Expectations

Image of two different yarns.  Long time readers will recognize the image as being of two yarns spun to the same number of yards per pound from cotton.  Obviously quite different.  Obviously will not behave the same.  But because they have the same number of yards per pound, the expectation is that they will behave identically and create identical qualities of cloth.  They will not.

The knitting (and crochet, I assume)  world is being rocked with controversy over patterns - what they should include and what they might not.  Designers are being asked to be very specific, but use different/cheaper yarn.  Provide sizes from infant to 3X (or even larger), all charted out.  Provide sample/models of the item made up in a variety of different yarns, especially cheaper yarns.  And so on.

Many of these requests (demands in some instances) are completely unrealistic.  All of these things but keep the price of the pattern cheap - or better yet! - free.  (!)  Because designers are 'raking in the money' with their pattern sales.

This type of conversation echoes through the weaving world, too.

New practitioners don't understand anything (or much of anything) about the craft, but want instant *perfect* results right out of the starting gate.

They don't understand that all of the textile arts rely on basic understanding of the tools and materials and at least a nodding acquaintance with the degree of skill involved in getting even close to 'perfection'.

I have been weaving since 1975 when I quit my job in order to become a professional/production weaver.

The same argument goes around about every decade or so.  The same myths are perpetuated.  The same expectation of 'perfection' based on the myth that the textile arts are 'unskilled'.  Can't have anything to do with the fact that the vast majority of textile practitioners are female, amirite?

Women do uncounted hours of free labour every day.  That labour is diminished in the eyes of society because of the very fact that it is unpaid.  Therefore not to be respected or honoured.

When the largely female professionals speak up to explain why patterns cannot always be free, because they also have bills to pay, some of the people requesting (sometimes demanding) all this extra information can get quite grumpy.

I eventually withdrew from most groups on the internet because I got tired.  I got tired of defending myself for asking for payment for my services.  I got tired of defending my level of knowledge - and yes, skill - from people who expected to achieve that same level instantly.

I got tired of people telling me I didn't know what I was talking about.

I got tired of people arguing with me without ever going to the trouble of - oh, I don't know - cracking a book?  Doing a simple Google search?

The first expectation from a number of people wanting to take up weaving is - how hard can it be?  It can be very very hard.

The next expectation is that substitutions are easy.  They are not.  (see photo above)

The next expectation is that perfection can be achieved with the first warp.  A very few people sometimes can get very good results, but the vast majority cannot.

The expectation that someone can give definitive answers without knowing all the parameters is completely unrealistic.

When an experienced weaver answers a question with 'sample!', they are not being facetious, they are giving the very best advice they can.  If someone contacts me asking what they should do with their yarn, a yarn I have never seen let alone worked with, all I can do is advise them to weave a sample.

When they ask what they should do with a yarn I may have worked with, but never made the quality of cloth they want?  I have to suggest a sample.  Because I do not know.  Because I have never done that.  I can give my best guess (which might be a rather informed guess, but still a guess) but ultimately *change one thing and everything can change*.

I have been having a bit of a conversation on a group and the other person lives in an area of high humidity while I don't.  Their experience has been quite different from mine.  And we finally agreed that perhaps the difference was due to the humidity.

Because change one thing and everything can change.  And environmental factors are one of those variables that will affect how a yarn behaves.

All of these things are what keeps me engaged in weaving, keeps me going back to the loom to learn more.

But ultimately?  We also need a core of informed practitioners who will write the patterns, teach the classes.  And they need to be paid for their time and labour just like any other professional.

#fairfiberwage