Goals

 

As a production weaver I have always had a rather large store of yarns.  When I was weaving to sell, I needed to have yarn on hand, in sufficient quantity that I could design new items and put them into production, with no down time.

Over the years I got good at either anticipating needs, or having alternate things I could work on while waiting for a yarn order.

When I 'retired' (for certain values of) I anticipated heading in different directions and looked forward to experimenting and diving into weaving in fresh, new (to me) ways.

But before I felt able to do that, I wanted very much to get rid of my production yarns.  It's a goal I've been working towards for literally years now as we complete year two of the pandemic and begin year three, I am about 3 years into my 'retirement' stash busting focus.

I have made progress, don't get me wrong, I really have.  My box of empty cardboard tubes attests to that.  The box is actually more full than this photo, taken a while ago now.  And my shelves are showing signs of a reduction in my inventory of yarns.

But I'm no where near close to using it all up, not by a long chalk!  And in the meantime, my pile of completed textiles continues to grow.

Right now I have the better part of 3 warps worth of towels to hem with more coming off the loom.  I have enough yarn for (probably) two more warps that will yield around 21-22 towels each.  

But I'm still dealing with watering eyes and by the time I'm ready to sit down and hem, I really don't much want to.  So the piles grow.

However, slow progress is happening with shingles healing, I have an appointment with the pain doctor in Vancouver (or will have as soon as the office phones to book it) and some suggestions for lessening the pain I'm experiencing in the meantime.  I'd hoped for a more positive outcome, but less pain is less pain, and I'll take it.  

Bottom line is that I have to accept my reality, find coping mechanisms, and accept that I'm not as young as I once was and things change.  Including my body.  It's taken nearly 24 hours to process the information I got from the doctor and begin to move forward.  Accepting where I am means I can begin to plan how to do that.

As covid continues, I will continue to risk assess and make decisions based on my compromised immune system.  If the pain doctor can't do anything more than give me coping mechanisms, I will have to learn to live with them.  

In the meantime, while I wait for the in person exam, I have yarn to use up, and shingles to deal with.  Seems like my lifetime of coping with multiple things, multiple goals, multiple 'deadlines' is not over.

Today my goal is to weave two towels and press the 8 I wet finished yesterday.  And keep using up my yarn.  And continuing to work at getting weaving information 'out there' for new practitioners to learn how the craft works.

Onwards...