Milestones

cover of Magic

cover of The Intentional Weaver

cover of Handwoven  (one of two covers my work has graced)  Just got the galley proofs for the next article scheduled for the end of this year.

One thing about turning a significant zero birthday and entering the world of the 'elderly' is the time spent remembering.

Sometimes the journey down the past is bittersweet.  Sometimes it's uncomfortable.  Sometimes it's a lovely trip of remembering fondly some of the people and places one has encountered along the way.

In many ways my life has surprised me, although why that should be so, shouldn't.  I worked hard to bring my dream to life.

I got up every morning and showed up to do the work.  I learned how to promote myself (something that remains, to this day, uncomfortable, having been brought up to not 'toot my own horn'.)

Without any sense of self pity I can say I have come to the beginning of the end of my life.  And that is perfectly ok.  It is perfectly normal to acknowledge that I have had a (mostly) good life but that certain aspects of it are no longer tenable.

So I began cutting away the things that were causing me too much stress, one way or another.  It was similar to Marie Kondo's 'method' - does it bring you joy?  If not, let it go.

The first thing to go were the teaching tours.  I stopped approaching guilds, trying to set up tours.  I began saying 'no' to requests to teach for guilds.

Last year I made the decision to retire from doing the craft fairs and shut down my business, which was based on making and selling textiles, mainly through craft fairs (although we had also wholesaled textiles for about 10 years in the 1980s and 90s).

Now I am focused on stash reduction.  And on that front I am making pretty good headway.  However, when you prefer finer yarns, that takes a while.

The other day I did some number crunching.  Each 20 yard (approximately) tea towel warp uses up about 2.5 pounds of yarn for the warp.  Which isn't a whole lot when I have pounds and pounds of the stuff.

What is even more dismaying is the two plus shelving units crammed full with silk.  Some of it fine silk.  Some of very fine silk.

just two shelves of the many of silk yarns - this stuff is so fine it will take three strands to equal a 2/20 size silk

I keep saying I am going to take out my espinner and start plying it, just so I can make it thick enough to see.

Because one of the effects of my eyesight is that I simply cannot see very fine yarns well enough to work with any more.

On Tuesday I get another eye exam.  I go every two years - and generally wind up with another, stronger, lens prescription because my eyes have gotten that much worse.  Again.  Now I also have cataracts so I want to stay on top of how those are growing.  Because cataracts are going to affect how I see colour.

While the good news is that they can be removed when they are 'bad' enough, I'm not fond of people poking stuff into my eyes.

However, they can be fixed, and for that I am grateful.

Milestones.  Some are nice.  Some not so much.  But it's life in all its glory.

Currently reading Riviera Gold by Laurie R King