Intentions

 

Once again, I had plans.  They were good plans, too.  Carefully crafted plans.  Some of them with critical 'looming' deadlines.

As usual, I have not yet managed to do everything on my daily to-be-done list.  And it's Thursday afternoon, so stuff I had *planned* to get done this week, in addition to the stuff that I *have* to get done this week?  Well, not faring too well on that front.

Some of those 'good intentions' have gone to pave another bit of that proverbial 'road to hell' I suppose.  OTOH, the only 'deadline' for getting them done was my desire, so perhaps not actually in the road bed yet, just still sitting on the cart?

Having the furnace stop working in January was a definite curve in the road and knocked me off my rails.  Health issues still not resolved contributed.  I can say that while I missed my 'personal' deadline to get some things done the actual critical deadline is still far enough in the future that if I don't get to them today it won't be detrimental to anything other than my ego.

I did manage to get up early enough this morning that I started weaving the next warp.  I wasn't best pleased with the weft colour at the beginning but decided I had enough bobbins wound for two towels so I would weave those two.  But once I finished the first, I decided part of the problem was the very dull dreary day we were having and that once I saw the other side properly I might find myself pleasantly surprised.  So I'm withholding judgement on that weft colour, willing to do more.  Because I have plenty of that kind of periwinkle blue to use up.

Then I went to get shorn and feel enormously better for it, given the beginning weaving class starts on Saturday.  I won't feel so...well...scruffy.  My standards for personal appearance, never very high in the first place, have dropped since the beginning of the pandemic.  

Now I've had lunch, packaged up a copy of Weave a V, and will head to town.  I have several things that sort of need to be dealt with and when I get home it will either be nap time, or I'll work on one of those looming deadlines.  I still have to generate a couple more class handouts, plus the project notes for the class for School of Sweet Georgia.

And by the time I finish all that, pretty sure the day will be 'done'.  And if not the day, me.  

Tomorrow is another day, with another early morning alarm and hopefully I can get lots of stuff done on Friday with such an early start to the day?  Time will tell.

Self Promotion

 

I forget to promote myself and the things I've done.  I get caught up in what I'm doing now and ignore what I've done in the past.  So here's a friendly reminder about the books I've been involved with.

The two books I wrote and self-published are available on blurb.ca (or com if you are outside of Canada).  There is a link on this page at the bottom if you are ever looking for either title.  Magic in the Water sometimes becomes available second hand, through guild/estate sales or someone downsizing.  I find it hard to believe that 20 years later it is still valued.  

The Intentional Weaver is also available through Sweet Georgia Yarns.  I signed 10 copies when I was in Vancouver earlier this month.  (Their website says 30 in stock but I'm pretty sure there are only 10.)

Weave a V was written by Kerstin Fröberg and I encouraged her to translate it into English, then had it printed in Canada.  And yes, I still have copies for sale.  Price including shipping to Canada/US is $25.  

Right now my focus is on the first SOS lecture, set to launch May 4.  People who join SOS have full access to all of their offerings.  They have a number of instructors for a variety of textile crafts and in addition to the classes, there are articles plus forums where members can ask questions.  

I am also taking bookings for guild programs (60 minutes) or lectures/seminar (120 minutes).  My fee for a guild program is $150 and the lectures are $250.  

There are two more topics in the works for classes with SOS.  I just can't seem to make myself sit down and do the thinking and number crunching.  However that will have to change very soon!  I have always worked 'better' under the pressure of a looming (pun intended) deadline.  Apparently I still haven't learned to start early and avoid the pressure!  

However, I am looking forward to these two topics.  I need to start by dragging out all my bins of teaching samples and sorting through them to see what else I need to weave.

Anyway, if people want to contact me, I just renewed my domain name and website so the easiest way to reach me is to email laura@laurafry.com

Retired

 

I spent a rather longer time and far more money than I wanted in order to self-publish this book.  I did it because I felt it needed to be done.  That the weaving community needed to hear this information.  And it needed to have actual woven samples to truly bring home the message that every woven thing should be wet finished (unless there were special circumstances).

Over the years I have had people tell me my price was too high.  I didn't do a good enough job to be asking that much money.  But I had debt to pay for so I did not lower my price - I had to stick to my guns in order to pay the bank, pay for food, keep a roof over my head.

In the end I did finally sell all the copies (about 900).  And then people still wanted the information.

So during my time of 'pause' while I was dealing with chemotherapy, I photographed all the samples, and a friend turned the text and photos into a PDF and I started selling those through my website using a Paypal link.

Mostly that has gone reasonably smoothly but every once in a while the internet fails and the buyer does not receive the PDF.  Perhaps their service provider won't allow a file the size of the PDF or they haven't given permission to receive email from me or it gets caught in their spam file, or who knows?

When I launched the PDF of Magic on blurb, I almost closed the link on my website, but sales through my website continued, maybe 8 to 10 a year.  So I left it.

But.

Once again someone paid for the PDF through my website and did not receive it.  Six days later, they lodged a complaint with Paypal, saying that I was a fraudulent account.  They never contacted me to see if I'd sent the file (I had).  They just lodged a complaint.

Before I saw the accusation of fraudulence, I had forwarded the original email with the file attached.  

I just now sent a message through Paypal to the customer saying that I had just re-sent the file, and because she had accused me of being fraudulent, I was also refunding her purchase price.

And then when I went to disable the link, of course I could not find it. After digging around in the bowels of Paypal for 20 minutes, I give up.

I will leave the link for now, and perhaps contact Paypal help/support to find out how to once and for all get rid of the two automatic links for Magic and Weave a V.

I am not hard to find.  If someone has used my website to purchase something, they could have used the contact form to email me to find out if I'd sent the thing.  But they didn't.  They went straight to Paypal and made a baseless accusation.

If someone has a problem with me, I suggest they contact me.  So if you hear rumours of me being a rip off artist or a fraud, please be aware that there is more to the story.

The only thing worse than this scenario is someone having a technical issue with blurb and expecting me to fix it.  There is a reason I went with a third party provider.

So please, if you hear of anyone wanting a copy of Magic in the Water, it is available in print or PDF from http://blurb.ca  If you are outside of Canada, use http://blurb.com

If someone wants a copy of Weave a V, I do still have some left and will be happy to sell you one.

Shameless Self Promotion

Now that American Thanksgiving is over and we are in 'Black Friday', time to remind folk that I have done books.  Weave a V is available from me directly, the other two are available at blurb and can be either PDF or hard copy.  Weave a V is hard copy only and $25 includes shipping.

There are no more copies of Magic with the actual samples.  If you are looking for that, keep an eagle eye out for estate sales.  Copies I've seen being offered on re-sale sites are usually hundreds of dollars more than I got for the original publication.  :-/

If you buy the version available through blurb, I am making the money, not some re-seller.  If that's important.

Maybe one of these needs to go on the Dear Santa list?

Come and Get ‘em!

Three weeks to the conference and final detail crunching proceeds.

Part of the staging for the conference was pulling the boxes of books out and stacking them, ready to be packed up for the vendor booth I have at the conference.  I have 55 copies of The Intentional Weaver.  They will be available for sale during the conference.  I will also have copies of Weave a V.

Written by Kerstin Fro:berg and published in English here, it's a look at weaving a V-shaped shawl using double weave.  She includes information for both sinking and rising shed looms and general information on double weave as well as details on double width weaving, including tips on dealing with the fold.

If you can't come to the conference you can order The Intentional Weaver and Magic in the Water here

If there are copies of The Intentional Weaver left after the conference, you can order a signed copy directly from me.  People outside of Canada don't have to pay the GST but shipping is $20.

When purchasing in my booth, I have to charge applicable taxes.  For textiles, the taxes consist of 5% GST plus 7% provincial sales tax.  If you are from outside of Canada I can mail purchases to you and not charge the tax, but shipping starts at $20.  Cheaper to just pay the tax. There is no provincial sales tax on books, so just 5% on those.

Today I'm working on the exhibits, looking at what we need for display apparatus.  With the loan of display stuff from a local textile artist I think we will have enough display equipment to display everything.

I am also waiting for emails from several people about personal stuff, while my inbox balloons to nearly 8000 items.  I will be grateful when the conference is over and I can start deleting stuff.  Right now my desire is to just select all and delete but I can't do that.  Yet.

Another Show, Another Year

some of my stash that needs using up

We are home from Calgary and the last 'big' show of this year.  The guild will be having a sale in the guild room and I have a small number of 'orphans' and end-of-the-line textiles that I will put on deep discount, but that weekend is more a time to sit and knit or spin as traditionally not very many people come.  It's a quiet weekend when I can contemplate what is to come.

As mentioned previously (probably way too frequently!) I have been spending a lot of time thinking about the next few years - what they will hold, what I will be able to do.

Long car rides are also a time for some contemplation and the 13 or so hour trip yesterday provided time for us to discuss what the coming year holds.

First of all...(ta-DAH) the book.  I leave in a week for San Jose (bringing filter masks because they are still under the same kind of smoke pall we dealt with over the summer and masks are getting hard to find down there).

I have to follow up with the website about their quote on a print version for my introductory special, which will be announced on Dec. 2 when we hit 'publish'.

Then the guild sale.

I have some weaving to do for Tien for her on-line class.  Her launch date is in December so stay tuned for further updates.  She posted one yesterday while I was on the road and there should be news on her blog.

Before I left for Calgary I beamed 30 yards of 2/16 cotton on the AVL for tea towels.  This will be done in Snail's Trails and Cat's Paws block twill for tea towels.  This warp should finish off the last of the cottolin in 2/16 and I will weave a sample of the singles 12 linen and see if I can finish off whatever is left using that.  If not, there is plenty of 2/16 cotton that can be used (up).

These towels (plus many others) are intended for sale at my booth at the ANWG conference (where I will have print copies of The Intentional Weaver and probably Magic in the Water as well as Weave a V.)

In the new year I have agreed to weave more samples for Tien's on-line course.

There are 8 scarf warps waiting to go into the Fanny, plus a couple of scarf warps for Tien.

The print copies from blurb for the introductory offer should arrive sometime the end of January, so time then will be spent signing them, packaging them up and mailing them out.  As long as Canada Post has settled their strike/negotiations.  Waiting on tenterhooks for that settlement.

We brought home the first box of Olds homework and I hear through the rumour mill that several more are imminent.  If all send, that's about 40 boxes to be marked.  Again dependent upon Canada Post getting their settlement done.  Canadians could (if they choose) send by courier, but Americans, please note that I will have to pay brokerage and possibly duty if sent by courier.  You might want to wait until Canada Post is working properly again.

I'm hoping to hear any day about teaching again at Cape Breton - just level two and three.  Dianne is working on getting a level one instructor.  (Dianne is also working on developing the Master Spinner program at Gaelic College, in August, in case anyone in the east is interested.)  Plus there is Fibre Week at Olds College, next year in July.

We have more or less decided to return to Calgary one more time next year, so in between working on some research and doing the above, I will carry on with stash reduction.  This year I was able to move six boxes of yarn out of the annex and into the studio storage here.  AND I still have a little space on the shelves, so the stash is going down!!!!

And of course, the conference registration is slated to open in January.  Right now my input is minimal, but come February I will have conference duties to tackle again.

Hmm.  This semi-retirement thing.  How's that working for me???

Currently reading The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin

Time Marches

My Device arrived in February and I've barely had time to become friends with it. 

This year - like almost every year - has been crazy with things that need doing, Right This Instant.  Or the next.

Right now I'm juggling - in no particular order - inventory for the craft fairs (first of the four table runner warps will go into the loom this afternoon), the conference (details of the workshops and seminars, plus ramping up marketing), The Book (book projects).

Add in some fairly important physical maintenance, and I have not had the energy to also spin.

But that changes tonight.  Since The Device is so portable, I have decided that Thursday guild drop ins I will carry The Device up to the guild room and start tackling that heap of fibre in my studio.

Because the end of this month the photos for The Book will be taken, and I need to clear some room so that there are fewer goat trails and more space to set up camera and lights.  Plus I'm out of hand spun yarn.  Not that I don't have yarn to knit with - I have also been stash diving to see what I can use up to make the shawls I use as gifts and donations to worthy causes.

It is also my birthday in less than a week.  I will be having a birthday sale of tea towels, just in case anyone is interested.  Usual deal - buy two items and receive free shipping.  Included in the sale will be Weave a V.

Not included will be Magic in the Water.  That you can purchase at Blurb

Roller Coaster

Yesterday I was thinking about all the things I've written, including this blog.  But I also published Weave a V*, Kerstin's book (in English).  I have also been thinking about the conference planning, which I really need to get back to - SOON! - and plans to have an author signing event at the conference.  I intend to have The Intentional Weaver ready for sale by the end of this year and will likely purchase some actual print copies to sell in my vendor booth at the conference.

No, I won't be teaching, although it is likely I'll be part of seminar on the Olds programs, spinning and weaving.  In the end I decided to not even attempt to teach at the conference.  It seemed like the straw that might break the camel's back to teach (maybe) level three at Cape Breton, come home to oversee (along with my right and left hand women) the conference, make sure the instructors have what they need, etc., then drive to Olds to (maybe) teach level one there again.

My roller coaster of a schedule will be quite busy enough without my teaching at the conference as well.

But I have nearly completed the special commission for a new publication (actually two) that is in production.  I just have to get final measurements, re-read my project notes, append my bio and package it all up to ship on Monday.

Yesterday I laid out my schedule for the next six months and took a big gulp.  It's going to be busy! 

Guess my roller coaster ride is going to keep on going for a while longer...

*still available $25 Cdn including shipping

Currently reading Mrs. Roosevelt's Companion by Susan Elia MacNeal

Advertising/Marketing/Promoting

I was reminded recently that I haven't mentioned the things I sell for a while - especially Magic in the Water now being available for sale in either PDF or print-on-demand.  

Then there is the book/monograph I published in English for Kerstin Fro:berg, Weave a V.  If you are in Europe, you might like to use the link and buy directly from Kerstin.  She has both Swedish and English versions available.

My editor assures me that she will have the final final edits of The IntentionalWeaver done by Friday, but I have company until the 28th so nothing much will get done until March.  However, I do feel (after meeting with Ruth in person) that I have something worthwhile publishing.  I just want to add some more projects and a few more hints/tips specific to the weave structures I am including.  Then this summer I am hoping for a massive photo shoot to make the photos consistent because I've just been cadging photos from my files and they span about 12 years.  And no, I no longer look like that in some of those older photos.  :(  So, for the sake of visual harmony, all of the photos need to be re-taken.  

Again, I am not trying to write a 'how to learn to weave' book, but mining my 40 mumble years of production weaving, teaching and writing about weaving, in hopes of a 'how to weave better' book.

My finances took a big hit last year for one reason and another (a parent dying does tend to kind of knock the wind out of your sails) and I'm scrambling to keep myself afloat during the early months of this year.

So if anyone is at all inclined to either purchase either of the above, or contact me about tea towels (tea towels, I got tea towels!) I would be ever so grateful.  Or you can shop on line - I have six designs listed (more in inventory if you don't see something you like - let me know what you are looking for!)

As for teaching, I've had to cancel one workshop already this year but it looks like the local workshop on Twills will go ahead the first weekend of April.  If you are interested, feel free to email me via my website and use the contact form.

For Olds, I'm still sitting on contracts for four classes - three level one, one level two.  This program is 5 days in person with the instructor, then homework to be completed during the following year.  Right now there are classes in Yadkinville, NC, (although I'm not teaching there) Cape Breton (Englishtown, NS) and hosted by the Olympia, WA guild (Tanino, WA).  

I am also working on more written projects.  One has been sent off to Handwoven for the Nov/Dec issue and I'm quite pleased with how the cloth looks.  I hope I have presented a familiar weave structure in a fresh way.

And I just signed a contract to do another project for Interweave, plus I have been in discussion with Interweave about on-line teaching.  No contract yet, but I'm quite excited about opening up the possibility to teach remotely.  Because I'm getting way too tired for those dark o'clock flights.  (Last year I wound up taking the red eye to Cape Breton and I fear there will be a repeat of that this year - but still preferable to those 6 am flights!!!)

Now, not all of these things I mentioned may happen.  In fact I rarely say much of anything until I have confirmation.  But sometimes you need to let people know these things are scheduled so that they can go sign up...

As always, thank you for reading and your feedback.

Currently reading Bone Box by Faye Kellerman

Bumps and Hiccoughs

So, here I was, all set to have my usual 'birthday' sale (generally July 1-9 each year) when a news release announced that the union and Canada Post are about to start job action and if the union begins rotating job action, Canada Post will simply shut down service entirely.  Not much point doing a 'sale' when I can't then ship anything.

Since the sale would have started this Friday (Canada Day) and run through to my birthday (July 9), it would appear that I won't be having a sale this summer after all.  Unless everyone decides to play nice?  I could then have a 'belated' sale once the dust settles...

If anyone is interested in tea towels or Kerstin Fro:berg's book Weave a V - email me laura at laurafry dot com and I will see what I can work out later.

(Usual terms of the sale are - buy two or more items, get free shipping.)

Reality

There are eleven copies of A Good Yarn: Rayon with woven samples (before and after wet finishing) left.  Once these are gone, I doubt very much any publication I do in the future will have samples.  In fact, I can pretty much guarantee it.

Not because I can't weave the samples or put the publication together.  I have all the equipment and even the materials to do another publication.  It's the shipping costs that are killing a 'real' book.  Every year postage has gone up, not to mention the price of the padded envelopes I've been using to mail them.

'Shipping' isn't just the postage, it's all the other things that go into getting a parcel ready to put into the mail - as I say, padded envelope, customs forms, driving to the post office (I don't have pick up or free shipping materials in Canada).  Technically I also need to have the recipients phone number if I am to do the customs forms on-line - or Canada Post won't do the pre-printed forms, so a trip in person to the post office is required.

All of these add up and I've come to the conclusion that it's time to go digital.

That being said...there are still 11 copies of this publication left.  If purchased before July 10 along with one other item, you get free shipping.  Price of AGY: Rayon is just $40 Cdn.  How about this:

just $20 - a great tutorial on how to develop any double width cloth

Stay tuned for announcements about digital publications, maybe as soon as the end of this year.

Ground Hog Day

Look familiar?  It should.  It's the state of the studio - still.  I'm beginning to feel like a character in Ground Hog Day - you know, the same day that dawns over and over again?

I've not touched the looms at all for days because it has been a repeat of warp winding, cone winding, label making, applying...

I've said it before and I'm going to say it again.  I am not going to miss doing yarn sales.  The amount of time and effort required?  The hefting of heavy boxes, standing (usually) on concrete, long hours, long drives...I'm so done.

We will still be doing craft fairs, but only in the fall.  It's not much fun driving through the mountains in the winter, but needs must.  If I'm going to use up my stash creating boxes of textiles, they have to be sold.  And the best time to sell them is right before Christmas, so....

I will have copies of A Good Yarn: Rayon and Weave a V (latter by Kerstin Froberg) for sale at Olds.  I'm also not doing publications any more - at least, not 'real' ones.  It remains to be seen if I will actually get to doing digital ones.

Mocha

This past weekend was the guild sale/demo.  Unfortunately it was rather more quiet than hoped, but a few of my 'discontinued' items found new homes so that made me happy.

On Sunday Doug went pressing and brought home the finished, finished, red tea towels plus a bucket full of the chocolate brown weft towels.  I am quite pleased with how they look but they are thicker than my preference for 'tea' towels.  They would make good 'kitchen utility towels'.  Or table runners.

In this photo you can see both sides of the cloth and the pinned hem at one end.  I started hemming last night, but didn't get very far.

However, these are close enough to done with one week left in my 'buy two items, get free shipping' offer to include them.  There are about 15 of them.

After a couple of weeks of lovely winter weather we are having a warm spell.  The bad news is that with the warmer temps comes rain.  It isn't raining yet, so I should really head to town and brave the line up at the post office.  The down side of running a 'sale' at this time of the year - everyone else is mailing Christmas parcels and the line ups are huge.

As for what is happening in the studio today?  Probably work on the next scarf on the small loom while I cogitate about the next tea towel warp on the AVL.  I think I know what I want but need to get it into the weaving software and crunch the numbers to see if the threading repeat will fit into the number of ends for a tea towel.  I've got one large and one smaller cone of the tow linen left that I'd love to see used up.  And after that?  Oh yes, the two large cones of singles 20 natural linen I 'forgot' I had...

Still lots of stuff left in the Cyber Monday 'sale' - check the Dec. 1 post for up-to-date numbers - the towels pictured above are  in the $28 category

Cyber Monday, My Way

Since I still have inventory that I would love see go to a new loving home, and since it would be nice to join in the spirit by having a sale, I am reprising my 'buy two (or more) and get free shipping' sale that I did over the summer.

What there is:

Weave a V by Kerstin Fro;berg - $20.

A Good Yarn:  Rayon:  $40

And tea towels.  These are just some of them:

100% cotton  $24 each

Red:  10

Blue:  0

Rose:  6

2/16 cotton warp with tow linen weft - $28 each:

beige/orange:  8

white/cream with natural:  6

turquoise with natural:  7

2/16 cotton with singles 20 weft - $36 each:

red:  2 ready, many more to be pressed (like maybe another 24?) perfect for festive occasions.  The pattern is Young Lover's Knot overshot translated to twill blocks

emerald green:  21 - another overshot translated to twill blocks

greyed blue/green:  11 - snail's trails and cat's paws in twill blocks

turquoise:  15 blooming leaf overshot in twill blocks

I can also burn Magic in the Water to a flash drive or CD - $25

My version of Cyber Monday will last until Dec. 15 or until stock is sold.  Items shipped closer to Christmas might arrive after the Christmas mail rush because I will only pay for the cheapest rate.  And yes, this includes outside North America.  

I also have a few 'orphans' - if you don't see a colour you want, I may have one or two left and will send pictures if you let me know what you are looking for.  

FOR ALL ORDERS, EMAIL ME:  laura at laurafry dot com

Season's Greetings to everyone - whatever you celebrate I hope it's a fantastic one.

*edited to show up to date numbers

Publication Info

I've been assuming that people already know what A Good Yarn: Rayon and Weave a V are all about.  So for those of you who do already know you may want to skip the rest of this post. Or you might want to give me some feedback on the question of digitizing the series...

A Good Yarn (the series) came about because it was apparent that too few people really knew or understood the essential characteristics of the various fibres that we work with.  So each publication in the series dealt with the fibre characteristics and how those might be affected by preparation for and spinning.  Other information such as the difference between 2/8 and 8/2 cotton was given for Cotton, various yarn counts for Rayon, burn tests and other interesting things were were included.

Then I wove samples with various types of yarn and included before and after wet finishing so that the change in appearance and feel could be clearly illustrated.

The copies were signed and numbered.

Rayon is the only title left as Cotton and Linen/Hemp are now sold out.  Will I digitize these publications?  Possibly.  With my teaching schedule curtailed, I might possibly have the time to tackle this in the new year.  It depends on whether or not there is sufficient market for it?

this photo shows the text pages, the 7 samples with the before/after samples and tassel of the yarns used

If you are looking for Su Butler's in depth look at rayon chenille, it is still available at her website

Weave a V was written by Kerstin Fro:berg and details how to create a V shaped shawl using double weave.  Instructions are for both rising and sinking shed looms.

page showing how to deal with the fold that makes the V

Cover showing rainbow shawl

Scarf with pockets woven in and small coins inserted

Weave a V is $20 ($5 shipping) and A Good Yarn:  Rayon is $40.  Buy both (or any two items, including towels - email me for pictures or read previous posts) and get free shipping.

Currently reading  Shots Fired by C. J. Box