Milestones

 

This afternoon, sometime, my blog page views rolled over 2.25M views.

When it rolled over 1 million I was astonished.  Two million?  More astonished.  Now 2.25 million.

The spider is said by some cultures to be a weaver.  A god, Arachne.  Human beings have spent far more time playing with string than doing a whole lot of other things.  Even now, post industrial revolution, there are hundreds, thousands, of human beings who take fibre, fiddle with it to create string, and then, using a variety of tools - spindles, hooks, needles, shuttles, looms of every kind - create textiles

The internet has adopted many textile terms to explain how it works - to follow a thread means something quite different to a computer or internet person than it does to a textile worker.

As I contemplate where I am, where I might be in a couple of years, and what I might do in those intervening years, I am taken by curiosity all over again.  What happens when I do this?  What happens when I do that?  If I change this one thing, how will that change the results?

Writing is a similar process.  Which word should I use in this context?  What phrase will bring the greatest understanding?  

Today, in talking with some textile folk, I explained why I chose a certain word instead of a more commonly used one.  Even as I was saying why I used the word I now use, I wondered if people thought I was judging them for their word choice.  So I explained that in my effort to break down my own perceptions, my own reality bubble, I realized I have to change the language I use when I talk about that thing.

Later, I hoped that people were not offended or upset.  And then I hoped that they would think about what I'd said and see if - after some consideration - my suggestion of changing one's language to help bring greater understanding might be appropriate for them, as well.

But ultimately I cannot make someone change their mind.  I learned that early on when people told me that I could no longer call my textiles handwoven because I had a loom with a fly shuttle and dobby.  No explanation of how I was still required in order to operate the loom, that I could not throw a switch and walk away while the loom continued weaving, meant that I was, still, a *hand* weaver, was accepted.  Their mind was made up.

So I decided that since the only person I could change was me, then I needed to use more specific language to open my mind and become more accepting.  More hair splitting, to some.  But weaving, textiles generally, is so filled with variables that what we do is a constant dance with the words that we use.  As we slice and dice the information into finer and finer strands, sometimes you just have to be extremely precise in your language.

And so I work on the words I choose to explain things.  And I work on myself to try and see beyond my expectations and my reality bubble.  In the end, I hope to better understand what is going on with the threads and the craft.  And if my musings, my ramblings, help others to begin to question what they *think* they know, in order to broaden their horizons, then I'm happy to explain my word choices.  That doesn't mean I think everyone should change to what I am doing.  Just examine themselves to see if they want to broaden their horizons, their understanding.  And if they don't?  They don't.

The older I get, the more I learn, the more I realize how little I actually know.  And that's ok.  Because learning still interests me, excites me, keeps me getting up and out of bed in the morning.  Some days I learn what I don't want to do.  Other days I learn that others have learned the same things and the feeling of being involved in a universally human activity strengthens the bonds I feel with other textile folk.  

Because weavers, spinners, knitters, etc., are part of a community.  And as such we  need to support and encourage each other to keep learning.  Keep growing.  Keep using our creativity.

Milestones are reached by navigating a series of stepping stones.  

To paraphrase Chaucer, the life so short, the craft so long to learn.  And it's all good.

I'm rambling after a long and busy day after a very short night.  I suppose I should just delete this post but instead I will hit publish.  If it doesn't resonate, scroll on by.  Maybe tomorrow's post will be more relevant.  Or not.