Autumn

 

next warp beamed, ready to be threaded

Yesterday was a prep day.  I had cut the last warp off the loom Monday, cut/serged the nine towels and run them through the washing machine.  While the wet finishing was happening I set up the loom for the next warp to be beamed, which meant before I could press the towels I had to finish beaming the warp.

So my order of priority Tuesday was to get that warp onto the beam.

Having very little energy it took a while before I got to the loom, but managed to beam just over half of the warp before stopping for lunch, then finished the beaming afterwards.

Once that was done, the spool rack got rolled out of the way and the press was put back on the work table and the drying rack was set up.

I finished pressing around 4 by which time I was struggling to stay awake, having had a 'bad' night and lacking in sleep.

After an 'early' dinner, I went to the guild where I met with guild members to discuss the Zoom seminar series I'm organizing for 2021, and once I got home from guild spent some time tweaking my contacts.

One of the benefits of having been involved in the weaving community for as long as I have is that I know a lot of people.  If I don't know someone personally, I usually know someone who knows that someone.  

Plus I'm not afraid to ask and willing to take no for an answer.  Because people have reasons for their no that may have nothing whatsoever to do with me.  Life happens and sometimes people might want to but simply cannot.

On the other hand, I am getting 'yes' so far.

There are a number of benefits for doing Zoom.  No, Zoom isn't ideal, but it can be made to work.  I took my attitude from the multitudes of people who are working from home via the internet and decided that it could be made to work for us as textile folk.  When the focus is on learning, we can figure things out.

I'm setting up one hour (ish) presentations with people who have broad ranging experience, particularly with crafts and culture and how they intersect.  (I will look at other approaches, but that is the theme I am working with.)

By scheduling for 10 am on Sunday mornings, I can reach into other time zones, sometimes rather far away, and still make it work for us and for them.

Since no one is travelling, we don't have that expense, plus we can invite people that we could never afford to bring here in person to share their love of textiles with us.

So far I have booked a date in January, and am working with some others to set their dates.  I'm not going to contact a whole pile of folk, then try to juggle scheduling them.  Instead I am contacting just one or two people at at time, getting them set up, then adding one or two more.

This also limits my time on the computer - I kind of had enough of juggling large numbers of people all at once, for the conference.  This is a more 'intimate' process, and so far I am enjoying it very much.

So what do I have so far?  Someone in the other hemisphere, 3 time zones away.  Someone in this hemisphere, also 3 time zones away.  Possibly two people in Sweden, 9 time zones away.  The names of a number of other people, local and distant, whom I will contact as I hear yay or nay from those I have already reached out to.

Once I have the schedule, it will be posted on the guild Facebook page (and probably here).  Guild members will be charged a fee (because we ARE offering to pay these folk), and non guild members can also register for a higher fee (or they could become associate members of our guild and get the guild member rate - just saying).

With Covid being very tricksy, we may be dealing with limitations on travel and meeting in groups for the next couple of years so we have to find a way to continue learning and interacting with others in a positive way.  

During the current political climate, I think it is also timely to focus on how we are more alike than not, and let our love of textiles bind us together.

Stay home if you can, keep 6 feet (2 meters) distant if you go out, wear a mask, wash your hands.