Here We Go Again - Warp #33

July 29 10:15 am

July 29  10:44 am

July 29 11:28 am

People sometimes comment to me about how fast/productive I am.

Well, part of the productivity is how many hours a day I spend at the loom.

This is my job.  I have spent countless hours practicing, fine tuning, honing my physical skills.  Because make no doubt about it, weaving is a physical activity.  It is bio-feedback.  It is aerobic.  It is physical.

Weaving is a relationship between the equipment, the materials and the weaver.  That relationship is like any other.  You have to devote time and energy to it.

If you really want to get better and/or faster at the creation of cloth, a commitment needs to be made.  People keep telling me that they have no time.  We each get the same allotment of 24 hours in a day.   It is up to us how we spend that time.

Try making a commitment to yourself of 15 minutes a day doing something related to weaving.  It might be watching some video clips on You Tube.  Reading a blog.  Looking at magazines or websites.  

It might be spending 15 minutes at the loom.  So you only managed to thread an inch in 15 minutes.  It's an inch more than you had before.  You only managed to weave 2 inches?  It is two inches more than you had before.

Try leaving your every day woes and cares outside of your loom space.  Focus on what you are doing instead of your most recent familial or work crisis.  Clear your mind of the stress of every day living and just be a weaver for 15 minutes a day.

Then once a week, schedule 2 to 3 hours of quality time with your loom.  Time where you can really focus on developing your skills as a weaver.  Allow yourself to experiment and find out what happens when you change this or that.  Then don't label it a 'failure' but an experiment.  Analyze your results.  Do you like them?  Repeat them.  Don't like them?  Make a note that you won't do that again and call it a lesson.

If your life is so very crammed with other stuff that you have none to spare, try making the time at the loom a form of therapy - it's a lot cheaper!   And if your time is so limited, learning how to work more efficiently/ergonomically will mean more productivity during the time you do have for weaving.

People often comment to me that they don't want to 'hurry'.  Weaving more efficiently has nothing whatsoever to do with 'hurrying'.  Hurrying is when your mind is focused on what you are going to do next, not on what you are presently doing.

People ask me what I am going to do when I 'retire'.  I tell them that people don't 'retire' from the work that they love.  They may do less of it, they may change their approach or their focus, but they don't 'retire'.

Nor shall I.