Quebec city

One of the older churches in the city.

No more full sized copies of magic left.
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Quebec

Made it to Quebec very late after some adventures.

Tuesday is a day off to rest and see some sights (and possibly some sites too. Lots of history here!)

Currwently reading Caught in Meshes by HRF Keating

Ten copies of Magic left
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ATQ exhibit

This is one of the exhibits at the Quebec conference.
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Montreal

Arrived on time in lovely sunny Montreal!

Just heading off for breakfast and looking forward to meeting Quebec weavers. :)

Just 14 copies of Magic left.

Currently reading Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb
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Something to Look Forward To....

By the time you read this (I've scheduled it to be posted Friday evening) I ought to have arrived in Montreal - barring travel challenges.  This is, however, an 'easy' trip - from here to Vancouver (at 6 am - there otta be a law!) and then from Vancouver to Montreal, arriving there around 5 pm local time - there is a 3 hour time difference between here and there.

In between packing I wove off one shawl and then dressed the loom with this teal blue/green.  I got it threaded before dinner and just now finished sleying and tieing it on.  I was going to wind bobbins, too, but I still have a few more things to do before bedtime and 4 am is going to arrive mighty early!

We get home late (very late!) Sunday evening June 12.  Monday and Tuesday are crammed with appointments and then Wednesday June 15 is the next chemo.  With 4 weeks between treatments I don't anticipate any further delay and that it will go ahead as scheduled.

I've got half a dozen paperbacks in my suitcase plus two library books in my Alberta bag.  Yes, I'm hoping to get a lot of reading done on this trip!  Long plane and road trips are good for reading. It's about 10 hours from here to Calgary.  I'm also hoping to steam roller through the silk gimp warps that are already dyed once I get home, although that will depend on how I'm feeling.

But mild exercise is recommended to help speed the chemical cocktail through my system, so weaving these warps will provide that mild exercise.  And since they are more plain weave and gentle beating, I ought to be able to weave a little bit every day.  One day, one shawl/warp is my goal.  Once I'm feeling better I'll dye the rest of the warps so I will have them to finish off this summer.  One way or another, stash is being reduced!

As mentioned previously I'll do another run of tea towels in an effort to use up yet more stash.  The singles 6 cotton torques in the wet finishing due to twist energy left in it.  I'll be coning off from the mill cones into smaller packages and will offer it for sale later in the summer as well.  If I can't use it up myself, maybe I can sell it?  :^)  Yarn with stored twist energy is desired for fabric collapse effects so I expect other weavers may be interested in weaving with it, too.

Also in the pipeline is a silk scarf warp.  Plus I have a whole bunch of dyed 2/20 silk to either use or sell.  I expect one of the things I will be doing over the summer is stocking my Art Fire store with yarns like the singles 6 cotton and the dyed 2/20 silk.

All in all, I've got a lot to look forward to when I get home.

Count Down

cover

bathrobe project

Linen placemat/table runner project

There are now officially just 17 full sized copies of Magic in the Water; wet finishing handwovens left at the time of this writing (June 1, 2011).  I usually sell a couple of copies when I travel to teach so by the time I get home on June 12 there may be even fewer left.

Once these copies are gone, the book will not be republished with actual samples.  I am looking at converting the book to an ebook format.  The real wealth - and expense - of the book is in the samples, but hopefully a good macro-photo or scan will at least show the obvious differences in the textiles before/after wet finishing. 

But there is nothing like having the actual samples to handle.

Someone commented that once the book is out of print second hand copies will likely appear on eBay at huge prices.  On the other hand people who have the book seem to feel that it is one of the books that they will keep as a reference.  Which is exactly what I hoped when I decided to write and self-publish. 

I do, howeever, want to keep the information available which is why I'm investigating other options for publishing.  If it had not been for my brother allowing me to store the pages, samples, binders and completed books I would have had to pay for warehousing them on top of all the other expenses involved in the production of the book.  :)  Gotta luv little brothers!  A digital or ebook format would mean no storage issues.

Just as an example, 1000 2" ring binders fill a small bedroom.  Forty plastic tubs full of samples, 40 boxes of sample pages and 1000 copies of Magic text also fill a small bedroom.  The work space required to assemble the sample pages was two pool tables in length.  Magic lived in my brother's basement for more years than I'd planned or hoped.....

There are a few abridged copies of Magic left.  They are in storage so I'm not sure how many.  I'll be checking on that after I get home from the Quebec/Alberta trip.  I believe the abridged copies have 12 of the original 20 samples.

Doug and I will stay in touch re: any sales that happen over the next 10 days and as soon as I get down to 5 copies I will be pulling the Magic page off my website.  So in effect, there are actually only 12 copies left for sale.

I will also be working on the digital or e-publishing aspect as soon as I get over the chemo ick (next treatment is June 15).  There is a lot of work to be done to convert the files from hard copy to digital so it will take some time to get that done and source a supplier on-line, check costs, etc.  So I can't say how much an e version of Magic would cost.  Much less than the hard copy, obviously, as there will be no actual samples, just virtual ones.

And Canada Post is threatening to strike as of midnight tonight.  Any orders received will be held until the strike is over - if they should actually go out - and filled in the order in which they are received.  I've put my Art Fire store on vacation mode, but orders can be placed through my website.  Click on Store, then on Magic.  I have a Paypal shopping cart available for payment.

A huge thank you to those people who believed in this project and helped - there are too many to mention here but are listed on the acknowledgement page - and those people who ordered pre-publication copies.  I know how hard it is to purchase something that doesn't actually exist yet, especially when it's pricey.  Your leap of faith kept me going and helped 'birth' the book!

And a huge thank you to those people who have given me support and encouragement the past few months.  Again, you have kept me going and I am deeply grateful to you all.

One Step Forward

Now that the wool/bamboo/silk yarn is all used up, I've turned back to the silk gimp warps.

I dyed about 2/3's of them a few weeks ago so I've got lots of warps to weave - although there are still 10 left to be dyed (I think).  That will have to wait until later in June.

After mulling over the stash situation, the next warp on the AVL will be another red 2/20 mercerized cotton, this time with some of the singles 6 cotton for weft.  I'll likely put 30 yards on and play around with some twills based on an extended Wall of Troy over 16 shafts.  With this theading I can do fancy twills, lace, twill blocks, waffle weave and more likely.  But for tea towels twills, twill blocks and waffle weave will likely wind up my choices.

Doug has spent hours trying to track down why the fly shuttle picker is working poorly.  It has not failed catastrophically - it would likely be simpler if it had!  He's changed the O ring in the foot switich - the usual suspect.  Then he changed the piston.  He checked all the air lines to make sure none of them are crimped impeding air flow.  Next he'll try changing the solenoid, but he didn't have the correct one on hand and has to order it in.

I continue to load stuff into my suitcase - I'm choosing my 'wardrobe' (I use the term loosely - very loosely) and getting my personal stuff organized.  The teaching materials go in first and my clothing has to fit into what space is left. 

At least I don't have to bring everything for the Alberta leg of the trip.  Doug suggested I pack another bag and he'll load that into the van and bring it with him.  Which really helps a lot!

A friend came today and visited while I threaded and sleyed the shawl warp on the Leclerc Fanny.  After she left I wove it off and may dress the loom again after dinner.  I've still got one more day, after all.  :^)

Currently reading The Crime Machine by Giles Blunt