it is we 'know'.

Because we don't know *what* we don't know until we finally know that we didn't know it.

A new weaver expressed frustration about learning to get consistent results - "Well, it seems like you just faff around and find out!".   Yes, my dear, that's exactly what *I* do.  But I do it based on the layers of knowledge that I have already figured out.  And then, every time I learn something new, that information gets installed into my foundation of knowledge.  So I'm not beginning from square one, now, but much further down the rabbit warren, with 50 years of knowledge, practice and experience, to extrapolate from.  And the 'failures'.  Because finding out what *doesn't* work teaches you where to look next for answers.

There are very few 'clear' answers in weaving (and I suspect in other crafts that rely on natural materials) and my goal now is to try to present as much as I can for anyone who wants to be exposed to my experience.

There is a meme that says a good teacher will tell you where to look, not what to see.  I try to be 'that' teacher.  (so, what is it you 'see' in the above photo????)

Books available at blurb

Classes available at Sweet Georgia and Long Thread Media

My Ko-fi shop - for towels and such

Soon to come - articles in WEFT

A Little 'Simple'

 

The current warp was designed to do the samples I needed for the current article, but I never do just short warps if I can make longer ones and have them do double duty.  So it was with this one.

The 'easiest' way to do the samples I was designing was to do a straight draw, most especially to accommodate doing towels on whatever warp was left once I'd finished weaving the samples.

Of course, once I declared I was 'done' I thought of another approach to trying to figure out what was going on, but the article only has a 1200 word count and I'm going to have a hard time keeping to that - I anticipate heavy editing.  :D

So, instead, I will toss out some ideas for people who may want to take what I've done and go further with it.

In the meantime, did I rethread to weave the left over warp with one of my more usual 'fancy' twills?  Nope.  Sometimes it's just good to go with 'simple'.

The warp is natural white 2/16 cotton threaded in a straight draw at a density appropriate to do a twill so I decided to do a very simple block progression that will create a 'wave' or undulation as the motif.

Yesterday I wove the first towel, found and fixed a sleying error, edited the treadling so that it comes closer to the dimension I want, and started thinking about the next warp.

I have about 700 grams or so of the singles linen, which will do one but not two warps.  In an effort to use up that stash I rummaged through Ars Textrina and decided to return to a 'fancy' twill I've used before but messed around with the tie up.  I'll let it 'sit' for a bit and see if I'm ok with it or if I mess around with it more.

Once I've done the current warp I'll beam the next one and increase the density to 36 instead of the current 32, and weave as much of the linen up.  The warp after that?  Don't know.  Yet.  I will have to set up something to weave off the linen, then get back to using up the fine 20/2 cotton I got from a friend's stash when she died.  I have a few options that I can turn to if the density is off, or I can manipulate the tie up, increasing or decreasing the interlacements.

Plus, they will 'just' be tea towels.  They don't have to be 'perfect', just functional.

In the meantime I've floated another idea to WEFT.  But I already have samples woven for that one so it will be 'just' writing.  Beyond that, I'm not sure.  The list of subjects has been sent in, but I feel like I need a bit of a break.  The saga of the search for pain meds that actually help instead of hurting continues.  I started a new pill on Thursday and right now I'm not sure if I'm having pain because of the med, or because I'm not taking enough of it yet, since I'm only on the introductory dose.

Sigh.

Anyway, if you want a wee peek at what is stewing here 'tis...

To Be Determined if it makes it to the loom in this format or?

Flag Day (politics)

 

One of the big differences I see between Canadians and USians, is that Canadians aren't generally big flag wavers.  

As such, we wound up mounting a smallish Canadian flag over our front door during one Flag Day, when they were being given away to anyone who wanted one.  We mounted it that year, and then left it because it was such a great 'landmark' if anyone was looking to visit - 'white house, flag mounted over the front door'.  At the time we were the only house flying a flag in our neighbourhood. and since then it has faded and been replaced.

We nearly took it down when the 'convoy' folk grabbed the flag for their 'parades' as they coal-rolled down the streets, but we figured we were flying the flag long before they were, so we kept it up.  Now the entire nation appears to be metaphorically flying the flag, and the 'convoy' folk are being out-numbered.  

In point of fact there are still very few private homes that fly the flag, so our direction to strangers is the same 'flag mounted over the front door'...

If the US administration continues the way they are going, I will speculate that once the current cold spell is over, there may be more private homes with flags flying.

And that's the thing that happens all the time - people who are not Canadian tend to underestimate us.

Unless they have benefited from Canadians serving them.  As we have benefited from service from others - most recently the exchange of fire fighters between countries.  We have seen crews from African countries, also battling wildfires during their hot season, usually able to come here during ours.  We have had Australian and Mexican crews, too.  And just last month Canada sent crews to California.  We know that being a good neighbour is to help each other.  Something lost on the current administration, who isn't doing their own citizens any favours.

We are in a time of upheaval, and where it will all end, no one knows.  Let a bully win, they will keep pushing.  Keep punching down.  We are in the fight for our country's survival right now facing huge odds.  Maybe Canada should thank the current president for the unification?  For being a 'bad' example?  

Let's just have a moment to think about Canadian author Margaret Atwood's observation that The Handmaid's Tale was a warning of what could happen, not meant to be a playbook...

Stick Shuttles

 

Yes, I still have - and use - stick shuttles.  Yes, they are slower than boat shuttles.  Sometimes it is faster to your goal to work more slowly.  And when the tool is the 'right' tool, then I use it.

A lot of people don't realize that if you wind your shuttle as above (a figure 8 on just one side of the shuttle) you can use your shuttle as a beater.   Very handy on a rigid heddle loom.  Also, by winding the yarn this way, the majority of the yarn sits on the 'top' of the shuttle making the shuttle easier to slide through the shed.   The yarn package builds up in a 'wedge' shape that fits the shed more closely, and reduces the abrasion of the weft yarn on the warp threads.  If you are working with 'tender' warp yarns, this can be a significant benefit.   

When I was weaving 40 yards of 'sashes' for the local Ukrainian dance troupe, the stick shuttle eventually turned out to be the 'best' tool to use, and by going slower by pick, I arrived with the (nearly) perfect sashes with a lot less hair pulling than trying to use a boat shuttle on such a narrow warp faced warp.

The samples that I have been weaving for the next WEFT article also benefited from the use of a stick shuttle.  However, I don't know that anything more will be said about why I used a stick shuttle than a passing note that I did, so I thought I would go into more depth here.

The samples were being woven with bundled weft threads.  The number of threads in the bundle was changed to show how bundled yarns at different numbers in the bundle changed the nature of the cloth.  

In some of the samples I used up to 7 fine threads in the bundle; some had as few as 3.

Part of the approach to do these samples was to use *bundled* threads, not *plyed* ones, so the object was to create a bundle and then reduce the number of twists that were applied to the bundles.  Winding a stick shuttle meant I had the ease of quickly changing the number of threads in the bundle, and applying very little twist.  I used my spool rack to mount the tubes on, which meant that by carefully - and consistently - pulling the yarns off the tubes and placing them on the shuttle as shown above, the yarns did not tend to pull off inconsistently causing loops and went on with few twists along the length.

I just pulled the last sample off the loom, and now I need to re-sley the warp so I can weave the rest off to make tea towels.

The samples need to be cut/serged, tagged so that they can be identified easily (especially after wet finishing) and frankly, the yarn 'tags' I'm using take me longer than the cutting and serging.  But these samples are not just for my benefit (curiosity killed the cat; satisfaction brought it back) but I need to write up what I did and describe the results.  And I will be making further suggestions for anyone who wants to take what I did further.  Because I could weave another whole set of samples, but I have a word count, and besides, might as well leave something for others to do?  :D  

I can't be having ALL the fun!  

I forget which issue these are intended to be in - if what I've done pass muster.  

The other day I mentioned to a local weaver I had all these samples and I'm mulling over the possibility of having a show and tell for anyone interested to attend and show the magazine and the actual samples for people to get the Full Meal Deal.  I don't feel like I'm doing enough to encourage local weavers and - if they all agree to wear a mask to protect me against the various viruses floating around these days - I would feel safe enough to attend an in person 'study group'.

Plus, maybe by April I'll not be stuttering/stammering etc., so much.  Most people say they can't tell how hard I'm working to speak, but it's exhausting to try and find the words I want to use.

Which means I am probably done with doing 'remote' presentations.  But small groups at my local guild?  I think I can manage that by spring.  We'll see.

Quiet Days

 

Megado computer assisted dobby loom

The last few days have been 'quiet' days.  First I had to beam the warp, something I can do in a day, if I pace myself, and then thread it.  Also something I have to pace myself to accomplish.

Over the weekend, I listened to music, as I always do, and found myself wanting - needing - music that was gentle.  Quiet.  

Fortunately I have a rather (ahem) large selection of CDs I can play, but yesterday I settled for a compilation of Cat Stevens songs.  Most of them are from the 70s, a time when there was a movement towards 'peace and love' and people were hopeful that things would (could) get better.

It was a balm for my soul and a welcome change from the music I usually listen to when I'm weaving, which is a bit more, energetic?

I have woven mostly on a dobby loom, which I changed to a computer assisted dobby in the late 1990s.  I had already been using hearing protection, due to the rather loud clatter from the AVL fly shuttle mechanism, so nothing much changed when I got the computer assisted dobby and realized how loud the solenoids were.

When I exchanged the AVL for the Megado, I was a bit surprised that it was just as loud as the AVL.  Solenoids will 'bang' no what brand of loom you use, apparently.

In March of 2020 I finally got hearing aids.  When the audiologist tested my hearing, there was no doubt - a big chunk of my hearing had been damaged - all consistent with working in a noisy environment.  Even though I'd worn hearing protection while weaving, there were other mechanical devices that I'd run without the hearing protection, and after decades of that, here I am.

The world is restless right now.  It threatens to get very 'loud', and a lot of people everywhere are getting very concerned about what is going on, not just here, but pretty much everywhere.

If you find yourself overwhelmed at the chaos and uncertainty, pace yourself.  Take breaks where you can wallow in some quiet, and peace.  Something that brings calm to you.  Lets you breathe deeply.  Maybe put on some 'peaceful' music, whatever that means to you.  Rest.  What is happening is not going to be over any time soon.  We need to pace ourselves.  Spend some time in creative pursuits, if that is something you do.  Help someone else, even one person.  Write a letter (or email) and let your elected officials know your thoughts.  Be polite!  Remember that such things get read by workers first.  But be clear.

Today I will sley and maybe weave the first sample on this warp for the article.  I spent some time yesterday doing some math (shudder) and have a 'plan'.  Time to get to the loom and begin.  There will be more Cat Stevens (2nd disc!) while I sley and tie on, then figure out how many 2/16 threads to bundle for the weft.  Little by little, the bits of knowledge get observed, then crammed into my foundation of knowledge.

These 'interesting' times threaten to continue for the next while.  Stay strong.  Which means resting when you get tired.

Of Money, Sales, and Exchange Rates

 

For anyone angry at the price increase of the above book, all I can say is that 'politics' affects the individual person as well as major corporations.  Individuals, however, have fewer resources to deal with things like, oh, say, another country who is, right at this time, deciding to 'crush' my country and our economy as a party plank.  The fact is, the Canadian dollar has been trading at a far lower rate than the US dollar for years so it is more expensive for a Canadian to purchase something in the US than here at home.  

When I wrote this book (well, all of them, frankly) my goal was to just cover my costs and maybe get a little bit more.  But that is getting harder and harder to do with the stated intent of the the current administration's goal of crushing our economy in order to waltz in and annex us.

This morning I increased the price of The Intentional Weaver, but left Stories from the Matrix the same as it was.  

I don't know how much people enjoy - or even find it helpful - but there is a lifetime of learning in the book and I had to make the decision to adjust the price of the book.

Sweet George Yarns carries copies of The Intentional Weaver.  I make the effort to sign the books and have a weaver's blessing I wrote that I print out on sticky labels to be inserted into the book.  The book can be purchased by USians, but if you order from Blurb online, orders being shipped in the US will not be charged a tariff.  Canadians, you can order from Sweet Georgia Yarns and it will be shipped to you within Canada.  Whatever border charges were when they were shipped have been dealt with.  But I can't guarantee that it will be economical for them to continue carrying it after the latest shenanigans with tariffs/not tariffs/yes, tariffs,  

And considering the president has vowed to 'crush' Canada, then walk in and annex us, whether we want that, or not, I may have to stop offering it in Canada.

We make decisions as best we can when it is time to make them, and then we need to ride the snowboard of doubt when things change.

Hold on, everyone.  It's going to be a wild ride for the foreseeable future...

Sad Loom

 

There is nothing quite so...sad...as an empty loom.  Which is why I try to have my next warp planned and ready to go just as soon as the warp on the loom gets cut off.

Today I will be beaming the next warp (old photo).  This will be the second warp for the current article for WEFT.  I have been working on it for the past couple of weeks, trying to decide what will work best to illustrate what I'm trying to show and have an initial plan based on the first warp I did.  I try to make each warp be a step forward, to build on my knowledge.

Once I have all the samples woven, I will take some time to examine all of them, and the yarn I used for the two warps, and hopefully tease out some information that might be helpful to others.  No, I will not have any firm conclusions, but hopefully a stepping stone for greater understanding.  And then the task of writing up my discoveries, get my alpha reader to check for grammar and/or typos and take photos, if I can get ones that show anything worthwhile.  I may even try to draw some diagrams, if I can, although my drawing skills are less than professional!

All of that will be requiring a microscope so that I can really *see* the yarns and their structure - because I have a sneaky suspicion that part of what happens is based on the structure of the thread itself.  To really understand what is happening, I might have to closely examine many more threads, but I think I can extrapolate based on the two different yarns I used.  Of course, change one thing, and everything can change!

We are going through a spell of 'real' winter with the overnight temps in the mid -20s C.  This time the cold weather has brought clear blue skies, for which I am grateful.  The dreary days we had been having in Dec/Jan were wearing.  And, of course, current events are chaotic and exhausting.  I am managing to get to the studio at least twice a day, and continuing my exploration of cloth and how it is made as a way to stay sane.  

I need to stay focused on my craft or I would tear my hair out in frustration.

If you are a creative person, keep creating.  Keep putting positive energy out into the world.  I think it was Churchill who, when questioned why he wanted to keep funding the arts, replied (I paraphrase) without the arts, what are we fighting for?  I don't know if this quote is accurate, but I keep it in mind because I believe that we need our creativity as much as other things.

Endings, Beginnings

 

Given it looks like one more day (two at the most) will finish the current warp, it is time to get serious about the next warp.

As usual, I'm making this sample warp do double duty so I want to utilize the threading in the way I need it to weave the samples for the article, but then to use what ever warp is left to do towels.

Originally I thought I would need 24 treadles, but as I watched the design take shape on the screen, it was clear I only needed 20.  The hems will be woven with one of the collection of treadles that weave just one set of four shafts as 3:1, and the rest as 1:3, meaning I lift the lowest number of shafts for most of the weaving.

I have been paging through Michelle Boyd's book Twist in an effort to try and figure out the results I have been getting and still feel like I'm wading through the bog.  It's not a craft I know well - told her the other day that I know just enough about spinning to be dangerous! - and with my brain on medical leave, trying to wrap what I have left functioning around the topic is tough sledding, as they say.

But I have solid results to show with proof that you can't just assume something will logically happen - these are threads, after all!  And of course it all depends on how they have been spun, how much latent energy they still have, the ratio of the twists in single and ply and how they will 'marry' in a yarn.

I had dragged my wheel out a few weeks ago, and promptly had an adverse reaction to one of the new pain pills I was 'testing' and had to drop the exercise finally because the muscle pain settled in my hands, most particularly my thumbs.  I couldn't spin so I finally put it away.  I was SO close to getting one bin emptied, but I couldn't face the last bobbin, in case I blew out the tendon in my right thumb - which my massage therapist warned me would take months to recover from.  Time I can't afford.  Isn't it Bonnie Raitt who sings about time becoming more precious the less of it you have?

Best approach was to reluctantly put the spinning away until I find a pain med that doesn't cause muscle pain while trying to provide relief from the nerve pain.  Sigh.  Spechul Snowflake.  Pharmacist told me yesterday that "most people can take one of the nerve blockers with no adverse effects".  Heh.

We are also dealing with an extended period of 'cold' weather, which doesn't do damaged bodies any favours!  OTOH, we have accumulated a decent snow pack and it isn't going away any time soon.  Not, at least, while the cold continues.  Given there is little need for me to  leave the house, I have been staying home, mostly.  I needed something on Friday, so after massage we went shopping to try and find the item.  It took a while, and then some time digging through the website looking for what we needed, but Doug found the item and went out today to buy it locally.

We have carefully considered what we buy, and where it originates, stocked up on some things in case the tariffs go on again next month.  Last year was an 'expensive' year as we replaced our furnace and had a heat pump installed (with natural gas back up because heat pumps don't work when it goes below around -20C) and then a hybrid vehicle.  We figure these will be the last we will ever need to invest in given our relative ages, so we might as well go a little bit more expensive and reduce our carbon footprint.

So, I'm looking forward to getting this warp off the loom and seeing if I can puzzle out the next one and solve some 'mysteries'.  If I don't actually 'solve' the mystery, I will have had some time on working it out as best I can...

Passing the Torch

 

The other day I had a new weaver contact me about teaching weaving.  I thought about how I knew about 3 pages more in the book than the folk I was trying to teach when I started, and gave permission to them to use my class outline.

I mean, I choose not to teach in person now, so why not?  Hopefully others will pick up the reins.

The arrival of Covid generally meant the end of my teaching in person.  The brain injury put an exclamation mark on it.  When I can't 'control' what comes out of my mouth, I can't teach.

(Funny story - yesterday I was leaving a message for my family doctor and their receptionist asked which telephone number was best to use - cell or home - my mouth asked her to use 'hell'.  I'm sure she was taken aback and I hastened to correct that to 'home'...)

If I tell people I have trouble speaking, they assure me I sound 'fine'.  But I don't sound 'fine' - to me.  I know how hard my mental roll-a-deck is scrambling to find the word I want to use.  And the more tired I get the harder I have to work to find the words.  The more tired I get, and the harder I have to work, the more stressed I get.  And if I get tired/stressed enough, I cannot find *any* words.  Not a great look for a teacher.  

Much more comfortable for me to write, when I have plenty of time to re-read and edit.  Even writing is harder than it used to be, but I feel I can produce a better presentation.  

Who knows, this might reduce as the healing process continues, but there is no guarantee, and frankly I will be two years older and who knows what other health issues are going to rear their heads in the future. 

I'm still immune compromised, and yesterday I ran into an anti-everything person.  I don't know if their sour demeanor was standard, or triggered by the sight of me wearing a mask.  But sometimes I just don't have the spoons to deal with the eye-rolling and (occasional) snarky comment.  Told Doug yesterday that when people do that to me, I'm tempted to start coughing.  In their direction.  Because we don't have just Covid (and flu and etc.,) but we have Bird Flu poised to start running through the human population.  And some governments willing to let 'er rip.

If others are not willing to protect me and my ability to present knowledge, I am not willing to teach in person.

I do have other venues that can be accessed without the mask (and the bleed in of politics) - namely my books.  For USians, my books are printed in the US so there will be no tariff (if that goes ahead).  They are available here.

My classes online are available at School of Sweet Georgia and Long Thread Media.

I also hang out on Handweaving Academy.

Plus the video clips on You Tube, and of course here.  Click on the topic to see the blog posts I've labelled with the topic in the list to the right.

If nothing else people can email me with questions.  laura at laurafry dot com

In the age of making lack of knowledge popular, I stand fast to spread as much knowledge as I can for those willing to receive it.  Neither will I use AI(LLM).  One advantage of my books not selling very many copies is that no LLM has 'discovered' them, and therefore have not scraped them for content, to be mangled and regurgitated in inaccurate ways.  (shrug emoji)

Winter of our Discontent

 

my father, a reminder of when moving snow was done in machines with open cabs and not much in the way of heaters

We have been having a run of 'true' winter weather.  It is currently -21 C and the heat pump needs the assistance of the natural gas backup.  So far it is working well and we haven't needed the electric space heaters.

I have been enjoying the fact that I have minimum physical maintenance appointments and I've  managed to group two of them the same week which has been giving me the week in between with no need to leave the house.  I have been enjoying that.

But I'm still trying to find pain medication that works for the nerve pain and doesn't cause muscle/joint pain.  The massage therapist mentioned that the pain in the base of my thumb is particularly a problem and to do nothing that aggravates it.  So I've been cutting back on my handwork.

Last night I put the spinning away.  The pinch/release of spinning really aggravates my thumb, and he warned me that if the tendon 'blows' it will takes months to recover.  Something I do NOT want to have happen.

I've been waiting for the pharmacist to call me back with some 'new' alternatives to try, but I've heard nothing and I'm running out of pills.  So I need to phone and order another batch of pills - or find out how she's doing on the search for the 'magic' pills.

My goal is to keep weaving for so long as I can.  If nothing else, samples for articles.  But it would be nice if I could weave other things, too.  Yesterday I cut off the first 6 towels and today I will tie on and continue weaving the current warp.  I'm quite enjoying doing these towels, and I think they will make great towels.

Yesterday, I listed a recent run of table runners  to my ko-fi shop - with fingers firmly crossed that the borders won't slam shut.  

In the meantime, I am enjoying the blue skies (not so much the cold temps) but right now it is actually 'normal' so I'm not complaining too much.  I've been making it to the loom twice a day except for the two days every two weeks I have appointments.  And I'm mulling over the results of the first experimental warp, thinking how to approach the second warp for the article.  I have a few more days so I can keep mulling for a while, but I'm going to have to make up my mind soon.  

It's been very interesting to see what happens from thread to cloth.  Hopefully I can make some kind of sense of it.  

Talking Politics

 

I try very hard to modulate my 'voice' when I'm talking about things that might be....controversial...like politics.

But there comes a time when individuals need to stand up and speak out.  

This year Canada faces a federal election.  On the one side is the 'left' wing, currently holding parliament, and on the other side...a party I have no desire to see take the reins of power.

Given what is happening in so many countries around the world, I am going to be using my voice to speak up for people who are marginalized (not just because I am one of them now).  I will from time to time allow my thoughts to appear here - a space that I have pretty steadfastly used to only talk about weaving - or my health which has a direct effect on my weaving.

Because truth be told, if the right wing takes power, my life will be radically changed, and not for the better.

I have been warned that some social media sites will censer or even censure me.  So far Blogspot doesn't seem to be doing that, but it is a function of Google, so it may.

In an effort to maintain transparency, I fall on the 'liberal' quadrant of the political spectrum - have done since I was 16 and first took the 'test'.  Checking on my attitudes several times over the years, I continue to fall on the same patch of 'left'ness.

So I'm not a 'radical' left leaning person, I'm more 'centre' leaning.

With the shenanigans that the US president is getting up to, directly threatening my country with 'annexation' I have joined a group of Canadians who are doing whatever they can to protect our country from such threats.

Over the weekend we took some hours to go through our pantry, examine our buying habits, then identifying US products we can replace with (hopefully) Canadian products - or any other country but the US.   (Almost.) 

This response to the tariffs which the president is applying, which *Canadians* do not pay, USians do, Canada is applying some targeted tariffs in return.  But these tariffs have united our country in a way no other politician could have - there has been a personal response from the 'average' Canadian to do the same thing - adjust where they spend their money.  Plus Canadians are cancelling trips to the US for holidays.

The popular support for the alt right wing politician who has spent the past 4 years telling the country that everything wrong with the world is the Liberal's fault, most especially PMJT's fault, has seen their support fall drastically in the past week.  Will it stay there?  Time will tell.

I will try to remember to label political posts with a Content Warning.  I know that not everyone agrees with me, they are only here for the weaving content.  That said, my classes on line (School of Sweet Georgia and Long Thread Media), my You Tube video clips, my books, all come with no political commentary whatsoever.  But my core values are what make me the person I am.  And during this scary and troubling times, my thoughts about politics *may* spill over here, in my blog.

Just saying...

Keep Going!

 

A friend sent me a card recently and thanked me for reminding them to 'keep going'.  Since then the current US president has threatened my country with all kinds of economic hardship while suggesting that  our entire country (with a land mass larger than the US) be 'annexed' and become the 51st state.

This kind of aggression has not sparked the response the president was expecting - like some USians he assumes everyone secretly wants to be USian - which I understand.  I love my country, too.  I don't assume everyone wants to *be* Canadian though.  We are not 'perfect' and we have a number of issues that we need to address - and becoming the 51st state of the US is not going to solve those problems.

There is a great deal of angst running rampant, in *both* countries.  It is exhausting, never having stability, never knowing what bone-headed thing the governors (sic) of a country are going to float, like a lead balloon.  Never knowing if you will have personal safety, or if your life will be turned over by an over grown toddler having yet another melt down.  And meanwhile a private citizen and his minions are rifling through citizens private information and doing what with it?

There are people who are trying to bring accurate information to the US citizenry.  And there are things individuals can do - phone your representatives and state your objections to the destruction of necessary government pages, for example.  If you don't feel safe/secure enough to be public, you can fund groups who are doing the work.  You can join protests - again, if you feel safe.  Some people are less secure than others.  

I'm no expert in protesting government actions, especially in a different country, just trying to remind people that they *do* have some power (for now) and it's time to use it.

As for Canadians, Ontario has an election this month.  Please do NOT vote for Ford, who has already done a 180 and instead of standing up against a potential national security threat, he has dug the contact with Starlink out of the garbage (if he ever threw it away or just waited for a bigger back handed sweetener) and the over blown contract with Musk is back on.  This is *your* time - get rid of Ford.

In the meantime, do what you need to do to keep sane in this unstable time.  Do what makes you happy, be that taking long walks in the woods (before the wildfires begin again), have long soaking baths, spin/knit/crochet/weave or whatever.  Whatever creative energy you can put out into the world, the better.

Take time to shut off the 'news' and work creatively, even if all you do is give what you make away.

Buy supplies from small suppliers.   They are really *really* hurting.  Avoid Hobby Lobby, etc.

Encourage each other.  Give them hugs, real or virtual.  If you have a little money, maybe help someone who has just lost their government job (because they were female, or black, or disabled - and considered a DEI hire.)

Canadians, please look at what the leader of the Conservative party is saying - the lack of actual substance, and the over abundance of threats and lies and the blame game, played over and over again.  Is that kind of person who you really *want* to run the government of Canada?  Show me your solutions, not point at more people to blame!

In the meantime, Canadians have the opportunity to join Charlie Angus' initiative - the Canadian pledge.  I'm not generally someone who signs petitions and pledges, but these are not 'usual' times.  If people are going to pay attention to polls, let us make this the biggest poll response ever!  

Link is:  https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/pledge-for-canada-petition

For now I am heading back to the loom.  The current towels are not 'perfect' but I'm pleased enough with them.  I should have them ready before the 30 day pause in tariffs ends, and who knows, some other things may catch the president's eye and he'll forget about the tariffs.

But in the meantime, we will be ready. 

The Quest Continues

 

It was difficult to get a photo of the current web on the loom, in part because the warp is 'natural' cotton and the weft is 'white' linen.  The only way I could get a decent photo was to hold the 'camera' (iPad) at a very low angle and get the shadows of the mostly warp threads as they stand proud in the cloth.

It is a very subtle cloth, but that's okay.  Not everything needs be 'loud'.  And the combination should make really nice tea towels, ones that will work well (I hope) and be a joy to use.

The photo also very clearly shows the dimensionality of this cloth.  It isn't a flat plain, but hills and valleys, created by the threads as they dip and dive in and out, over and under the other set of threads.

I think this very dimensionality has always intrigued and fascinated me.

I am making these towels a bit smaller than my 'standard'.  The warp is 20" in the reed, and they will be a bit shorter, in keeping with the narrower width.  Even though they are more work than my 100% cotton towels (40 epi and close to that for ppi), I will likely price them in keeping with the cotton towels.  Although that it to be determined.

Yesterday I got an order for towels from the US.  I will mail them on Tuesday with fingers crossed that they make it to their destination.

For my USians readers, I found out this morning that what the current president has done by putting a unilateral tariff on all products coming from Canada is 'illegal'.  The targeted tariffs that Canada is placing on selected US products is not.  The current president made it clear this morning that the tariffs he is placing on Canadian products is not due to some baseless excuse as fentanyl, but is an outright act of aggression as he tries to crush Canada's economy in order to swoop in and buy up Canada as some sort of bargain basement purchase.

Therefore, I understand if you don't want to pay a US 'tax' in order to purchase my towels.  My other concern is that the US will shut down the mail between our two countries.  If that happens while one of my orders is in transit, I will refund your purchase.

To people who would rather I keep politics out of my weaving, I'm sorry, but politics keeps intruding on me.

A New Day

 I'm not going to comment much on current events, other than to say, keep creating, keep pushing creative energy out into the universe.  I won't tell you what to do about what is going on, each of us has to make that decision for ourselves - what we can risk, what we are ok with losing.  But I may give some suggestions...

This week has been...challenging.  The only thing keeping me sane right now is getting to the studio and doing stuff that *I* can control - or not, such as the case may be.

So, how are those samples coming, you may ask?

Well, I have quite a lot of data.  Do I have conclusions?  Largely that textiles will continue to be fluid, and to fascinate.

Doubting that my experience is the be all and end all, I did consult with 3 other people, largely to check to see if what I was seeing was unique to me, or worked across the warp.  (sorry - not sorry!) Have I nailed down the dynamic at play?  Nope.  Not at all.  

So, I am taking a wee break, in part to let my wounded brain have time to percolate the results of the first warp, but also, to do something which I am fairly confident will turn out the way I hope.  Will I be happy with the results?  To Be Determined.

I used up more of the warp than expected weaving (and in some cases, re-weaving) the samples, but that's ok.  That's why I beamed a much longer than anticipated warp.

With the news that the US 25% tariff will take effect on Monday, and in the face of just last week renewing my subscription to my ko-fi shop, I have decided to keep my shop for the coming year.  OTOH, I'm not happy with the new changes to the Terms and Conditions of Paypal, so this year might be the last year I have a Paypal account, too.  But things can change in an instant.

The worst thing I can do right now is panic.  I am 'safe' (for the time being, but we have a federal election coming up) so I don't need to rush to make decisions when the current slow(?) moving coup south of the border continues, AND about to happen here, too, either succeed or collapse out of...well, choose your description.

I suppose the best advice I can offer is to watch what is happening.  Do your best to not comply in advance.  Help protect the vulnerable amongst us.  Recognize what is happening.  History is written by the 'winners'.  Paying attention to what folk do, is also legitimate.

Some people have suggested that people keep journals to record what is happening.  An individual doesn't have much power by themselves, but if we get out and vote, that makes people in power pay attention.

Recently I have been reading 'history' written by two musicians, both of them paying attention to the politics of the day.  I am learning about things that were never really reported much and their records from the time period are reminding me of what I knew but had either not fully understood, or had forgotten.

If you are 'old' like me, I'd like to remind you of two musicians - Bruce Cockburn and Billy Joel.   Sometimes it is good to be reminded that even when I wasn't paying all that much attention, some people were, and were willing to sing out about it.  

As for the books I've been reading, Rumours of Glory by Bruce Cockburn covers from the 1960s to the early 2000's, and  Dangerous Memory by Charlie Angus covers from the 1980s onwards.

Charlie Angus is currently a federal politician, and had made the decision to not run in the next election.  As such he doesn't need to 'protect' his 'seat' and has chosen to speak out, loudly, about the alt right poised to try and take over Canada.  It is refreshing to have a voice from the left to speak out and call it what it is.

If you are Canadian, pay attention to what Charlie Angus is doing to try and preserve the 'norms'.  Because as we are seeing south of the borders, once the alt right takes over, the 'norms' are no longer considered 'normal'...just saying...