Grief

 

The rose bushes along the public pathway are gone now - but not forgotten.  And I still have the photo I took with my cell phone a few years ago.

Grief is a tricksy thing.  We know that we grieve over the loss of loved ones, be they human or pet.  To grieve over the loss of a living being that held meaning for you is accepted.  Normal.  Expected.

We we also grieve over other things, to a greater or lesser extent.

Expectations dashed.  Events cancelled.  Failures.

Some people deal with the failure of their bodies and how that failing body impacts their quality of life.  What they can actually do.  Or not.

There are many ways to grieve.  And many things to grieve about.

So, me.

Accepting that I cannot teach in person anymore.  The long journeys, the time zone shifting, the stress of the travel - will I make it?  Will my BAGS make it?  Will I never again experience the glow in the eyes of students who 'get' it, AS they get it?  Their elation at understanding.  Their anticipation of continuing the journey.  The sheer joy of learning.  Improving and feeling competent instead of clumsy.  

So I hesitated when I got home.  I'd made the decision.  But had I been hasty?  Given another year of aging (and who knows what *other* health issue that may crop up in that 12 months) could I actually, effectively, go back to Olds?

So I waited.  I waited to see if my body recovered from the journey.  I looked up how covid was doing.  I thought long and hard.  And today I took a deep breath and notified the college that this year would be my last year.  Which should give them ample time to find another teacher.  If they even start working on it now.  

But now it's official.  Notice sent, and accepted.  I'm done.

However I am not done with teaching entirely.  I have been working on the classes for SOS and am just about ready to sit down with scratch pad and start making notes.

But a big chunk of me is sad.  So I am giving myself space to grieve.  To focus on my current students, both Olds and SOS.  To reassure myself that I *can* still teach, even if it isn't in person.  I am still knowledgeable.   Still capable of crafting a lesson plan and working out filming details.  I can still answer questions.  Seems I can write technical issues fairly well.  

So I grieve.  But accept that it is time.  And I'm not *quite* done.  Yet.  And I can still help students.  Encourage them.  Give them information.  Resources.

Grieving is not a do it and you're done.  It's a process.  And it will take time for me to set my disappointment aside as I reduce my activity horizon once more.  While I am 'able' for now, my ability to do the things I've done for 40 years is diminishing.  And in the end?  It's ok.  And I will find the joy in this new way of teaching.

Because I'm not done yet.  Quite.

Procrastination

 

I have been so focused on getting my stash woven down I have been letting my other deadlines slide.  Of course I've always worked 'best' under the pressure of deadlines, so...

But April is nearly over, next week it will be May!  And I have things I need to take care of before June.  Weaving, being labour intensive, means that I have to get cracking and deal with getting ready for the Olds College class in mid-June.  Part of that is sampling the new-to-me yarn I got earlier this month while I was at Sweet Georgia Yarns.

One of the challenges with weaving is finding 'good' yarn.  Even better if that yarn comes in an array of colours.  

I don't weave much with wool these days, but level one of the master weaving course means weaving with wool and fulling it.  One of the class assignments is to create a value gamp, so you need at least 6 steps in the value of a hue and it has to be wool.

Since a percentage of the level one students are usually a bit less experienced, some of whom may have never woven with wool, I try to find 'friendly' yarn.  Many of the finer wool yarns that come in value gamp steps are extremely elastic/stretchy.  This makes them more challenging to weave with if you have never encountered a yarn with a lot of elasticity in it.

I've been using Harrisville yarns in part because it is meant to be fulled, in part because it doesn't have a lot of elasticity.  But it doesn't have a great value scale so I've fudged by reaching into the next hue for the darker values.  

Array (from GIST) is now being carried by Sweet Georgia, and the grey scale comes in a five step value package, plus you can buy natural white as an individual cone.  So I bought that for the class.  However, I also need to sample it so I did a two birds one stone thing and bought a set of their lime green value scale (plus white) which gives a five step value scale.  On this warp I will weave my samples in preparation for the Olds class and the grey scale, but I bought enough I can make a scarf for a friend who absolutely *adores* lime green.  

Yesterday was a pretty good day and after weaving two towels and taking a short break I wound the lime green warp.  I had re-designed this warp at least 6 times.  Array is not a cheap yarn and I wanted the scarf to turn out well but I don't have a lot of 'extra' yarn.  So I took my time combining the value scale concept and the stripe sequence in a way that was pleasing to me (I am not actually a fan of lime green, but I think this is going to look nice!) and stayed within the confines of the yarn I had available.

The changes in the value from one shade to the next are slight, so I will be needing to keep track of each step as I weave the gamp.  This should make a really nice gradient.  

The yarn is strong.  It's 'worsted', smooth, compact, and will full.  So it will be interesting to see how it is after a very light fulling and a good hard press.  It won't be merino soft, but it will be a lot friendlier to weave with than a sproingy (technical term) merino yarn.

And yes, it's a bit spendy, but worth it imho to have a less stressful weaving experience, plus the very lovely gradient of colours to work with.

Stay tuned.

Journey

dolphin at the aquarium

On a trip to Florida a few years ago we visited one of the aquariums.  They stressed that their primary mission was to care for those creatures who had been injured - they treat their injuries, provide as good a quality of life as could be managed, given they would not survive outside of the protected area of the aquarium.

In many ways life is like that for humans too.  We have our protected areas that we tend to live in, pretty much ignoring what is happening outside of our 'bubble'.

In weaving people find processes that work for them, and pretty contentedly stay in that circle of knowledge.  When confronted by something new or different they will go back to the tried and true and when that doesn't work may feel frustrated.

I have my own area of contentment - my 'happy place'.  I have worked with a small slice of yarns that are commonly available (here), know them intimately, pretty much know the limits to which I can put them into use.

When I go outside of my comfort zone, I have to check my assumptions.  This may be a quite different yarn from what I most commonly use.  I cannot expect it to behave in the same way.

One of the reasons I appreciate the Olds program (and others) is that the student is forced outside of their comfort zone in order to learn.

Once they have learned, they may decide that not all of the things that one can do is of interest to them.  And that is also a perfectly good lesson to learn.  One I put into practice almost daily in my own studio.

But from time to time I do dip into other techniques.  For example I'm not overly fond of weaving with two shuttles.  Because it takes so much longer to alternate between the two - it isn't twice as long but more like 3 or 4 times as long to weave.

Recently I did an overshot project and all the reasons why I don't much like doing overshot came back to me.  In spite of the cloth turning out the way it was supposed to.  I felt fumble fingered, repeatedly dropping a shuttle, having to climb down off the loom bench, dig around in the herd of dust buffalo below the loom to extract shuttle and bobbin (which frequently popped out of the shuttle), get back onto the bench and deal with a bobbin covered with dust bunnies, find my place in the treadling sequence, begin again.

Not my idea of fun! 

But.  But.

The cloth turned out quite nicely.

Am I a fan of using two shuttles?  Still no.

Doing the Guild of Canadian Weavers tests, I was required to weave things that required two shuttles.  I was required to use yarns I wasn't comfortable with.  I was required to understand the weave structures that I might not be all that interested in.  Still aren't in some cases.  But I do have a basic knowledge of things like overshot, crackle and so on.  I was required to understand how to do draw downs and understand things like unit weaves, how to design with them, how to create motifs.

If we are to keep the craft healthy, not just 'alive', we need to have a core group of practitioners who understand the principles of the craft.  Who understand the mechanics of looms, not just paint all looms made by a specific manufacturer as 'bad' when what they are complaining about is a particular style of loom, never mind who made it.

We need people to understand the mechanics of the three main styles of looms, their benefits and restrictions.  And to understand that within one of those styles - counter balanced - that how the mechanics of the loom works matters.

I consistently see people say that you 'cannot weave unbalanced weaves on a counter-balanced loom' when what they really mean is that you may have issues on a roller style mechanical system.  I also keep seeing people say that you cannot have a counter balanced loom with more than four shafts when what they should be saying is that a roller style counter balanced loom is four shafts, but that a lever/ horse type of mechanics means you can have many more shafts.  For example I have woven on a 16 shaft lever/horse style counter balanced loom.  And the shed was nice and lovely.

It is tiring to see these generalizations repeated over and over and over again.  It is why I am committed to teaching for the Olds program for as long as I am able.  And why, if the classes in Cape Breton meet student enrollment in September, I will most likely climb on an airplane to make the journey from one coast to the other. 

Wearing a mask.

Shoulders of Giants

Wall of Troy (or extended point progression)

Had another weaver phone this morning with a question.  She wanted to pick my brain, and it was a lovely conversation as we examined a technical question about a weave structure.  Or rather, an approach to creating designs based on a weave structure.

It is the kind of conversation I just love to have as two weavers explore possibilities, what has been done before by our forebears, how it might be used, applied to create 'new' designs.  We agreed that there probably is nothing much that hasn't been done before, but that we are simply re-discovering something that had been 'lost' - for a while.

There is very little under the sun that is truly new.  There is a group of folk who adamantly insist that ancient humans couldn't possibly have done amazing things - we must have been visited by aliens in order to have the Mayan Temples, Stonehenge. the Pyramids and so on.

I very much doubt our ancient ancestors were stupid in the way that these people seem to think.  They may not have had the same kind of technology as we do, but they used what they had and made amazing things.

Cave paintings using perspective - something people assumed really wasn't understood until much later.  Rendering sculpture in three D - ancient 3D sculptures of bison have just recently been discovered, dated to 14,000 years ago.  The various 'Venus' sculptures are certainly 3D.

Agriculture, both plants and animals.  Sericulture.  The harvesting and processing of bast fibres - linen and hemp, rami and nettle.  Thousands of years old.

Navigation by the stars allowed Phoenicians, Vikings and Asians et al to travel by sea.  The sea was not a barrier, but a highway, for those who could read the stars. 

Just saw a post where archaeologists were trying to figure out the purpose of a bone - obviously a tool, but they didn't know for what purpose.  A modern day leather worker explained what it was and that to this day they still use bone tools to burnish their leather because it is simply the best tool available, superior to wood, metal or plastic.

Just because we don't know what something is, doesn't mean that our ancestors weren't clever and could work out higher mathematics, medical care, writing, astronomy, architecture.  The Dark Ages may have been dark in Europe, but they weren't dark in other places on the globe.  Asia, the Middle East, Africa continued to thrive.

Thinking that our ancestors were 'primitive' and 'ignorant' says more about us than it does about them.

This is one reason I continue to commit to the Olds College program.  Modern day weavers need good information, not speculation or misinformation built on misunderstanding the principles of the craft.  For anyone who wants to learn, I frequently recommend books and teachers.  For those who learn on line - Jane Stafford's on line guild - exciting things are being prepared for 2020.  Janet Dawson now on bluprint, for a good introduction to learning how to weave.  I have You Tube videos for anyone interested in my processes.

There are books that were published in the early part of the 20th century that remain classics to this day - Mary Meigs Atwater, S. A. Zielinski, Elmer Hickman, Clothilde Barrett, and so on.  Some authors have chosen a niche of the craft and dug deeply into the topic.  Others have done more of an overview.

Request the books from the public library, find out if it is something you want to own.  Or if you are fortunate to have a guild library, they tend to be repositories of older books that are not commonly available now.

Long Thread Media has acquired the video catalogue that F&W Media had, and now offer those as on-line workshops.  (including my two)

There is information out there, but as someone has famously said, if you don't know what you don't know, you don't know that you don't know it.

Or this quote from The Reality Bubble by Ziya Tong:  When one does not see what one does not see, one does not even see that one is blind.  Paul Veyne.  I will do a proper review of this book because it is, in a word, amazing. 

Minefield

patina from hundreds of hours of weaving

As I work on the final(?) edits for the book, it feels like picking my way through a minefield.  What to say?  What to leave out as being redundant (because this isn't the only book on weaving and there are plenty of other resources available).  How much information to share in terms of how I design my textiles?  Do people need to have All the Information or just enough to spring board their own creativity?  Do I really know things other people don't know?  (I doubt it.)  But!  I have put myself into the position of trying to write it down.  I have chosen to try to find my way through the hazards or writing a technical manual and find the words to pass on some of what I know to others.

Writing this blog has been good practice for this.  I have posted - almost daily - for ten years (yes, really!) now. 

The blog began as a way to document my recovery (I hoped) from a fairly serious health issue and how - through weaving - I could rebuild my life.  Which is why I chose the Weaving a Life title.

For 40 mumble years I have woven, almost every day, or written about weaving or taught weaving.  It is such a big part of my life I cannot imagine not having it continue to be part of my life for a long time to come.

But it is also time to modify my approach.  After this many years of production weaving, which to be honest, takes a physical toll, plus 10 years of various and sundry health issues, my body is wearing out, breaking down.

The production of this book has begun to feel like a final push to condense what I know in a format that will - with any luck at all - provide advice and information that may last beyond my ability to travel to students.

Both Magic and this book were in large part a labour of love.  But they were also another income stream. 

As I dial back on production weaving I am hoping that the books (and DVD's) will continue to provide information to help people make their weaving less stressful, easier, more joyful and help offset the fact that I cannot weave like I used to, don't really want to travel long distances and do craft fairs with all the travel and hard physical labour of setting up, working long hours on concrete floors, tearing down again. 

My plan for the immediate future is to reserve my reduced energy (thank you adverse drug effects - nurse practitioner observed that the cancer drug really doesn't much like me - yeah, I know!) for teaching the Olds program.

I have in the past taken private students.  I would be open to doing that in the future, too, but it's not something I'm going to work hard to make happen.

Weaving a Life.  Yes, I have.  And will continue to do so, to the best of my ability.

Away We Go!

Heard from the college today.  They anticipate that registration for the classes in Prince George will go live sometime on Tuesday. (Feb. 21)

To recap -

Level 1 - May 13-18

Level 2 - May 20-25

The classes here are six days, not five, with a maximum of 10 students.  They will be held in the guild room, and some floor looms are available for the use of the students.  The guild room is fully furnished, has a/c, a small fridge, tables, chairs, bobbin winders, warping boards and a mill.  Shuttles are available, but best to bring your own as well as bobbins.

Otherwise, bring the usual sort of things - binder, paper including graph paper or laptop with weaving software, scissors, measuring tape, pins, etc.

If you are from out of town, there are hotels/motels nearby - a five minute or so walk - more further away.  There are also restaurants at most of the motels or bring a lunch.

The room can be open in the evenings - I usually return to the room for an hour or so after dinner to answer questions.

If you have any questions, contact me laura at laurafry dot com

The Fun Begins

While this isn't the first box of homework from the Olds class (in Olds) it is the first of this year.  I'm feeling weary right now so probably won't do more than just go through it, and then really start on it tomorrow.  I like to get an over view of what has been sent in, then read through the written work and get a feel for the progress the student has made on this journey.

I think level one is hard for a number of reasons.  It is not like a weaving workshop - the aims and objectives are different, for one thing.  It is perhaps more challenging in some ways partly because the goal is to bring a consistency to the learning of the craft.  The graduates of this program should all have similar basic foundations of knowledge because they are all working to the same curriculum.

Will they know everything there is to know at the end?  No.  Not at all.  But they should have achieved the ability to think critically about the craft and their approach to achieving their intended cloth.  They should be able to think through how to approach an area that they may not have encountered before.  They should be able to bring creative solutions to difficulties they may encounter.  They should be able to understand the basic principles of the craft, understand their equipment and materials and how and when to use the various tools.

As an instructor it is also challenging for me, too.  I have to follow the curriculum and ensure everyone understands it.  I need to give them the tools to go further on their own.  I need to allow them to make mistakes and learn from them.  I must not spoon feed them information, but encourage them to seek answers for themselves.  Because sometimes my answers will not be theirs.

Change one thing, and everything can change.

Registration for Fibre Week will begin on March 1.  Registration for the satellite program in Cape Breton is open now.  Last I heard there were just five places left.  Registration for the satellite program in Prince George should be available on the website by the end of next week, possibly earlier.  Classes at Yadkin are taking registrations now.

To recap:

Prince George Level one May 13-18

Prince George Level two May 20-25 (both classes are SIX days, not five as elsewhere)

Cape Breton Level one June 5-9

Old College (AB) potentially all levels June 16-22

Teaching

Finally got my 2017 calendar up and began entering possible dates for events.  Next spring is really beginning to fill up.  Which is great, but so far all of those dates are tentative.  

So, dear readers, I need some feedback...

Right now I am holding dates for possible Olds Master Weaving classes here in Prince George.  I am assuming there will be enough people to run level two. There has also been some interest in another level one.  I need to know if there is enough interest to negotiate with the college to have a level two AND a level one, here in PG in 2017.  

Advantage?  I am running the class over six days instead of five at the college.   If anyone is interested in attending either level here, please email me so I know to start discussions with the college.  (As a side note, if you have taken one at the college you can take two here, and vice versa.)

There has also been discussion with other institutions elsewhere about establishing satellite classes in other locations.  As things get settled I will post updates.  (The classes in Yadkin, NC are filling up as quickly as they can be scheduled...a very positive development!)

So please, if you are interested in the master weaving program here, email me so I know to begin the process with the college administration.  Laura at laurafry dot com

Growing Weavers

My growing pile of proto scarves is quite satisfying but since it only requires surface thought, I have had quite a lot of time to think about other things.  

One of those things is contemplating the surge in interest in weaving and the large pool of people new to the craft.  

While I am all in favour of leaping into the deep end of the pool (read my first blog posts for the story of my plunge into the deep end), I would encourage people to learn the vocabulary of the craft, the language of the materials, and hone their physical skills.  

It is the reason I am so enthusiastic about the Olds College master weaving program.  It rings all the bells that I believe need to be rung in terms of nurturing the principles of the craft.  

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a 'recipe' weaver.  But there must be some weavers who can create 'good' recipes.  And for that, I firmly believe the designer needs to have a good grasp of the elements of the craft.  

Value

Some examples of student learning exercises related to value. 

If someone doesn't have an instinctive sense of how to work with colour the eye can be trained by such exercises, looking at how the value of a hue can be changed, and how different values play together.  

A couple of mantras are:

White dilutes.  Grey muddies.  Black intensifies 

If a light, medium or dark value of any hue is used, the same applies.  

Another mantra is:  value is more important than hue.  

I quite often use very dark values of purple, blue, green or brown rather than black to good effect.  

One way to develop an eye for colour is to use watercolours and try to make a value scale, or do yarn wrappings.  The more you work with colour, the better able you will get at putting effective combinations together. 

Day Two

Work is well underway at the closing of day two.  I talk a lot, mainly because there is so much to say.  Hopefully everyone will be able to get their class work done in spite of me.  

The room is cosy, and the weather has been on the cooler side so staying indoors to weave is not a hardship.  Most everyone has begun weaving their samples and/or working on their in class assignments.  My challenge now is to leave them enough time to do all their class work (but there is so much to say!)

It's Really Real!

When I originally talked to the college about having the master weaver class here in Prince George, it was kind of a huge gamble - we are just a day's drive from Olds College and there is no Fibre Week - it is just 6 days of intensive study.  Would we get enough people?  Would others see the value in this program, too?  But people kept asking questions and - taking a very deep breath - we went ahead with it.

Today I received the class list (seven students) with notification that the binders are on their way.

We have made arrangements to remove as much extraneous stuff from the guild room as possible, the guild drop ins will be cancelled for the duration.

It is very exciting to have enough people to have the class run - and with any luck at all - there will be enough graduates to do level two here next year as well.  If not, people can enroll in the level two class at Olds.  But I'm really hoping to have level two here in 2017.  :)

(If anyone is interested in level one here next year - let me know now so that we can check dates and see if it is possible!)

Currently reading Lab Girl by Hope Jahren

Learning

One of the lessons in Level one of the Olds program is to look at colour value.  As such, it is sometimes hard for people to distinguish the difference in value between shades of the same colour.  One nifty way to help see value differences is to render them in black and white.  I took the top photo with my iPad, then saved it in the Instagram app in black and white.   Another way to do this is to make butterflies of the yarn or wrap the yarn and then photocopy it to get the grey value scale.  

I think I may add natural to the value gamp but I'm still thinking about black.  Yes?  No?   Maybe so?

Colour interactions between shades that are of a high value contrast can sometimes be a bit jarring visually.  Weaving a value gamp can be a very useful learning tool.  Colour gamps are also helpful in order to see how colours interact in woven structure.  Different weave structures can cause the colours to blend differently.  I have colour gamps in many different combinations and will have all of them available in class for the students to study.  (Along with a whole bunch more of my samples!)

So, my teaching schedule for the next few months looks like this:

May 21-26.  Level one Olds program, Prince George

June 3-5.  Mug rugs and more, Edmonton guild

June 19-23 Level one Olds program in Olds

August 26-28 Cape Breton (still looking for another workshop in the Maritimes between August 30 and Sept 8 - either that or a weaver friendly b&b)

That's all I have booked for the rest of the year.  I tend to not book teaching from October onwards because then we are well into the craft fair season and even though I have cut back one show this year, I'm not overly fond of traveling to teach during the winter.

Next year, other than Olds (if the classes get sufficient registration to 'go'), all I have is the ANWG conference in Victoria, BC June 30 to July 2

However, I am very much hoping that level two will run in PG in May next year.  I have had a few people say they would also like level one in PG, but I will need at least 6, preferably 7, so if anyone thinks they might like to take level one here in PG in 2017, let me know.  If I get enough names, I can approach the college about setting up a level one, perhaps in April.

Olds College Master Weaving Program

We need one more student for the Olds Master Weaving program here in Prince George.

There are some advantages to taking the class here - no distractions, six days (rather than five) of intensive class work.  Looms provided (unless you want to bring your own table loom), small class, lots of attention from the instructor (moi!).

Deadline to register is April 18.  There are five very dedicated and enthusiastic weavers who are already signed up.  I hope there is (at least) one more out there...

Satellite Program Live!

*New* Off Campus Offerings!

On a trial basis, Olds College is offering Level 1 of the Master Weaver program off campus.  Currently, we have two locations:

The first is at the Yadkin Valley Fibre Room, in Yadkinville, NC.  May 2 - 6, 2016.  See their website for details and registrations.  Jean Curry will be instructing this initial offering.

The second Level 1 class is in Prince George, BC.  May 21-26, 2016.

Location:  Guild Room, 2880 15th Ave, Prince George, BC, Canada

Time:  9am-4:30pm

Instructor:  Laura Fry

Costs:
Tuition:  $595     Materials $65     Marking Fees $160

Registration:  Contact our registration desk at 1-800-661-6537

For both classes, be sure to have your Supply List ready!

Two great opportunities for the Olds Master Weaving program.

To register for the Prince George class phone the college.  Check the website for the supply list (not sure the link above came through), or if you are interested in the North Carolina class with Jean Currie, register with the Yadkin Valley Fibre Room.

For people out of town, we can try to find a B&B in Prince George.  Let me know.  We also have some floor looms available for students to use, as well as a couple of table looms, or bring your own table loom.

Currently reading Never in Anger by Jean Briggs

Organic vs Linear Learning

The box is definitely getting emptier and it is getting more...challenging to come up with colour combinations I find pleasing in sufficient quantity.  But I am nearly finished that last cone of cotton slub/linen for weft.  

Today I got back to The Book and generated another 2000 or so words...and lots of drafts for examples.  

People learn in different ways and a craft can be learned in various ways, too.  Weaving is very linear on one level, but can also be organic.  For me it breaks down into two parts:  process is more linear; quality and design of cloth is more organic.  

Determining appropriate quality of cloth is pretty much an exploration through trial and error, building on previous experience.  The only way to gain experience is to do.  As famously is said, do, or do not, there is no try.

As much as someone can explain what to do, until the student jumps in and does for themselves it is merely intellectual understanding.  

That doesn't mean that intellectual understanding is meaningless, just that you need both that theoretical understanding AND the actual experience to truly know what is going to happen.  Or at least know with 90% certainty, because there is always that bit of the unknown when trying something new or different.  

One of the reasons I am so supportive of the Olds College program is that it is attempting to provide the linear intellectual information while encouraging the organic.  The thing that seems to be most lacking in terms of learning weaving these days, imho, is that intellectual, linear information.  It is one of the things I am hoping to provide in The Book, at least to an introductory level.  Because when you don't know what you don't know, you don't know that you don't know it. 

And because learning is also organic, my hope is that once students have some linear knowledge to build on, that they will continue in whatever organic fashion best suits their need in terms of learning, building on a solid foundation.  

Satellite Launch!

Got word yesterday that the satellite weaving program has been approved for Prince George, BC May 21-26, 2016.

Registration will begin in the new year, perhaps as soon as the end of the first full week of the new school year (January 8 or so).

Class will begin on the Saturday morning, run through the May long weekend and into the following week.  For those folks who work, that means they won't necessarily have to take a full week off work.

Class will be held in the Prince George Fibre Arts Guild room.  The guild has a number of floor and table looms, so you don't have to bring one.  (There may not be enough looms to go round if the class fills, so do bring your own if you have one that is portable.)

As I understand it, because this is a college course for credit the tuition can be used as a deduction on your income tax (Canadians).  Check to make sure before claiming it, of course.

The weaving program via Olds consists of four levels plus an independent study.  It is not a 'learn how to weave' class but assumes that people know how to dress their loom and the basics.  The program endeavours to ensure that everyone who takes it has a good grounding in the principles of textile creation. 

Homework is assigned and marked and each person must 'pass' one level before going on to the next.

The class here needs a minimum of six to 'go'.  There are a total of 10 spots (which will make the room...cozy...but we're all adults and we will play together nicely.)  If anyone is interested in signing up, I suggest they do so quickly.  We have tried to get the word out early enough that folks who need to apply for vacation time will have the time to get that into the works.

I am very excited about this opportunity.  This will be the first time the college is offering weaving as a satellite program.  I am honoured that they have agreed to have it here in Prince George.

Chenille Queue

So, I went and got my flu shot yesterday and I think he injected it into muscle tissue because I can hardly move my arm today.  It's much too sore to weave, so instead I pulled some more yarn for warps and wound two more.  I'm hoping that after resting it over the weekend I will be able to weave on Monday.  The Inner Critic is nagging me to push on through the pain, but a more sensible voice is telling her to shut her cake hole.  

In the background sits the AVL, abandoned since September.  I had high hopes of getting started on another shawl warp, but it will wait until after the craft fair season.  And the workshop at the end of November...if they can get enough people signed up for it.  

Truly, I don't absolutely NEED more shawls.  Of course there is still a pile waiting to have their fringes trimmed, tag and price attached.  They might not make it for this show, but they will be ready for the next, next weekend. 

This year has been...surreal...with the surgery and recovery, slowly working my way back to functional. I keep forgetting it is nearly the end of October...and the year.

I am really hoping that next year will be less fraught, although having decided to go ahead with a book, I'm sure there will be lots of stress around that!   Not to mention the Olds satellite program.  I have an appointment to discuss this further Tuesday morning.  

So, I appear to be up to my usual tricks...too many irons in the fire!  Guess I wouldn't have it any other way, or I wouldn't keep doing this to myself. ;)

Preparations

Sunday - a day of rest.  Heh.

Doug is off pressing a bazillion place mats and tea towels and I've been carrying on with the warp winding.

The 24 individual student warps are now done - they are in baggies in the bin on the floor.  I've just begun the first of the value gamps.  Rather than have each person do one, we are making a warp per classroom.  With 12 in each class (24 in total) it's much easier if each classroom has it's own loom and value gamp for the students to rotate through as time and energy allows.  The classrooms are open in the evening so students can catch up on their class work in the evening if they want.

The skies are looking threatening again and if I'm going to get a walk in today, I better go now.  The forecast is for rain later in the day.  And I'm trying really hard to walk every day, even if I don't always make it.  With a follow up stress test booked for the fall, I want to be as fit as possible for it.  Not to mention I'd like my 'old' level of 'fitness' back for my own self.  Before needing the surgery I could easily walk up four flights of stairs without thinking about it.  Right now I'm at about 2.5 flights and my thighs start to 'burn'.  I suppose what 'they' say is correct...the older you get, the harder it is to get your fitness back when you've 'lost' it.

Piling Up

Four bins of shawls (55) tagged and ready to go into storage for the fall sales.  Well, actually, some of them will come out again next week for the Spring Arts Fair (aka Chilli Cook Off).

But the 'recovery' shawls are now officially done.   They were a nice gentle re-introduction into weaving and served their purpose well.  Not to mention I desperately needed more, anyway!

All the same, I am relieved to have finally gotten them complete to point of sale so I can concentrate on all the other things that need doing.

Thank you to everyone who contacted me about the Olds weaving program.  I'm not sure I can get something organized for this year but I'm going to suggest the week of September 21-25 and see what administration says.  It might just be too soon.  On the other hand, nothing ventured, nothing gained?