Weaving With Intention

 

"Why did you call your book The Intentional Weaver; how to weave better?"

Well, that's a bit of a story.

I had transitioned from teaching beginning classes to workshops for beyond beginners.  And it became clear as I taught various groups that there were some...holes...in the foundations of some weavers.  Not just wet finishing, but other 'basic' holes in their knowledge.

I began offering to show people how I weave - and of course discussed posture and position at the loom, how to hold and manipulate the shuttle.  Frequently there were common 'myths' I hoped to examine.  As I began teaching the Olds classes (eventually being asked to specifically teach level 1) I took that as an opportunity to start to fill in those holes.  I thought, when better than in level one of a master weaver course?

Fairly soon, a student requested the title of the book where he could get the information from the first demonstration I presented.  And I realized that, while there were a lot of 'beginning' books on weaving, the demonstration I had just presented - filling nearly 2 hours - there were none that contained all of the information, all in one book.

I realized with horror that...I was going to need to write another book.

It took the best part of 4 years from the thought that I should do that book myself, to the time I was able to announce it was ready.  During that time I continued to weave and do the craft fair circuit, had another health issue to contend with, begin planning the renovations to the house we had been wanting to do, write articles for Handwoven, travel all over the place to teach workshops and the once a year class at Olds.  Etcetera.

And deal with my mother who was having a string of health issues, and then died on Dec. 31, 2016.  I was under pressure to wrap up her estate and disperse her belongings, moving out of her apartment - and then take up the pressures of the workshops I was booked to do.  Oh yeah - and co-chair a conference.

I was no stranger to working 80 hours a week.  I actually enjoyed getting away from here because I only 'worked' a 'usual' amount of time.  I actually had time to *not* work - in exchange for tight travel schedules, never sure if the hostess could adequately feed me with my allergy free 'diet', not be subjected to allergens - like a classroom filled with perfumes, pollen, pets.  And since I usually brought my laptop when I travelled, I could pull it out on the plane or a lengthy travel delay and add more to the ms.  Then I would get home and jump into my weaving schedule and back to the 60+ hour weeks as I scrambled to prep the next teaching dates, making sure I had yarns for the topics, wind the warps or prep the yarn, generate the handouts, mail everything to arrive in time for the participants to have their looms set up before we all arrived in the class.

This is a long way to say...writing tends to get squeezed into the spaces 'between' the rest of life.  No surprise that there were times when the ms sat while I dealt with critical deadlines, and why it took so long to complete.

In the end I found myself dealing with health issues *again* and driving to the cancer clinic, I started to cry.  I had reached the end of my limit.  

I contacted someone I knew who was a professional editor and asked if she had time in her schedule and could she give me an estimate?  I gave her the word count so she would know the scope of the job.

While I sat in the cancer clinic, I received an answer.  Yes.  She would fit me in.

I had already settled on the title - The Intentional Weaver.  It was while we worked on the ms, correcting the grammar, polishing it, getting the information into a good sequence, etc., that the sub-title came to me.   Because people needed to know what I was trying to do.  The focus I was holding for what I was trying to accomplish.

As we were doing the editing, a publisher found out I was writing a book and asked if they could have more information.  I provided it, breath bated - did I *want* to have a publisher sit in judgement of what I wanted - felt I *needed* to do?  Or not?  When they said the ms wasn't really what they were looking for...I breathed a sigh of relief.  

Now it was just me - and my editor - to satisfy.  I knew that marketing it would also be on my shoulders, but I'd done that job for Magic.  I knew how to do that.

I knew that I would not sell very many copies.  But I also knew that the micro niche of a very niche subject would have fewer people interested in my book.

Now here we are in 2025.  The US is..doing weird stuff and what with the tariffs and all, the benefit of having a printer in the US means that the US market (10 times bigger than Canada) means that US buyers will not be facing a tariff on my book.  For others, the digital version is also available.  And, given that Canada Post is in shut down due to labour 'negotiations', you can get 3 of my books at the Blurb site

My memoir A  Thread Runs Through It is available in my ko-fi shop, digital only.  And no tariffs on digital downloads.  Yet.

I read a post by another teacher this morning.  She is mainly doing online classes, and now she has to collect and submit state taxes from anyone in her online classes from a particular state.  It is adding huge 'extra' work to collect, document, submit those taxes, for no benefit to her.  So a person can't even present things the way it was possible just a few months ago entailing extra time and energy.  

I am so grateful I am 'retired'.  My needs are modest.  Why would they be anything else?  I was a 'starving artist' pretty much all of my adult life.  I got used to doing without.  Giving up wants to make sure the needs could be met.  I am grateful I am Canadian because all of my health issues have been dealt with.  And I continue to get health care.  And none of my rather specific and expensive requirements in terms of my health have been denied.  To the contrary, I have received cutting edge treatments.  And I am not bankrupt...

So while I'm not particularly happy with my aging, breaking down body, I can manage.  For a while longer, at least.

I have also not entirely given up hope that things might improve.  I talk to the pain doctor next week.  And I hope he will have a plan about how we move forward.

In the meantime, I hope to finish the current warp next week, and then decide what to do 'next'.  I'm running low on yarn that I had been trying to use up so I've been looking in my stash thinking, thinking, thinking.  And I have a plan, if I can figure out if my silk stash has enough to make a warp or two.

And I have been staring at my library, picking up a book here and there, deciding if I want that one to go to a particular person.  If I do, I stick a note in the book with the name and contact info for the person I would like to have it.

This is my life.  And I choose to live it with intention.  For as long as I can.