Next!

 

Begin as you mean to go on...

Yesterday I finished sleying, tied on and decided I was too anxious to wait another day to see how it was going to look (loom state).

Am I pleased?  Yes, even though the colours aren't really 'mine', I'm happy enough with them.  Of course I won't see how the towels are *really* going to look until I get them wet finished, but I'm pleased enough.

I still have 5 cones of that fine singles to weave off, and this warp will take up most of one cone.

Now that I am beginning to feel 'better' as recovery creeps along, I have made some decisions.

If WEFT magazine wants me to keep writing, I am going to focus most of my energies on that.  They seem just as interested in all the same sorts of questions that I am, when it comes to weaving.  I've seen the 'galley proofs' for the first two articles.  They are on schedule for the first issue to come out in April.

The Ply team has also published a book on spinning, Twist by Michelle Boyd.  I'm not fond of reading on my ipad, so I'm going to wait until the print version is ready and get a copy.  I've been exploring various aspects of twist in yarn for a while, but never covered it thoroughly, and since I know Michelle, I know that the look at the topic is going to be comprehensive.

It is something I feel I need to know about, even if I never become a very good spinner.  Because if I don't understand the dynamics of how fibres are turned into yarn, I don't truly understand my materials.

With the current political situation, I will keep my ko-fi shop, but anticipate that orders from the US will dry up.  And since I have few outlets to sell my textiles, I need to stop producing *more* and perhaps concentrate on following up on some of my rabbit warren 'dives' and maybe make more 'special' textiles instead of just producing for the sake of producing.  So if WEFT likes what I'm doing, I will have an outlet for my curious mind and hands that need to be kept busy.

I have also decided I finally need to deal with my spinning stash.  I will be putting the puzzle board away when I'm done the current puzzle and dragging out my spinning wheel.  I have several bins of prepared blending board 'wyrms' and I'm going to try to empty all of them.  I could use the bins for other things and I made them in 2019 so it's long past time to get them spun up.

And that is as far as I've gotten with my 'job list' for 2025.  I don't make resolutions.  I make solstice plans, and then see what Life throws at me, and if needed, I will change my plans to accommodate them.  So far I've ordered the yarn for the next samples/experiments for WEFT, and I have articles for the first few issues.  I will finish writing the most recent over the holidays and hope to send everything to them by the end of January.  

With the fall and brain bleed in August, my new approach to doing stuff is to NOT wait until the last minute to do the things I've committed to, but get them done well before the deadline.  Which is a huge shift for me.  Nothing like a brush with mortality to fine tune one's approach to living...