Quiet Days

 

two strands of yarn after weaving - the curving path through the cloth is recorded in the individual threads when they are removed from the cloth - they are no longer straight round rods

One of the things I've been thinking (and writing) about is the role of compression in the making of cloth.  The article has been sent and received and should appear sometime next month.  Will give everyone a heads up when it drops.  :)

I have also been thinking about other aspects of weaving that tend to get glossed over, or simply misunderstood.  As such I've been flipping through books looking for what others have said, trying to find a way to bring the information to more people.

The thing is, weaving is full of rabbit holes.  Weaving is not just *a* rabbit hole, it is an entire rabbit warren!  There are so many 'it depends' considerations.  So many things that can be tweaked that will ultimately affect the finished results.

It is really challenging when new weavers simply want to know what they should do when there are so many variables.

Even words take on different meanings, if the context is changed.

This is what I'm working on now - a definition of a word and how to explain the role the concept plays in creating cloth.  Even the Oxford Concise Dictionary listed 8 different definitions for the word - and that doesn't even begin to address the use of that word in weaving.

Wednesday I got the next spinal injections and was hoping that Thursday would be 'better'.  It wasn't.  So I gritted my teeth and stuck to my 'light duties'.  This morning *seems* to be 'better', but I'm going to stick to my '3 days light duties' and continue poking around, flipping through books, shoving thoughts around in the back - and front - of my brain.  Try to come up with all the ways the word is used and explain how and why the definition changes in context.

Which word?  You'll have to wait and see.  The article will be submitted to the editor as soon as I can wrap it up, but it may be months before it appears in print.  The lead time for articles to print is 6-12 months (sometimes more).

I have also sent a list of topics to another publication in hopes that they might like to publish more of my words.  I'm not holding my breath, but...nothing ventured, nothing gained, as they say.  :)

If my body is going to continue to deteriorate, but I can keep my brain functioning, then I can keep writing, keep teaching.  

In the meantime, I also need to clean up my ko-fi store and start getting ready for my annual Big Birthday Sale.  Stay tuned.

Unusual View

 

As a weaver, my usual point of view is from the front of the loom.  OTOH, the back view is pretty impressive, too.  

Or, at least, *I* think so!

All those filled heddles marching across the width of the warp.  I enjoying seeing them dance up and down as I weave - something I can just see over the top of the beater while I'm weaving.

It is very satisfying, really, to have things progressing smoothly and the cloth begin to build up on the cloth beam.

Today I had my next spinal jab and everyone always tells me to 'take it easy' and let the shot do the work it needs to do.  So, I've gotten used to planning ahead, piling up 'light duty' types of jobs to do while I wait.  Never my best self, impatient as I am to keep going.  Especially when things are going smoothly, and sitting at the loom is truly a working meditation.  Something I find I need more and more as the political climate around the world seems to be crumbling everywhere.

Since I am powerless to change anything on a global scale, my approach is to go make something.  Create something.  Spread positive energy into the world, if I possibly can.

Yesterday I spent some time digging through my library, pulling books I thought might be useful for the two articles I'm working on.  I have the colour cards for Brassard, so I'll see what I can come up with for a yarn order to weave that gorgeous fine white linen singles on.  I've just finished proof reading the article I sent to one place last week.  It should be coming out fairly quickly as the editor decided to add my voice to her publication on 'short'* notice.  She apologized for only giving me a month to write it - pshaw, a month is plenty for me to write something I care passionately about.  Especially since I didn't have to actually weave anything to illustrate it - I could pull most photos from my photo archive.  I did take one close up photo, but that was about all that I needed to do for that one.

I'm not sure when the publication date is, but when it goes live, I'll let all y'all know.  

I think I am going to make myself a cup of tea and sit for a bit with the Brassard colour cards.  It takes about two weeks to get orders from Quebec.  But I also don't want to wait too long because they usually shut down for summer vacation at some point during the summer.  And I'm really looking forward to working some more with this fine linen.  

In the meantime, there is the final pressing to be done on the towels I hemmed, thumbing through those books looking for more information, and that book on Mariette Vermette-Rouseau.  Now I have my new glasses that teeny tiny font should be easier to read.  

*standard lead time to write for a magazine is 6-12 months...

Why, oh Why?

 

two topics, two piles of books...

One thing about writing the new articles is the age old question...why?

Why is this thing happening?  What causes it?  How can it be prevented?  or enhanced?

Right now I'm working on two different articles.  Neither has a tight deadline, but I suspect both are going to need some examples/samples to explore the questions scurrying around in my brain pan right now.

I've done some research on one of the topics, before, but not particularly in depth and I have questions.  I now have a much more extensive library than I did back in the 80s when I first started looking at the broader topic, and so I'm going to go deep diving into those new (to me) books and see if they shed any light on the question.

The other topic is more of an explainer of a term that - per usual - has more than one meaning, depending on the context.  This can be very confusing for newer weavers who learn the definition of one meaning, then encounter it in another context that is different.  I'm going to attempt to explain as many of the different definitions as I can, in hopes of bringing understanding to the question of what that term means.

Why?  Why am I going to spend several hours over several days, and even more hours weaving samples to illustrate the articles?  Because I want to help people to understand, not just follow suggestions.  Suggestions that may only address part of the equation.

Weaving is full of 'it depends' conditions.

The way it depends varies in so many ways that sometimes it's hard to remember them all!  But I'm going to try, and it is going to take time for me to dig through my memory banks and those books until I'm satisfied I have been as thorough as I can be.

The craft of weaving is huge.  Much larger than most people grasp when they first begin weaving.  And so we each of us pick away at it, trying this, trying that, finding out what works, and what doesn't.

Ultimately the only correct answer is the one that gives the weaver the results they desire.  But on the journey of getting there, it can be a good idea to draw upon the experience of others, to find out what they have done, and what they advise.

So, yes, I will be digging through the indexes of these books looking for the terms I am trying to write about.  Just this morning I was reminded of alternate words to use in addition to the term that is most commonly used *today*.  Since some of my books date to the late 1800s, early 1900s, having other search terms is going to be useful, I think, and might bring me closer to some answers.

The only downside to doing all this?  I keep thinking of more aspects of weaving that I'd like to dive deeply into!  Fortunately I've already forgotten the one I thought of this morning (although it may come back!)

I've been weaving for nearly 50 years.  And I still learn.  And that is why I keep weaving - because I want to have answers to the questions that pop up when I'm doing something different, or trying to explain why something is happening to a newer weaver.

The life so short, the craft so long to learn...

A Different Tack

 

Over the weekend I got the next warp into the loom and started weaving this morning.  

Shawls are similar to tea towels in that I'm using 2/16 bamboo for warp and a similar sized rayon for weft.  But, shawls are larger - wider and much longer - so it looks like it is going to take about 4 hours to weave one shawl.

The weave structure is twill, and ratio is 7:9 so the cloth has more warp showing on one side, more weft on the other.  That is a little hard to see in this shot, in part because it is an awkward angle, in part because of the light (which isn't great) and partly because it hasn't been wet finished yet since it is still in the loom.

My next warp was going to be tea towels again, using that fine singles linen that just arrived, but instead I've agreed to write an article and will have to do some samples to illustrate.  OTOH, I can piggy back that experimentation onto a warp I had been planning some months in the future to use up some of my 2/8 cotton and that mystery yarn I posted about a few days ago.  Instead it will go on 'next' and I'll start to use up that mystery yarn at long last - once the article samples have been woven.

One of the things about the articles I've been writing over the past month is that they have required some digging, some thought experiments, some examination of my assumptions, forcing me to think about things in a deeper way.  And then, of course, how to design the experiments to prove - or disprove - my assumptions.  

To have the previous warp, and now this one, go smoothly (I hope I haven't just jinxed myself) is leaving me with some time to sit and ponder.  Since I only need surface attention to weave, other parts of my brain can wander hither and yon, looking at the craft, or my approach to the craft, in different ways.

Wednesday I get the next injections for my back and as such I will need a few days 'rest'.  Part of that 'rest' time will be looking at the Brassard colour cards and choosing the yarns to go with the fine white singles linen.  Part of it will be spent reading about the topics I'm exploring for the articles.  I also have a bin full of hemmed towels that need their final finishing press.  I think I have plenty to keep me occupied for a few days until I feel able to try weaving again.

And who knows what ideas will float to the surface?  In the meantime, I'm enjoying these nice 'easy', co-operative warps.  

#4000

 

Sports coat - silk warp and tabby weft, alpaca pattern weft

Blogspot tells me that this is post #4000 since I began blogging in 2008.  

Over the years I've written about a lot of different things.  I've shared my life, my weaving, what I'm doing, and you, dear reader(s), have come along for the journey.

In many ways, I've treated this blog as a diary.  Frequently I'll come here and type in a search term to remind myself of when something happened.  Or look for photos for an article I'm writing.

Over the past month I've been writing a few articles, and so I've been digging around in my photo files.  Sometimes I find what I'm looking for; sometimes I don't.

I used Doug's jacket in one of the articles, offered to get a close up and was asked if I would send one.

This fabric was a bit of a watershed moment for me in understanding the difference between ironing and a hard press (compression).  

Our 20th wedding anniversary was coming up, and I'd invited Doug to attend Convergence in San Jose.  I had hand woven clothing to wear, but he didn't, so I decided to make some cloth appropriate for a sport coat.  Two of the local guild members had used a tailor in Vancouver, so I contacted the tailor and made arrangements for Doug to be fitted.

The tailor was an 'old-fashioned' tailor and he made a very traditional sport coat.  Doug did wear it to 'special' occasions.  

I enjoyed making the cloth and working with fine threads - finer than I usually got to work with because I just couldn't get paid enough to do that.  OTOH, a gift?  Well, I was willing to work with such fine yarns for a special jacket for our 20th.

Now that we are retired (and continue to avoid large indoor gatherings) I don't know how much wear he will get out of it.  But he's kept it all these years, just in case.

I, otoh, can no longer get into my handwoven clothing.  I really ought to get rid of it.  But I keep thinking one day I'll lose weight and be able to wear it again.  (ha!  dream on!!!)

And here we are in 1990.  I remember that body, that energy.  Long gone, now.  Ah well, I *can* still weave!

(If you subscribe to Heddlecraft, look for the article in the next issue...)

Mystery Yarn

 

digital microscope look at a mystery yarn

I inherited a great deal of yarn from a weaver, some of the cones no longer had labels and I couldn't really tell what fibre they were by just looking at it.

But I have two *very* large cones of this white mystery yarn and decided it was long beyond the time I needed to use it for something.

A cursory examination led me to wonder if it was a cotton linen blend.  It was stiffer than most cotton yarns are, but had a distinctively cotton-y feel to it.

I finally dragged my digital microscope out and took a gander.  I expected to see some linen fibres in amongst the cotton, but nope.  Everything I could see had the typical flat spiral of cotton.

So, why, then, the stiffness?  Well, the singles were very tightly twisted, although the ply was not all that high.  That tightly twisted single would lend stiffness to the yarn.  With the ply being fairly loose, the yarn should be absorbent.  It is about the same thickness as my 2/8 from Brassard, and, since I have quite a lot of that yarn in my stash, I'm going to put a 2/8 cotton warp into the loom and use this yarn to weave towels.

Last week I received an email from another publication asking if I was interested in writing about a very specific topic.  Since the question they posed intrigued me, and I didn't have a definitive answer, I said yes, I would.  It means I have to weave some samples and explore possibilities, and that wet finishing needs to be part of the process.  So, right within my wheelhouse, as they say.

The next warp going into the loom will be the rayon shawls, and if the editor likes my proposal, that sample warp can be done 'next'.  And since I rarely beam a warp less than 10 yards, I can use the same 2/8 cotton warp for the samples to start using up this mystery yarn. 

Win-Win!

Since I recently sent out to the universe that I only wanted to write about the things that interest me, that makes 3 publications that have contacted me about articles - all of them asking for stuff that I know something about and that I feel passionate about sharing with other weavers.

Sometimes you really do just have to be clear about what it is you want, then be patient until time grinds away and the universe can deliver what it is you are looking for?

Anyway, once again proof that you really do need to know about and understand your yarn to make appropriate choices when using them.

The Intentional Weaver contains information on burn tests and how to identify mystery yarns that way.

Weft!

 

There is a whole lot of work in launching a new publication and fingers and minds have been busy working on this.

They say they are focusing on the more intermediate level of weaving knowledge, which means this magazine should be right up my alley.  

I'm told that they will be launching a Kickstarter campaign next month with the first issue rolling out next spring.  It sounds like they have thought through what they can do and how they are going to do it, and Weft should make a great sister publication from the folks at Ply.

I'm never too old to learn 'new tricks', so I will be watching for the publication to launch next year.  So lovely to see the next generation of weavers sink their teeth into a new publication.  

Handwoven is lovely for inspiration, Heddlecraft digs deep into the craft, but imho there is room for this magazine, so I'll be subscribing as soon as the Kickstarter launches.  Will share the link once it goes live.

Stuff Dreams Are Made Of...

 

The good news?  The linen got delivered on Tuesday.

The bad news?  It wasn't delivered to *us*.

The story is long and convoluted, but kudos to spouse (who used to work in shipping, both sending and receiving) and eventually yesterday he 'found' the box, by being persistent.

It was a huge relief, not just because I was going to be out a significant amount of money that I'd paid for the linen (never a cheap purchase, plus international shipping, etc.) but mostly?  All of the dreams I'd been having, thinking about what I could make with this lovely yarn.

For all the years I was in business, I have to say I rarely 'lost' a shipment.  A few things here and there have gone astray, but generally, most things make it to their destination.  When we realized the box had gone AWOL, it hit me kind of hard.  I mean, I've been trying really hard to weave up my stash, and then ordered 5 kilos of this very fine linen, which meant I was going to also need to order more cotton to use as warp.  

Truth to be told, I was feeling more than a little guilty I'd spent the money.  For it to then go missing felt like a rebuke from the universe.  I was just glad I hadn't actually ordered the cotton!

But Doug knows the ways of shipping companies, has developed a pretty good relationship with local operators at FedEx, and between him being persistent and a FedEx staffer who was willing to give him actual customer service, they 'found' the 'missing' box.

Today I have light duties scheduled, in part because I cut the last of the previous warp off the loom, and today I have massage.  It seemed like having a light duty day was the best approach.

So there are 18 towels to be pressed, an article to finish and get emailed (still need to take a couple photos), and then sit down with the Brassard colour card and start drawing up the order of 2/16 cotton to use as warp for the white linen.  And get the loom ready for the shawl warp. I need to strip the old warp off, add the leader strings for 6 more sections (for 30" width), remove the beige tubes of cotton from the spool rack and put the 2/16 black (and some blue) on for the shawls.

I'm hoping to get the shawl warp beamed over the next couple of days, then threaded, sleyed and ready to weave on.  But my back isn't very happy right now, and I also need a few days of light duty after my next spinal injections, next week.  But hopefully once those 'take' I'll be able to get back to weaving - and living - with less discomfort.

(And yes, the FedEx staffer who helped find the box will be getting a couple of tea towels as a thank you!)

Procrastination

 

trellis hem by Sheila Carey

Yesterday I (more or less) 'finished' writing the 2nd article for School of Sweet Georgia.

This photo isn't mine, but a friend offered her variation on a 'trellis hem' to show a variation from the more straight forward way I usually do it.

Nothing like having supportive friends!

There are so many ways to do things in weaving (in life tbh) and I have not done them 'all' so it's nice when friends who have explored variations share what they do.

I'm just over a week away from my next sciatic injections.  And I gotta tell ya, things ain't great in my world right now.  To be fair, it's not as bad as it has been in the past, but...it ain't great, either.  I have a feeling the coming week is going to drag something terrible.

OTOH, the white linen from Lithuania arrives this week, I have a shawl warp designed (see yesterday's post for the draft), and 2 of the 3 articles for SOS written.  I have also worked on the article for the other publication.  In part because it dawned on me that the deadline is rearing its head and I promised I would do it to her deadline.  I just didn't count on feeling crappy for the past two weeks and not getting my shit together.

Given my dwindling reserves of oomph, I've been thinking long and hard about how much time I spend on the 'net.  And seeing other people I know quietly slip off of sites like Facebook.  And wondering how much I would miss being on there and other places.  

Because my social circle has shrunk considerably since the pandemic.  While so many of my 'friends' have decided the danger is in the past, I'm still immune compromised.  My chat with the doctor at the cancer clinic confirmed that even though I am still in remission, only half of my immune system 'works'. 

And then a friend who has been working hard to remain covid free got caught last week, and I just...well, I just don't want to get sick.  Or any 'sicker' than I already am dealing with.

I have managed to get to the loom at least once a day, some days, twice, and I think there are maybe 3.5 more towels left to weave on the current warp.  But today is a busy day so once is likely all I will manage.  OTOH, I can pick up my new glasses.  The optician recommended getting them fitted, then taking them off to go home and leave them in their case until tomorrow morning.  She said sometimes it's just easier to put them on first thing in the morning, rather than part way through the day.  Plus, my prescription had major changes to it, and everyone is warning me it's going to take time to get accustomed to them.  Since I have nowhere to go tomorrow, it seems like a good day to spend getting used to the new eye glasses.  I'm hoping they will alleviate the eyestrain I've been having and let me see 'better'.

Who knows, maybe I can finish the article that is nearly done and get it sent to a friend to alpha (proof) read and then I can email that, too.  Nothing like crossing stuff off of one's to-be-done list.

Recognition

 

I follow a number of authors on social media.  It's one way I learn about their new books coming out so I can look for them at the library, or purchase them.

I know a lot of weavers (been around a loooong time), some of them I've even met personally.  Some of them have written books (and/or articles).

In many ways I struggle with the identity of 'author' as it pertains to myself.  I see others writing great books, and I hasten to promote them, in part because I know just exactly how hard it is to write a good book, especially a technical book, even more especially because the craft has been written about for ages, and it's hard to find something 'new' and/or different to say about the craft.

But I struggle (I realize you might find this difficult to believe) to promote my own writing.  In my childhood home, it was not 'done' to 'toot your own horn'.  In some way, my inner child still cringes at the prospect of promoting myself.

From time to time, I gird my loins and write a blog post (or other social media post) reminding people of my books.  Four of them now.  But every time I do, my inner child recoils in horror, remembering that 'tooting your own horn' was 'bad'.  Boastful.  Too forward.  Too...arrogant.

From time to time a weaver will contact me and thank me for my books - especially Magic in the Water.  It is, in fact, the book I'm most...proud...of.  It took an inordinate amount of time, energy and money, to produce.  But I'm also satisfied with The Intentional Weaver, because it contains most of the basic stuff I feel a weaver needs to know to become a better weaver.  It is, quite literally, the book I wish I'd had when I was learning.  

The other two books are more...'vanity' books.  Stories I wanted to share that didn't fit into the other two.

Most authors I follow give the same advice - don't read the reviews of your books.  Reviews are not for the author, but for those who would read it.  I broke that rule a couple of months ago when I was digging for information on books I was trying to sell - trying to find reasonable prices to put onto the books from Allison's library.  I found myself on Goodreads, and out of idle curiosity searched for my name.  There was exactly one review of  The Intentional Weaver.  The reviewer commented that it was an okay book but the experience of reading it was 'ruined' because it was riddled with typos.

Gah.

We worked SO hard to eradicate all typos, but apparently we missed some.  I was nearly driven to rereading the book myself to see just how many typos there were, but realized that would have been a waste of my time.  I cannot argue with the reviewer - she saw what she saw.  (But I also wonder how many of those typos were simply the British spellings, like 'colour'.)  

In the meantime I have not given up writing - this blog, primarily.  And I do know the occasional typo sneaks into these posts.  I do re-read them at least 3 times, sometimes more.  And months later I might re-read a post on a particular topic and oops - there it is - a typo.  So I know they happen, no matter how hard an author and/or editor tries to get rid of them.

Anyway. I continue to write.  And no doubt I will continue to make mistakes.  I hope that most people are forgiving of typos and concentrate on the content.  

But that is not something I can control.  So I'm going to try really hard to never read another review of my book(s).  

If anyone is interested, 3 of my books are available here 

My 'memoir' is available in my ko-fi shop (along with a variety of tea towels, and the monograph Weave a V by Kerstin Fröberg)

Making Plans

 

There is a saying that goes:  If you want to make God laugh, make plans.

Since I always prefer to see folk laugh...

Yesterday I hit the 2/3s mark on the current warp.  Today my goal is to finish towel 7 (on this section), cut off and re-tie.  And then somehow get the last 5 or 6 towels woven before my next injection on the 29th.

But I'm hurting.  Quite a lot, actually.  It's not as bad as it could be, but it's grinding, never ending.  Since the only way out is through, I grit my teeth and try to get to the loom twice a day, ignoring pretty much anything else.

I still have to finalize the article I've been working on.  Somehow there just isn't enough oomph left in me to do the last things that need doing.  But maybe today?  Because I have a tight deadline on the next article, which has been started but still needs to be finished, photos sourced, resource list created, etm.

The linen from Lithuania should arrive soon, and I need to think about what colours to order in to use as warp.  In the meantime, I *have* generated a fairly 'simple' threading for a shawl warp and decided to just do enough for 6 shawls.  Which will barely make a dent in my rayon yarn stash, but never mind.  The goal is to get them fringe twisted and wet finished, ready for the craft fair in November.  And then go back to tea towels.

We have had some cooler weather and even a little bit of rain.  Not nearly enough to end the drought, but enough to hopefully knock back the fire danger a little.  More importantly, the northern part of the province got a good soaking rain, and that has helped in the fight to keep those fires from burning down one town.  So far.  But as the wildfire service warned, that fire as well as others not very far away, are still not 'controlled' and anything can happen.

The other exciting thing that has happened is news that my new glasses are ready.  Given it's a long weekend and the Costco parking lot was jammed when we drove by, I'm going to wait until Tuesday to go pick them up.  But hopefully that will help with the eye strain/fatigue.

So there are a few things coming up in the next two weeks that *ought* to make life a little bit better.  Time will tell.

In the meantime, I make plans.  Do I hear the faint echo of a distant laugh???  Oh well.

A Good Day

 

Weaving is a bit like watching paint dry.  

I put on enough warp to do around 18-20 towels (depending on the length and if I have any oopsies).

So the loom looks pretty much the same for about 3 weeks.  Nothing new to see, just same old, same old.

Today I had red light laser therapy on my feet and lower back.  My feet seem to be 'stuck' and not getting any better - but neither are they getting worse - so I keep going in hopes that they really are improving, just so slowly that I'm not noticing.  As for my back, no idea if it is helping but if it is slowing the deterioration, that has to be on the plus side.  I go in two weeks to get another injection in my back and hope to set up a schedule of every four months, instead of waiting until I'm dealing with pain, then waiting for an appointment.

But today was a 'good' day, comparatively speaking.  The loom is behaving with this warp after I 'fixed' a few minor issues, and the fine linen is behaving beautifully after steeping for a week or so in the humidor.  And I've been able to weave around 1000 picks in 45 minutes, which isn't half bad.  That includes the time required to stop, advance the warp, change bobbins, and take a sip to keep myself hydrated.  That's an average of around 22 picks per minute.

Not bad for an old lady with a bad back.

Today as I was weaving, only needing surface attention, I thought about the next warp.  Instead of tea towels, I need to get some shawls woven, so I've been mulling options.  I think I've got something I'm willing to put into the loom, just need to get it into Fiberworks and double check it's going to look ok.  

I already have lots of the Brassard 2/16 bamboo, and a large variety of other rayon yarns to use for weft.  I may make each shawl a different colour and keep the weave structure the same.  Or not.  It depends.  A 24 yard long warp should let me weave about 7 shawls.  I weave them 90" long, plus 12" for fringes, plus take up and loom waste.  And a little extra to test weft colours or to fix oopsies, plus cut off and re-tie once or twice.

While I am weaving that warp I'll be thinking about which colours to bring in to use as warp for the white linen currently winging its way here.  It should arrive by the end of the month.  The yarn from Brassard usually takes about two weeks, so I need to make up my mind soon and get the order sent in.

I'm toying with doing a gradient - blue/grey base with accent colours that shift along the width of the warp.  It would be subtle, but I think it might be 'interesting'.  Interesting enough to justify the extra time and effort?  Maybe.  Still cogitating.

It's also a good day because we got a few more rain showers.  Not much.  Not nearly enough.  But some.  And some is better than none, so I'll take it.

Refuge

 

There is no sun today, and I'm glad.  I'm glad because it is cloudy, and it was raining when I got up.  A nice, slow, steady rain.  Rain that will - hopefully - sink into the parched earth and reduce the danger of fire.  Rain that will fill the aquifers, the lakes and rivers and reduce the level of drought that has been worsening over the past few years.  At least a little bit.

There are days when I am of this earth, but - quite frankly - don't want to be in it.  After years of people taking care and isolating - something that didn't particularly bother me, being reasonably self-sufficient and on the introvert side of personality traits - being left 'alone' isn't a hardship for me.  

But as the years have inched by, the political situation creeping ever further to the far far right, there are days when it is far too people-y.  On those days I wrestle 'sarcastic me' to the ground, and generally head to the studio and try to do something that will take my mind off of what is happening in the world.

I put the music on, pick up the shuttle, clear my mind (or try to) and weave.

For 45 minutes I have respite from reality.  A break from the worrisome prospects of what will happen in the coming months and years.  And I have woven another part of a tea towel.  A most mundane thing that isn't, on the scale of things, monumental or even important.

But I have exercised my creativity, used my skills, my knowledge, and brought something new and different into the world.

And some days?

That has to be enough...

Oops.

 

Yesterday I cut the first 7 towels off the loom.

I gotta tell ya, weaving with this linen from Lithuania has been lovely.  

When it arrived it was a bit thinner than I had expected (still not great at converting metric to imperial - my bad), but thinner can always - in a pinch - be made thicker, right?

But instead I mulled it over and decided I didn't want a thicker towel - thinner towels are just more absorbent, more flexible, just more...tea-towel-like...than a thicker cloth.

So I bought 36 tubes of 2/16 cotton, beamed the warp, designed a weaving draft based on one from Ars Textrina #14, tweaked it to make it 'fit' what I wanted better, added borders, added hems, etc., and then in the tie up added some plain weave to help stabilize the somewhat thinner linen.

When I was getting close to being able to weave I wound off as many bobbins as I had available and stored them in humidors (see previous blog posts on how I prepare linen for weft - topic 'humidor') to 'steep' for at least 3 days (or longer - longer is better when it comes to linen).

The warp went onto the beam quite smoothly, although I did have some hiccoughs while threading and sleying.  Nothing terminal and soon fixed.  (Just really annoying!)

Since then I've managed to get to the loom pretty much every day for at least one session and the loom is co-operating, too, so this whole experience has been very enjoyable.

So much so, I went back to the etsy site where the yarn is being sold to see if they had half-bleached.

They had what they called 'dyed white' under two different listings.  The description appeared identical, but the price was different.  One listing was being offered at a much lower price.  I mulled it over and thought that perhaps the lower priced yarn was from an older batch and they were just trying to move it out.  As I thought and looked at their other offerings and then went back and forth between the two listings for the white yarn, I noticed that a number of people had the cheaper yarn in their shopping carts.

A really good psychological tool for marketing, because it spurred me to put some in my cart, too.  And thought some more.  And decided that if I was going to buy more yarn it made a lot more economical sense to buy more than a kilo, given shipping and whatnot.

So I ordered.

Five kilos.  

Yes, yes, I know I'm *supposed* to be weaving down my yarn stash.  But I'm not buying this on spec, I have a plan for it.  (Seriously!)

Once the current warp is off the loom I will put a shawl warp on and get some of that excess of rayon yarn woven down and while I'm doing that I will think about which colour(s) to order in from Brassard of the 2/16 cotton.

Because I'm not done with weaving yet, and I'd rather weave with yarn I like than with yarn I don't.

And since it takes a long time to do the fringe twisting, I kinda need to get those shawls done now so that they are ready for the craft fairs in the fall.

My story, sticking to it.

(If you want to buy some tea towels, there are plenty in my ko-fi shop.)

Hubris

 

sample for article #2 - edge treatments

"It isn't bragging if it's true" a friend once told me.

But I still have a hard time with putting myself, my knowledge, 'out there'.  It feels like 'tooting my own horn' - a no-no in my childhood home.

We weren't supposed to 'brag' about ourselves, all while being told that we weren't 'good enough'.  (Why wasn't that B an A?)

So I have 'impostor syndrome'.   On the one hand, part of me is confident that I actually know something about weaving after being a professional weaver for 40+ years.  On the other hand, a lot of people know a lot about weaving - what makes *me* special?

And face it, a lot of people have written about weaving, taught it, practiced it, won awards doing it.

I squirm a bit thinking about the fact that I, too, have written a lot about it, taught it, practiced it, even, yes, won awards for it.

And yet. 

And yet.

But I'm also tired.  I 'retired' from being a 'professional' weaver in 2019 for a lot of reasons, one of which was the chronic pain and fatigue I was living with.  Deadlines, always my 'friend', became an onerous burden.

And I was tired of writing to someone else's style guide, to their deadline.

I struggled to keep going, and eventually wound up writing again, after having produced two books that were mainly technical - textbooks, if you will.

Over the past 18 months or so, I wrote two more.

I could write when I felt like it, choose the words I wanted to use, take the photos I felt needed to be shown to illustrate what my words were describing.

When I finished the last book in February, there was a huge void in my daily schedule.  Instead of being productive (I would generally write in the mornings while I had my coffee), I doom scrolled and wasted the morning.

I thought about writing, but other than writing here, for my blog, I couldn't think of anything else to say that warranted being published.  And when emails came (I'm on a couple of publication email distribution lists) saying they were looking for articles, on X, Y or Z topics, none of them resonated with me.  Or the deadline was tight and I didn't feel like trying to squeeze the time to a) write the text and b) weave the samples.

So I declared (to myself and/or the universe, if there is anything out there that listens to mere mortals) that I would only write what I wanted to write, in my own style.  People could come here and read.  Or not.

I felt a bit like a petulant adolescent - I donwanna do what you want, I only wanna do what *I* want.

And so the past few months have passed, with me pretty much ignoring the weaving community as a whole, just answering a few questions here and there, usually because someone tags me to get my attention in a group, or emails directly.  And then I do my best to help, which I don't feel like I always do, but when I can't, I can usually point someone towards resources that may.

A few weeks ago someone approached me to write several articles for them.  Since they wanted articles on things that are near and dear to my heart, AND I hadn't actually written that particular viewpoint very much, I agreed.  I've sent the first off, and the 2nd is being alpha read (I don't always trust my brain to catch typos/grammar issues, and a friend has been invaluable in the role of alpha reader).

Yesterday another person contacted me and asked if I would write about a technique.  I felt the topic was too narrow, so I suggested expanding it and they agreed.  It's a tight deadline, but given I just finished (or nearly) the 2nd article for publication 1, I felt I could squeeze this other one in.

The thing is, both of these publications seem to want what I want to write.  When I asked about word counts, both said, essentially, as many as you need to explain the topic.

And here's the thing.  Because both publications are asking for things I feel are important, I already have photos or samples I can photograph - I don't need to weave anything.

Will anyone else but me be interested?  We'll see, I guess.

I try to never fall into the trap of thinking I know everything, because change one thing, and everything can change.

But that said, I do happen to know quite a lot about weaving.  And if there is a chance anyone else wants to know what I know, I feel an obligation to share that.

I sort of feel like Peter Collingwood, though, who got tired of teaching and decided to write a book about weaving rugs thinking he would never have to teach again.  Instead his invitations to teach essentially doubled.  Same thing happened after Magic in the Water.

Well, I am done with travelling to teach, but we now live in the age of the internet, and I can teach remotely.  And I can write.  So I guess I keep on, keeping on...

Struggle

 

It feels like my life has been a constant struggle since...I can't even remember when.  My entire life?

So I'm used to things not being comfortable.  Or going smoothly.  Or having to stop and re-jig what I want to do because it just isn't working out the way I wanted it to.

To be honest, this warp started out just like that.

I made not 1, not 2, but *3* threading errors.  Simple ones, fairly easily fixed with the addition of tied in repair heddles.  Just...annoying.

I suspected I had a sleying error but could not find it, only to discover - in the process of fixing the threading errors - that somehow I'd overlooked a bundle of 5 ends and never sleyed them.  Right smack dab in the middle of the warp.

Again, fairly easily fixed, just time consuming.  And irritating.  

But I started weaving again, then noticed that in the process of fixing the threading errors, I'd introduced a sleying error.

GAH!  Again, fairly easily fixed when I got to the cut line.  So, one towel has a very minor 'error' in it which may actually disappear in the wet finishing.  Or not.

But once all that was dealt with and I actually began weaving, I was surprised - and ever so grateful - to have things start to go smoothly.

(I hesitated to actually write about this in case I invoke the 'curse' that comes with the hubris of thinking I'm doing something 'right'...)

Anyway, I just finished towel #5 on this 24 (or so) yard warp which should yield around 19 or 20 towels.

The fine linen is behaving beautifully, having been steeped in a humidor for over 3 days.  My selvedges aren't perfect, but they are 'good enough'.  

And I'm enjoying my time at the loom, not needing to fight with the yarn or the loom - just sit and toss the shuttle and beat the weft into place.

I am enjoying it so much that I am seriously considering buying more of this fine linen to make more tea towels.  And trying really hard to *not* do that because I am *supposed* to be weaving down my stash, not adding to it!

However, it looks very much like this warp will use up the kilo of linen and then I may consider finally putting a shawl warp into the loom.  I prefer to fringe twist finer threads, especially for something like a shawl, and that takes time.  It actually takes longer than hand hemming.  I'm out of shawls, and I still have way too much yarn in a variety of fine rayons that I need to weave down.

But the jury is out on which direction I will go.  At the rate of one towel per day (on average) it will take me another two weeks to finish this warp.  

I have time to cogitate.

Books, Books and Still More Books

 

These are the books still available for sale from Allison's library.

If you are interested in one, the price listed is just for the book.  Shipping is an additional $22 (if you want more than one I will estimate the shipping for a larger parcel - frequently 2 or 3 books can go for the cost of one book).

If you are in Canada, I can accept etransfer, cheque or Paypal.  If you are in the US I can accept Paypal (and if you are in the US, you get the exchange rate discount - just saying...)

 

Alto, Palmer, Weiland.  Sewing Ultra Suede Brand Fabrics.  Soft cover $30

Buxton, Judith.  Selected Canadian Spinning Wheels in Perspective.  Soft back.  $30     Clarke, Leslie J.  The Craftsman in Textiles.  Hardback.  $20.

Fannin, Allen.  Handloom Weaving Technology hardback $30 (2 copies)

Finlay, Victoria.  Color.  Hardback  $30

Hollister, U. S.  The Navajo and his Blanket.  Hard Back.  $30

James, George Wharton.  Indian Blankets and their Makers; the Navaho.  Hard back.  $30

Larsen, Jack Lenor and Mildred Constatine.  The Art Fabric; Mainstream.  Soft back.  $50

Larsen, Jack Lenor and Mildred Constatine.  Beyond Craft; the art fabric.  Hard back.  $50

Larsen, Jack Lenor.  A Weaver’s Memoir hardback.  $30  two copies

Larsen, Jack Lenor and Jeanne Weeks.  Fabrics for Interiors; a guide for architects, designers, and consumers.  Soft back.  $30

Laughlin, Mary Elizabeth.  More Than Four.  Coil back.  $30

Mayer, Anita Luvera.  Clothing from the Hands That Weave.  Coil back.  (water damaged, will give away)

Mayer, Anita Luvera.  Handwoven Clothing Felted to Wear.  Coil back.  $30

Mera, HP.  Spanish American Blanketry.  Paper back  $20

Moorman, Theo.  Weaving as an Art Form; a personal statement.  Hardback.  $30

Pendleton, Mary.  Navajo and Hopi Weaving Techniques.  Soft cover.  $30

Proctor, Richard and Lew, Jennifer.  Surface Design for Fabric.  Soft back.  $30

Ranshaw, G. S.  The Story of Rayon.  Very old – 1930s?  Cardboard cover.  Worn.  (will give away if anyone wants it)

Samuel, Cheryl.  The Chilkat Dancing Blanket.  Soft cover.  $30

Sanders, Nadine and Joyce Harter.  Weaving that Sings.  Soft back.  $30

Sutton, Ann.  Ideas in Weaving.  Hard back.  $30 (may not be sold, awaiting payment)

Van der Hoogt, Madelyn.  The Complete Book of Drafting for Handweavers.   Signed. Coil back.  $50

Waller, Irene.  Designing with Thread.  Hard back.  $30.  (may not have sold – awaiting payment)

Worst, Edward.  Foot Treadle Loom Weaving.  Soft cover.  1976 reprint  (would give away if anyone wants it.)

Ephemeral

 

painted warp scarf

With the news of a huge amount of solar activity this weekend, we decided to head out of town late last night and the light pollution of the city to see what we could see.  We had been seeing photos from Europe where the lights were magenta, which is unusual.

Alas, we spent over an hour at the top of the hill to the west of town waiting, waiting, waiting, as the clouds slowly moved in and nothing much happening.

Finally we gave up and drove back home.

Now I see lots of locals did manage to see the lights, so I'm a bit disappointed we didn't.

OTOH, we *have* seen the northern lights before, so the disappointment this time isn't all that acute.

So much of life is fleeting.  So much of life relies on being in the right place, at the right time.  So much of life is happenstance, serendipity.

But the northern lights truly are something quite spectacular.  If you have a chance, at least look up after dark.  If you live in a highly polluted light environment, a wee drive might be enough to get you a glimpse.

I use nature as a design inspiration frequently.  That whole series of painted scarf warps I did a few years ago was done as a response to some of the colours I see in nature.  Humans get so wrapped up in the latest crisis, the latest chaos (and lordy, I understand, I do!) that sometimes we need to stop for a few minutes and just look.

The fact that we sat on a hill for over an hour, in the dark, and saw not much of anything, was a bit of a disappointment.  But we also understand that the lights are ephemeral, and sometimes they show, and sometimes they don't.  I'm a bit jealous that other locals did get to see them, but I'm happy for them that they did.  Because for some of them, it was their first time.  And for us it would have just been the cherry on top because the lights were exhibiting a deep magenta, which is fairly rare.  

Mostly I've seen the green lights, one time I saw red (also fairly rare).  I've never seen magenta or white, and those are truly a wonder to behold.

Someone posted a quote on FB the other day (I paraphrase) - we enter this life with an intake of breath, we exit it with an exhalation, and we live for the moments that take our breath away.

I was hoping for a moment of breathlessness last night.  But maybe we'll try again tonight.

Me and 'AI'

 

Artificial 'Intelligence'.

Too bad there is less 'intelligence' and more mis- and dis-information being dished up by these 'services' being touted as 'make your life easier', and 'create art like a professional', and 'let me dish up a word salad of nonsense in answer to your search'.

I am *not* saying that there are no programs that are legitimate design tools.  I mean, I've been using weaving software since 1988 when I bought my first program (Fiberworks for anyone interested) at a time when a large part of the weaving community declared that using such software was 'cheating'.

But that's the difference imho - a program takes in the information the user provides.  The current 'AI' scrapes the internet for content, not understanding a thing, just cobbling together an approximation of what is happening in a craft (for example) and without thought, spits it out.

So we have recipes that make no sense.  Wild mushroom foraging books that tell people that a mushroom is safe when it is deadly, books on crafts that make no sense of the technical skills or information involved in mastering that skill.

In the meantime, billionaires spend billions developing and marketing their half baked ideas of what constitutes knowledge about, oh, let's say weaving, without understanding one iota of the actual dynamics of the craft, never mind the physics or how a textile is made from the thread up.  And stealing content from the humans who have actually created content, without compensation, may I add.  (The fact they are now whining that they can't honour copyright because it is too expensive kind of says it all, imho.)

What they are clearly saying is that they would rather spend money creating a faulty tool (Cybertruck comes to mind for some strange reason) than pay human beings to think, create, grow.  They would rather cut out the actual humans doing the skill than pay them for their time, expertise and creativity.

But a tool cuts more than one way.

As usual, everyone has to make up their own minds about whether this new 'tool' is helpful or not.

In the meantime, I'll be sitting here at my desktop with Fiberworks and I'll be drawing upon works that have been done in the past, thinking about them, tweaking them, creating something different than my resource, and using my own brain and creativity to hopefully come up with something that I can put my name on.

I will be sitting here at my desktop, writing words that will hopefully help people make sense of this craft that has been practiced since the beginning of (human) time.  I will be writing, and weaving, and encouraging others to learn.  To grow.  To experiment.  To try to understand the principles and work at 'mastering' this craft.

I encourage people to support other humans, not billionaires trying to starve out actual humans from creative pursuits.

If you want to support me, as usual here are my links:

School of Sweet Georgia

Handwoven class

 My books at blurb

My memoir at ko-fi  plus towels, lots of towels!

And if you are interested in a remote presentation...  (no 's' on the site yet, so you may be warned it isn't secure, or email me laura at laurafry dot com)

Flow

 

I listen to music when I work in the studio.  For weaving, I have headphones that do two things - block out the loud bang of the solenoids, and provide music.  The type of music is eclectic, shall I say?  But mostly I enjoy rock and roll, although not exclusively.

When I'm beaming or threading, I tend to listen to instrumental so that I don't get carried away, singing along (in my head).  But when I'm actually weaving, pretty much anything goes.

I have a rather large collection of CDs, ones I bought, then more that I inherited from my brother which doubled my options.  Recently someone gave me a whole bunch of their CDs because they weren't listening to them anymore, which really expanded my listening options.

It was interesting to note that my brother and I had very similar tastes in music, but only two CDs were duplicates.  The same happened when I got the box of CDs from my friend - another selection of titles I didn't already have except for the two duplicates.

I have a couple of boomboxes, and buy the ones that do both CDs and cassette tapes because I use the tapes to time how long my weaving session is.  Generally I weave for 45 minutes, then when the music stops, I stop and take a break.

This morning I grabbed a random tape (I rarely write on the tape which CD I taped on it) and listened to Billie Holliday in the morning, then Sade in the afternoon.

When Smooth Operator came on I suddenly snapped back into awareness (weaving is a working meditation for me and I'm only half 'here', if you understand what I'm saying).  As the music played and I wove, I realized I was in sync with the music experiencing that flow consciously instead of sub-consciously.  

This warp was a bit of a bother to get set up (see previous blog post) but once it was finally ready, it appears to be behaving nicely and I've been really enjoying the motions, the rhythm, and the flow of it all.

The fine linen is looking 'balanced' and the web in the loom looks promising.  But mostly the linen, well steeped in humidors, is being co-operative.

It's really nice to just sit down and get into the rhythm and watch the picks flow by.

Watershed(s)

 

One is told that life is a straight path to your goals.  You go to school, get an education, determine what you want to have happen, work hard, and voila, you get to the finish line.

No one tells you that the path isn't as advertised.  No one says that the 'goal' is made up of a multitude of smaller goals, smaller achievements, along the way.

Some days, just getting out of bed and getting dressed is about all I can manage.  Because the road has been long, hard, rocky and in some cases, washed out entirely.

But - and here's the thing - it has always been 'interesting'.

Some days that's 'interesting' as in the curse 'may you live in interesting times'.  Some days it's 'interesting' as in 'huh, I did not know that - wow'.

When I chose to retire in 2019 (from selling at craft fairs and travelling to teach) I had no idea how much my life was to change.  The warning signs had been there for a number of years, but I figured I was just...exhausted.  I thought that some rest and ease from critical deadlines was all I needed to get back into the saddle and charge on.

Apparently bodies come with 'best before' dates.  And it seems I have been bumping up against mine.

So, I take the good where I find it these days.  Right now, it's the realization that I am still in an unexpected remission from cancer.  I take it in the fact that the medication I take for cholesterol is keeping my LDL at a 'good' level and I don't appear to be having any cardiac issues.  (And no, I've never had a heart attack - I've got a good strong heart, crappy plumbing.)

Yesterday I had massage and my therapist tweaked my exercises again, and poked and prodded to try and get more muscle spasms to let go.  I'm aching today, but I think I can weave at least one session.  I'm eager to get more of this warp woven because I think it's going to turn out really nice.  Nice enough I might just be tempted to buy more of this very fine linen!  (I know, I know, my mission is to weave DOWN my stash, not add to it!)

I keep mulling over how I might continue to teach, how much I want to promote my remote seminars/guild programs.  I was going to raise my prices, but now I'm not so sure.

I also need to sell some of my inventory.  It isn't enough to weave the yarn, now I need to sell the textiles!

So I'm doing a limited 'sale' on ko-fi - two designs are on sale with a Buy One, Get One Free.  There are a limited number of these towels, and first come, first serve, until midnight May 9, which just happens to be our 54th wedding anniversary.

In the meantime, I continue to juggle personal maintenance appointments.  I really did not understand just how *much* maintenance an aging body requires!  Of course, most of my family died long before they got to my age, so maybe I just didn't have anyone in my life to show me how it was going to be.

Anyway, I'm going to get dressed now that I'm done my second cup of coffee and go fire up the loom.  And vow to actually DO the exercises my massage therapist gives me.  Because when I actually do them, I get better.  Who'd a thunkit? 

Life; Big and Little

 

Next warp - two shades very close in value and hue of beige, with natural linen weft

Sometimes I like to go for a more subtle approach; other times I like bigger, bolder designs.  A lot like life, really.

We tend to think of "Life" as the big, bold moments, but really when you think about it, Life is made up of all those small moments that we tend to gloss over.

Like yesterday, the brief glimpse of the plum tree, wreathed in a crowning glory of luminous white blossoms as the spear of sunlight arrowed through the clouds, just at the moment I glanced out my kitchen window.

The warp on the loom right now is one of those quiet, subtle ones.  Really hard to get a good photo of it in the loom.  The colours/values of the warp and weft threads are very close, making it difficult to see the actual design being woven.

Is this a 'waste of time' because no one will really 'see' it?

Not to me.

And I think of all our ancient ancestors, who did not have 'power' tools, but only sweat equity, who laboured long hours to make useful tools, beautiful.  

So many people condemn those ancient ancestors as being ignorant, or sub-human, when the only difference was that they did not have the tools we have today - and which *we* would not have if it weren't for the fact that we build on what has been done before we came along.  Without our ancient ancestors we wouldn't have, well, *us*.

Anyone who has read history (and it is becoming painfully apparent that too few of 'modern' folk have actually read any history at all), will understand that people 2-10,000 years ago were pretty much the same as we are today.

There are clay tiles with letters written complaining about bad landlords, bad employees, poor weather, natural disasters - the list goes on and on.  We are very little different from our ancient ancestors when we stop and think about it for more than a second.

While artifacts of pottery, metal, glass, even some wood, are fairly commonly preserved, textiles are less so.  It's only recently - as in the past 60 or so years - that researchers bothered to preserve the tiny scraps of yarn/textiles that might be left in the sites they were researching.  Because until recently - as in the 1920s or so, all textiles were made from fibre sources that would degrade back into the soil.  

Now we have a plethora of petroleum based fibres that will live on forever, polluting the ground and water.  

What little knowledge we have of ancient textiles is based largely on depictions in art - pottery, metal, statues, etc.  While more and more people are beginning to pay attention to these rare textile finds, over and over again, I realize that textiles are discovered, or overlooked by many.  I hope that changes before what few fragments are left disappear entirely.

But in the meantime, I work with my yarns, and sometimes I do big, bold textiles, and sometimes, I do quiet, subtle ones.

I'm looking forward to getting these woven and wet finished.  I think they are going to be quite lovely tea towels, in their quiet subtle way.  The reed marks will probably not disappear entirely, but I won't pay any mind to those.  The reed marks in this cloth will be a reminder, a 'ghost' of the loom left in the cloth to remind me that human hands worked with tools to create it.  And human hands will use it to do mundane things, like dry dishes.  

But hopefully as the owner of the towels uses them, they will bring some sense of pleasure to the mundane.  Like that spear of light, illuminating the crown of white blossoms.   Fleeting, but still there.