Elder/Mentor

Yesterday I posted this photo of the latest red/black warp to Instagram.  But Instagram doesn't lend itself to much in the way of explanation, so here goes...

In my quest to weave down my stash I am facing more and more challenges in terms of choosing colours that I find pleasing - and that I hope others will as well.

I have a lot of resources, one of which is The Fanciest Twills compiled by Irene Wood and all of the drafts in that little booklet are based on a simple point progression over 16 shafts.

Finding myself weary from pandemic and politics fatigue, making threading errors because I was losing my focus, I decided to work with this particular design which is a bit unusual in that it weaves up as a stripe with two different combinations.  One part is a small diamond, the other is a textured stripe.  Perfect for doing a striped warp where the little diamonds could be highlighted with the use of a very different hue/value.

The main reason for using this was to use up some of the black 2/16 cotton yarn that was slowly but steadily deteriorating and becoming weaker and not suitable to use for warp.  As I thought about this combination, I also selected other combinations that would also benefit from this arrangement until there were four in the queue (with potentially a few more to come).

All my working life I have worked in series, I don't get 'bored' of making the 'same' thing over and over.  If I'm weaving, I'm good.  I don't much care what it is, so long as it is going smoothly/efficiently.

Right now I am needing to trade mental stimulation for something that I can use as a working meditation.  Respite from reality.  More Zen than exploration.

This warp shows the reed marks very clearly.  These reed marks should settle and become pretty much invisible as the threads move to areas of least resistance during wet finishing.  Those gaps should fill in as the threads within the dent shift and move over to fill in the gap.  So no, I'm not bothered by the obvious striping in the reed.  And if they don't?  They will be consistent.

I purposely did not keep the two hues in rigid stripes, but allowed the boundary between the two to blur by allowing - indeed encouraging - the two colours to mingle into each other.

As I get older I am paying the price for 40+ years of hard physical labour.  (Anyone who thinks production weaving isn't hard physical labour has a very romanticized notion of what weaving at a production level is.)

When I finally decided I needed a new massage therapist (my old one had retired due to Covid restrictions) I had just turned 70 and was facing some nagging physical issues that were interfering with my ability to do things - like weave.

Since I had to explain to a new therapist why I needed their help, I did my usual and wrote up a list of injuries and symptoms, which meant I had to actually think about the damage I had caused my body over the years.  Some of it my stubborn insistence on pushing through physical injury, some of it being injured in the first place.

As part of the initial appointment, we went over my concerns and at the end of the appointment, we talked about my ability to push through the pain.  How unproductive that actually was, especially now.  Once again another medical professional told me in plain words that it was time for me to stop doing that.

This time I think I'm ready to listen.

So instead of getting this warp set up in one day (about 5 hours) it was done over three days.  Even so, by the end my body was telling me it was not happy.  So I only wove one towel yesterday, not two.  And today I may not weave at all, since I will be spending the afternoon at the guild room trying to get our room re-arranged so that we can have small socially safe meetings once the weather changes and becomes too cold to be outdoors.

The guild is built on serving the membership and one of the things the guild tries to do is provide educational experiences for members.  We need our guild room for that to happen.

So last night we talked about a few things that we might be able to do but the room needs to be set up in order to make that happen.

Personally my intent is to continue weaving as much as this body will comfortably allow.  My intent is to listen to my body, not push through the warning signals of pain.  (Not all of my pain is weaving caused - it is just made worse by weaving.)

My intent is to continue being supportive of others in their journey of learning.  Promote other teachers who are providing good information (IMHO).  Suggest books with interesting content.

My father died at 56, my brother at 51.  I am still here at 70.  I have the grey hair to mark my 'seniority' and I know stuff.

As several people have pointed out, I am truly an 'elder' in the weaving community.  Since that is my perceived position, I will embrace it, to the best of my ability.

I am hopeful that next year the pandemic will be over enough that we can have face to face opportunities to learn.  OTOH, who knows what the future will bring.

We have a unique ability to communicate via the internet and we may have to just accept that for the coming months/years we will have to limp along using the internet.  Not that there aren't people doing excellent internet presentations - just that they are different from in person learning.

Human beings are adaptable.  We may have to change our lives in significant ways in the face of our changing reality.

I was never a cheerleader in high school.  But I can cheer lead from my office chair.

Keep learning.  Keep making mistakes.  Keep figuring out your 'best' way.  Keep on, keeping on!*

*shakes pom-poms in encouragement...