Remote Teaching

 

Teaser...

Yesterday I finished weaving the samples for the next article for WEFT.  No, I'm not going to explain this photo - it's a teaser.

I don't know if the photos I took are good enough, but I needed to have photos to show what I was going to attempt to explain using words.  But not everyone learns from the written word, so I knew I had to provide visuals.  WEFT staff may choose to set up their own photos if mine aren't good enough.

It's the challenge in trying to teach 'remotely' - being able to provide information in different modes so that as many people as possible can process the information and be able to figure out what is happening.

Today I will press the samples I wove, then tidy them up when they are fully dry and will be rolling the information I want to convey around in the nether regions of my brain.  

The challenge with trying to write (or even think, some days) is that the brain injury opened up sinkholes and sometimes the words I want to use disappear into one or more of those sinkholes.  So it's now imperative that I must think clearly, if I can, about what I want to say - and how I want to say it.  And in the process, try to work out which words are missing from my vocabulary at the time I'm trying to craft the explanation I want to share.

In the meantime the pain I've been trying to 'solve' continues.  Some days and nights are better than others.  And I still see tiny glimmers of 'improvement' - I think.  But it never really goes away.  Not really and truly 'away'.  However, I have accepted that it may never totally and completely resolve, so in the meantime, I try to do the best I can to keep sharing information.  I am getting older every day and that isn't going to change, just get more challenging as time passes...

The local weaver who recently purchased a drawloom continues their journey, and I am joining them as best I can since I have actually woven on a drawloom, even the specific type of drawloom they have purchased.  They found Alice Hindson's book and I'm going to get my own copy and study it when it comes to remind me of my two decades old experience of weaving at Madelyn van der Hoogt's Weaving School.  

It seems I am finally finding my 'retirement' life.  I had written weaving on a drawloom off as something I could ever do, and now, here one is, locally.  And an invitation to come play on it.  My neck won't likely tolerate my doing very much, but I'm quite excited about being able to explore more and see what happens...

We are well into February and spring is 'early' it looks like.  OTOH, we could easily get more storms, and more snow.  But the days are getting 'longer' with every day that passes, and today we have a sunny one.  

Time to get to the studio and press the samples and tidy them up.  And then decide what I can do most effectively.  Maybe trying to write an article is not a job for today - especially when I have a silk warp calling my name...

Rocky Road (CW personal health issues)

 

This meme has never resonated so thoroughly as I begin what appears to be the beginning of recovery from what has been making my life miserable for literally years.

As with any health issue, it appears to be true that however long it took you to get to 'bottom' it takes the same time to climb out of the hell you have been living.

But I am a do-er (even as I complain about it) and I have spent the better part of the last 6 months flailing around trying to find out what the hell has been going on in my body as things kept getting 'worse'.

For those who are interested, on December 24 (Merry Christmas?) I got the lab report back - I have genetic markers for being unable to utilize 'ordinary' B 12 and a couple other of the B family vitamins.  As such my body was unable to heal properly and new research into peripheral neuropathy is showing that what happens is that the protective covering of the nerves in the extremities begins to deteriorate.  And then you experience nerve pain.  A not so silent 'scream' of the body falling apart.  

People who are diabetic, or who have had chemo or other conditions generally have peripheral neuropathy.  I am one of the ones who had chemo with Vincristine, well known to cause PN (I'm going to use the initials rather than type it out all the time), and indeed, I had PN during chemo.  I was told it would resolve when chemo was done, and it did, but it came back.  Most likely because I have genetic markers from both parents which block my body's ability to use the 'usual' B 12 (and two others) even though my blood work showed a nice healthy level of B12 in my blood.

I immediately started taking a different form of vitamin B plus some supplements that were to help boost the body to utilize the vitamin.  I'm about 6 weeks out from beginning that treatment, and I can fairly confidently say that it appears to be working.

But it's not a smooth passage back to 'health'.  It very much looks like the above meme - I *thought* it would be smooth sailing, but of course, it has not been 'smooth'.  At all.

Last night - again - I had a 'bad' night.  Was awake for 3 hours at dark o'clock while the nerves in my feet and legs pinged and frizzled, and my muscles cramped.

But!  It's no longer pain levels of 7.  Just 4-5 when the pain flares.  I still can't sleep when the pain goes over 3, but...it's NOT 7.

For the first few weeks I could not actually tell if anything at all was happening, but I can honestly say...it is better.  It isn't fixed.  It won't be for months and months, apparently.  But I've been living with this pain for about 6 years and it may take 6 years to recover fully.  If I ever do.  Some of my nerves may be permanently damaged, and I won't know until I get there.  

But it means that ultimately, I may get to the point where I will be able to weave on the Leclerc Fanny again.  The Megado has a very 'light' lift and I can use my thick soled shoes to weave on that loom.  But I cannot on the Fanny so I haven't been able to weave on that loom for over 3 years.  But now?  Now I'm thinking...maybe.

I am also getting therapy to deal with the trauma of my birth and the impact that has had on me my whole life.  So far I have no idea if it is 'helping' because I've been alive for 75 years and hiding my trauma as a way to continue to deal with life.  Apparently it is now time to address that trauma.

Last Saturday I did a one hour presentation for the Vancouver Guild.  Since then I've had 3 of the people who attended or watched the recording contact me to thank me for sharing my knowledge.  I have another booked for Feb. 28. If that also seems to go well, I will take a look at the calendar and consider taking more bookings.  I didn't want to last year because I was still in recovery from the brain bleed, plus I never knew what shape I would be in because of the pain.  It's really really hard to think when your body is screaming at you, asking you to DO SOMETHING.

Well, it took several months and multiple changes in what I was doing, then finally genetic testing, but we appear to have found out part of what was happening.  And as spring teases us (too soon, too soon!) my tiny sprig of hope appears to be budding.

In the meantime, the sale at blurb continues.  Use the coupon code of BOOKLOVE15 FEB 8-10 for a 15% discount.  US folk, the books are printed and shipped within the US.  Other countries may prefer to buy the pdf - it's cheaper and you get it immediately.  If you have issues with the website, contact THEM, not me.

Heads Up

 

Book Savings!

From time to time the online publisher I use offers a sale on books where they 'eat' the savings and the author still gets the full amount of the sale.

So, from Feb. 8-10, all books are on sale with a 15% discount if you use the code BOOKLOVE15

If you are in the US, the books are printed in the US and there is no tariff.  To people outside of the US, you can order the print version, or perhaps the PDF download would be 'better'.  Certainly that is cheaper and you get it immediately.  Use the link above and enter the coupon code.  If you have problems with the Blurb website, contact them, not me.  

Interdependent

 

'linen tester' showing .25, .50 and 1 inch dimensions (got it from Jane Stafford)

New weavers don't get the connection between the various factors in the development of a cloth.  

That is not a 'failing', just a lack of knowledge.  It is only after they weave enough cloth, pay attention to the results, that they begin asking the questions they need to ask (if they follow the thread) and begin to understand how the answers in weaving are only ever *conditional*.

What do you want?  What will it take to get you there?  Which fibre?  Spun in which way?  Which weave structure.  Even, what loom are you using?

The question of density is packed with conditions.  

There are the 'ideals' and then there is reality, based on functionality.

I see people saying that true freedom is to ignore the 'rules', do what you want, free your creativity.

Which is all nice and all, if you don't care about the qualities you are building into your cloth.  If you don't care, then, do as you will.

OTOH, if the apocalypse arrives, knowing the 'rules' and understanding the equation of time spent to get the cloth made and how well it serves becomes an issue, it might be a good idea to actually learn the 'rules'.  Just so you have those in your weaver's toolbox.  

I've been known to bend those rules in order to wind up with a particular quality of cloth.  I'm not adverse to bending them until they 'break', just so I know that particular boundary, too.  

So when I talk about 'ideals', I also hold space for bending the boundaries.  So there are times when my twill isn't 45 degrees (after wet finishing), but maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less, sometimes very much not the 'ideal' at all.  It depends.

When we shift the dial back and forth between this quality and that quality, we can fine tune our results.  But knowing certain things - like combining stripes of plain weave *and* some other weave structure, like waffle weave, will produce certain results.

(receipts)

I have been known to do something like this *on purpose* - for an article.  

Understanding the concept of dimensional loss (commonly referred to as 'shrinkage') should be understood.  And if you achieve that dimensional loss, know that you are doing it willingly, not by accident.  For example, the dimensional loss in waffle weave (or Brighton Honeycomb if you are in the UK) can be as much as 50%.  Not a problem if you have woven samples and you know that going in, not just discovering that after you have woven your entire project and do not have enough cloth to do what you wanted to do.

So, do use your creativity.  But maybe make a sample or three before committing to a large project?

Next!

 

Yesterday I finished the warp I put into the loom in January.  It doesn't always happen that I get the knots this close to the heddles, but it is quite satisfying when it happens.

Because I never (usually) make just one thing, but several items per warp, and I tend to allow a little 'extra' in case I need to weave more samples, or if the loom is misbehaving, or...whatever...I sometimes have more than a yard left when I'm 'done' weaving.

I have been struggling (for so long, so so long) that I have not done the things I intended to do at the end of December.

That said, I am beginning to see 'changes' in my pain levels.  It seems like healing is beginning (for one of my pain sources) and that feeds my tiny sprig of hope.  Maybe *this* year will be 'better'.

Otoh, speaking of misbehaving looms, my Megado is not happy about something.  I am getting floats on the back side of the cloth which will be suboptimal when I begin the silk and cashmere scarves.  I may get Doug's help to re-align the dobby.  The sensor is ever so slightly out of alignment.  OTOH it's winter and wood shrinks when the relative humidity drops, so perhaps it will begin to 'fix' itself?

But I really don't want silk and cashmere scarves 'ruined' with treadling errors not of my doing.  

I am going to take the rest of this week and try to get the samples for the next WEFT article woven so I can begin writing the text.  On breaks I might begin beaming the silk warp.  The threading draft is ready, to be tested to see if the structure is going to work.  Again I'm working with two sets of yarn of different grists, so a sample will be absolutely necessary.  

We are having unseasonal weather.  It has been raining (in January!) and the snow is nearly completely melted away.  If it doesn't snow some more to build the snow pack in the bush, this year's 'wildfire season' is going to be...not great.  

Someone asked why it was a problem?  Partly it is because when it melts at this time of year it doesn't get absorbed by the ground, which is still frozen.  It runs straight 'downhill' and down the rivers to the ocean.  Nothing gets stored in the ground for use later in the year.  If the rains don't come in the spring, the ground water doesn't get built up, the ground itself becomes parched and any little spark, be it lightning or campfire, can set up a blaze that devastates the forests and ultimately animals AND human lives.

We desperately need to recognize climate change and DO SOMETHING to mitigate the problems.  There is no Planet B.

More Snowflakes

 

weaving draft for silk/cashmere scarves

I'm about done with the current warp, which was an interesting little tangent to go into.  But I'm about done with that highly twisted single 6 cotton, and am anticipating a very nice jaunt down the silk warp, cashmere weft bylane.

I really liked the weave structure I used with the single 6 but the twist energy pretty much erased the actual motif, and I thought it had some nice features about it, so I essentially reduced it to the number of ends I needed for a scarf warp and will go ahead with the same thing for the scarves.  

Seems like I have a whole lot of very fine (as in gossamer) cashmere in natural white.  After doing a grist comparison yesterday, I decided I am going to have to double the cashmere even to get close to the 2/30 grist of the silk.  Since the cashmere is in skeins, it seemed the best way to deal with what is a fairly 'tender' yarn, is to use it doubled and the best way to do that is to use the double bobbin shuttle.  If that doesn't work very well, I can then double it by winding from two bobbins onto a single bobbin, but before I spend the time to do that, I'm going to try weaving with the double bobbin shuttle.

The other thing I wanted to point out is that this weave structure is the 'same' on both sides - except the warp and weft change places in the motif.  The front side is a mirror image of the back.

 The fabric will have a difference one side to the other since the warp is shiny silk and the weft is mat cashmere, so the effect will be a subtle difference.  The effect when done in contrasting colours is greater, but I like the mat/shiny effect, too.  

And I have rather a lot of the fine cashmere, so I'll be doing a range of scarves using these (and other sizes) of silk.  If I run out of options to use up white, I also have rather a large amount of very fine worsted wool to use on some of the intense coloured silks also in my stash.  So I have my 'work' cut out for me.  

I don't expect to be exploring much in the way of weave structures, but some colour options.

And, in the end, weave down some of my silk and cashmere stash.  Win-win!

New Book

 

Stacey Harvey-Brown's new book Creative Dimensions in Weaving is now available.

If you are curious about creating 3D effects in textiles, Stacey has been doing lots of digging into how to make that happen.  The book can be purchased immediately as a pdf download.  I haven't invested yet as I really prefer print, but getting books from overseas is getting expensive, and a pdf download is (ahem) immediate.  

And let's support actual human knowledge, not LLM/AI.  

And check out her web site for some other books she has written.