Making Plans

 

If there is one thing that has finally lodged in my brain, it is that...I need to be aware of my 'stuff' and deal with it.

I have helped distribute the weaving studios (and more) of 3 or 4 other weavers, over the years.  And it is difficult to think about, but I need to make plans for when my weaving days are finally over.

As far as yarn goes, I can say that I have made serious inroads on my yarn accumulation.  Yes, there is more that needs to go away, somehow or another.  But by and large, I have woven up a good part of my yarn.  I'm actually quite proud of that, given how much yarn I had when I officially 'retired' Dec. 31, 2019.

That's not to say I don't have any yarn - far from it.  But most of it is very fine and I'm not really feeling like weaving at 60 epi anymore.  So, I have given some of my yarn to others, but mostly, I have woven every day that I can since January 1, 2020.  Since the brain injury 13 months ago, which just added to my other health issues, there have been way too many days when I just could not.  But neither was I feeling well enough to even *think* about dealing with my stuff.

Since the infusion a few weeks ago, I have been having some good enough days that I have felt as though I really, truly, needed to deal with my stuff.

And, since I am focusing on the review reading I am doing for a couple other weavers, books have been on my mind.

I gave a box of samples to one person, and now I'm looking at my books, in part to explore some of the issues being raised in the current ms, and the realization dawned that that textile science book I was looking at?  Probably needed to go to the author of the ms.  Then I started thinking of other things in my studio - books mostly - but also maybe some samples? - and it occurred to me that there might be a few people who would appreciate some of my collection of books.  And I might ask the new local weaving teacher if she might be interested in some of my samples to use in her teaching...

Discussed that with Doug this morning, and told him what I was thinking of doing.  Mentioned that some of my books I'm not willing to give away just yet, so I was going to add a note to the ones I'm offering to others with the recipients name and contact info.  Then if I have another health issue that I don't survive, he and the friend who has assured me they will help Doug, will know who the books are intended for.  And because I'm not getting rid of them - yet - I won't feel like I'm giving up yet more of my life, just providing a welcome home when it comes time.

There are only just so many things I can cut out of my life before I just...can't.

It's how I've lived my life.  Make plans.  Then try to get to the goal.  In the meantime, I have a warp in the loom that wants weaving.  Time to go do that.

Reflections On Where We Are

 

I have seen this post multiple times, but I thought this version was particularly eloquent.

We watched a program on homo sapiens the other night and the archeologists were reporting on new findings that push the 'rise' of homo sapiens even further back than was thought.

Which means that we have been here, on this planet (with other branches of the human species, now defunct, with only slight traces in our DNA to show that they existed - other than their bones) for literally thousands and thousands of years.

And I thought about the 'evolution' of the homo sapiens species - if you can call it that.  Because so far as I can see, we have not so much evolved as just...continued to exist.

Quite frankly, the way we have 'improved' our lives over the past 300 or so years, it looks like we are set to wipe ourselves out of existence in the next 50 or so years.  Oh, it won't be a quick extinction, but a slow, agonizing, and quite likely, ugly one.

In the famous poem - this is how the world ends - not with a bang but a whimper.

Can we put the brakes on?

Can we stop killing each other?  The planet?

Biologists have been noticing for several decades the vast - and growing - number of extinctions of other animals.  When we rub out enough of the other animals, there will be little to nothing left for us to continue without the insects (pollinators), plants (food), etc.

Not to mention the human specialty - war.  Wholesale killing.

I expect to not live to see the outcome of our self-extinction efforts.  I'm old, not healthy, frail, even.  But I don't expect us to go quickly, so at some point my skills (such as they are) might be needed in the future.

There isn't much that I, personally, can do to stop the slip and slide to the alt right.  My best effort will be to help try to preserve what knowledge I have; encourage newer/younger weavers to learn.  And be sand in the gears of the alt right.  I may not be able to stop them, but maybe I can slow them down a little.  I certainly don't need to quickly and quietly acquiesce to their plans.

Another post I saw this week was regarding the fact that the opposite to depression was creation.  So I will continue to weave, teach, encourage, for as long as I can.  

And tend my tiny little plant of hope as best I can.

So now I'm going to head to the loom and weave.  Another tea towel.  Seems useless.  But it's an act of creation, not destruction.  And I'm in favour of creativity.

It Depends (honestly!)

 

Me, here, again reminding people that the only correct 'short' answer when it comes to weaving is...it depends.

If you are a long time reader of this blog, I'm quite sure I've posted this before (and will, no doubt, post it again). * 

So, here we have two yarns, both rated to 3360 yards per pound.  Both cotton.

Are they same?  Do they *look* the same?  Yes, they are both the same number of yards per pound, both two ply, but just *look* at them.  Are they the same quality?  (Not that one is better than the other, they exist for reasons, all of them 'sound'.)

It's true that they sort of look the same.  I had to change the colour photo to black and white to really expose the yarns for the ways they are 'different'.  Not only do they look different, they behave differently.  But some weavers will swear on Bibles that they are the same.   Then they say don't use them for warp because it's weak.  And they turn their noses up and say it's 'bad' yarn.  (The yarn in the photo on the top is Brassard's 2/8 cotton - and it's just fine used as warp as well as weft.  They they are not the same!)

As I've mentioned previously, I have been asked to 'review' a thesis.  Since it is not really even a book, just a manuscript that may - or may not - turn into...something...I am not going to reveal anything other than share this quote that I read this morning:

"Understanding these inherent color and luster variations across different qiviut suppliers holds significant practical implications for weavers and other textile artisans. The non-interchangeability of qiviut from disparate sources means that a specific supplier's product cannot be readily substituted mid-project without introducing noticeable discontinuities in the finished textile. This underscores the necessity of precise material selection and adequate procurement for projects requiring consistent coloration."

 

Yes, yes, yes!  Different processes, regarding fibre prep and spinning, will result in different qualities of yarn, which will result in different qualities of cloth.  

I had to contact the author immediately and ask permission to share this, which she gave.  If she decides to publish her thesis (in some form), I have offered to let people know when it is ready. 

Weavers need to understand the qualities of yarn, how they are achieved, what they are appropriate for, and weave some samples so they know what to expect when they go to weave with them.  With a fibre as expensive as qiviut, this is especially true.

Watch for more information upcoming in WEFT as I examine and compare different qualities of cotton yarn.  I don't remember which issues the information will be coming in, but soon(ish).

In the meantime I would like to encourage people who are doing deep dives into the craft to think about publishing - either articles or books.  With AI pumping out word salad/garbage, we need to take care to conserve the solid information for future/new weavers.

*As usual my books are at blurb

Elder

 

The photo is of a page from The National Geographic from an issue around the theme of wool.  It is a great comparison of the different fibres - and gives a really excellent look at what a single fibre of the main different types of natural fibres look like.

Why is this important?  Well, the more you know about the individual fibres, and their natural characteristics, the better choices you can make when you start designing your own textiles.

Getting a designed project and working from someone else's notes (including my own) means that you get the knowledge of the project designer.  Sometimes this will include the design process - but rarely.  The 'successful' results are what people who work from someone else's project notes are after.  

But here's the thing.  You may not have the same loom.  You may not have the same skills in terms of beating consistently.  You may not get the same brand of yarn, which may behave differently from what the project designer used.

And so on.

So how do you know what to do?

You sample.  You examine your results.  You record your results.  You keep records of your results so that you can look back when you want to do something similar.

And you keep learning.  Reading books.  Articles.  Pick the brains of 'elders' of the weaving community.  Ask them to tell you the story behind the completion of a project.  What went wrong?  How did they adapt?  

It has been a long hard 13 months since my brain bleed, and along with everything else I'm dealing with, trying to decide how much longer I *can* weave (I will not stop *wanting* to) I have had to adjust, re-arrange my expectations, and generally examine my life.  Again.

Wayne Dyer used to talk about the 'stages' of life and the final one was to mentor others.

I honestly didn't know what I could do, given I cannot teach in person anymore.  But I found myself shaking the pom-poms of encouragement whenever I could.  And late this summer I wound up being asked to 'review' read two manuscripts by two different people.  

Since I was going through a rather trying spell, physically, I said yes.  If I couldn't weave, maybe I could use my brain.  And nearing the 12 month post injury anniversary, I felt that I could manage to do that.  Slowly, perhaps, but I could do it.

I am halfway through the first ms and...I am feeling honoured and privileged to be part of the process.  When I can I will share when the books are ready.  

In a time of masses of mis- and dis-information, I am firmly of the opinion that weavers, more than ever, need good information, solid information, subtle information, to base their decisions as they work through the design process.

I have had to acknowledge that I am not immortal (kinda relieved, really) and I won't always be here.  But in the meantime, I can share good information with the weaving community.  I can hold the stories in my memory banks.  I can share them with newer/younger weavers.  And I can continue to shake the pom-poms of encouragement to explore.  Learn.  Grow the craft by sharing knowledge.

Recommendations

 

throwing the shuttle

catching the shuttle

I have been taken to task by 'slow cloth' folk who lecture me to stop insisting that people weave quickly.

What I actually recommend is that people weave *ergonomically*.  Generally the result of using ergonomic motions/movements is an increase of efficiency, yes.  But mostly what I'm trying to get people to do is weave with less injury.

Once again today I saw someone complaining that their loom doesn't have a shuttle race and the shuttle keeps submarining.  There were a variety of responses, most of them agreeing it was incredibly frustrating and suggestions (typically) that if their loom doesn't have a shuttle race they should a) install one b) complain to the loom manufacturer because the loom is 'faulty', or c) if they have a shuttle race and their shuttle *still* falls through the bottom of the shed, it's installed improperly and should be adjusted.  And so on.

Thing is 90% of those problems will go away if you just hold the shuttle more level so that the nose doesn't point downwards when you throw the shuttle from one side of the warp to the other.

It wasn't until the 1700s that the fly shuttle was developed which needed a shuttle race to guide the shuttle from one shuttle box to the other.  

You might notice that the loom in the photo does not, and never did have, a shuttle race.  It works perfectly fine - when the shuttle is held and thrown as shown above.  Notice in the top photo the tip of the shuttle points slightly upwards, and in the bottom photo it is slightly downwards as the shuttle is caught, removed from the shed and then the shuttle is pulled upwards just enough for the beater to pass beneath my hand.

Now, there *are* other issues that will cause submarining problems, from poor tension of the warp, a crossed thread between heddle and reed, poor warp packing (which can affect general warp tension), a shuttle with a bobbin that is 'too full' or poorly wound (again, tension issues).

But most of the time?  The solution is using an ergonomic movement.

Now, changing your 'habit' is difficult.  It can be incredibly frustrating to re-train yourself to change a body movement.  Famously Tiger Woods took a year out of his life to retrain how he hit the golf ball.  Other prime athletes have done similar 'breaks' to improve their performance.  

And while the re-learning is slow and can also be frustrating, it can be necessary.  Because it is a lot easier to prevent a soft tissue injury than it is to heal from one.

The class I'm taking on neuroplasticity covered this very well in yesterday's class - how what we learn creates neural pathways in the brain.  In order to learn a different way, we have to erase the old pathway and replace it with a new one.   This takes time.  Repetition.  And concentration to remember to use the new movement, not default to the old one.

I used to tell students to give themselves 7 warps of using the new technique for it to become the new default.  Turns out I wasn't wrong.

Check your posture and position at the loom.  I've talked about this elsewhere - click on the ergonomics label for everything tagged for more information).  If you have my book or access to any of my online classes, there will be video showing what I do.  There are clips on You Tube.  

You can even email me for more information if you have a specific question.

Links to my above mentioned books and classes:

Blurb

Long Thread Media

School of Sweet Georgia

You Tube

Keeping it 'Simple'

 

This is one repeat (threading) and 1+ repeats of the treadling.  The beginning and end of the towel is woven in straight draw for the hems and to 'frame' the motif.

The motif is more-or-less circular with a tendency to look elongated, so now that I look at the cloth itself, it looks pretty much like the draft.  So I'm not too bothered that the pick count is less than I'd hoped due to the number of threads at 2/8 for size, instead of the intended 2/16.

In so many ways, weaving is like life.  You make plans.  You do your best to make 'good' decisions.  But sometimes life throws a curve ball and you scramble to adapt, change what you can, accept the results.  Or give up, entirely.

The largest investment in weaving a textile - especially for hand weavers - is the setting up of the loom.  I spent several hours thinking about it (what yarn do I have on hand, what will go together), sorting through my actual yarns on hand, choosing (in this case, badly), setting up the spool rack, tension box, and beaming.  The beaming takes about 2 hours (or more depending on how long/wide the warp is), then threading (hours, depending on the width, fineness of the yarns, the complexity of the draft), sleying, and tieing on.

And that's all before you ever start to throw the shuttle.

So to throw all that effort away?  I will weave 'imperfect' results so long as the results will still dry dishes...because at least I will have something to show for the time and trouble I went through to get a warp into the loom.

This is essentially the same draft as the last one, but simplified even further.  After my last pain procedure, my brain was not functioning well (was warned that might be the case) so I purposefully whittled down the last draft and made it simpler to thread for this warp.

Yesterday I started weaving, and that seemed to go well enough.  The big benefit of having it beat in less  than expected?  Less time to weave 'a' towel.  So I was able to weave one whole towel yesterday and even get started on another.

I'm aching a bit today, but I think I will feel better if I get up and get to the loom.  If nothing else I will feel less 'broken' if I can see some progress, somewhere in my life.  And I'm still trying to figure out my current 'limitations' and then see if I can expand them, going forward.  

Now I need to begin thinking about my next 'challenge' - that singles 6 cotton with twist energy in it.  I think I'll weave a sample of that on this warp and see how it looks.  I may have to reduce the epi to accommodate that relatively 'thick' yarn (in comparison to the 2/16).  Maybe 30?  Dunno.  I will have to wait until I can get the sample wet finished and then go from there...

Pivot

 

It's no secret I haven't been feeling 'well' the past while and that's always a 'dangerous' time when I'm planning a new warp.

I'm 'low' on yarns (of a certain kind) and I wanted to use some of the dribs and drabs up.  So I pulled some tubes and tried to put together a warp of mostly grey, then various shades of pale blues and blue/grey.  I did this in the evening, when I wasn't looking so much at the yarn but at the colours.  I found 32 tubes to beam the warp sectionally, was happy enough with the selection of hues/values of the yarns which I thought would work well together and the natural while weft.

And then didn't think about it again until I was beaming the warp.  I was getting little warning bells telling me something was 'off' but I was focused on getting the warp started, and remembering to only wind 50 turns instead of my usual 60.  I was also in some pain (when am I not, these days) so I wasn't really paying attention to the yarns themselves.  Until I had several sections wound.

And then I twigged.  Some of the tubes were not 2/16 size, but...2/8.  Sigh.  I could not start over - I had only just enough yarn to do the warp I had planned, and had cut down the length just to be sure I would have enough yarn.  To strip several inches off the loom and start over - *and* find more of the 2/16 in the same value/hue would be...difficult. 

I sat down and stared at the yarns in the section and realized at least 7 of the tubes were 2/8, not just one or two.  That many was going to affect the weave, meaning that 32 epi was going to be too many - probably - and the twill wasn't liable to beat in close to 32 ppi.

Finally I threw my hands up and said fugetaboutit.  I had one wild card to throw onto the table - reduce the number of ties in the tie up, which should come close to giving the twill line a decent chance at being close to 'ideal'.  And if not?  Well, it's for tea towels, does it really matter that much?

I had wanted to weave nice round circles (roses) but that wasn't likely to happen, so when in doubt, and you haven't been 'perfect', continue on and be as consistent as you can.

Trying to get a photo of the cloth on the loom is challenging, but this is just a 'teaser'.  The ppi is less than I wanted, and I wound up shortening the liftplan so that I wouldn't have really *long* towels.  Beyond that, I'm weaving as consistently as I can.

In dance class a pivot is called a pirouette.  If you make a mistake, repeat it with confidence and a flourish - just keep on dancing...

Anyway, now I have to wait until the web is wet finished to see if they are going to turn out 'ok'.  Or not.  They should have an 'interesting' texture?

Sneak Peek

 

I got the file for the next issue of WEFT this morning and read through my article.  Since I wove the projects last year, before The Fall, I am very pleased to see this article appear in the magazine.  It was - technically - a fairly difficult project, and can I just brag on the fact that they turned out well?  

There has been little enough for the past 12+ months to celebrate (for me, personally) and seeing this article appear right now has been a...tonic.

I continue my roller coaster ride, never knowing what each day is going to present.  My energy simply refuses to come back, no matter how I sigh and kick the wheels.  I find it...concerning...how little I care that I am turning into a lump, content to sit and doom scroll.  Or fiddle with jigsaw puzzle pieces.  

Is this what 'getting old' means?  That you just don't much care anymore?

So I look for the things that I *do* care about.  And every time I search, the only 'thing' I care about is trying to help others.  

I have started reading the one file I am 'reviewing' for someone else and that does bring me satisfaction, especially a manuscript I am enjoying reading.  Most of my feedback has been minor 'nits' and lots of pom-pom shaking.  I know the other file - once it comes - will be as satisfying.

But for myself?  I have two more issues of WEFT topics to look at and see if I can drag forth some energy to generate to write something.  So I may not.  Not that the topics aren't within my ability to do - I just don't know if I have the energy to dig into them the way I'd like to do.  Given that the current issue took several months of my time - sample, more samples, yet more samples, weaving and re-weaving the actual 'finished' cloth, then writing it up, editing, more editing, clarifying what I meant with the editors (because by then I had the brain bleed I was trying to work around - and thinking was *hard*), I'm not so sure I can manage it right now.  But maybe I'm just not approaching the topic from the 'right' angle - for me?

Anyway, I took a quick glance at some of the other articles in the upcoming issue.  I think it's a very nice issue.  I hope everyone will take a look.  Like Jacey says, maybe we can all find some pleasure in the coming months by weaving.  I know I will be - once I get the loom ready to go.

Cycles

 

Yesterday I started beaming the next warp in the never ending series of tea towels.  I was a bit hard pressed to get enough spools, but decided to make a serious attempt to use up more of the bits and bobs of 2/16 cotton (dyed) as I could.  There were enough of the pale grey to do half the warp, then a scattering of different values/hues of blues.  What is left now, is mostly various shades of beiges and likely enough grey to do one more warp.  I will decide how to approach the coming warps as the time goes by.  Things are uncertain and I have no idea if the new drug protocol will be effective in providing me with additional comfort, enough that I can feel at ease enough to weave.

However, I did manage to beam half of the warp yesterday and will get the other half done today, body willing.

Weaving is labour intensive and can be physically demanding.  And I've been doing it for a rather long time.  Most of the current issues are not from weaving, but weaving doesn't leave much room for resting or recuperating when an injury happens.  Not to mention the level of stress of being a self-employed weaver in the 20-21st centuries where such labour isn't well recognized.  

However, what can I say?  I'm stubborn.  And I was willing to work hard.  So I did.

One of the things I thought about the past while, is how much weaving is like life on this planet.  There are seasons, and plants and animals need to pay attention to the seasons, move from one place to another to ensure food.  Weather the storms and the fair weather.

Being a professional production weaver was much the same.  There were sales at particular times and places for which I had to be prepared - adequate inventory, new designs, able to produce to meet demand.

As I beamed this warp yesterday, I thought about the processes involved in the craft and really *saw* the cycle.  Come up with an idea.  Think about it.  Look at it this way and that.  Do a tentative rendition of what I was thinking of making.  Looking it over for potential problems.  Check my yarn inventory and see if I had enough yarn in the colours I wanted to use - or not.  Order more yarn if not.  All while weaving the warp on the loom.  Because if I didn't overlap the new with the old, I would have an empty loom.  And an empty loom didn't make an income until it was dressed and I was throwing the shuttle.

Then the post weaving (shuttle throwing) - cutting/serging, inspection/repair, wet finishing, hemming (if that was going to happen) and then a final press.  And then, *then* tagging/labelling/pricing.  And then store the finished items ready for the next sale.

The hardest part right now?  Leaving time for my body to rest/recuperate from doing as little as I can manage.

And so I turn to one of my other 'jobs' - writing.  I now have two manuscripts that I am 'review' reading - or will do as soon as the second arrives, any day now.  

That 'job' has it's own cycle.  The review reading is different because I not coming up with the idea for the article, but reading the words of others to give my opinion on what they have done.  There are a number of reasons to have someone else provide feedback - the big one is that, as a writer, especially a lengthy project, you lose all perspective on what you have done.  And sometimes getting an outside opinion is necessary to provide that perspective for the original author.  It is not a role that I was familiar with, but knew in my own experience of how 'lost' you can get and how much someone else's viewpoint can shine a light on what you have managed - so far.  The truth is, any major writing project has a very similar arc as any other creative endeavour - it's own rhythm, it's own cycle.  Anyone who takes raw materials and turns them into something 'new' has to become familiar with the process, and give the project the time to plant the seed, water it, fertilize it, add to it when and where necessary, and do the finishing steps, whatever they might consist of.

Whatever I can do to help others (as others helped me along the way) I will do.  

As for now, today?  I will get dressed and see if I can manage to beam the rest of this warp.  And then we'll see what else I can manage.  Because I have some reading to do, as well.  

This Blog

 

A few people have asked if they can 'subscribe' to my blog.  I think if you click on the 'follow' button that is considered 'subscribing'.  You might have to use Chrome/Google but I'm not sure.  I am currently monitoring comments, first because I had a harasser, and now because it seems I've reached a high enough level of 'traffic' that bots have discovered that lots of people read my posts and they have been posting comments that are ads.  I sift those out too.  Sometimes they are advertising something I might allow them to post a link to - if they ever bothered to ask permission.  Instead they just insinuate their business into my audience.  I assume they are getting paid to get the word out, but not going to reach this audience that way.  

If you are new to reading my blog, it is largely geared towards weaving and such, with the addition of Things I'm Dealing With, which usually means health issues knocking the stuffing out of me.

And lately, current events.  

No matter how much we don't want to involve ourselves in the politics of the day, if you are human, you also need to be paying attention what people want to do *to* you, as well as *for* you.  

At any rate, you do have to scroll a rather long way down the page to find the 'follow' button, so I thought I would point it out.

I also have a few 'pages' where you can find other stuff.  And of course the rather long list of 'topics' where you can find all of the posts I have tagged with that topic.  I don't always add 'tags', though.

From time to time I find someone 'new' has discovered my blog and some of them let me know that they find my writing 'interesting' and they are reading the post in order from the beginning in 2008.  

My hat is off to you!  

Today is a bitty day.  Two hour presentation on pain and neuroplasticity, which will continue for 10 weeks.  I'm hoping to benefit on two fronts - the chronic pain I have been dealing with and look to be continuing to deal with for the rest of my life.  And the brain bleed in the speech centre of my brain.  People are promising me that brains are 'plastic' and that I should be able to re-train it and function 'better'.  

One most sincerely hopes...

Anyway, I've just eaten the last of the oat squares I make for snacks, so I'm going to make another pan of that, and then, if I have a spoon or two left, I'm going to try to begin beaming the next warp.

Stubborn.  Some days that's the only way I can get through the day.  

Possibilities

 

Wind the stick shuttle in a figure 8 only on one side - this puts the majority of the yarn on the top and leaves mostly wood on the bottom so it can slide more easily through the shed.  The leading edge can be used as a beater to push the weft into place.

Saw a post today from a new weaver trying to use a project woven on a shaft loom and using their rigid heddle loom.  And running into all sorts of problems.

I get that rigid heddle looms are less expensive and that you *can* do 'anything' with them.  The problem is when you don't know enough about weaving in the first place, and then try to do something with a piece of equipment that is going to need you to understand what it is you are trying to accomplish with a piece of equipment that needs way more knowledge to accomplish than you have.

Some new weavers are obviously looking for more assistance than using a pick up stick to weave anything other than plain weave.  Yes, you *can* do anything you want - but do you really want to spend that much time (and making  mistakes) than you will need to with no mechanical assistance to make the entire process take a very long time?

Well, if you do, that's great.  I've been known to do time consuming stuff, just because I want to - everyone gets to choose.

The problem is when your directions are such that you cannot easily reproduce because they don't always convert easily.  And then there are disappointments, errors, frustrations.  

This is not to disparage people who do these things.  Because you *can* do whatever you want.  *IF YOU HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE TO ACCOMPLISH IT.*  (Jumps off soap box.)

Weaving - as a craft - is 1000s of years old.  That's a lot of development, research, exploration, and perfection of equipment to do specific jobs.  A loom is a loom, yes, but each category of loom was developed to provide easier ways to do specific types of textiles.  A tapestry loom is going to make tapestry weaving 'easier'.  Faster, in some cases (not all).

A draw loom is going to produce incredibly intricate (or not) textiles.  Because that is what they were designed to do.  Jacquard looms does that even more efficiently - sort of.  A shaft loom is going to weave any weave structure other than plain weave more efficiently than a rigid heddle loom.

And so people decide they want to learn to weave, but don't have a lot of money to burn, so they buy a rigid heddle loom and are told that they can do 'anything' on it.  But when they try...turns out it takes a very long time.  Or their results aren't good.  Or sometimes, the loom isn't very friendly in terms of ergonomics and they start to have physical issues.  It becomes harder to convince some of them that they just have the - not wrong - but not the most efficient equipment, given their desire to make things that could so much more easily be done on a shaft loom.

But neither do I want to discourage people.  So I don't go on their question and tell them that.  I bite my tongue and scroll on by.

Because maybe they don't have the budget or the space to invest in a shaft loom.  Or they maybe don't have a teacher who can tell them how to use the rigid heddle loom in a way that will satisfy what they want to do.  

But I also wonder if the 21st century has lead people to believe that you don't need to ask an 'expert'.  Or pay for lessons.  Because weaving is 'simple' and anyone can do it, and a rigid heddle loom will let you do anything?

Weaving is 'simple'.  On one level.  But it is like an onion - it has many many many layers.  And if you truly want to learn, some time and effort might need to be taken to begin to peel those layers off.

After 50 years of doing it, researching it, teaching it, writing about it...I'm still learning.

The life so short the craft so long to learn...

My books available here

My classes at School of Sweet Georgia here

My class at Long Thread Media

Value(s)

 

Since weaving was, for me, not a hobby but a chosen profession, I had to spend time learning a lot more about how 'money' works than I knew when I began.

I had known small business owners (my mother being one of them, eventually) so I had a peek at what they needed to know, and do, and set about learning more myself.  I had also worked for a year at a 'credit bureau' where we gave credit information about people who were applying for credit.  I got first hand experience with how credit rating is used when someone applies for a loan.  I understood how important it is to keep a 'clean' credit rating, how to price my own work, what I would accept as payment, and then how I would/could process those payments - from making sure I had a cash 'float' when doing craft fairs (hardly anyone had a credit card in the early 70s), balance a till, give change back, neatly counted out, not shoved across the counter or crunched into my hand, not knowing if the cashier had actually given me the proper amount.  (Yes, I'm that old.)

But when your efforts are in creating product - by yourself - you learn very quickly how to price an item, how you cannot be intimidated by the customer into giving them a 'discount' that you can't afford to give, and so on.  

I've had other weavers copy my work.  I've had 'industrial' businesses try to put me down by saying they could out produce me (true), but I pointed out that my market share was so tiny it would not be profitable to copy what I did.  (Sweet summer child had no answer to that.)

Stories?  Yes, I've got stories.  I wrote about them in A Thread  Runs Through It.  (Available in my ko-fi shop as a pdf download.)

Long story short - I learned what was of value - and what was less valuable.

It is with some interest, then, I picked up PM Carney's book "Value(s)".  It is dense, about 550 pages, and it is an in depth look at financial considerations, not particularly for individuals, but for societies and governing bodies.  

I was aware of some of the history of the development of 'money' but he has provided a very detailed look at that history.  He has looked at various 'theories' of finance, not in detail, but more a look at the societal values that each theory attempts to address.  Which makes the title of his book a double entendre (so to speak).

What do *I* as an individual value?  And what do I value in the making of, and the selling of, my weaving?

It has been encouraging me to look more closely at my life as a weaver.  And how to 'weight' my choices based on my personal core 'values'.

I won't say it's an easy read.  But it is something I wish more politicians would grapple with instead of jumping head over heels into the Ayn Rand theory of economics.

When I read that book, I did so because so many people were reading and recommending everyone pay attention to what she was saying.  I picked up a copy and started reading.  Now, in those days, once I opened a book the onus was on me to finish it.  It was not the first, but one of the few books I simply closed and decided I didn't need to spend *my* time reading it.  So, I never have.  And over all, what I remember is that the 'people' in her book were so...'not nice'... that I didn't want to spend that much of my life trying to figure out why I was wasting my time continuing to read it.

I set out to 'succeed' in my own fashion, not anyone else's.  

I think I talk about this incident in the book, but I'll re-cap it here.

In the 1980s the government of the day set up a tax deferment scheme.  People with 'lots' of money (more than me, at any rate) could 'invest' in the scheme and when they 'lost' money on the investment, they could get a tax rebate.  As near as I can remember.  Because not only did I not make enough money to make the 'investment', I couldn't afford to lose money and then claim that loss back from the government.  (I may not be remembering the details correctly - it was 30+ years ago.)

We went to a 'cocktail party' where most of the people there made buckets more money than I did, and a group of men formed a circle and were loudly announcing how many 1000s of $ they had 'made' on this tax deferment scheme.  

At one point I wanted to clarify something so I asked a question.  The men were startled - why wasn't I in the kitchen or passing a tray of hors d'oerves around?  But one of them deigned to answer my question.  I asked if the point was to invest, *lose* money, then claim the loss from the government (or whatever the process was).  They confirmed that it was a tax deferral and they would save money on their income tax return.

"Huh", I said.  "I always thought that if I had to pay income tax, that meant I was doing something correctly."

Because in *my* mind, if I was making enough money that the government was going to take some of it for things like roads, infrastructure, schools, healthcare - I needed to pay towards those benefits that I used all the time.

They stared at me like I had 3 heads.  I looked down at my glass, which was empty, and wandered away to get another drink and find some people that I wanted to talk with.

So let's just say I'm not a tiny bit impressed by how many trillionaires we have nowadays.  I barely knew anyone who was considered a 'millionaire' when I was in my 20s.  There were a few, and most of them were quite 'nasty' - remember, I spent a year seeing people's personal credit history.  I *knew* which businessmen paid their contractors and employers, and how many did not.  (Sound familiar?)

Some bragging about how wealthy they were and prancing around in fancy cars, buying up land to build a mansion on?  How does that Shania Twain song go?  That don't impress me much.

So I look back at my life and see there were 'failures'.  But I never tried to cheat anyone.  There will no doubt be some who will say that I have.  But you'd have to know *my* side of the story.  

When anyone who publicly tried to 'shame' me by saying I had cheated them?  Quickly found out that since they had gone 'public' I found no problem responding publicly.  

In response to a social media post, Mr. Trump once again called Canadians 'nasty' and the 'worst people to deal with'.  I commented that while Canadians have a reputation of being 'polite' and more milquetoast than 'strong'. we can hold a grudge as hard as a bear hangs onto honey.  

Wayne Dyer used to say that someone else's opinion is none of your business.  So I check my values from time to time.  Because *my* values *are* my business.

Yup.  Still there.  I get my accountant to figure out how much in taxes we owe, and then we pay that.  Goodness knows the past 20 years I have more than used up what I paid into the health care coffers via my taxes.  It's only fair I keep paying my taxes and try to help others who may need it.

Have more than enough?  Build a longer table rather than a wall...

Currently having issues with ko-fi - use the link provided - the little 'coffee' cup.

Thirst for Knowledge

 

In some ways, it is heartening to see how many 'new' weavers seem to be popping up.  In some ways it is discouraging to me, because while I would love to answer their questions, it is really hard at times.  I don't want to discourage them, but I truly wish that they would have in person teachers who would show them what to do, how to do it, and teach them the vocabulary.  

OTOH, I am no longer able to travel to teach - and I never did teach 'beginner' type topics anyway.  I was more interested in teaching students who already knew how to dress the loom, understood the basics, the vocabulary, and were interested in building on their foundation of knowledge.  

I figure why on earth would you bring someone from 1000s of miles away to give them introductory information?

But once again, I scrolled on by when I saw someone asking a question which was essentially a very 'beginner' question, and did not have the vocabulary to ask what they needed to know.  There were already a bunch of answers, any which of them had answered, no point in my saying essentially the same thing, over again.

And yet.  

That is essentially what I do.  Bang on, all the time, about the same things.  

But the thing is, as people learn, they understand more and at some point they will hear what they need to know, and finally *understand*.

So yes, I repeat the same old 'tunes' over and over again.  Because the simple answer is, not everyone is 'ready' to hear the whole thing and need to add more to their foundation of knowledge before they are ready to 'hear' what I'm saying.

Stories from the Matrix grew out of my getting tired of saying the 'same' things over and over again.  I had been reading a book by Elaine Igoe which was forcing me to really *think* about textiles in a new way.  And at some point my inner 'muse' grabbed me by the back of the neck and forced me to sit at this desktop and start writing.  What?  I didn't know.  And then the words flowed.  And flowed.  I felt like I was taking dictation, truly.

book review for Igoe's book

This was unlike anything else I had written, and I have no idea where it came from, really.  But as the words appeared I felt them as part of 'me'.  It is a pretty personal document, and in the end it opened windows in a way that had been there, but that I had not fully explored, previously.

I've been doing this thing for 50 plus years.  I taught the first 'workshop' (in spinning, not weaving) exactly 50 years ago.  It was the night my father died and halfway through my best friend came to tell me the journey for him was over.  I received the news with a breath of relief he was no longer in pain, he had done what he felt he had to do all his life, and now he was over with this life.  And I knew that he would now understand what I was trying to do, although I'm pretty sure he had doubts while he was alive.

For me this was to become my life (hence the title of this blog) and I knew that from the get-go.  Since I didn't die 12 months ago, I feel the need to figure out what the hell comes next.  Because I have no idea why I survived, and frankly, my 'present' isn't much of a gift at the minute.

However, I steadfastly work on keeping my tiny garden of 'hope' alive, in case things do get better.  While I wait, I work on trying to heal this body, and have accepted a 'job' that I can do, even if I can't physically weave (much).  

Yesterday I tried weaving again, once again cutting the number of minutes I spent at the loom.  While I didn't feel much worse, neither am I feeling much better today.

But when I was 'made' I got a huge dollop of 'stubborn' with an insufficiency of 'patience'.  It seems that right now I am being forced to grow my 'patience', largely by relying on my excess 'stubborn'.

Stories from the Matrix is available from Blurb as are my two other 'books' - Magic in the Water and The Intentional Weaver.  They are printed in the US, but you can get them as a pdf as well.

I'm taking a wee break from writing for WEFT right now - I've fullfilled all my current contracts - and will look forward to Michelle Boyd's book ms.  I'm excited to learn more about yarn - how it is made, how it behaves - and apply what I learn to my own weaving.  

It seems I am not 'done' yet.  I have to keep moving forward.  If 'patience' won't get me there, 'stubborn' might?

Under Tension

 

Warping Valet

First thing this morning I logged onto Facebook and immediately saw two posts by two 'new' weavers, each one complaining about nasty, snarled, tangled warps.

I didn't read the answers being given.  Each person was giving their best answer - and most of them had pearls of wisdom in them.

However.

However.

If you don't address the reason those snarls and tangles developed, it will be hard to get rid of them appearing.

Usually it is some sort of 'tension' issue.  Where and how it happened will depend because if the warp isn't controlled in some way, which can be easily done by the application of the appropriate amount of tension, problems will appear.

So, the where/when question.  It is a lot more difficult to diagnose the issues when you have little experience.  

Problems can be introduced right from the warp winding, and at several points along the process.

Generally I suggest that people wind 2 warp ends at a time.  I put my index finger between the two threads to discourage them from trying to twist around each other.  Some people say it doesn't matter.  Try it, see which way 'works' for you.

I try to wind under light tension, keeping the threads pushed as far to the base of the peg as I can.  I don't lay them over the previous ends, but lay them parallel, and after a few passes push that bundle towards the peg.  There should be enough tension that the threads do not sag between pegs.  There should NOT be so much tension that the pegs bend inwards.  You are building tension issues in as you wind if you let that happen.

I use a counting string, and bundle each 1" (see other posts* on warp winding for more info) and tie the cross in 4 (the arms of the X) places.  By tieing the cross like that, the cross is very quick and easy to find to insert the lease sticks.  Once the lease sticks are securely holding the cross, untie the 4 arms of the cross so that the threads can move freely to fill the raddle or rough sley the reed to establish the width in the reed during weaving.  No, I don't wind a chain for every inch.  If the warp is less than 15" in the reed and I'm using Brassard's 2/8 cotton, I will wind the entire chain at once.  If it is more than 15" in the reed, I will wind two chains, 8" worth.

Before I remove the warp from the warping board, I tie the cross, then a secure 'choke' tie about 18" from the cross.  This is a very tight tie that I figure 8 around the entire warp (but I make two twists, not just one, more like handcuffs than the figure '8') and using a somewhat thicker and study cord, make the choke tie quite tightly.

Then I make 'gathering' ties about every 2 yards/meters.  These are not uber tight, but hold the warp threads in a bundle.  These get removed as the warp gets beamed.  None of these ties are tied with 'knots' because they will need to be removed, so a single tie and bow is all that is used.

Then the lease sticks are set up in some fashion (different people do different things because of their particular circumstances/physical space requirements) and the warp is 'rough sleyed'.  Since I wind two ends at a time, I will take one loop (equal to 4 warp ends) and put it into the reed such that the intended density is achieved.

The lease sticks are then moved to the other 'side' of the reed so that the cross can be transferred (after beaming) to the front in order to thread the loom.

I have a video on You Tube that shows how I use a warping valet, which might be helpful.  See other posts on this blog, under 'rough sleying' or 'reed as raddle'.

Using a warping valet (or warping trapeze) means that the warp will go onto the beam under tension.  I use a 'firm' warp packing of bamboo or wooden blind material.  Some people don't like that because their loom may not have much room to wind it onto the beam.  My Leclerc Fanny can easily beam a 11 meter long warp *with* warp packing.  YMMV.

By keeping tension on the warp as it is being beamed, it will be wound onto the loom under consistent tension.  The firm warp packing will behave better than long rolls of paper/cardboard.  But again, do what you prefer in order to get the result you want.

However, if you want to beam an 9 meter long warp in under 10 minutes, no snarls, no tangles, maybe take a look at the video and decide if it is something you want to try.

For more details on warping trapeze/valets, check out Kati Meek's book Dance With Your Loom.  Or take a look at my online classes for Long Thread Media and School of Sweet Georgia (The Efficient Weaver - same topic, slightly different presentations - I hang out on School of Sweet Georgia to answer questions.)

Or my book, The Intentional Weaver.  (No tariffs to US buyers, they are printed in the US.)

*check the topic list at the side for things like warp winding, rough sleying, etc.  There is a LOT of information on this blog - all of it free - but you do have to dig a bit.

In the world of weaving, a little *appropriate* tension is A Good Thing...

Do No Harm

 

Since I'm still on 'light duties' there has been little weaving (as in, pretty much none), so I haven't been getting my daily working meditation, which shuts my brain down and stops me from fretting about things I have little to no power to change or fix.

I have been reading Mark Carney's book (or trying to), to try and understand how we have arrived at this place in time.  The book is...scholarly...and probably beyond my ability to ken right now.  But I persist, even if I can only read a few paragraphs at a time.

I think I am beginning to understand the field of economics, although I'm not sure.  So I asked someone who knows more than I do about it and am waiting to hear back from them.

But it seems to me that economics is not so much a 'science' but a 'philosophy' and as such it comes in different 'flavours' (theories) with all the attendant baked in biases of each person trying to explain how *their* theory 'works'.  

After reading a last few pages last night, I must have continued to process the information because I had some dreams that I can't currently remember, but seemed to have been about current events.  And we *cannot* separate current events from the various economic theories that tend to shape and guide our societies.

This morning I woke feeling agitated (with little hope of weaving today, given I have massage at 1 pm and may feel like a truck ran over me - again) and somehow the phrase 'First, do no harm' popped into my head.

As I thought about that phrase it seems like very good advice for a society that intends to care for the people who make up that society.  And somehow, that approach to living in the 21st century seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle.

The phrase is oftentimes credited to the Hippocratic Oath, but it isn't written in the actual oath, and some people use the phrase to summarize the underlying philosophy *of* the oath.

I think it's just a great approach to living my life.

I try to do no harm.  Not always successful, I try to change my attitude or behaviour if I find that I have caused another person harm.  Which, as someone raised as a christian, seems the way it should be.

Someone on Bluesky asked yesterday what 'thing' are you most proud of.  I thought about that for a while, because I've been thinking a lot lately about what my life has 'meant'.  While I was thinking about that, I got an email from a student thanking me for my inspiration.  

The two thoughts collided and I realized that what I am most 'proud' of is my students - their accomplishments and their efforts to keep this craft I love so much and find endlessly fascinating, alive.

Talking with someone about Peter Collingwood recently, I used his example of keeping an open mind - how he learned - continuously - by not assuming he it knew it all, and was able to take in new information, different approaches, digging deeper, following his inclination to learn more and to learn from everyone.  I made it part of my approach to weaving to take the same approach, as best I can.

So, I try to 'do no harm'.  I try to celebrate the accomplishments of others.  I try to encourage others as much as I can.

In the end, I feel that is what I can be proud of.  Not that I am 'perfect' - far from it!  But that I made space for others, as much as I could.  I tried to lift people up, not put them down.  And to keep trying.

If you need someone to shake the pom-poms of encouragement, let me lead the cheers.

Light Duties

 

blurb web site

 One of the social media sites I belong to has a thread about weaving while sick/injured/disabled.

I have hesitated to say much because every person's journey is different.  And mine has certainly been filled with times where I was 'confined' to 'light duties'.  Now, being one of them.

I had such high hopes for the new procedure and it has not been particularly successful.   So far.  But I had been warned that I would be getting a light dose of the drug, initially, that some people find they get 'worse' before they get better, and that as I repeat the procedure things *should* improve.

But in the meantime, I've nearly caught up on all my long procrastinated light duties, and I am getting...bored.  Vexed.  Impatient.  I don't feel like I can preach coping with the inability to weave right now when I am, quite frankly, not doing all the well with it, myself.

This morning someone emailed, wondering where they could get a copy of Magic in the Water.  Talk about calling up memories.

I had to explain that the original publication was out of print, but that I had made a photos only version and was selling it on Blurb (link in the highlighted text below the image of the cover).

Why did I do that?  Well, I had someone with computer skills I did not posses who could convert the file into a PDF - but that meant I had to take every sample (before and after) and get good quality photos.  A friend came over to help me, knowing energy was extremely limited given I was in the middle of a course of chemotherapy (which contained Vincristine?).  I set up a photographic area in my living room, used a cutting board to centre the samples directly below the camera tripod which was mounted facing down.  This insured that each sample was taken the same distance away and centred in the frame.  In the end the two of us did quite well, and powered through the process fairly quickly.  

Then I had to take each photo off the camera, trim up the edges so that the cutting board didn't show (the width of the samples varied somewhat, especially after being wet finished), make sure they were clearly labelled to match the order of the samples in the book.  In those days getting a gigantic file emailed was...challenging...and I may have saved them to a CD and snail mailed that to my computer person.  Who created the PDF and sent the completed file back to me.

I then sold the PDF file, which once compressed, could be emailed.

By the time I finished doing that, I was far enough along in my chemo that I had almost zero energy left, but - because I had the help I needed, when I needed it - it got done.

And today, like some days, I got up to an inquiry if the book was still available.

You *can* still find (rare) copies of the original, with samples.  Usually found in estate sales, or older weavers downsizing.  But such opportunities are rare, and when offered for sale generally fetch very close to the original purchase price.  Some people let me know they scooped up a copy for themselves because no one else knew how highly sought after it is.

I have been told the book is considered a 'classic' in the field.  All I know is, when I wrote the thing, information on wet finishing for hand weavers was very scarce.  General advice was to just 'wash' the textile.  

But when I did my GCW master weaver monograph, I came to really begin to understand the mechanics of the process, and how variable it could be.  Once again, something that looks 'simple'...is not.

It is not, however, something to be feared.  Once a person knows the process, learns more about how to apply the variables, and get familiar how the cloth will change - at times dramatically, at others in more subtle ways - well, all I can say is...'it isn't finished until it's wet finished'.  

Unless you don't want to - for reasons!  But make that a conscious decision, not something you don't do because you are afraid of 'ruining' all the work that went into interlacing your threads.

Just saying... 

Professional Services

 

There is an attitude amongst some that a craftsperson needs to do everything all by themselves.

I'm going to explain why that isn't always true.

The very first professional I hired was an accountant.  I wanted to make sure how I should set up my business, and what I needed to do in order to be considered a business by the government of Canada.  And I did NOT want to do my own books.  I'd rather weave a hundred more placemats than face the horror of trying to balance my books and submit my taxes with all the appropriate deductions entered, etc.

Why did I want the government of Canada know I was running a business?  Because I wanted to run a *business* - not a 'side-hustle' as is said these days.  It wasn't intended to be a 'hobby' - it has never *been* a hobby for me.  It has been a whole raft of things, but not 'just a hobby'.  My goal was to become successful enough that I would make enough money that I was required to pay taxes.  I have always felt that a citizen pays the taxes they owe.  I was, after all, using the post office (a common good), the highways, the health care, and I wanted to make sure I paid school taxes - not because I had kids - but because I'd rather live in an educated country than one that wasn't.

So I worked extra hard to pay my accountant and have continued to do so, even now that I'm retired.  The accountant ensures that any deductions we are allowed are applied for and then we happily pay what we owe - and thank god we have universal health care.

After that I hired other 'professionals'.  Seamstresses.  Photographers.  Artist to design my logo.  Etc.

Even if I could have done some of those things...I didn't want to.  Or I couldn't.  And getting myself trained up to do them would have eaten into my weaving time.

Yes, I see people doing all these impossible things, and doing them very well.  Some of them left the world of 'computer programming' and are polishing off some of the rust to get it done, making them selves web sites that do what they want to do, not what Microsoft or Google insist on.  Or wanting to leave a toxic site for 'reasons' and get away from that company/political attitude.  

As our current society continues to break down, it is going to be more important than ever to find out who the people you need are, which skills they can barter with you, and make lasting connections with others who can work with you to achieve what you want to see in the world.

I have just begun reading Mark Carney's book "Value(s)" and it is...certainly A Book.  I'm not sure this brain is capable of reading all 550 or so pages.  But it has been interesting to read about the history of the field of economics.  (For textile buffs, there is one tiny error where he credits Richard Arkwright with really starting off the Industrial Revolution by making the first 'powered' loom - Richard Arkwright did do that - but it was spinning that he revolutionized, not weaving - that was Edward Cartwright - an easy mistake to make.  But be aware that *I* noticed.  And decided to forgive him for that one mistake which was likely a tiny misconnect in his brain.  Besides, would most people who neither spin or weave would even notice?  Just a nerd like me...)

At any rate.  I am slowly reading the book, a few paragraphs at a time, trying to wrap my brain about philosophical, political, and economic concerns and considerations.  But when I found out he had written such a book, I wanted to know more about the man, considering that he is currently our prime minister.  Then I found out that he is married to an economist looking at the costs of climate change.  And I am hoping (oh, so hoping) that he won't forget about those things, even as he tries to steer Canada out of the wreckage of our former relationship with the US of A.

And today I finally hit send on the next article for WEFT - for Winter 2026.  No, that's not a typo.  I am months ahead of deadline, but I should be hearing about Michelle Boyd's book ms next week, and I'm still not feeling 'great' so I want to give myself some mental space and enough time to do a good job of 'reviewing' her writing.

I may be 'broken', but I'm not dead yet.  

Decisions

 

I am getting more and more vexed at the way Google et al are trying to make me do things 'their' way.  I downloaded DuckDuckGo and have been using it as much as possible to access the internet.  But Google is now wanting me to *only* use their internet browser in order to do the things I want to do.  This morning I was once again being told that in order to create this post for my own blog, and use one of my own photos, Google insisted that before I could access *my own photos on my own desktop* I had to sign in to Google.

No.  

So far I have managed a work around but that may eventually be squashed and I won't be able to do that simple thing.  

I have tried to turn AI off from snooping around on my computers and cannot in most cases, without going through contortions I don't feel capable of negotiating.  So I try to ignore AI prompts, overviews, summaries.  What irritates me the most is Google AI offering to summarize a 3 line email.  Or offer to write my response to someone.

My irritation levels go up and the Anglo-Saxon words come forth.

With the continuing uncertainty and threats that continue to come out of the White House, I am even more determined to cut the US out of my life as much as possible.  To that end I started thinking about my books on blurb.  Now, in one regard, my books being printed in the US means that no US customer needs to worry about tariffs.  OTOH, if *I* want to purchase my own books - I will potentially be facing tariffs as my country tries to entice the US to drop some of their tariffs by enacting tariffs on stuff bought in the US.  Sigh.  It's really hard for businesses to know what to do when the 'executive orders' or even just the 'tweets' on social media change day to day, hour by hour.

As always, the 'little' business gets hurt far more than big ones.  For example, my ko-fi shop has had very few orders since the shenanigans began, in part because I have removed US customers from ordering anything (other than the pdf of my book/memoir there).  Because I am a fair minded person, I cannot in all consciousness try to get US customers to buy from me when I am making a very clear - and firm - decision to NOT purchase from US makers.  We have not even bought from Amazon - unless there is literally no other way to get what we need.  And then only after we have exhausted local businesses options.

There are a few small businesses that I make an exception for - ie magazines that cannot be purchased anywhere else.   I talked to another small business owner and they felt the same - they are making a concentrated effort to buy product from other than the US.  So this alt right bleating about the boycott waning?  I see little evidence of that.  Not that my purchases amount to more than a grain of sand - but if every citizen of Canada continues to do the same...get enough sand into the gears and the gears break down?

Now, every person has to make the decisions that make sense to them, given their life, budget, needs, etc.  

But I am here to say, my determination holds.  I will not knowingly use AI, even to mock it.  I will not buy one thing out of the US unless we have exhausted all other options.  The option to do without is also a possibility.

I was a 'starving' artist for all my life, in one way or another.  I'm used to doing without.  Making do.  My wants are few and my needs are being met.  I can stand on my principles.

In the meantime, if you want The Intentional Weaver, I think Sweet Georgia Yarns still has copies.  No tariff on them as they were purchased before all of this (waves hands) kicked off.  I sent book plates so they are signed.  The only way you can get a signed copy now, unless you are coming through and make a stop to visit.  :)

Recovery

 

Recovery is a slippery concept.  To most people 'recovery' means returning to where you were before the event happened that changed your world - your life.

For some of us, 'recovery' means something a bit different.

One of the things I've done over the past few months is to get to know some people who are also dealing with 'recovery'.  

One of the things that happens when your life gets turned on its head is that your life shrinks.  In some cases, quite drastically.  As you pick up the pieces of your broken life, you sometimes need to put some of the broken pieces into the garbage/recycle bin.  Sometimes you can modify the pieces and make them work for you again.  Sometimes you have to find completely new things to do.  

The journey is personal, but there are commonalities.  Getting to know others also dealing with such logistics is essential, I find.  It helps with perspective and trying to develop workarounds.

Over the past week I have been delivering 'gifts' to my healthcare team and some friends who helped me get through the past 12 months.

It was a step on the road to 'recovery' for me.  It helps me to take stock of where I am, what I can do - and I cannot.  Only then can I find alternative ways to keep growing.  Keep living.  Showing gratitude to those who helped was one way I could process the past 12 months.

What is becoming abundantly clear is that my physical body is...no longer healthy in the way I had relied on.  But!  I can still do some things.  I am still figuring out what those things are.

Yesterday I talked with someone dealing with chronic issues and we talked about the 'spoon theory'.  They observed that they never really understood it.  For one thing, they had no way of judging how many spoons they had - until they ran out.  

In a way they were living with a limited amount of energy to do stuff, and constantly running out.  The trick is to become aware that one has only a limited amount of energy (spoons) and then use them carefully.  Judicially.  Otherwise, they understand the effect of limited energy and more desire to do stuff than they could manage due to the lack of energy.  

For people who have lived productive, busy lives, to be suddenly confronted with a decided lack of energy that runs out before the day ends, it is a constant struggle.  You remember what you used to be able to do in a day.  And you keep making job lists that reflect what you remember.  And forget that you are no longer that person.

You are still *you* - just you now have an energy deficit that cannot be worked around (in many cases).  And you wind up crashing.  Again.  Once again you are yanked up and tossed out of your life.  Your 'old' life.

It's exhausting, in and of itself.  You may have other symptoms, too.  In my case, chronic pain that never seems to stop.  Since the procedure 10 days ago, it is marginally better, and it may continue to improve as the doctor continues to increase the dose (if he does) and the drug begins to co-operate with my body to help suppress the pain.

But only time will tell.  (Dammit)

In the meantime, I am left kicking the tires of my life (so to speak) wondering when I can take control of what is happening - and not knowing if that day will ever come.

On the other hand, it was a breath of fresh air (not so 'fresh' given we have been having wildfire smoke pall 24/7) to talk to someone else who is walking a similar path.  It felt less...lonely.  My friends let me vent, but others walking the path understand it because it is also *their* path.  We can hold hands, or give hugs, or just share swear words about it all.

To others who are navigating the swamps and mud and mire on their life's journey - I send love and light and hope that you are able to find some comfort in your days.

Radicalized

 

A lot of people have begun to remember when - and what - radicalized them.  For me it was a slow process, and there were many steps along the journey.  By age 16 I was already 'testing' as being left of centre politically, and over the years I have not shifted much.

But one of those steps was this book.

At the time I was working in the high school library and the librarian had ordered this book.  I was paid a pittance, with the benefit that I could call dibs on pretty much any book that came in.  When it was time to process this one, I was intrigued.

I lived at about the 54th parallel, so not exactly 'north', but isolated from large metropolitan centres.  I was raised with the attitude that the town I lived in didn't deserve services - like secondary education.  We had a small but active arts community who produced amateur theatre, there were ballet classes (yes, I took classes), music teachers, whether they made their living by giving lessons or did them 'on the side'.  Etc.  But there was little recognition beyond us locals that we *had* an 'arts' scene.

So I was familiar with the 'north' being seen - or should I say, *not* 'seen' - as worth much, other than the resources that could be taken from it.  We were hewers of wood, drawers of water.  Period.

But I was also awakening to some of the realities of the history of 'Canada', so when this book arrived in the library, I was interested.  

While I don't remember the entire book, one incident that the author related stood out.  Remember it was 50+ years ago and I may not be remembering entirely correctly.  I suggest anyone interested read the book for themselves.  It was enlightening.

A bit of background.  Ms Briggs was an anthropology student, interested in the people of the far north.  She managed to arrange to live with an 'Eskimo' (as was) family for over a year knowing about 8 words of the language they spoke to begin with.  She negotiated with them and was informed that the only way they could do it was if the family adopted her as their daughter.  She agreed, and they insisted she provide provisions and contribute to the family as they would be providing for her.  They agreed on things like tea, flour, sugar.  Once she had the provisions for the 'family' collected, she added more for herself.

When all was in readiness, the family, which was one of the few that still led a nomadic lifestyle, the mother of the family went into 'her' area and took the 'personal' provisions and added them to the 'family' larder.  When she realized that 'her' provisions were rolled into the 'family' larder, she protested that those were 'hers'.  The mother looked her in the eye and said that there was no 'mine', there was only the 'family'.

It was the final step in helping her understand that a communal lifestyle was not just a choice in such a harsh climate; it was a necessity.

And I began to understand that this is true, where ever you live.  

The book helped me understand Inuit society on a much deeper level, and I began to look at other First Nations communities more closely.

As a country 'Canada' has begun to recognize and begin to deal with the way the First Nations were treated.  We are a long way aways from 'reconciliation'.  But we have been inching forward.

With the world political pendulum swinging ever more to the 'right', I have no idea if that progress will continue - or not.  If Canada can hold back the tide.

If our neighbour to the south will attempt an invasion, or succeed at 'breaking' us economically.  Everything is up in the air right now, with no idea how it will fall down again. 

My choice is to resist.  Be the sand in the gears.  #elbowsUp 

Passing the Torch

 

Now I'm beyond the 1 year 'anniversary' (birthday?) and trying to move forward, I have managed to think about some things and make some tentative decisions.

Right now, I still do not feel as though I am functional enough to give my prepared lectures.  Each topic was carefully created for doing it online, using Zoom and the slides are just (mostly) bullet points to recap my verbal presentation.  As such I have serious doubts (and therefore stress) about my ability to follow my lesson plan and present the information in which it was intended.

However!  The presentation with HGA in July was an 'interview' and as such more 'informal'.  A guild had contacted me in the spring and I asked them to contact me again in August, and rather than do one of my lectures (listed on my website) I asked if they would consider something less 'formal', such as a Ask Me Anything (wet finishing), where the guild members could submit questions ahead of time and I would focus mostly on what they wanted to know.

They have agreed to that, and set a date for next spring.  By that time, I am hoping that my recovery will continue and I will now consider such 'informal' guild presentations for 1 hour.  laura at laurafry dot com to contact me.

This week I will finish polishing the next article for WEFT and send that to the editor.  I worked on it over the weekend, and will read through once more (this will make 8? 9? times?) - after my alpha reader suggested some grammar/spelling nits that she spotted.  

As part of my recovery I accepted an invitation to join a large weaving group and have been choosing to answer some questions there, and recently I was on Ravalry  and contributed some information to a group there.  Someone in that group asked permission to use my answer in their guild newsletter and I gave permission.

When it is something involving ergonomics, especially, I will automatically give permission.  Over the years I have had numerous weavers contact me about inflammation issues leading to injury.  In addition to my own digging and consulting with local experts, I have had my general 'advice' about preventing injury confirmed by others.  One weaver came to the last craft fair we did in Calgary in 2019 to tell me how she had been unable to weave for two years, and after consulting with a long list of specialists finally found one who diagnosed her problem, and gave her a course of exercises to help relieve the pain.  She took my list of suggestions to the specialist who said that he could agree with all of them.  It took months, but by December of 2019, she was once again weaving, but only for short periods of time and lots of stretches.  She thanked me for giving people good advice and how much it helped her in her recovery.

Now, obviously I am not a medical professional.  So if someone is having problems, the first thing I suggest is to consult a physiotherapist, or someone versed in body mechanics.  But the advice I provide to help *avoid* injury?  They can help.

Of course every body is different, but the main thing to remember is that if you are having pain, stop what you are doing.  Rest those muscles.  If the pain persists, consult  a medical professional.  It is much better to prevent soft tissue damage than to recover from it.

As part of being part of a very large group online, I constantly see new weavers who ask questions.  I suggest to new weavers that - if they don't have a local guild - they look for good classes online.

Jane Stafford's School of Weaving will take a new beginner and walk them through the basics.  You will learn the glossary, and through the setting up of the loom and beginning to weave.

School of Sweet Georgia has a number of classes.  For floor loom classes Felicia Lo has some and I have 4.

Long Thread Media (Handwoven) has two classes by me and a number of other weavers.

Handweaving Academy has workshops in various aspects of weaving.

There are loads of books, of which 4 are written by me.  Three titles at blurb.com and one in my ko-fi shop.  The 3 at blurb can be ordered as a pdf download or in print.  These are printed in the US so not subject to a tariff.  The one in my ko-fi shop is pdf download only, again no tariff.

Right now I am putting my primary energy into writing for WEFT magazine.

So I am hoping to continue to 'teach'.  I am just changing how I go about that, given current circumstances.

I am not having a huge significant change with the new pain meds.  I need to phone the pain clinic and set up an appointment to talk to the doctor and let him know how it's going.  (not nearly well enough, but *some* improvement).  It is time to turn my gaze towards the future and figure out what happens 'next'.  I am through the 'rough' part of the journey.  I am blessed with supportive friends and spouse willing to chauffeur me around to my various and sundry appointments.  And I can still weave, although since the procedure on Tuesday I've been mostly taking it 'easy'.  

Good thing I have lots of jigsaw puzzles to make and which helps me from going squirrely.  We are in September now, and autumn is on the way, to be followed by winter.  Time marches on.  I may be 'staggering' but I *can* still make progress.  Time will tell how far I can manage to go.