Maps

 

I have always loved maps.  They help me understand where I am, and remind me that the world is much larger than my reality bubble.

But here's the thing with maps - to be useful, they must be accurate.  Plus they need a 'legend' to help you understand what you are seeing.

Unlike the map pictured above which has all kinds of errors.  How do I know?  Because I have the 'shape' of the United States as a mental picture.  

When I was travelling, I would routinely check a map to see the layout of the route my trip would take and get myself familiar what might be there waiting for me once on the ground.  Because I like to know 'where I am'.

But apparently we have reached the stage in the 'information age' where we have a shit tonne of information, but a bunch of it is just plain 'wrong'.

As I wove today I thought about maps in the back of my head and I thought about weaving drafts.  

And how many new/beginning weavers just don't understand what they are looking at.  (In spite of loads of books that will tell them exactly that, they want members of an online group to explain it.)

Or they ask ChatGPT, which is even worse because that app will flat out lie to you.

Sometimes the questions is: where are the tabby treadles?  Or they can't work out the symbols: what does it mean to do this 3X?  Or whatever. 

I thought about huck as a weaving draft.  And how many people get confused because there are 3 (at least) different ways to write the sequence and they don't understand.

So here's a short explainer:

Huck is generally (not always) written with a 5 thread by 5 thread 'unit'.  It can look different depending on the resource one looks at:

3 ways to thread huck - blank spaces indicate that I am providing 3 different threadings

I have not included the tie up because each of those threadings needs a different set of treadles tied up to create the cloth.

Here is the option as given above for the first threading sequence, reading from the right to left.

This option weaves huck in every place it has been threaded for huck.  Yes, you can insert plain weave sections if that meets your design requirements.  Look where the plain weave treadles are placed - in between the two 'pattern' treadles.  You don't need more treadles when plain weave is already in the DNA of your weave structure.

Some people find this sequence to be easier to thread.  Note the change in the tie up.  This is the middle option in the above 'draft' showing 3 different sequences:

And then the third option which changes yet again, and makes expanding the threading to more than four shafts if you want to do that and have the extra shafts:

Which of these is correct?  

They ALL are.  The threading, tie up and treadling need to give you what you want to have in your cloth.  Drafts are not writ in stone.   It is possible to switch things around.  For example, you may not have enough heddles on a shaft.  In that case you either need to add more heddles, OR if you have more (some weavers routinely load extra heddles on the front two shafts) you can shuffle the draft to take advantage of having 'extra' heddles on some of the shafts.

Plain weave is not always 1+3 vs 2+4.  And sometimes it doesn't best serve the needs of actually weaving it by being placed on either outside treadle, OR to one side of the rest.  And sometimes you really need to get the warp set up and sit at the loom and weave a bit to really understand what you are trying to do.

Or read the beginning bits in the front of the book.   The author will generally give Important Information about the symbols they have used.

Quiet Days

 

One of the lessons I am trying to learn is to be kinder to myself - my body.  I have been through the wringer for the past few years, and my body is essentially battered and bruised.  And it has been letting me know it is not happy.  So, my therapist has left me with the homework of being kinder to myself, in and out.  Let's just say it's a rocky road.

However, I try to get to the studio at least once a day, two if I can manage it.  

Right now I am taking a deep dive into my silk stash, trying to find enough yarn to make a few silk warps for scarves.  The majority of the yarn arrived on skeins, and the ones I'm trying to use are in the 2/20 and 2/30 sizes, many of them dyed.  Some of them not gently, but energetically, so they are tangled.  Most have been fairly co-operative in unwinding on the squirrel cage swift, with some gentle coaxing, but not all of them.  And it's been extremely frustrating.  Being able to do the job of transferring the yarn to spools slowly is just about the right pace for me right now.  I can no longer stand to wind spools or bobbins, but my little kitchen stool is about the right height.  (I also use it for threading the Megado.)

I had intended to carefully measure off the yarn as it wound onto the spool (I have a very accurate counter), but the skeins were just tangled enough that that became an exercise in frustration.  Now I just 'guess' by eyeballing one of the spools that I did manage to measure out and hope that I got enough on the spool (and not too much).

The first warp was white, the next warp will be darker values, the one after that will be lighter values, and if I do a fourth that will be much lighter values.  Each warp will be about 20 yards long and should yield 6 scarves each.  I will know better when I come to the end of the first warp - I'm currently on scarf 4.

For the first warp I'm using dyed silk for weft (since the cashmere was too damaged to use), and I am eyeballing my stash of very fine worsted wool, thinking I'd like to use up some of that, too.  Beyond that, I have a stash of fine rayon (bamboo rayon as well as no-name rayon) that I could potentially use.  I won't know until that warp (spools on the spool rack to the left in the photo) is ready to go and I can weave some samples.

I get the injections in my back on Wednesday morning, and I will need 3-5 days of 'light duties' during those days.  I will not be able to finish the current warp before the injections, and I'll have filled all the spools I have pretty soon.  Next decision?  Do I strip all the very fine silk off those spools?  It didn't work to beam a warp the last time I tried but I kept it to use for weft.  OTOH, I need spools and light duties could be stripping the 'old' silk off the spools so I could at least keep winding the silk I want to use while I can't weave?

TBD.

Making Plans

 

potential draft for next silk warp

I had a bad pain day yesterday, so I've decided I need a 'light duty' day today.  (I had massage - no it wasn't pleasant, therapeutic massage rarely is.)

It feels futile to be making plans in light of current events, but it is when people begin to feel powerless against forces which are out of control, or at least, out of *their* control, that they will give up.

But dammit I've just been through all kinds of shades of horrible and I am finally beginning to see some improvement in my quality of life and I refuse to give up, now.

I have zero idea of what will transpire in the next couple hours, never mind the coming months or years.

I cannot control anyone but myself.  And I am just stubborn enough that I will not give up now.

So I have plans.  I have desires.  I have goals that I have set.  And all of them are subject to change, given the powers that are beyond my control.

In the face of a certain segment of the population who want to destroy it all, I refuse.  I will continue to make things.  I will continue to try to help others, if I can.

Because if it all goes to hell in a handbasket, we - humans, that is - will need cloth.  We will need to know how to make cloth.  Look around you.  Where does all that cloth that you see come from?  It comes from looms.  And we will need weavers to take up the slack once the worst comes, IF it comes.

But beyond all that?  I will weave because I can.  Because I love it.  Because I want to share my knowledge with others.

What will I do?  Dunno.  I'm still in 'recovery' and I have no idea where it will plateau.  So I think about the things I might do.  File them away for 'later'.  And wait.  

The Technology of Weaving

 

cover of one of my books

Over and over again I see newbies to weaving asking for answers to questions that they can find in books if they can't take a class.

Yesterday again, someone questioning about my use of 2/8 instead of 8/2 - aren't they the same thing?

I responded that they are the same count, but not necessarily the same quality.  And left it at that - it was a group chat, after all.  And I didn't feel like typing out half of a chapter in my book for their edification.

Call me a grinch.

And again, someone else suggesting AI as a way to learn anything.

The lying machine that just flat out makes stuff up but you want to have correct answers about technical weaving questions?  OK.  

Experienced weavers are still here, still educating, still trying to set people on a reasonable path to learning.  To be then told that we are no better than AI is discouraging from even bothering to try.

What can I say?  I'm stubborn.  And I'm not easily discouraged from trying to educate as much as I can.

So I am investigating options for the future - if I can ever get better enough that I can begin to manage a schedule of weaving, writing and/or online presentations.

I just sent the latest files to WEFT for the Spring 2027 (not a typo) issue and I have pitched an idea for the one after that.  They haven't accepted it yet, and I'm of two minds about that.  It is a topic that isn't amongst my favourites, but an idea burbled to the surface and I'd kind of like to explore it a bit.  But if they turn it down, neither will I be devastated.

I am, after all, supposed to be 'retired'.  And I'm still struggling with physical/health issues.  Although just this month I have actually seen some significant improvement in one of the more testing of the issues.  But I am not 'cured' and until progress stops, neither will I know if there is a 'cure' to be had.  The nerve damage may have progressed too far and I may still be managing pain from that one.

Plus my back continues to get worse.

In the meantime I keep weaving.  Keep stash busting (as best I can).  Keep reducing my expectations for what I can accomplish.  

Life is a journey.  Sometimes you travel quickly, sometimes slowly, sometimes you travel in comfort and style, or in a creaky old vehicle or even you just limp along, day by day.  But there IS still beauty to be seen on the way.  And sometimes travelling at a slower speed you can stop and enjoy that beauty for more than a minute.  

Sending everyone gold dust and the time to enjoy beauty when they come across it.

Things Change

 

Canadian flag over our front door

In the wake of changes to social media I have been looking for other ways to stay in touch with folk.

There have been a number of Canadian led initiatives launched in the past couple of weeks, one of which just days ago.  It's a little bit different and I'm not entirely sure if I'm happy with the format, but since it is new it needs to grow some - and *I* need to get used to the different format.

However, all that said, it allows for the creation of 'cafes' for special interest groups, so I've created one called Warped Weavers.  

The site is called Hey.Cafe and the link to join is here.  

They are growing rapidly, and it may take a while before someone can create a new account (it took me 3 tries as they were being overwhelmed with applications), but once on the site it was fairly simple to get an account set up.  

Last night I was able to post to Warped Weavers, include a photo and alt text, which doesn't show up until you click on the photo.

Anyhoo, if anyone is interested in a weaving group initiated by moi, come and share what you are doing, or ask me anything.  I may ask you to email me for a longer answer.  Weaving answers tend to go beyond the confines of a small text box.  Just saying...

Sitting With My Thoughts (CW current events)

 

This used to be the public pathway in my subdivision.  One of the people living next to the pathway had planted rose bushes and they bloomed pretty much all summer.  It was always a delight to go on my daily walk and appreciate the pink and white roses, nodding their heads in the breeze.

But a couple years ago the person who planted the bushes moved and the bushes were cut down.  I don't know if the city workers did it, or the new owner of the house.  But they disappeared about the time I could no longer walk more than a little bit. I have a few photos I took and from time to time I look at them - or include them in a blog post.

Because there are days when we need to remember:  there is still beauty in this world.

For as ugly as things are right now, there are still places where there is beauty.

Our job as humans is to work towards protecting what we have.  The beauty.  The life.  

Because we don't actually *own* this planet, we are just temporary passengers as Earth spins its way through the solar system.  The First Nations of this continent say that they are Earth guardians.  They don't claim 'ownership' in the way that colonizers do.  

I set the book 'Humans: the 300,000 year struggle for equality' aside while I read another (smaller) book.  But with the current events of this week, I feel the need to go back to Humans and try to winkle out meaning to what seems the stupidest timeline ever.

Can we be different?  *WERE* we different?  What changed?  What choices did homo sapiens make that put 'us' as the predominant 'survivor' in the evolutionary events for the past 300,000 years?

Can we find a 'better' way?  Is it too late?

These are questions that I wish more people would try to answer.

It isn't quite 'too late' - I hope.  But if we don't ask the correct question, we will never arrive at the proper answer.

In the meantime, I must hold on to the fact that there is still beauty in this world.

I am still a week away from getting the next injection in my back.  I am limping through my days, trying so hard to keep calm, keep sending out positive energy into the world.  Finding the tangles in skeins (quite literally right now) and bring order out of chaos.

I am trying to hold on to optimism, but it is getting harder while the alt right slash and burn their way through the world.  But we are still the majority.  And we need to push back the forces of darkness.  Let's start by never ever voting for another alt right politician.  

And make the alt right go back into the closet again.  

Two Things

 

Weaving is labour intensive.

Parts of the process can be frustrating to learn.

Some people give up because they hate warping.

And I get it.

But here's the thing.  Creating textiles by weaving *is time consuming*.  It takes as much time as it takes (given the weaver's skill level).

I chose to become a weaver as my profession.  Since I had a very strong desire to do that, I studied the processes.  I began with what my teacher taught me (mostly good advice), but then I modified it where I saw places that I could do the task more efficiently.  I took the time to go slower, examining what I was doing - one step at a time - until I had carved the steps involved down to the most efficient I could manage given my physical aptitudes and what my budget would allow.

Because sometimes?  Better equipment is what you need to proceed - more efficiently.

Do I hate warping?  No.  In fact, now that I am physically compromised (back issues) it is only *because* I am as efficient as I am that I can continue to weave.

I have had to make changes, but mostly in how long I can do any one thing at a time.  So instead of weaving for 4 hours (with breaks) a day, I am now just managing 30 minutes.

Thirty minutes isn't very much time, but I can get about 15-18 inches woven in that time depending on what I'm making.  (Currently silk warp with silk weft at 32 epi.)  I'm weaving about 80" per scarf, so instead of weaving a scarf a day, I am just barely managing 1/5th of a scarf.

It's frustrating as hell, but it's better than not weaving at all.

So, weaving *is* time consuming.  But you *can* learn how to do it more efficiently so that it is *less* time consuming.  

And that's also a good Life Lesson.  There are all sorts of times in life when you need to hold two different aspects of something as both being 'true'.

Over and over again I take lessons learned during weaving and gradually see how they apply to life generally.  And learning how to accept that two opposing things can be true - depending on circumstances - has been a big one.

Don't like winding warps?  There are businesses that can do that for you.  Or, you can hire a kid to do it.  Maybe.  But you would have to accept how they do the job - or teach the kid to do it your way.

Or, just a thought - you could learn a different process.  Or choose a different yarn.  One that is stronger, perhaps, than what you have been using.

Or, you could buy a more expensive yarn, better spun for purpose, for your warps.  The warp is such a significant part of weaving - from winding the warp to beaming it, threading, sleying, tieing on, why work with a 'cheap' (or poor quality) yarn?  Given how many hours you may need to spend doing all of that part of the job?

Humans tend to simplify things when in reality Life is Complicated.  I tell my students that weaving is not hard, but it's complex.  And it's labour intensive.  

People tell me that I must be a patient person.  No.  I am many things, but patient is not one of my qualities.  So I worked hard at becoming efficient so that I take less time to do the jobs required to get a warp into the loom.  

And then I slide into a state of a working meditation while I throw the shuttle and only come out of that state if something goes wrong - like a thread breaking.  Or the loom misbehaving.

The more we practice accepting that at times two opposing things can be 'true' depending on circumstances, the sooner we will make peace with how weaving - and living - works.