Magic in the Water

shawl woven with rayon

Yesterday I had the experience of seeing the Magic in the Water in action.  I've been preparing an article for Handwoven (to approve - or not) and working from my stash. 

In The Intentional Weaver I discuss many of the considerations that go into the creation of a textile and while I have touched lightly on some of them for the article, the thought processes go way beyond what I could fit into a magazine submission.

The final step in changing the yarn into a cloth was the wet finishing.

The web was very stiff because I had built the cloth quite densely, relying on a) weave structure (twill) and fibre (silk) to lend their flexibility to creating a cloth with drape.

During the planning phase of designing, the density changed several times, from 24 to 30 to 32 to 36 and finally to 40 epi.  Yes, all with the same yarn.

I didn't weave a sample because I had other experience with 20/2 silk, plus I had some woven samples that I referenced.  One reason for keeping samples - so you know what you have done previously and the results that were obtained.

The above photo is not the cloth I'm talking about, just there to reference drape in the finished cloth.  I won't publish any photos or details until after I find out if the article has been accepted or not.

Since Mary left I've been trying to work on things that have looming (pun alert) deadlines, and the article seemed the most pressing so what little I did yesterday was to get the scarf fringe twisted, then wet finished.

Now that Puff is being taken apart, I am back to using the little flat bed press, which doesn't do nearly as good a job and takes three times as long.  But since I'm no longer producing for craft fairs...

So I used the flat bed press, carefully straightening out the curl at the selvedge, then when it was nearly dry went to the ironing board and hand iron where I polished both sides of the cloth.  We want to see shine when we see silk, so developing that sheen was an important final step.

The only thing left to do now is trim the bits off the ends of the twisted fringe, review my written notes, and then save the files to a thumb drive and package the whole works up and into the mail.  With two weaving workshops coming up in two and three weeks, I needed to clear the decks so I could concentrate on getting ready for those.

Plus I would like to get back to weaving.  I have barely touched a loom for two weeks.

Back to the Future

As a weaver/writer/teacher I am constantly working on things that won't actually happen until some time in the future.

In this case, I'm working on a suite of samples for an article/project for the Nov/Dec 2018 issue of Handwoven.  Yes, the lead time for magazine articles can easily be 9 months.  Since I also have to mail them, I cannot wait until the deadline the magazine needs to have them to mail.  I have to get them done, project notes written up and all, into the mail well before their deadline to receive my materials.

I am also working on inventory for craft fairs - happening in Oct. and Nov. of this year.

I am also working on The Book, hopefully to be ready in time for Christmas purchasing.  Yes, this year.

I am also working on a conference to be held in June of 2019.

There is no instant gratification involved in what I do.  Ever.

Weaving cloth is, by it's very nature, time consuming.  If I needed instant gratification I would never have managed to be a weaver.  Or a writer.  Or a conference planner. 

My days are filled with thinking about what will happen in the future.  What I need to do to make the event, the thing, happen so that it is ready in time.

As for the explanation of the pictured sample?  You'll have to wait until the Nov/Dec issue of Handwoven!

Favourite Teacher

Once again Handwoven/Weaving Today is running their 'favourite' teacher contest.  Click on the link to the left to submit yours...

Cluttering Up

 video camera, plastic tub, samples, tripod as well as other stuff on either side - clutter central

I'm feeling just a tad overwhelmed at the minute.  I'm sure the grey day outside isn't helping.

While attempting to deal with some of the paperwork on my desk I suddenly remembered the extension of the experiment for Handwoven.  I'd woven some samples in December, did an experiment with them, wrote it up and forwarded to their offices, well in advance of the deadline.  Then I was asked if I could extend the experiment.  The samples were woven before I left on my trip  in January, but ran out of time to do the experiment and they have been languishing on my work table getting covered by more, um, urgent matters.  Realized that the absolute deadline was coming up rather quickly so I'd better get cracking on that.

On my desk also awaiting my attention are teaching contracts, a show contract and an application to teach at a conference.  Simmering on the back burner are topics for my new 'job'.  The first one is written, simmering for a day or two before I re-read and edit.  It is due on Tuesday - not sure when it will go 'live', but I'll announce here when it does.

Taking on another 'job' right now is a little bit of madness, given my current schedule.  But it was an offer I could not refuse.  It will provide a modicum of income but more importantly, I hope to reach a wider audience with my pithy comments.

Followers of this blog number almost 300 (298 to be exact).   It is lovely that so many of you check in, some of you daily. I know because you've told me so.  The new venue will likely provide a much larger readership.  Is this my ego, wanting a wider distribution of my opinions, knowledge, experience?  Partly.  But mostly it's because I'm hoping I can help someone, somewhere, struggling - help them to feel more confident, lessen their battle with the craft, become a better weaver - whatever that means to them.

Stay tuned...

Moving Right Along

or I would be if I weren't procrastinating...

Sample warp being dressed on the loom while more warps await in the wings.

Yes, my studio is messy.  It's 'creative chaos'.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it...

Affirmation

Just got word a few minutes ago that the towels I submitted to Handwoven have been accepted for the May/June issue.

It's always nice when that happens - a lovely affirmation that I am doing work that other people like and enjoy.  :)

The above photo isn't exactly what they look like, but is a close cousin.  I built on this design to create the design for the towels I submitted.  (For anyone in my classes in Jan/Feb, I had siblings and closer cousins for show and tell.)

I still don't have all the details, but enough information to share the fact that I am now associated with the Olds College fibre program, specifically the Master Weaver classes.

Today I got the Competency Profiles which I need to go over carefully to find out what areas of weaving I need to brush up on.

Weaving is a huge pool of knowledge and no one can be a true 'expert' at every facet of it.  But one person can become very good in several areas and have a working knowledge of the rest.

My field of specialty (or perhaps I could claim 'specialities' by this point) is mostly in the making of 'balanced' cloth - not so much weft faced or warp faced, not so much the compound cloths such as lampas and double/triple/quadruple layers.  But I have done some of almost all of those at some point.  If I'm going to be an effective teacher, I need to re-visit some of the weave structures I have dipped into but not explored in particular depth.

In some ways it feels like I am starting all over again, not as a student, but in terms of refreshing my foundation of knowledge.

And I find that terribly exciting!

As I find out more, I will share.

Solstice

As a kid I longed for Christmas.  As an adult, I long for the solstice.

The solstice is the pivot point for the sun and today is the shortest day of the year.  It also happened to be overcast and the flurries that were predicted turned into a steady dump of fine snow that was more sleet at times than snowflakes.

The official time of sunrise today was 8:27 am.  The official time of sunset was 3:51 pm.  The above photo was taken at 3:15 pm.

These short days are why I am looking forward to take off south in January.  By the time I get home the days will be significantly longer, especially for this upcoming trip which is about 2 weeks longer than I usually schedule.  And of course the days in NC/TN are longer than ours are anyway.

On Feb. 15 the official sunrise will be 7:30 am and the official sunset 5:35 pm.  I should be recovered from the jet lag by then.  :)

Today I finished the last of the warps to illustrate the article for Handwoven.  I will set those webs aside and start on the warps for the Magic in the Water workshop at the folk school.  They need to be into the mail by Monday.  Then the workshop in Nashville, which is now full.  Chattanooga will be a smaller class with around 6, I think she said.  I'm still waiting to hear from Memphis how many people there will be and if they will do a short Efficient Weaver on the Monday and/or Tuesday.  As soon as they confirm I can buy my tickets.

But in the meantime I have a lot of prep work to do.

And oh, yes, I ought to do something about Christmas.  I'm sure my mother is expecting something!

More Happy Colours

the natural weft is really toning down the yellow in the warp...

One more day to the solstice and I can hardly wait.  It's another overcast dreary day here and I've got a mild headache that is dragging at my energy so I feel like I'm wallowing in procrastination.

Fortunately I have more happy colours on the loom.  :)  I'm really liking how the variegated colours are 'pooling' in this towel giving an almost ikat effect.

Since a little yellow goes a long way, I am using natural on this particular towel.  I'll weave two of these and then two using a warm beige for weft.

My goal for today is to finish this yellow warp and see if I can't get the green one into the loom so I can weave those off tomorrow.

And then it will be full steam ahead with the workshop yarns/instructions.  My goal is to have as many parcels as possible ready to mail on Monday.  Which reminds me - I need to get the addresses of the workshop organizers.  It seems like we get so entwined in communicating by emails we forget that actual mail needs to be sent, too!  Even if I don't get all of the workshops done by Monday, the things for the folk school have to go out for sure as that one is the first on the list.

One Armed Paper Hanger

darker areas are shadow from the lights behind me

I am beginning to feel like a one armed paper hanger as the clock ticks down on the many things I've got going right now.  I have to be very mindful of the deadlines - the soft ones - and the very hard ones.  If I miss any of them things are going to get very crunchy in about three weeks time!

Distractions abound as we try to nail down the fine details of the tour in Jan/Feb.  I find myself zoning out while winding, threading, weaving.  Not a good thing when the current warps require very specific numbers of 4 different colours.  I can't afford to waste any time right now - especially correcting mistakes! I am going to put away the jigsaw puzzles, too.  The dining room table is needed in order to do my journal entries and balance that and my chequebook.  One of the deadlines I added to my list of stuff to do before I leave is get my year end done and delivered to the accountant because otherwise it really will be crunch time when I get back.

There are so many things that go on behind the scenes (so to speak) when you run a business with as many different facets as I do.  Sourcing yarns, placing orders, receiving them, putting them away (if there is an away to put the stuff - right now that is a challenge, especially with a very large order coming from Silk City. That yarn may just have to live in the boxes until I get back again.)

Doug is busy stapling samples to card stock while I await the Silk City yarn order for the yarns for the last of the Rayon samples.  As the days drag by it looks less and less likely I'll get that woven before I leave.  Getting that finished before I left was optimistic.....and one of the 'soft' deadlines....

Today I will dress the loom with the yellow warp and finish winding the green one.  But first, lunch.  Gotta keep good fuel going in or the furnace goes out, as my dad used to say.

Colour! Give Me Colour!

showing the hem and towel body

Over the years I have discovered that I am very much affected by the seasons - probably have a low grade SAD condition.  February was always the worst month for me and I assumed the ancients knew what they were about when they made it the shortest one!

The past 10 or 12 years our climate has changed.  Instead of the mostly cold days with clear brilliant skies we seem to be having more and more grey overcast and dreadfully dreary weather.  As the days get shorter and the sunlight less and less, I find myself drawn more and more to the brighter more spring like colours.  Perhaps that is why I'm enjoying working with the variegated cottons so much - most of the colourways are quite light and cheerful.  Even the darker ones are still pleasant.

I wound up designing four different colourways using this especially spring like variegated.  I've just sent off the instructions for how I choose the colours to Handwoven along with this photo showing how it looks on the loom.  Now to wait and see if it is something they want for the May/June issue.  :)

Whether they want it or not, I have several days ahead of me with these lovely spring colours.  And that is A Good Thing to be doing while waiting for the winter solstice and longer days to come.

Taking Care of the Details

Yesterday was all about me - maintaining me in several ways.  Today I have been buzzing around trying to tie up loose ends.

With a very busy 3 weeks (or more) still to get through it would be easy to let little things fall through the cracks.

My goal of having a representative selection of the new scarf design is well underway.  I had managed to get 4 or 5 scarves done for the show at the U a couple of weeks ago, wove a couple more short warps when I could get to them, wove one scarf when I got home finishing that warp, dressed the loom again last night and wove one of the two scarves this afternoon.

Three scarves have gone through the washer and dryer, and 3 more of the new design are currently in the dryer.  I'll press all 6 at once later today.  Tomorrow they can be trimmed and tagged and delivered to the show on Friday when we incorporate the inventory brought back from the last show into the inventory already packed in the van.

We also dealt with renewing insurance (house and business) this morning, and I got an email re: the Handwoven article - they want more info so I'll try to pull that together today and/or tomorrow.  The deadline is Nov. 14 and I will be long gone by then so it must be done before we leave on Monday.

Doug wanted to get my attache case and his two small 'bags' for his cell phone and wallet repaired but the shoe repair shop was booked up so we'll get those repaired after the trip.  The van could have gone in next week for the new audio system, but we'll be away so that, too, will get dealt with when we get home.

Doug is gathering up stuff for the trip, obsessing about which lightbulbs to buy for the booth.  With incandescent lights going the way of the doh-doh, he wants to find the 'perfect' lamp to best show off the weaving.  Good lighting is so very important or else the colours will look 'dead' and unattractive.

My small fill-in order of yarn arrived and I've contacted the two people who also placed orders with mine, hoping I can deliver during the craft fair here.  Plus I need to fetch some roving from the annex for a couple other people to look at.

I still need to pack some copies of A Good Yarn: Cotton in case weavers at the two big shows want to buy while I'm in their cities, saving shipping.

Doug caught the laundry up on Monday and Tuesday and now we both need to figure out what to wear and pack our suitcases.  I also need to hit the pharmacy because I forgot to stock up on the Niacin (which I take instead of other cholesterol lowering medications, all of which I have adverse effects to).  Unfortunately the heavy snowfall caught everyone off guard and the roads here are a mess and the young immortals are still roaring around as though it is summer, not winter driving conditions.  So many of them still have not figured out that while they may have four wheel drive, they don't have four wheel stopping on the ice!

And Friday I get my flu jabs, guaranteeing that I am going to feel icky for the show.  I may leave Doug in charge as much as possible and hide out at home.  If I don't get the Handwoven stuff ready today or tomorrow, I will have to do it during the show.

Details, details!

Currently reading  Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

Scarcity

Finished the tomato warp this morning and wound the next one - a mixture of browns, golds and sage greens along with Carob brown Bambu 7.

I had purposely let my inventory of Bambu 7 dwindle, thinking I was done using it in production so when I went to put together the yarns to complement the textured rayon I was stymied!  There wasn't really enough of anything to do my regular production warp of 4 scarves.

So how much yarn did I have?  There was enough of the teal for a warp of two scarves (partly because I'd lost 6 ounces of the textured rayon in the rat's nest winding it onto a cone).  There was enough China Red for a warp for 3 scarves.  There was enough Carob for a warp of two scarves.  And there was enough Onyx for another warp of two scarves.  Good enough for test marketing a new line.  If I can get enough of them woven before the last 3 shows of this season.

How did I know how much yarn was left?  Our old friend mathematics came to the rescue.

Bambu 7 is equivalent to a 5/2 cotton so about 2100 yards per pound.  (840 x 5 divided by 2= 2100)  Divide 2100 by 16 (ounces in a pound) for a total of about 130 yards per ounce.

I weighed the cone (taking care to minus out the cone weight) then multiplied the number of ounces by 130 yards.  Voila!  I knew approximately how much yarn was on the cone.

It was a simple matter to then calculate the yardage needed to do a warp for 2, 3 or 4 scarves and see how long a warp I could wind with the partial cones I had left in my stash.

The article for Handwoven just got sent - and then I remembered I'd not included the drafts!  So I'll get that done and sent off.  And hopefully I can dress the loom with the brown/gold warp and weave a scarf yet today.

Currently reading Death and Judgement by Donna Leon

Plodding

It took Doug all day yesterday to carefully fold and pack all the inventory we had in the store room.  Although we don't need it all for the first show, which is really quite a small show comparatively speaking, once we load up the van it won't be unloaded again except for when we are actually doing shows.  When we leave for Seattle the van will get backed into the carport and we'll take the truck south.  

I can't even begin to tell you what the total retail value is in the 11 boxes of inventory but it's more than I care to think about!  Since we do travel to do shows, I have business insurance but not nearly enough to cover the loss of all that inventory - perhaps enough to replace the yarn.  But with insurance so terribly high I have not increased the coverage for travel.  The chances of something wiping out my entire inventory are pretty slim, but it's not something I'm willing to gamble on - hence the insurance policy.

I also have a million in liability coverage for my booth - for one thing it is required by some of the large shows, for another it is just a good idea in case someone trips over your carpet or something and winds up hurting themselves in your booth.

And here is the finished cloth.  There was too much to be done with a hand iron, too little to fire up a wounded Puff, so I brought my little Elna flat bed press home and got the cloth pressed this afternoon after lace.

I am actually very pleased with how it turned out.  Now to see if the designer is, too.

This warp is also a great example of how very light values advance and darker values recede.  There are exactly 2 yellow threads on the outside of the narrow stripes on each side, with 4 threads side by side in the larger stripe.

And yet look how those pale yellow threads pop right out!

Also made some progress on the Handwoven article - the weaving part.  I'm hoping to finish the weaving tomorrow and get cracking on the writing.

Friday Activities

weaving the cloth with the back side up - it's VERY red!

working on the Handwoven article

This morning I finished threading the scarlet warp, ran to town to pick up the parcel with the yarns for the Handwoven article, started sleying and had lunch.  After lunch I visited with my neighbour, finished sleying, tied on, generated the liftplan and wound bobbins.  

Then Doug needed help on the roof of the garage (not my favourite place!) but since it had stopped raining he wanted to get that dealt with before it started again.

Back in the studio I opened the box of yarns, worked out tentative epi for each, then started rooting through my books to check for a photo and technical information I wanted to include in the article but needed to refresh my memory.  Amazingly I found what I was looking for, although it was more theoretical than I remembered, but at least I have the citation.

Finally powered up the loom and started weaving on the scarlet warp.  Dare I say everything is going smoothly, or would that be tempting fate too much?

Doug has gone off to watch football with a buddy so I'm on my own for the evening.  I'm going to make some dinner, watch a bit of tv my own self and then see if I can get started sorting out the text for the article and perhaps even weave another yard on the scarlet.

For Louise Penny fans - filming has started on bringing her Inspector Gamache series to tv.  No air date yet, but it will be interesting to see if the series measures up to the books.  In the meantime I'm still on the list for The Beautiful Mystery at the library, hoping to be able to read it soon.

Additional Thoughts on Samples

Realized that I had a few more thoughts on samples that I wanted to share.

The photo above shows the issue of Hand Woven that the Harrisville yarn samples are in, and one of the several sets of samples I wove for it. I will have them with me at ABQ and the tour in January if you will be there and want to handle the samples and examine them

I think if you click on the photo the enlargement will show the differences in the loom state (left) fulled (centre) and additionally fulled (right) than appears in this photo.

One of the things I discovered while doing a lot of sampling was that when fulling the more you full the more the dimensional loss will be. The more open (gauze-y) the set, the more you have to full and the more extreme the dimensional loss. A good argument (I think!) to not weave window screening when one is trying to do extreme fulling!


But let's look at attitude a little bit.

Many new weavers are anxious to make something they can use and proudly show off to friends. Why 'waste' time and money on making a sample? They can't brag about that to anyone but other weavers, many of whom wouldn't be impressed because they don't 'waste' time and effort on samples and sampling either.

So another more useful attitude needs to be brought into play. The attitude that knowledge for knowledge sake is well worth the time, effort and money. That no skill comes without purposeful effort. That 'perfect' is a journey, not a destination, but you are going to come closer to perfection the more you practice honing your skills and increasing your knowledge.

Many new weavers will ask on various chat groups and social networking sites "I have x yarn. Tell me what to do with it." (Or words to that effect.)

I no longer answer most of these queries. I don't know the yarn (generally a knitting yarn), I don't know the skill level (I assume extremely new and inexperienced), I don't know their physical skill level, I don't know what equipment they have or their tools.

The only proper answer to that question is "It depends...."

Many new weavers come from a pattern or kit mindset where they are given the yarn, the weave structure, density, dimensions etc. What they don't realize is that once they are done the weaving and wet finishing they should analyze their results in order to learn from the experience.

But many of them don't seem to understand that part of the process. :(

I'm not saying that every weaver has to weave every single yarn/weave sturcture/density on their own. They can obtain collections of samples and examine them.

What do they like about the results? What do they not like? What would they change? How would they make their next attempt at this particular design more about them and less about the designer of the pattern or kit?

It was that reason that I formatted Magic in the Water the way I did, with both before and after fabric swatches. So many new weavers have no understanding of the wet finishing process - what it is and what it does - that I felt the only way to really make the point was to have the before and after.

Examining fabric - any fabric, commercial or handwoven - will bring a great deal of knowledge to the new weaver if they open their minds to the experience.

And yes, scarves are samples too. Out of the 23 scarves I did before I got the desired results? None of them was a 'failure'. They were simply stepping stones in the direction I wanted to go.

Making Choices

I'm in a rambling frame of mind with thoughts loosely connected - perhaps I can weave a complete post from them....

The next issue of Handwoven is sliding through mail slots, but I haven't yet received mine. However I have seen the galley proofs, and know that they didn't use all of the photos I sent them, due to space constraints. So I thought I'd share some of them here and talk about them a bit.

The project was a set of placemats and a table runner made from 2/8 warp twist cotton for the warp and a weft that was made up of 5 threads bundled together.

Now I generally much prefer a boat shuttle, but such a thick weft meant that a stick shuttle was the most effective/efficient tool to use.


What many people don't know is how to wind the yarn onto a stick shuttle. It is not wound end for end, but wound in a figure eight around the spine of the shuttle. A good stick shuttle should be bevelled with the spine thicker than the leading edge. Winding the yarns in a figure 8 around the spine give the shuttle a wedge shape and a nearly flat bottom which makes it easier to pass from one selvedge to the other.

The length of shuttle should be slightly longer than the warp is wide so that you literally pass the shuttle through the shed - you don't try to 'throw' a stick shuttle.





In order to wind the yarn onto the stick shuttle, I worked from the tubes. Doug made several stands with different numbers of spikes to set the tubes onto. For this project I used five threads - two of the 2/8 cotton the same as one of the colours in the warp (the warp was made from a brick red and chocolate brown wound together as one) plus three of a cotton slub of a lighter shade of the brick red which was more of a rose colour. I always set tubes so that they wind off counter-clockwise - if you can't be perfect, be consistent.

No, I don't wind off the side of a tube. I find that they run off unevenly creating tension problems, especially when working with more than one tube at a time.

I stand above the group of five winding them as smoothly and evenly as possible, straightening out any large loops, but not paying too much attention to slight unevennesses (if that is a word) as with such a thick bundle, little loops bury themselves in the cloth.


This photo shows cutting the placemats apart after running them through the washing machine. I spread the cloth out on the top of the washing machine and use the slot between the lid and the machine as a cutting guide. After drying the fringes get their final trim where I even all the fringes out.


There has been a flurry of posts on a couple of the chat groups I belong to about whether or not one should use an electric dryer.

Some people are convinced that electric dryers are evil incarnate. Others find hanging things on the line to dry onerous and/or impractical. (I'm sure that my industrial steam press would qualify for evil incarnate as well.) One of the arguements is that using a dryer shortens the life of a textile.

Well, yes, the tumbling action does provide abrasion, but hanging things outside to dry can subject them to UV light which can also shorten the life of a textile and fade colours.

Personally I use the washing machine and dryer rather than line dry. For one thing, I produce sufficient quantities that trying to use the line to dry would be impractical and time consuming.

Since the biggest investment in a hand woven textile is one's time, I'd rather let the dryer do the work than drag a load of placemats or scarves or yardage out to the yard, peg it out and hope that no bird contributed their droppings, no dust and/or pollen settled on the textiles or that the wind didn't rip the things off the line and send them flying. Not to mention drying time - 45 minutes in the dryer as compared to hours(?) on the line....

I use the industrial steam press for the same reason. I could do the same job with a hand iron, but it would take me hours longer, and in the end the hand iron being used for hours and hours would likely use up as much electricity as the steam press for a much shorter period of time.

But it's all about choices. Someone who weaves as an avocation, who doesn't care about investing hundreds of hours in a textile can easily make choices different than mine as a weaver who needs to sell the 'fruits' of her loom.

I've been aware of ecological issues since the late 1960's - I've recycled since long before it was fashionable to do so, buy in bulk to save packaging, refusing plastic and paper bags (unless necessary) buy raw ingredients rather than prepared foods, compost the majority of my food waste, save up paper and yard waste to take to the municipal recycling area. I've used non-phosphate detergents since they first became available in the late 1960's after seeing the soap suds on the St. Lawrence Seaway.

The pounds of yarn waste I produce was first given to art programs and anyone else I could find to take them (until they ran out of space and cried 'enough'!) and now gets saved and passed on to a surface designer who takes what she wants and then both of our scraps get given to the Salvation Army who has a textile recycling program. Even when I put them into the garbage I knew that my threads were biologically degradable and would eventually return to the earth.

I try to plan an efficient route for my errands so that I burn the least amount of gas and tire rubber - again have done this for 20+ years - buying vehicles with good gas mileage but still allow me to move show stuff efficiently. (i.e. a mini-van)

So I get a little vexed when people point fingers at me accussing me of not being aware of the damage caused by appliances such as electric dryers. I *know* the costs, but have to make choices. I choose to live as frugally as I can (partly because one doesn't make a whole lot of money as a weaver in the 21st century), looking at my entire lifestyle for where I can make changes so that I use the least amount of resources, but aware that there are times and places where I simply have to use electricty - to power my computer which runs my loom, the compressor, the lights in my studio, the bobbin and pirn winders, my boom box and yes, electric washer, dryer and steam press.

These are choices that I have thought about and made with full knowledge of the impact they are making. Am I living as small a carbon footprint as I can? Well, I could do more - but it would be at the cost of taking more of my time. And after the past year or so - well, my time is precious to me and I don't want to use up even more of it doing things that I know can be done faster if I use a little electricity.

Like so many other things about the production of textiles - we have to make choices, and those choices depend on so many other issues that it seems to me that no one's choices are any better or worse than anyone else's. Just because I use an electric dryer, etc. doesn't mean that I'm not doing my best in many other areas of my life to be economical and ecological in my lifestyle.

Currently reading Below Zero by C. J. Box - who always has interesting thoughts on the ecology in his series of books featuring Park Ranger Joe Pickett

Playing Hookey

The THUD you may have heard last week was me falling off the energy wagon.

For the past couple of months I have been feeling more and more exhausted, which I attributed to a hectic travel/teaching schedule, poor sleep, what have you.

May 4th, when the specialist confirmed my suspicions I felt myself teeter, and subsequent minor irritations ground at me for the rest of the week. By Saturday when I was trying very hard to be upbeat and positive about the future, I kept mulling over the events that had brought me to where I am in the here and now. And found myself sinking futher into a funk of feeling - well, just plain bloody tired. (Apologies to any Brits out there.)

Sunday after lace I fell into bed at around 4 pm and dragged myself out at 6, feeling worse than before. Needless to say, doing anything productive was beyond me.

I managed to pull myself together while Karena was here and finish off the first shawl warp and beam the next but after setting up the guild loom, essentially crashed and burned.

It's taken me several days to think through why this happened. My conclusion? During the course of the past year I never had time to stop and deal with what was happening, because it just kept on happening. My blood pressure has been pretty good for the last two months, and essentially things have been under control. Which means that I haven't been focussed on trying to gain control.

You know how they say you never have a nervous break down during the crisis but after it? Well, my crisis is pretty much over - until the next one - and my body was finally able to make me pay attention to the fact that it was tired - exhausted - from all the stress, turmoil, pain and grief.

Even when I said I was going to cut back on my working hours, I got two special orders, and found myself working just as much as I had been. :}

So now, in spite of two critical deadlines coming up, my body has said "Enough." And this time, I'm going to listen.

I've been watching tv (egad - even daytime tv!) knitting, making jigsaw puzzles. And if I feel like heading down the stairs to do a little puttering, I do. But if I don't - well, I don't. :)

Today all I managed was to pack up an order, trim and tag the placemats I pressed on Sunday and deliver them to the local consignment shop.

Hopefully I can at least do the weaving/writing for the project for Handwoven I'm trying to pull together. That deadline is one I really don't want to miss. :)

Handwoven

The January/February Handwoven arrived today. My article on fulling Harrisville yarn is on page 24/25. I also have the Endnotes essay on the last page. :D

For anyone interested, there is a video clip on my web site showing one way of fulling by hand. Go to http://laurafry.com then click on Store and CDWeaver. The video clip is available for both PC and Mac thanks to my web master.

I realized the other day that I've been posting an awful lot. Part of the reason is that I'm weaving a lot. One of the reasons I'm weaving a lot is because I'm not going to be home much from January to June. Los Angeles and Tucson have both confirmed their workshops in January, and I'll be working on getting the warp yarns and instructions ready to mail out, hopefully by Monday.

In the meantime, however, the warp on the Fanny is nearly done - one more table runner and it can come off - tonight, I hope.

It's looking good for the workshops in February, although Indianopolis won't know until later in January. The March workshop in Boise will go ahead, although they are looking for more participants. The April workshop in Grand Forks will go ahead, too. I'll drive to that one and hopefully visit a bit with friends along the way.

In May I'm booked to do two seminars at the HWSDA conference in Olds, Alberta. I'll also be at the ANWG conference in Spokane, but only in the vendor area. I'll be manning Teresa Ruch's booth while she teaches. :)

The last workshop of the year is in Lake Orien, MI at Heritage Spinning and Weaving. I was there a few years ago and am really happy to be going back. Joan and her crew are great.