Changing One Thing

 

finding the sweet spot for weaving

Weaving is full of subtleties.  

Change one thing and everything can change, I tell anyone who will listen.

I talk about the 'sweet spot', usually meaning the area between the breast beam and the beater where the weaving is 'best', but there are also 'sweet spots' for tensioning, and for the angle left on the weft before it is beaten in.

There is a 'sweet spot' for density - and that will change depending on the quality of the cloth the weaver wishes to make.

There are ways to 'bend' the sweet spot in order to achieve that end use quality, by changing something involved in the mixture of things that go into creating a textile from a mass of individual strings.

The problem is that the *symptoms* of a problem can overlap and then the *source* of the problem can be obscure.

So I tell my students to begin by changing just one thing and noting if there is an improvement.  No?  Then change one other thing, test, assess and see if that works.  Or not.

I have been dealing with this dynamic with my body which has been presenting with a suite of symptoms for a number of years.  When I sought help, the obvious issue as assumed to be *the* issue.  Until I finally got in to see the pain specialist.

He noted my symptoms, came up with two other possibilities, decided to treat the easier one and see what happened.  

Because the body is like a textile.  Just because the symptom is there doesn't mean that the most obvious cause is the actual problem.  Instead of an epidural injection for the bulging disc in my spine, he suggested an SI joint injection.  And that seems to be the actual problem, given that things are finally improving.

But that isn't my only physical problem, and after discussing that issue, he agreed to let me experiment with a drug that was showing benefit for other vague nerve pain issues.  And between the two - the SI injection and the new drug, I can finally say - with some confidence - that things are improving.

It has not been a pleasant time, as we carefully try the new things, note the results, determine if we continue on this route.  But I totally understand the 'change one thing' approach to problem solving and was willing to try and see what happened.

The doctor has a second possibility for my pain, so he is watching to see if the SI joint really does resolve my problems, and if not, then he will explore the other possible injury.

Change one thing.

Not a bad thing to remember, in life as in weaving.