Warped

Before there can be a woven textile, there must be a warp.

A warp is the peak of all possibilities.  It holds the promise of the cloth it will become.  It sets the tone in terms of colour and texture.  It can be modified, but - unless it is weft faced - the warp will be part of the landscape, so to speak.  Even when it is invisible, it is still there, the backbone of the fabric.

The word 'warped' has so many meanings in English.  Many of the meanings can be related to weaving or not related at all.  So many textile words are used now to convey similar but different meanings. 

Computers grew, in some measure, out of weaving so perhaps it is not surprising so many weaving words were co-opted by computer technology.  Others were adopted by those in the space industry, still more by physics.

Ask a child today what a shuttle means and you are most likely going to hear about a shuttle taking passengers back and forth from the mall or the airport.  Ask a physicist about strings and no doubt you'll hear about string theory.  Or the fabric of the universe.

Fairy tales frequently use spinning or weaving as vehicles to hang the moral of the tale on.

Weavers blithely use the phrase that 'you have to be warped to weave' and purposefully use the word play of one of the other meanings of the word 'warped' while knowing that you really do have to get your loom 'warped' before you can weave fabric. 

Today I finished the first draft of my latest writing project.

I confess that I have been using the project as a way to procrastinate about what I am supposed to be doing:  warping my loom.  Instead I have been pounding the keyboard working on a project that I have little confidence that anyone will actually purchase.  On the other hand, I've got pretty close to 70 hours or more invested in it to this point.  I emailed the file to my editor and will let her decide if it's worth investing her time (and my money) into getting it honed into shape.  It's not a weaving book, although it's about weaving.  It's not a technical book, although it's not entirely without reference to technical issues.

Part of me became obsessed about getting it written and - if I was going to do it - I needed to get it done while I was still feeling the imperative to finish it.  I needed to do as I so often do - just sit down and start pounding the keyboard until I figured out what I was actually trying to say.

This time it wasn't a blog post, though, it's...a much bigger scale.  As of right now, it's 122K words.  That number may vary on what Ruth advises - cut?  Or add?  Or both?

I needed to write it out of my head or there wasn't going to be room in there for anything else.  And I really wanted to clear it out of my grey matter because as of today, the Megado is making its way across Canada.  I'm hoping to get an estimated day of arrival tomorrow.  I need a deadline to finish re-arranging the studio and I've been on tenterhooks, waiting for when the loom would arrive.

Tomorrow the Fanny and the ceiling mounted warping valet should be re-positioned.  I have two more place mat warps ready to go, and mumble mumble rayon chenille warps.  I have more yarn combinations pulled ready to wind more rayon chenille scarf warps, and then they can start getting put into the Fanny, too.

I also need to pack for my visit to Mary in early September.  I have too many threads, all tugging me in different directions.  My focus and sense of purpose is being constantly warped and instead of accomplishing anything in the studio, I've been seduced by the siren call of the thoughts tangled in my mind.

Hopefully now that I've done the first draft, I can set that project aside while Ruth does her editing magic, and I can get back to weaving. 

Wish me well on getting back on track...and warped...