The Life So Short...

 

Would you believe that both of the above yarns have the same fibre content (cotton) AND have the same number of yards per pound?

Well, they do.

But that's the thing about assumptions.  They will trip us up at times.

I made an assumption about an issue another weaver was having and I assumed wrong.  When they told me that I was 'wrong', I apologized, because based on my incorrect assumption, I was giving them inappropriate advice in answer to the question and what they needed to know.

Because that's the thing about weaving - change one thing and everything can change.

I tend to stay out of most conversations online, especially if I see that a question has been answered a multitude of times.  

Sometimes it's a person with a 'floor' loom asking why something is happening and a rigid heddle weaver will answer, not realizing that when you scale up (or down), things can get very different in terms of techniques and even tools, that work 'better' than others.

Someone will ask a question about a rug they are making, and people with zero experience making a rug will answer, not realizing that at times, making a rug can look quite different from making a silk scarf.

Sometimes a weaver will assume that they know everything there is to know about a particular size of yarn and assume all yarns of that count are identical in nature.  Like the two yarns above.

To learn all the 'it depends' factors in the creation of cloth takes years and exposure to many different options - both yarn and loom.  

Like the assumption by so many that every loom *requires* a shuttle race.  (nope.)   Like the assumption by many that a counter balanced loom 'can't' weave an unbalanced weave structure.  While roller type counter balanced looms don't much like doing it, they can.  A counter balanced loom using pulleys or levers can do anything you want them to do, sometimes way better than a jack or rising shed loom.

So when I see inappropriate levels of advice being given, I tend to quietly slip out of the group and curb my tendency to teach people the multitudes of way weaving is complex and how much it depends is part of that complexity.  For one thing, it requires more than a very short answer ('it depends' is short but not very helpful!) and Facebook isn't usually compatible with long form responses.

And rather than single out someone, I prefer to approach the concept more generally and post the information here.

A lot of these online groups don't allow 'marketing' so I don't even feel able to share information about this blog, or my books and classes, lest I be accused of marketing on the group.  

This week I was contacted again by WEFT to contribute an article for issue 7.  So far I am contracted for every issue of the magazine (I'm not the only one, lots of good weaving/teachers are represented!)  I honestly don't know how long they will want me to write for them, but really?  It is keeping me getting up and to the loom pretty much every day (or to the studio, at least).

For all the abuse I put my body through being a production weaver, the craft is sustaining me now.  

And no, I don't know 'everything'.  Not even close.  I know just enough to be 'dangerous' about other types of cloth than my 'usual'.  I know enough to admire a 'good' rug, or tapestry, or narrow goods.  Not that I particularly want to weave those, but I know what a good textile looks like in those categories.

I can admire the wonderful work that is being done by weavers exploring the potential of Jacquard and drawloom designing.  I'm no longer envious of those weavers.  But again, I know enough to admire those who are doing it.

And bottom line?  Yes, things go pear shaped for me, too.  I had an issue with the loom, which I *thought* I had fixed, but when I cut, serged and inspected the 7 towels, I discovered that 5 of the 7 had treadling 'errors' due to a random shaft lifting when it shouldn't.  I could not see the problem on the side that was facing me, but when I turned the web over, the long floats stood out like a freeway across a flood plain.

Not everyone needs to dig into the craft as deeply as I have.  But realize that some people are so wedded to their own 'reality' that they will not understand the issues that someone else might be having.

And if you see me post a response and you feel I'm not understanding the situation, please let me know.  Or if you want to hear more, you can contact me.  Or recommend my books/classes - because in too many groups, I'm not allowed to tell people myself.

...the craft so long to learn...

Books (sort of)

 

baby rattle carved by my father 75 years ago for me, his eldest child

I have begun reading more regularly again.  My brain feels less...porous...more able to contain a thought for more than a minute or two.

My reading tastes have always been eclectic.  I not only loved stories, especially ones that helped explain humans, but also non-fiction, where things or processes were explained.

Part of this drive for 'knowing' came from my parents.  My father was illiterate, with about a grade 2 reading level.  That didn't make him unintelligent, just uneducated.  He knew lots of things, but also?  He expressed appreciation for those people who were knowledgeable, talented.  To say that he was complex might be an understatement.

Because when it came to family, he rarely expressed pleasure or...pride...in his kids.  I can't talk to the relationship between my parents but I remember when he was sick with his final illness, mom would bake 'treats' for him to take to the hospital to try and entice him to eat.  The nurses would express appreciation, because mom would make sure they got some treats, too, probably because she didn't want the food to go to waste and while dad would try to eat, he couldn't eat very much.  Whenever someone would express amazement at the goodies, my dad would tell them 'my wife built it'.

And that was typical dad.  He appreciated people who 'built' things.  Made things.

He made many things, some of them less typical than most things guys would make.  Yes, he would maintain his vehicles, in the days where it was all mechanics, no computers.  Check the oil?  Well, duh.  Adjust the air pressure in the tires?  Of course.  Change the oil?  Absolutely.  But also adjust the headlight height so that he didn't blind oncoming traffic with his headlights set poorly.

He did much of the work of building the house I grew up in.  For a while we lived in an unfinished house while mom and dad saved up the money to lay the lino, finish the kitchen cabinets, etc.  Mom would paint (her father was a master painter/plasterer, so she knew how to paint properly).

But dad also did other things, like participate in rug hooking.  All through my childhood we had scatter mats that mom and dad and when Auntie Betty would come to visit, all 3 would sit round the kitchen table and work on one or other of the current rugs being made.

Then there was the baby rattle he made, using one block of wood and carefully carving out the ball enclosed in the 'cage'.  It wasn't 'perfect' but the lines of the toy are lovingly made.  I don't remember it from when I was a baby, of course.  I'm not even sure where it got put 'away' until mom handed it over to me at some point.

He also made small pieces of jewelry.  During his time in the military (WWII), he would take dimes, carve out the centre, then hang the circle on shepherd's hook fittings for gifts for his barrack mates to give to whichever 'girl' they were wooing.  And rings.  Usually 50 cent pieces, with the centre carved out, to fit someone's ring finger, then hammered out to create a flange.  Our wedding rings were made by my dad.

Anyway - books.

I've just finished Written on the Dark by Guy Gavriel Kay.  I discovered him 'late' but once I did, I was hooked.  He writes 'light' fantasy, or alternate history, frequently draws upon actual history for his plots but not rendered as actual history.  He examines human behaviour in a way that I find intriguing.  This latest has a poet as the main character and while I would not normally share a significant 'spoiler', I don't think that my sharing this will spoil the read for anyone else.  Partly because it is a theme that I have been coming across in these turbulent times, and which I practice myself - that of making things.  Making something.  Putting creative energy out into the world.  And frankly from the vantage point of the last chapter(s) of my own life, what I try to practice.

To build 'that' - whatever 'that' may be.  For me it's weaving, making textiles.  But for others it might be jewelry, a child or baby toy, a cake?  

In the face of so much upheaval and negativity, build...something.  Create...something.   It may not be perfect - like the rattle (or my tea towels) but it comes into being through the 'magic' of *your* creativity.  Something that had not been previously other than raw materials and potential can come to exist - if *you* build it.

And in the end, I find I have found a way to say what I wanted to say without revealing a spoiler.  :)

Now that I'm done Kay's book, I have opened Wab Kinew's book The Way You Walk.  I have been keeping an eye on him since he was elected as Premier of Manitoba, and honestly?   The more I see of him, the more I like him.

I'm glad he has written a book and that I now feel able to read it.

Merci GGK.  Miigwich WK.

Thank you to all of you - because I get the sense the vast majority of my regular readers make something.  

Handweavers Guild of America - Textiles and Tea

 

Registration Link

A few months ago I was contacted by HGA to see if I would be part of their  Textiles and Tea series.

I thought long and hard about it, not sure if I could successfully participate.  I was still frequently blanking on words I wanted to use, and trying to hold a conversation was...challenging.  But I thought about how much progress I had made since I fell, and how much easier it had gotten (although I still search for words) and factored in a few more weeks of recovery.  Then, with a great deal of trepidation, I agreed.

Today we had a run through, and while I still had to 'work' to speak, it was...easier.  I have no idea how many people are interested, but it will be an hour and they have some quite intriguing questions they are going to be asking.  

Knowing me, we may not make it through the list of questions!  :D  I did warn them they may need to use a shepherd's hook to get me off within the time limit.  Frankly the questions seem worthy of a lot more time, but...there is always 'next' time?  

Anyway, if you are interested, the link to register is above.  

I still have not yet decided if I will begin to answer requests to do remote presentations.  There is a huge difference between answering general questions and trying to teach.  So I will let that question simmer for a while longer.

But yes, I do want to teach.  I just feel a lot more comfortable for now by writing articles.  I have a 'back up' team and 'soft' deadlines.  

For today, we have a 'summer' day - it may get 'hot' but the heat pump seems to be working fine on a/c mode.  I'm liking the current warp, and while I know I need to drag out my scrap paper and crunch numbers for the next warp (the additional samples for WEFT), I am grateful that I can still weave.

I would also like to thank those who participated in my sale earlier this month.  I know things are uncertain for far too many people.  

Flax vs Cotton

 

Fabric Science 7th edition page 23

cotton (left) and flax (right)

Textile Science 2nd edition page 51

flax

A while ago I was reading an article about a new discovery that placed humans working with fibres back even further than we thought previously.  

Textiles tend to degrade and discoveries were rare, or were dismissed as being too insignificant to be of interest, until lately.

However, one of the photos that had been used in the magazine article (which I cannot now find, of course) showed an example of what they said was linen (or flax) fibres.  But what that photo showed - to me at least - wasn't flax but cotton.  I went searching on line and found the original paper and no such illustration was included with the paper so I wondered - had the magazine randomly done a search online and found a picture labelled flax, but which was actually a photo of some cotton fibres?  And I did actually find the magazine photo posted online, labelled 'flax'.

The topic came up on a group I belong to and I began to question what I had seen, and if I was correct in my interpretation.  Late last night I rooted around on the web and looked for better photos of fibres magnified such that their shape/structure could be seen so I could better compare them.  What I found pretty much confirmed my conclusions, but there is such a thing as confirmation bias, so today I sifted through several of my textile science books.  Not all the illustrations were helpful in trying to show the actual structure of the fibres.  Some just had really good word descriptions, others had simple sketches.  But I did find interesting images in several of the books and chose these two to share in the post today.

The first one has a decent comparison of cotton and flax, including a cross section.  The second has a bit more detail about flax.

Cotton fibre comes from the boll (or seed head) of the cotton plant.  While growing it forms a hollow tube, closed at the tip.  When it is harvested, the tube 'deflates' and the fibre becomes a ribbon, with twists back and forth along the length.

Flax is a 'bast' fibre and comes from the stalk.  It is segmented along the length, and while it has a very small 'hollow' at the centre, there isn't much room for the 'tube' to flatten in the way the cotton fibre will.  

And this is why I don't ever just accept whatever the first site I find says.  I will go digging, deeper and deeper, if I can find more websites, to see if the various resources agree, and if they have different conclusions, do they say why?  

While I search I ignore the now overbearing AI 'recommendations' because there is no 'intelligence' involved.  There is no intellect that can rationalize and/or interpret the subject.  AI is *not* your friend in such a search (or most searches, imho).  In the end, I went back to my trusted library (I have at least six textile science books in my library!) to try and tease out the best information I could find.

My 'usual' first book that I grab didn't have quite as much detail as I was looking for, so I pulled the rest off the shelf and checked all of them before I chose which ones I would use.

So, am I right?  Dunno.  But what I saw in the photo labelled 'linen' were cotton characteristics.  My concern is that someone who doesn't have the resources I have will accept that photo in the magazine as being accurate.  And as far as i can tell - it isn't.

I'm not saying the archeologist didn't know what they were doing - *they* didn't use the photo in their paper - it was the publication that included the photo.  It was, more than likely, just a mistake.  But it's a mistake that will be carried on with people who don't know repeating it.  Or looking at cotton fibres in the future and assuming that they are looking at linen instead of cotton.  

How important is this?  Perhaps not at all.  But it is a good example of not believing what you see online without double checking.  Because mistakes happen...

Selvedges

Selvedges  (click on word for all 21 posts written under that label)   

Someone asked about my selvedges in the previous post - it appeared that the selvedge thread was not 'attached' to the cloth well (I paraphrase).

It's true.

I don't always have a selvedge that has a 'firmly attached' selvedge thread.  In the above photo, I do - it's a 2:2 twill, and no, it doesn't have a plain weave selvedge, but a two thread 'float' - because it's a twill and the weave structure has 2 thread floats in it.

I could have left a comment without much of an explanation, but...I'm me, and not much given to short answers.

I have had a lot to say about selvedges over the years.  If I've done it properly, the title of this post is a link to the 21 posts I've written for this blog all by itself (up until this one).  Usually I tend to just address one aspect of a complex topic per blog post, then label them with the subject as in 'selvedges'

I've also discussed selvedges in The Intentional Weaver, and again in Stories from the Matrix, both available from blurb.com

Selvedges are also discussed in my online classes.  And I've certainly said lots on online groups over the years, and had plenty of people tell me I should not talk about what I do because I am doing it 'wrong'.

Plain weave selvedges.  No.  I don't do that.  If a plain weave selvedge is used on a weave structure with fewer interlacements, the selvedges will take up at a different rate.  This can (and in many cases will) cause tension issues at the selvedge.  The selvedge has to be compatible with the weave structure being used.  Or accommodations need to be arranged.

Floating selvedge to create a plain weave thread at the outer edge.  For a number of reasons, no, I don't use them.  *IF* I were to encounter a situation that seemed like it required one, I do know how to do them, and would.  But I've been weaving for 50 years and so far...no.

The point where I change the length of the selvedge thread varies, usually on the fineness of the thread.  The maximum 'float' length I will use is generally in the 5-7 range, have rarely but sometimes have done 9.  It depends on what I'm making, too.  For a tea towel, my 'standards' are less stringent than for, say, a table runner.

Do I have ruler straight selvedges?  Sometimes.

Decided to 'prove' it one day by laying a ruler alongside the selvedge.  The shine off the metal ruler makes it look a bit like the selvedge isn't straight but it is a trick of the light.  

When I'm weaving the large fancy twills, the selvedge may shift, depending on which direction the twill line is running.  

Where the twill line points back into the cloth /\ the cloth can retreat; when the twill points away from the centre of the cloth \/, it can to tend to expand outwards.  It's subtle.

Another thing that happens is that when weaving a 'fancy twill' where the twill structure is not 2:2 but other variations, the cloth with more weft showing than warp will tend to have a selvedge that curls up and in; when more warp than weft is showing, it will tend to curl down and in.

Hard to see this effect in the photo, but it happens.

If you want more detail, check out the other 21 articles I've posted here.  You don't have to agree with me.  You must do what you feel is 'best'.  Having as many different tools/techniques in your toolbox as you can will allow you to pick and choose what is the best way to approach an issue if you aren't happy.  

Random Thoughts on a Sunday

 

The yarn in this warp is 50/50 pale blue and a pale but fairly 'bright' green.  You might want to biggify it (click on the image) so that you can see the two colours better.

Frankly, I wasn't sure the combination would 'work' but as I beamed the warp, the overall appearance was one of 'verdigris' - or the colour of aged copper.  I think it will be fine once wet finished.

When I finished the last warp I had this one already prepped so instead of doing the warp with 2/20 merc cotton to weave more article samples, I put this one on.  I felt I needed a little more time to crunch the numbers for the samples.  I had begun doing that, but began to doubt my calculations and wanted to re-do the math and make sure I was going to wind up with what was needed.

Plus this time I don't know if I'm going to beam my 'usual' warp of about 20-ish yards or just do enough to weave the samples.  

Then, there's all the body 'maintenance' I'm doing which needs to be paid attention to, and I'm still not feeling 'great'.  I am hoping that what we are doing will ultimately make me feel a bit better.  My next back injection is booked for August 12, which is later than I would like, but also gives the treatment I'm doing now time to be finished and see if the results are what we are hoping for before I get the next jab.

We tend to watch a lot of 'non-fiction' tv, so we've actually seen quite a few programs about biology and evolution.  Quite frankly, inhabiting a biologic system has given me a new appreciation of how my body works - or in the current case, doesn't.  I am beginning to understand that 'life' as we know it is not set in stone, but that individuals can vary wildly between each other.  What works for one, may not work for all.  Or even, just me.

Someone asked on Bluesky about textile art/craft.  I think there is a difference, but as always, it depends.  Can you make great art without good craftsmanship?  It depends.  Can you make mundane textiles (as in their purpose) with great beauty?  Sure.  That is, after all, my goal: To make everyday useful textiles with a sense of beauty as well as functional to their purpose.

I don't think that there is a hard/fast 'rule' about what makes cloth 'just' cloth or 'art'.  

Right now I'm reading the latest book by Guy Gavriel Kay.  I think I've read nearly everything he's written (not his books of poetry, but the poetry that he uses in his works of fiction).  He's always been a fascinating read with his blend of history, based on actual events/people in some cases.  It's kind of fun when I recognize a 'storyline' and/or certain characters and realize who he has fictionalized.  And he usually includes references to works of art appropriate to the 'time' and 'place'.  It was when I realized that he really was talking about 'real' places that I became even more interested in his writing.

I read other writers who do similar things, some more obvious in the time/place/history.  I much prefer learning about 'history' by watching it play out among the fictional characters.  I don't know that I can remember all of the authors, but Lindsey Davis - 1st century Rome/Europe, Ken Follett, Jacqueline Winspear (WWI and II), and one author I have re-read - and intend to re-read again - Dorothy Dunnett, who has a stand alone novel called King Hereafter, 900 AD Vikings, and two series set in Europe (and beyond) in the 1400s and 1500s.

The current events we are living through are beginning to feel perilous, not just in pockets here and there around the globe, but actually seriously dangerous.  Not to mention climate change.

I take some solace from music, some of it more obvious about 'resistance', some more personal.  My studio has always been powered by music, and right now it seems more important that ever to be aware.  To bear witness.  To object.  Even when you can't do much to change things.  I still feel like I need to make clear that what certain politicians are doing is not done with my approval.  

But that is something each individual will need to judge for themselves.

One thing I am certain about - humans will likely survive, but will - once again - likely learn nothing from this current time line.  If being 'woke' means that I have learned the lesson of helping each other, supporting each other, speaking out about the things that are being done in the name of greed and creating misery for others, then I will wear that label.  I would rather build a longer table than a wall.  I would rather help someone, than harm them.  Even when there are way too many 'others' who take great delight in harming others, simply based on their skin colour or assumed religion.

I suppose I should delete this, but since it is Sunday, I think I will let it be published.  

Reflections

 

This is a photo that appeared in an old issue of National Geographic a while ago.  I thought it was an excellent example of a variety of 'natural' fibres, showing how each of them look as a single fibre.  I used it (with credit, of course) in some presentations I used to do because most weavers (at least) don't really have an understanding how individual fibres look - and that how they are constructed into yarn will affect how they function once spun and woven (or other construction technique).

I then arranged to get scanning electron photos of some of the fibres I use in my weaving so that I didn't infringe copyright, and I stopped using this photo, even though I routinely see it used online, with zero accreditation whatsoever.

In the current article I'm working on for WEFT, I'm looking at fibre characteristics - one of my soapboxes that I frequently clamber onto.  I've woven two towels, with the only difference the weft used, and will send them as an example of 'change one thing and everything can change'.  I'm aware that the change is not so much visual as tactile, but the point is, not all yarn is created 'equal'.  Or perhaps I should more accurately say 'the same'.

If the weaver does not learn about the nature of their materials, it will make decisions more difficult.

For anyone who has known me for any length of time (I've been teaching for 50 years as of this September) will recognize that the articles I write, including for this blog, will return to recurring themes over and over.  Sometimes I learn more.  Sometimes I finally figure out something that had been puzzling me.  Sometimes I learn something new-to-me.  Sometimes a student asks a question and I re-think what I 'knew' and arrive at a greater understanding of the craft.

The past few years have been...difficult...in so many ways.  One of those ways is that my mentors keep dying.  As a new weaver, most of my teachers/mentors were at least 10 years - or more - older than me.  So it's not particularly a surprise that some of them will (have) die(d) before me.  But the last two years it seemed that I kept hearing of more and more of them heading off to the great loom room in the sky (or down below - not sure where I'm destined to go.)

If there is an afterlife, I just hope to make it to the weaving room.

In the meantime, since I'm still here, I will keep on with my soapboxes.

If you want to know more about your materials, there are loads of books on textile science which will give the details on fibre characteristics.  My favourite is A Guide to Textiles for Interior Designers by Jackman and Dixon.  The first edition is fine and generally a lot cheaper than the newer editions.

But there are lots of others - ignore the AI web searches and look for textile science books.  They will all give pretty much the same information.  I like A Guide for the simple comparative charts and illustrations.  

Above all?  Never assume you know it 'all'.  There will always be something more, something new, to learn.  And that is why I keep getting up in the morning and getting to the studio.  And why this blog is called Weaving a Life.

In These Uncertain Times

 

In going through some binders of 'stuff' a while back, I 'found' this newspaper clipping.  It was from 1997, and I was having a small exhibit of my weaving in a local gallery/shop.  One of the things on display was the 3 piece outfit I wove, which won a 'technical excellence' award at the ANWG conference in Victoria, BC that year.

I used this outfit in Magic in the Water - yes, planning for that little 'excursion' was already well underway - and then almost wore the jacket out.  I no longer fit into the top and slacks, but oh well.

Having hit a 'significant' birthday this week, I have been doing a lot of thinking about...things.

I have no crystal ball that shows me what the future holds.  All I know is that we are living in 'interesting' times.  Charles Dickens kind of summed it up.  It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.

History is the record of where we have come from - or it was until the current timeline, where you can't count on the 'news' accurately *reporting* what is happening but instead spews lies, misinformation (at best), disinformation (at the worst) and platforming people who wish others actual harm.

In one way, I'm relieved that I have no kids to leave this bit behind to muddle through.  In another I feel guilty because I'm not doing enough to prevent the harm I see looming on the horizon.  As if the present isn't 'bad' enough, it is poised to get worse...

And what am *I* doing?

Weaving tea towels.

Seriously?  

Um, yes.

There is very little I, personally, can do to fix what has gone horribly wrong in society today.  I can protest.  I can post sarcastic observations to social media.  I can vote (although I live in an historically 'conservative' riding, so my liberal vote doesn't do much).

On a personal level, I try to encourage other people.  I try to inform them, as best I can.  I try to be an example of someone who does not accept the dark reality we find ourselves in, right here, right now.

So, when I stumble across a reminder that I have 'accomplished' a few things, I remember that I tried to help others, I bear down and vow to keep on, keeping on.  

To show that being creative is a human thing to do, and is of value *because* it was done by a human.  I try to put positive, creative, energy out into the world.

There was a meme on FB the other day that said (I paraphrase) even if your only 'job' is to take hold of one thread in that tangled mess and tug, you might be holding the key to unlocking the tangle - so go ahead - TUG!  (my emphasis)

We cannot despair because then 'they' win.  Find some little thing you *can* do.  Some small act of resistance.  Keep on, keeping on.

In the meantime, I continue to write for so long as they will have me   My classes continue on School of Sweet Georgia and Longthread Media  and my books are still at Blurb.com

And for sarcasm, I'm on Bluesky as weaverlaura

Before and After

 

The photo shows the cloth, one piece is prior to wet finishing, (background) and the other after wet finishing (foreground).

It shows more in real life than in the photo but it does show a few things that if you squint you may see.

The blue colour has intensified.  During wet finishing, the threads slip/slide to areas of least resistance and the threads tend to tighten up.  The hard press then compresses the threads so that they indent into each other, increasing stability.  The overall look is that of the design having more definition and the colour to 'deepen'.  This cloth has slightly more white on the 'wrong' side and more blue on the 'right' side, and generally I choose the warp emphasis side to be the be 'right' side, even though I've woven it with the least number of shafts rising - in this case 7 instead of 8.

What you cannot see is the change in the tactile - the additional drape, the reduction of a sense of 'coarseness' in the finished fabric.

The finished fabric is no longer a collection of individual threads but a 'whole' cloth.

At times the change that happens in wet finishing is dramatic; at times subtle.  What happens, though, is that it changes.  In my opinion, that last final step is required to create useful, practical cloth, built to fulfill a purpose.

Not everyone wants to do that, and like one 'famous' weaver insisted, they were a weaver, not a laundry, and they never wet finished anything.  Others want to create effects that can *only* be achieved through the magic in the water.  

And some just want to make cloth that will wear well, and last well.  Wet finishing is part of helping those threads function as they should be able to do, if made well.

I don't remember who wanted to see the before and after photos, but I thought it was good to discuss this important (imho) step and try to show the effects.

Great Big Number

    

 

Well, I made it.  Wasn't sure I would, for a while.  But Life is Like That.

We awoke to a nice sunny day.  And no, we have no plans to 'celebrate'.  We don't generally do that.  Doug usually forgets his own birthday, never mind mine.  And neither of us *needs* gifts.  If we *need* something we buy it.

Lately, the only thing I *need* is more meds.

Yesterday I gave myself the 'gift' of cutting the warp off the loom.   There wasn't enough warp left to weave one more towel, and besides, I want to move on.  The next warp keeps calling.

I have to keep going, because if I don't, I give up.  And something, somewhere, seems to want me to stay here.  For a while, anyway.  Maybe the Loom Goddess sees that there is still room for improvement?  I know I sure do!

Or maybe I need to keep helping others, best I can?

Mostly, I just want to know more, understand more, about this craft.

Anyway, thank you to those who ordered items from my ko-fi shop.  My elderly desktop may not function well on Win 11 and my IT friend cautioned me to be prepared to replace it.  The sale continues until midnight tonight.  I'll decide if I run another sale in November.  Or not.  Too many loose cannons to tell if that will be a possibility, or not.

I've outlived my father and brother (and a whole lotta aunts and uncles), but not my mom.  Not that I'm sure I want to live to 90.  I'm tired.  Exhausted.  But I came out of the brain bleed in much better shape than I had any right to expect.  So, I guess I keep going.

The yarn for the additional samples arrived, but I feel like I need to do more thinking about how I'm going to execute them, in the most efficient way possible.  :)  So today I'm going to begin beaming the next tea towel warp, which I finished designing over the weekend.  And mentally I had already committed to doing that 'next'.  I have to have the samples to the magazine by the end of August(ish) but that won't take long once I get it figured out.  I just want to crunch the numbers to make sure I'm on track to do what they want.

At this point I am on 'bonus plus' time.  Whatever I can do will be just that - a bonus.  It's rather freeing, actually, not feeling like I have to 'prove' myself.  So when people tell me I don't know what I'm talking about (yes, some still do that), I don't care.  Maybe I just don't know what *they* want to know.  Or they don't want to know what *I* know.  It's nothing that diminishes me.  (Still processing this, but making headway.)   

In the meantime, I'm going to go get dressed and to the loom.  Start beaming that warp.  Looking forward to seeing how it looks once it's woven - and more importantly - wet finished.  Because you know it isn't finished until it's wet finished, right?  :D

Oops!

 

Two different qualities of cotton yarn

I'm going to be weaving more samples for an article for WEFT, but to do that, I needed more of the 2/20 mercerized cotton from Brassard.  I placed the order before the Canada Day holiday, and waited for the invoice (which arrived a couple days after I ordered), and then the tracking number.   I usually pay as soon as I get the tracking number.

Not hearing anything, assuming they were on holidays or something, I went ahead prepping for another tea towel warp.  (What?  I have stash to weave down!)

I'm hoping to cut the current warp off the loom today and start beaming the next warp.

Except, this morning the box of yarn from Brassard arrived.  Oops.

Well, I am going to go ahead with my plans.  I have until the end of  August to produce the samples, which *ought* to be enough time to get them woven and wet finished.  Plus I have some number crunching to do to make sure I'm weaving what I've been asked.  Truth is, I kind of ran out of word count, and instead of weaving yet *more*, I stopped.  But they have asked me to do exactly what I would have done if I was continuing on the path I had started following.  So, in a way it feels right to do the additional samples.  And IMHO, will make the whole exercise more informative, I think.  

I have offered to have a weaver's meeting for the local weavers after each issue of WEFT arrives.  If I have an article with samples, I'll bring the samples for people to handle.  If I don't (which I don't always), I can still bring what I'm currently working on.  And we will talk about the issue and I can answer questions.  And hopefully they will bring things to share, too.

In the meantime, it is nearly my birthday.  The sale continues until tomorrow at midnight.

Birthday Musings

 

The past 10 months or so has been...interesting.  As of August 28, it will be one year since I fell and almost died.  The past 10 months have been a roller coaster ride that I never wished for but found myself on, anyway.

Which is sort of how 'life' works.

You make plans and then life knocks you over and you have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again.

It is an interesting time, not just for me but for almost everyone.  Forces are afoot in society and the planet that feel enormous, too large for one person to deal with, or - perhaps especially - fix.

I keep circling round the same few questions:

What's it all about Alfie?

Why am I here?

What can I do?

What *should* I do?

I waffled back and forth if I should run a sale, as I usually do, this time of the year.  In the end I went ahead with multiple qualifications and much trepidation.  But if anyone wants, the sale continues at my ko-fi shop until midnight Pacific Time, July 9, 2025.  Buy two towels, get one free.

OTOH, after seeing that tariffs would be paused until later in July, this morning I see that the president of the US is sending sternly worded 'letters' to a bunch of countries who have been 'nasty' to him.  So I am hoping that my tea towels will be beneath the notice of US Customs.  

When I began this journey 50 years ago, my father was dying, I was stifling working at office jobs, I hoped for freedom to do what I wanted, suspected that I would love weaving.  I didn't really anticipate how much I would love teaching weaving.  How much my inner child wanted to write and discovered I was pretty good at writing about weaving.

In my mind I thought I would weave for 25 years, then teach for 25 years, then retire.

Well, that 50 years is up this year.  After I did all of it, all at the same time.

But I didn't die last year.  I can only come to the conclusion that there is something else I 'need' to do.  Some reason why I am still here, still able (with help) to write.  And still able (just) to weave.

I still have way too much stash that needs to be used up, somehow, some way.  Still have textile dreams that clamour to be born.

So, I keep searching.  Looking for something that calls to me.  Looking for answers to my physical issues.  Keep on keeping on.

Remembering that lighting someone's else candle does not diminish my own.  I can sit here in my 'office' and cheerlead others.  Encourage them.  Help them (maybe) understand what a complex thing bringing threads together to create a textile can be.  How everything depends.  Everything.

And how truly 'fragile' we humans are, so we really need to help others, if we can.

New Tech

digital cover of Issue 2

I recently updated Windows with the help of a friend, and I'm still discovering new ways Windows doesn't work like it used to do.  :P~

However, here is the cover of the next copy of WEFT.  Yes, I have a small contribution in it.  :D

I got the 2nd issue the other day and scrolled through some of the offerings.  I think one of the things I enjoy about WEFT is that they seem to fully embrace the 'it depends' reality of cloth construction.  I have not read all of the articles - yet - because Friday and yesterday got super busy and I ran out of energy long before I ran out of day.  But a quick perusal of the contents page is intriguing.  In some ways, it's like going to a conference and able to listen in on many different conversations - all of them about weaving.  (Be still my heart!)

I've been stymied, for a number of reasons, on the current writing, but I had a meeting with one of my healthcare team on Friday and we have a plan for going forward.  I'm such a special snowflake, I'm a 'it depends' patient.  It depends if we have targeted the actual issues I'm having.  It depends if the plan works for me, or if we will try multiple approaches.  One at a time, so we know what is working - and what is not.

My birthday is a week away - less than that now.  It is a 'significant' number, and I have to decide if I keep trying or finally 'retire'.  OTOH, I had some nice comments from folk online who appreciated my feedback, so...I dunno.  But when I began this journey, my intention was to 'retire' at 75.  And here I am.  It has been 50 golden (sort of) years...

I do have two more articles to write for WEFT.  I have samples woven for one of them, and a rough idea of the shape it will take.  The other I will likely dig through my teaching examples for that one.  I have kept most of my samples from when I was doing in person workshops.  I couldn't bear to get rid of them.  Yet.  That day may come.

But Word doesn't work quite the way it used to do, either, and I'm still trying to figure how to do what I need it to do.  So perhaps these last two articles will be the last ones I do?  To be determined...

Holding On

 

This is the walkway I used to walk in the 'before times'.  I would turn the corner and there would be the row of rose bushes, burdened with blossoms.  A sight for sore eyes - and soul - every time.  Gone now, but never forgotten.  A memory I cling to as the world wobbles.

I'm almost done the current warp and have almost finished fine tuning the next.  Truth be told, the threading is ready, but I'm not.  The past couple of days have been taken up with personal maintenance, with most questions still unanswered.

Turns out healthcare is much the same as weaving:  it depends.  Turns out we are, almost all of us, 'special snowflakes' and much of trying to cure dis-ease (spelled that way on purpose) is a matter of knowing what is expected, and figuring out why a certain person isn't responding the way everyone expects.

And some of us present more challenging, shall I say, puzzles so it takes a while to figure it all out.  If it ever gets figured out.

What I am coming to learn is that the human body is a minor, maybe even a major, case of miracles on two legs.  The complex systems that keep a human being up and mobile (so to speak) are opaque and sometimes care and diligence are required to figure out what a particular person requires to become 'balanced' and functioning - I won't say 'healed', although sometimes that happens, too.

In the meantime, I'm told to reduce stress, while the world burns, quite literally in far too many places, or goes quietly - or not so quietly - bonkers.  

There is a meme saying (I paraphrase) my desire to remain informed is at odds with my desire to stay sane.

So I return to the studio and loom to do nothing at all earth shaking or important - weave tea towels.

The act of creativity becomes a rebellion.  To bring some positive energy to this world in spite of the people who are determined to rip it all up, burn it all down.  They want people like me to despair.  To give up.  To give in.  To be complicit in advance.

I refuse.  

My mother used to accuse me of being bull-dog stubborn.  She was not wrong.  

Canada remains under threat of the loose cannon south of our border.  We have our own home grown maple maga, and I will refuse to comply with them, to the best of my ability, and refuse to agree to be annexed.  

I have no idea what will happen, or when.  In the meantime, #elbowsUp and #never51.  So I'm going to head to the loom and at least get one session at the loom done today, before it is time to leave for the dentist when I'll be propped upside down (so to speak) for at least an hour.  When I fell and did the faceplant last August 28, my jaw got shoved out of alignment and the swelling took months to come down so that my lower teeth would go back to where they belonged.  In the process three of my teeth were damaged.  Today is the day and I get the other two fixed.  Oh yay?  OTOH, I now qualify for the new federal dental plan.  I have no idea how much that will cover the cost of the repairs, but I'll take whatever it amounts to.  This year has been exceedingly 'expensive', what with one thing and another.

My sale continues until midnight July 9, 2025 (Pacific Time).

Explanations

 

new design in progress

This is the beginning of my working on a 'new' design, since the current warp is coming along nicely and should be off before my yarn order arrives.

I've had several conversations lately that were not about exactly the same thing, but kind of revolved around the same topic - learning how to 'read' your textile (and by that I mean the drafts, too).

This morning another one happened and I responded with a short explanation and the person had an ah-ha moment and thanked me for the way I explained the issues she was struggling with.

It's been 10 months since my fall and brain bleed.  It has been a very long 10 months, but finally - due to my continuing to search for ways to keep going - I finally feel like my brain is...not restored to what it was, but at the very least, beginning to function in a way that feels good, to me.

I still struggle with finding the words I need, when I need them, but at least the *concepts* involved in turning thread into cloth seem to be still there.  I just need to keep working on how to access and then express them.

The response this morning went a long way towards helping me feel as though I truly *was* healing and that - if I can get the rest of my body more functional - there may be several more years of weaving that I will be able to do.

In the meantime, my Canadian sale (buy two, get three) continues until midnight July 9, 2025.  I hope Canadians everywhere had a good day yesterday.  And let's keep working towards keeping Canada, Canada.

Canada Day

 

The photo is one of the tea towels currently on sale at my ko-fi shop.  It is one of the new designs, made this spring and it is based on the Swedish Snowflake design, which I reworked several times to give different looks/feels.  These ones are 100% cotton.  I also have some cotton warp/linen weft towels in the shop.  Some of the older designs are running 'low' so if anyone is interested in those, first come, first served.  

As of today, Canada Day, and the following days until midnight July 9 (*my* birthday) I am offering a 'sale' - buy two towels at the stated price and I will ship three.

I am offering this to Canadian addresses, in part because if I am going to boycott the US, I cannot expect USians to buy from me.  Especially in the face of uncertainty about tariffs, etc.  

However!  IF you are in the US and would like to purchase something, contact me and we can discuss the situation.  I am not removing the US as a destination, just not expecting anyone in the US to run the risk of ordering given the current situation.

However!  IF you are in Europe, contact me with your mailing address and I will look up the postage cost to your address and then you can decide if you want to go ahead.  Payment can be made by 'donation' once we agree on a price.

Today has dawned as a day with clear skies and hot temps.  It will be a lovely day to be at the lake, enjoying the outdoors (although be careful of the sun and don't forget to hydrate!)

Wishing everyone a pleasant day, wherever you are.