Value(s)

 

Since weaving was, for me, not a hobby but a chosen profession, I had to spend time learning a lot more about how 'money' works than I knew when I began.

I had known small business owners (my mother being one of them, eventually) so I had a peek at what they needed to know, and do, and set about learning more myself.  I had also worked for a year at a 'credit bureau' where we gave credit information about people who were applying for credit.  I got first hand experience with how credit rating is used when someone applies for a loan.  I understood how important it is to keep a 'clean' credit rating, how to price my own work, what I would accept as payment, and then how I would/could process those payments - from making sure I had a cash 'float' when doing craft fairs (hardly anyone had a credit card in the early 70s), balance a till, give change back, neatly counted out, not shoved across the counter or crunched into my hand, not knowing if the cashier had actually given me the proper amount.  (Yes, I'm that old.)

But when your efforts are in creating product - by yourself - you learn very quickly how to price an item, how you cannot be intimidated by the customer into giving them a 'discount' that you can't afford to give, and so on.  

I've had other weavers copy my work.  I've had 'industrial' businesses try to put me down by saying they could out produce me (true), but I pointed out that my market share was so tiny it would not be profitable to copy what I did.  (Sweet summer child had no answer to that.)

Stories?  Yes, I've got stories.  I wrote about them in A Thread  Runs Through It.  (Available in my ko-fi shop as a pdf download.)

Long story short - I learned what was of value - and what was less valuable.

It is with some interest, then, I picked up PM Carney's book "Value(s)".  It is dense, about 550 pages, and it is an in depth look at financial considerations, not particularly for individuals, but for societies and governing bodies.  

I was aware of some of the history of the development of 'money' but he has provided a very detailed look at that history.  He has looked at various 'theories' of finance, not in detail, but more a look at the societal values that each theory attempts to address.  Which makes the title of his book a double entendre (so to speak).

What do *I* as an individual value?  And what do I value in the making of, and the selling of, my weaving?

It has been encouraging me to look more closely at my life as a weaver.  And how to 'weight' my choices based on my personal core 'values'.

I won't say it's an easy read.  But it is something I wish more politicians would grapple with instead of jumping head over heels into the Ayn Rand theory of economics.

When I read that book, I did so because so many people were reading and recommending everyone pay attention to what she was saying.  I picked up a copy and started reading.  Now, in those days, once I opened a book the onus was on me to finish it.  It was not the first, but one of the few books I simply closed and decided I didn't need to spend *my* time reading it.  So, I never have.  And over all, what I remember is that the 'people' in her book were so...'not nice'... that I didn't want to spend that much of my life trying to figure out why I was wasting my time continuing to read it.

I set out to 'succeed' in my own fashion, not anyone else's.  

I think I talk about this incident in the book, but I'll re-cap it here.

In the 1980s the government of the day set up a tax deferment scheme.  People with 'lots' of money (more than me, at any rate) could 'invest' in the scheme and when they 'lost' money on the investment, they could get a tax rebate.  As near as I can remember.  Because not only did I not make enough money to make the 'investment', I couldn't afford to lose money and then claim that loss back from the government.  (I may not be remembering the details correctly - it was 30+ years ago.)

We went to a 'cocktail party' where most of the people there made buckets more money than I did, and a group of men formed a circle and were loudly announcing how many 1000s of $ they had 'made' on this tax deferment scheme.  

At one point I wanted to clarify something so I asked a question.  The men were startled - why wasn't I in the kitchen or passing a tray of hors d'oerves around?  But one of them deigned to answer my question.  I asked if the point was to invest, *lose* money, then claim the loss from the government (or whatever the process was).  They confirmed that it was a tax deferral and they would save money on their income tax return.

"Huh", I said.  "I always thought that if I had to pay income tax, that meant I was doing something correctly."

Because in *my* mind, if I was making enough money that the government was going to take some of it for things like roads, infrastructure, schools, healthcare - I needed to pay towards those benefits that I used all the time.

They stared at me like I had 3 heads.  I looked down at my glass, which was empty, and wandered away to get another drink and find some people that I wanted to talk with.

So let's just say I'm not a tiny bit impressed by how many trillionaires we have nowadays.  I barely knew anyone who was considered a 'millionaire' when I was in my 20s.  There were a few, and most of them were quite 'nasty' - remember, I spent a year seeing people's personal credit history.  I *knew* which businessmen paid their contractors and employers, and how many did not.  (Sound familiar?)

Some bragging about how wealthy they were and prancing around in fancy cars, buying up land to build a mansion on?  How does that Shania Twain song go?  That don't impress me much.

So I look back at my life and see there were 'failures'.  But I never tried to cheat anyone.  There will no doubt be some who will say that I have.  But you'd have to know *my* side of the story.  

When anyone who publicly tried to 'shame' me by saying I had cheated them?  Quickly found out that since they had gone 'public' I found no problem responding publicly.  

In response to a social media post, Mr. Trump once again called Canadians 'nasty' and the 'worst people to deal with'.  I commented that while Canadians have a reputation of being 'polite' and more milquetoast than 'strong'. we can hold a grudge as hard as a bear hangs onto honey.  

Wayne Dyer used to say that someone else's opinion is none of your business.  So I check my values from time to time.  Because *my* values *are* my business.

Yup.  Still there.  I get my accountant to figure out how much in taxes we owe, and then we pay that.  Goodness knows the past 20 years I have more than used up what I paid into the health care coffers via my taxes.  It's only fair I keep paying my taxes and try to help others who may need it.

Have more than enough?  Build a longer table rather than a wall...

Currently having issues with ko-fi - use the link provided - the little 'coffee' cup.

9th Life; 1st Birthday

 

Next week will mark the first birthday of my re-birth, or the beginning of my 9th life.

I was on the way to an appointment, and for some reason I 'stumbled' and did a face plant.  A couple walking towards me saw me go over, like a tree that had been felled, and rushed to help me stand up, dusted me off, and then insisted they would walk with me to my destination, about 2 short blocks away.  I was embarrassed, but did feel a bit light headed, so was grateful for the assistance.  I didn't appear to be injured, other than a spot of road rash on my right cheek and gravel embedded in the heels of my hands from where I had tried to break my fall.  But I was a little bit in shock.

When I was done with my appointment, one of the office staff walked me back to my van, and I still felt a little 'off' but not particularly 'injured' - beyond my pride.

I headed home, told Doug what happened and we chatted for a while until I said that I was very tired, assumed the adrenaline was wearing off, and said that I was going to go lay down.

I'm the kind of person who normally sleeps on my side, which was probably the first step in saving my life that day, because after I had been laying down for a while, Doug heard strange noises coming from down the hall from the bedroom.  He came in to check on me and discovered I was vomiting - and was completely non-responsive to his efforts to sit me up and get me to say what was happening.

He phoned a friend (RN) who heard what was going on and said to phone 911 and she would be there as soon as she could.  He phoned 911 and described what was happening, and asked for an ambulance.  They arrived in fairly short order and came in, realized they would never get the gurney down the hall to the bedroom and requested back up support from the fire department in order to carry me out.

In the meantime the friend arrived and talked to the medics and they took me to the hospital.  Doug followed, with my health card and such.  The medics had done what they could to stabilize me, noted the spot of road rash on my face, Doug described my fall.  The emergency doctor said that they would do a CT scan based on my falling and subsequent non-responsive presentation, then everyone disappeared while the CT scan was run.

Doug said it was hard to wait because it seemed a very long time before the doctor came back and when he did, he was all 'business'.  As soon as they saw the scan, the doctor had phoned a neurosurgeon in Vancouver and when *they* saw the scans, the surgeon advised them to get me ready for transport, because he was requesting a medivac flight to get me down there asap.  And that he would be waiting for my arrival to do the surgery as soon as I arrived, after midnight.

When I presented in Vancouver, I had a 'serious' bleed in my brain in the speech centre.  

The next day, when I came to, I did not know where I was, or why.  I was not in pain - even my back pain seemed to be in 'shock' and wasn't bothering me too much.  But I had an incision about the size of a tennis ball with many, many staples in my scalp.  (I did ask my doctor who removed the staples how many there were and he showed me the tub with all of the staples and said 'I don't think you want to know'.)

Things were confusing and scary, but the hospital in Vancouver shipped me back to the hospital here and a few days later they let me go home, too.  I was so relieved because the hospital in Vancouver had had a Covid outbreak, and the one here, hardly anyone was wearing masks.  I was so much more comfortable at home, especially when friends brought me 'safe' foods (allergy free) - because that was my other concern.  I never do well in hospital because of my numerous food allergies.

And then my face swelled up.  Like scary swelling, around my eyes.  Turns out it was 'normal' for that kind of surgery, but no one I talked to about it knew that.  For 3 days I could not speak at all.  Except swear words.  Doug learned to ask yes/no questions, and I could shake or nod my head.  That was scary as hell because I *had* been able to talk, and then all of a sudden I could not.  I did not know if I ever would talk again.  But eventually my words began to slowly come back.

Then, I didn't know if I could ever write again.  It was becoming clear to me that I really was not going to be able to teach.  Could I weave?  I asked the physiotherapist who saw me once I got home to book a time for him to watch me weave, make sure I wasn't hurting myself.  He did a few days later, and seemed satisfied.  Just warned me to begin very VERY slowly, just a few minutes at a time to begin with.

Then I booked with my massage therapist, and he went over my back and legs, and advised me on a schedule to help me NOT overdo the weaving.  Warned me it was not a speedy recovery.  That given I had a rather serious brain injury, to NOT overdo activities.  Rest.  Sleep as much as I could.

Two months after the surgery I had a phone call from the surgeon, who expressed pleasure at how well I was doing.  I told him I didn't feel like I was doing well - at all.

"Listen, you arrived with a serious brain bleed.  Most people arriving with the size of bleed you had would not even be discharged from the hospital, but would go directly to a rehab facility - for *months*.

"Oh."

"So you are doing very well.  You just told me that you are already weaving!"

Then I asked about the swelling and he assured me that it was completely 'normal' with that kind of surgery to have exactly that kind of swelling and that it would eventually recede, but that it was going to take time and I needed to be very patient with myself while my body healed.

I have tried to make sure I keep a 'good attitude', not get too depressed about how much more limited I am, how fragile I feel, how I have needed a cane since then because I am so unsteady on my feet.  I don't know that I will ever completely recover my balance, or be able to walk more than a short distance.  I feel...broken.  But I am nearly at the 12 month recovery, and the surgeon assured me that it takes about 24 months to see where your 'final' recovery will land.  So things *could* improve more.  I tenderly nurture my tiny crop of 'hope'...

In the meantime, I am hoping to take a class through the pain clinic on neuroplasticity, which I'm hoping will be beneficial for both of my physical problems - chronic pain and brain injury.

I had been thinking of having a 'birthday sale' on August 28, but given the shenanigans with tariffs and such, I'm not going to.  I will wait and see if things settle down in time for a 'Christmas' sale in Nov/Dec.  

Needless to say, sales pretty much dried up this year, and while it might be fun to do something on Zoom, I'm not feeling like I can manage to do something without tiring myself 'too much'.  

So, just a suggestion - if you want to send me greetings you can buy me a 'coffee' via my ko-fi shop.  I promise to spend the money on more yarn.  Because it seems I'm recovering enough that I can keep weaving.  

I hesitated for a very long time about telling this story - I know I've talked about bits and parts of it.  But I feel as though I have 'recovered' enough that I could tell it now.  Before you can 'accept' what has happened, you have to be able to talk about it.  I won't lie, I had some very 'dark' days over the past 12 months.  And while I'm not fully recovered - I may never BE 'fully' recovered, I *am* still here, still weaving, still manage to write (with help), so I guess it is the right time for me to feel like I am celebrating that fact.  I'm not angry (much) any more.  But this thing happened.  Now I need to figure out to live my life as fully, as completely, as I can.  And to me, that means weaving.

Sending best wishes to everyone struggling with 'reality'.  Remember to recognize the little pleasures, be they a rainbow in amongst the clouds, or a piece of cake, or weaving.  Whatever that brings you joy, do that thing.  

Cleaning Up

 

One of the towels listed in my ko-fi shop

Today I finally managed to get into my ko-fi shop and clean up my listings removing the USA from destinations that I will ship to, which leaves just...Canada.

The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of my sales in ko-fi were made by USians, with just a few from Canada, and a small number from Europe.  So cutting off the US market was a really hard decision to make.  But the fact of the matter is that since the current president of the US has been rattling sabers at Canada, I felt it only fair that I not encourage US customers to purchase, given I have been very loud in the fact that my family is boycotting the US products.  As in almost nothing made in the US is being purchased.  It also irks me to no end that he keeps 'bragging' about all the foreign money coming into the US because of the tariffs, when it is the US customer paying the tax, not a vendor in Canada.

Oh, there are a few things that we have not been able to find replacements for, but we are keeping an eye open and when we see an opportunity to switch to a different source, we take it, even if it may cost a few dollars more.  Some things cannot be replaced, as far as we know, so we try to do without, as much as possible, and figure out other products that might work instead.

I have left the pdf of A Thread Runs Through It because I don't need to ship anything.  And because it is an online purchase, there is no tariff that will be collected by the US government for my customer to pay.

Yesterday I managed to assemble the greeting cards I was making, using fabric squares cut from the skirt of a ballgown I wove and sewed (too many years ago and in which I no longer fit) and managed to get 120 cards made.  I gave 10 to a friend, and will likely give more to select other friends.  I very much doubt I will use 100+ blank cards in what is left of this lifetime - might as well share.  So that's one 'light duty' task finished - just need to finish clearing up the assembly clutter.

And this morning I printed out care labels that will be stuck to the hang tags because the guild wants 'fresh' inventory this year.  And even though I have been working/weaving as much as I can, I still managed to amass a table full of new product in the last 18 months.  I still have to print out the labels for the cotton/linen towels, but one thing at a time so that I don't begin feeling overwhelmed.  Which I do, if I try to do 'too much'.  So, still not running at full capacity.

As such, I have turned down another request to teach online.  Next week it will be one year since I had a brain bleed, and I'm still far from functional.  Especially if I'm tired - or stressed.  And trying to speak on the fly (so to speak) which is how I have always taught, I'm left scrambling for words and fumbling around in my brain trying to find which sinkhole my words disappeared into - because they are not coming out of my mouth.

I need to talk to my webmaster about what I might be able to do* instead of 'formal' classes and what she has time to do in regards to my website.  

This week I have zero appointments.  I have no idea how that happened, but I am going to continue to 'recover' from the injection last week and begin to get back to the loom.  In the meantime, I still have the care tags to deal with if I don't feel up to actually weaving.  Plus I have one more article in rough draft, and need to go through and collect the highlighted 'nits', and make sure I said what I wanted to say or if my words didn't make it to the tips of my fingers - as been known to happen, all too frequently.

Anyway, sending love and light to my USian friends.  I hope you can get things sorted soon.

*taking suggestions for ideas to maybe do a Q&A or something instead of a more 'formal' presentation.  Would guilds be interested in such a thing?  Maybe an Ask Me Anything for an hour?  Suggestions welcome...

More Books

One of the 'fun' things about following people on social media is that you learn of things you might never have known about.

There are several authors I follow on Bluesky, and since I enjoy the writing of Guy Gavriel Kay, I always take notice when he recommends a book by someone else.  Generally he hasn't steered me wrong.  So when he mentioned this book this morning, I took note.  Then I went to my local bookstore and saw it was in pre-order and they would take an order for the book and let me know when it arrived in November.

Now,  I know nothing about this author, I've never read any of his other books, but a book using weaving as a metaphor?  

Count me in!  And if I feel like reading it once was enough, I can always donate it to the guild library.

I have not heard of the term 'powsels' before, but I surely know exactly what 'thrums' are!  And tales from a 'creative life'?  Yes, please.

And while I'm at it, I'll remind y'all about Stories from the Matrix, which is available as usual at the blurb website

And if you are interested in what it took for me to make weaving my career, the pdf of A Thread Runs Through It is still available on my ko-fi shop.  Blurb is a US company and their books are printed in the US, so no tariffs for US customers.  For non-NA customers, they tend to print locally to save on shipping, etc.

In the meantime I have Martin Walker's latest Bruno book with Laurie R King's latest waiting for me to pick it up.  I'm trying to get further into Walker's book before I collect King's.

Reviewing

 

When I first started weaving I had little expectation of doing anything more than just that - weaving.  But I was tossed into the deep end of the teaching pool by my then instructor - with no training, little knowledge, but a love for this intriguing craft.  And the desire to share with others how much I loved it.

As time went on I began - tentatively - writing articles.  First was my local guild newsletter, then I knew someone who knew someone, and my first article in a real magazine appeared.  Which whetted my appetite.  I had always loved reading and writing, and soon enough I was submitting articles to other publications.

My knowledge expanded and deepened, and I kept finding more stuff out.  There was a small group of 'local' weavers who had enrolled into the Guild of Canadian Weavers master weaver program, and they kindly allowed me to join them.  I got to learn from them as they worked through the problems, then helped me as I began my journey.  One loaned me a small floor loom to weave the guild samples.

As the years went by I continued to teach, but from a more refined perspective - as I taught I learned about teaching, especially a hands on, skill based craft.

Weaving is a combination of a variety of different 'sciences' - from mathematics, to physics, to mechanics, to chemistry (if you want to dye your own yarn), and then wet finishing, which is a whole other 'science' that melds everything you have done to that point.  And where it can all go pear shaped.

Then the internet appeared and I joined in 1994, discovering chat groups.  And I began answering questions - because I could see the crying need for information that was difficult to find or access.  And I began to gain a 'reputation' about weaving related issues, from very beginner to more 'advanced'.

I fought against the perception that a 16 shaft dobby with fly shuttle and auto-cloth advance 'wasn't really weaving', not always successfully.  Some people just could not give up that myth.  I boldly purchased a computer assisted dobby - fighting the same 'fight' about it not being 'truly' weaving if the computer was doing everything for me.  Ahem.

I had people argue with me about all manner of things.  Some of them accepted the information (the receipts as 'they' say in today's parlance) and adjusted their attitudes.  Some...did not.

Some other weavers were supportive, which was gratefully acknowledged, but not all were.  Some played the 'the customer is always right' card when they were clearly wrong, blaming me for their faulty expectations.  I learned to shrug and move on.  Let them be mad.  Some of these learned that if you made a complaint 'public' I will respond publicly.

Over the years, learning to weave was not just a lesson about learning to weave, but how I wanted to live my life.

No matter how much some people insisted I wasn't a 'real' weaver because I was using a loom with more technology, I had to pay my bills, keep a roof over my head and food on the table.  If they were not willing to pay my prices they didn't get to choose how I was going to do my work.  I remained steady - in the main - although I did have to adjust my attitudes when I realized I was too wrapped up in my reality bubble and needed to make room for other approaches.

Next month is the 50th anniversary of beginning this journey.  As with life, it has had ups and downs and turn arounds.

Did I expect to write a book?  No.  There were plenty of weaving books around.  But information on wet finishing was very difficult to find so I wound up creating a book of reference samples - and as much of the essential information I could find - and tell 20th century weavers how to adapt 'ordinary' equipment to process their webs to create whole cloth.

I had only just finally sold the last of those books and converted the file into a pdf when I began working on another book.  During that time my mother became ill and we did a fairly extensive renovation of the house - stress city!  And mom died so there was all the closure of her 90 years to be done.  Let's say that the stress was kind of over the top and I wound up contacting someone who agreed to professionally edit the ms.   A god-send.

Thinking that was me sorted, regarding writing, two years ago I found myself taken by the scruff of the neck by my muse and spending about 2 hours a day banging the keyboard.  That was no sooner done and sent to blurb when I was once again directed by my muse to keep going.   Apparently I had one more 'book' in me.  Even though I self-published all my books, I still hired professional help to get them off to the printer/seller.  I know that the bigger the project, the less accurate perspective I have the closer to completion.

Today is Aug. 11.  On Aug. 28 it will be the one year 'anniversary' of the day I almost died - but didn't.

As I sit here and reflect, I am so grateful to all who have, throughout the years, been supportive and encouraging of my desire to share my love of this craft.

Recently, I was asked what is 'next' for me.  I honestly do not know.  I feel like there is something else, something more, that I am supposed to do and that I need to do it.  Of course my muse does not ever provide a map with X marks the spot, on it.  So instead I get up in the morning, creaking and moaning, trying to figure out what to do today.

If I just keep going, keep trying, keep accepting 'challenges' (write another article?  YES!) and eventually I will figure it out?  

In the meantime, I see from time to time that some of my messages have landed as people quote me (always a shock when I see it) or thank me for showing them a technique or help them solve a problem.  I have met so  many talented people who are working hard within the craft within the dream they have for themselves.  I love to see it.

Right now I have a friend who is dealing with health issues similar to my own and she has decided she wants to weave again.  So I invited her to come and re-introduce herself to the craft by weaving on my small loom.  Another friend wants to get back to weaving when she is done getting her degree.  A few local weavers are interested in my coming to guild with issues of WEFT and having a small weavers gathering.

So perhaps it isn't one 'big' thing I need to do but a multitude of 'little' things?

Tomorrow I get the next injection for my back and I will discuss tweaking my pain medication in hopes of reducing my pain some more.  I am at once hopeful and dreading it.  My hopes for less pain have been dashed over and over again.  Will this last, final, kick at the can work or?

Anyway if anyone has a little extra positive energy to send my way tomorrow at 3pm Pacific time, I'd appreciate any thoughts/prayers you can spare...

Books available at blurb and kofi

Oops!

 

Two different qualities of cotton yarn

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Birthday Musings

 

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

Which is sort of how 'life' works.

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

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

I keep circling round the same few questions:

What's it all about Alfie?

Why am I here?

What can I do?

What *should* I do?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Canada Day

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wishing everyone a pleasant day, wherever you are.

Step by Step

 

Yesterday I reached the 1/3 done stage of this warp.  The web was cut off and the warp re-tied and I began again.

I have not wet finished these yet, there are only 7 towels and that's kind of a small load to run the washer/dryer so I'll wait.  I *may* do that after I've woven the next 7 towels, but I may wait until the entire warp has been woven.

I still have to inspect and repair the towels, but so far weaving has been going fairly smoothly and hopefully there will not be too many oopsies to fix.  (Yes, there are some, of course there are!)

The weft for these towels is some 2/15 yarn (labelled by the mill as 2 ply, 15 count, warp spun, so I'm assuming ring spun.)  I received it in error, but decided to keep it and use it up rather than pay to ship it back to the mill.  It is 'different' from the 'usual' 2/16 I get from Brassard.  I should dig out my microscope and see if I can figure out why.  OTOH, it seems to be weaving up ok (I used some of the yarn on the end of the previous warp and after wet finishing it has a nice handle) so I don't need to know, I'm just curious.  Anyway, I am worrying away at the two smaller cones, but I have 3 more (!) of full sized cones, so I figure enough weft for 3 more towel warps.  Oops.

I got the order to Brassard for the 2/20 mercerized cotton but I have not yet received confirmation that it has been mailed.  And of course next Tuesday is a national holiday, and I have no idea if Brassard is just taking Monday off, too, or if they will be notifying of the shipping details before the holiday.

Anyway, a reminder of my July sale - Buy Two, get a Third free.  This 'sale' is not available to US addresses.  If I'm going to boycott made in America products, I can hardly ask USians to buy *my* stuff.  However, I will investigate shipping costs to Europe, if anyone there is interested.  I need the shipping address, weight and parcel dimensions to know how much the shipping will cost.

Shipping within Canada is included in the price listed in my ko-fi shop.

In the meantime, I press on, trying to get to the loom twice a day, dealing with as little as I can because I'm still not sleeping 'well' and constantly pushing through the fatigue.  Hopefully I'll get some more answers (if they are useful or helpful is to be determined) next week and be able to be more comfortable in my body.  

Getting old is NOT for sissies.  At least the way *I* am aging it's not.  OTOH I am still here, still want to weave, can still write (sort of), so I keep going.  

July Sale

 

With the continuing uncertainty of (waves hands) it was a hard decision but I finally decided on having a July sale (as I usually do), but have it only available to Canadian addresses.  (Europeans can contact me for shipping costs.  I pretty much need to check, country by country and need to know the weight, size, etc.)

But this morning my printer reminded me that it needs replacing and I am not in a position to easily do that right now - unless I sell some things!  Hopefully it will hang on for a while, but I need to be prepared - usually on a Sunday!  

The sale event is that if you buy two towels, you will receive three, out of the inventory I have currently posted in  my ko-fi shop.  

There are a few of my newer designs *and* there are some that have linen weft, not just 100% cotton.

You don't need to do anything.  July 1, 2025 until midnight July 9, 2025, if you order two towels, I will ship 3.

Email me laura at laurafry dot com if you have questions, or you can message me via the ko-fi shop messenger option.

Of Tariffs

 One brave person ordered a towel as a gift, which I got into the mail last Friday.  It was too late for the truck to Vancouver, so it didn't get there until Monday, and when the post office attempted to transfer it to the custody of  US Customs/USPS, welp, I don't know what happened, but it still shows this message as of 5 pm April 30:

Delivery may be delayed due to public authority

I have never seen such a message in the years I've made stuff and shipped it across the border.  What does it mean, actually?  Dunno.  All I can hope is that Canada Post will return the parcel to me so that I'm not out the towel as well as the postage, packaging, etc.  If it comes back to me, of course I will refund the person's money.

Given the current situation, one wonders what is happening with Canada/US customs processing, and the USPS.

Over the past few weeks of political shenanigans, I have hesitated about keeping my ko-fi shop.  I'll be honest - the US was my 'biggest' online market and it's been a hit to tell my customers to *not* buy anything right now.  The continued uncertainty about international trade with our southern neighbour has left not just me, but hundreds of others in the lurch.

While the election turned out 'ok' (I was hoping for a Liberal landslide but the alt right has gotten a deep hold on a much larger chunk of our population than I expected - or hoped) and while the Liberals took the government, it is a 'minority' government.  Which is not necessarily a 'bad' thing - it means the Liberals will have to make any governance palatable to a smaller party and convince them to come on board.  In times past, we have seen some excellent concessions made that have made Canada a 'better' place than if they had a full majority.

But we are staring down a great divide and I don't know how to reconcile with the 'other' side, which shows zero interest in working together.  :(

I'm unsure what the future holds, if it is even a good idea to keep the ko-fi presence.  I do have a few monthly subscribers, but I don't feel like I'm giving those supporters much value - beyond writing this blog.  

Anyway, push comes to shove, I won't be losing my house if I do shut it down, but it is forcing me to keep picking away at the writing.  Not because it brings in a lot of income, but because I can 'teach' and get paid 'something' for my time, effort and knowledge.

So when they asked me to contribute two articles for a 2026 issue, it took a heartbeat for me to decide 'yes, I will'.

I still have not received my print copy of the first issue of WEFT, but I've booked the guild room for May 25.  If it still hasn't arrived, I do have the copy loaded onto my iPad, and I will bring the two sets of samples from the first issue that I wove and let people take a gander.  If it seems like people want to have that kind of 'hands on' experience for the following issues, I'm hoping that my new drug will reduce my pain levels and that I will be able to speak 'better' by then.  Now that I'm getting more than 2 or 3 hours of sleep a night, my brain injury seems to be improving.

I am trying really hard to look for the good things in this world, and change what is 'bad' if I can.  

I am really hoping to get back to my 'usual' content - weaving.  

To those of you still here, I thank you.  From the bottom of my heart.  

Welcoming Change

 

I recently became aware of James Fell and thought I would pick up one of his books.  It wasn't what I expected from a 'sweary' historian.  Instead it was - how shall I put it - self-help?  Self-improvement?

But I started reading it in part because I'm always interested in people's 'story' and the book has lots of them as 'examples' of epiphany.

Partly I was interested in the topic because I had a epiphany of sorts.  Actually I had *exactly* one of the types of epiphany that Fell writes about.  I spent years, feeling 'lost', directionless, working one dead end office job after another.

Little did I know, but the 'universe'/guardian angel, whatever you want to call it, worked for years to shove me into the direction I finally wound up taking.  As more 'hints' dropped into my conscious thought, the more restless/directionless I felt.

Most of this 'hinting' kept hammering home the fact that I needed to do something different.  I finally asked myself the crucial question - if not this, then what?  And I did a list of things I wanted for my life and then left myself 'open' in a way I had not done before.  I even found a job that had many of the things I said I had been looking for, but the other thing that had been happening was the not-to-be-denied fact that my father was dying.

As Fell outlines in his book, one of the ways an epiphany will happen is that the person needs to change, *wants* to change, will even begin to make changes until one day the thought breaks through to the conscious mind and suddenly things begin to make sense to make the changes that you want/need to make.

So it was with me.  After literally years of nudging me towards the fibre arts, significant hints of the world that waited for me, I finally put all those hints together and after thinking about it for a couple of weeks, weeks during which I thought about the logistics of tossing everything and learning how to weave - with the express purpose of earning some money *by* weaving...

Well, a number of preparations needed to be put into place, which took time.  Time during which my father got sicker and sicker, and the guardian angel/universe became quite insistent that I needed to do this thing.

We put our house up for sale - and because I was making a really good wage for a woman it actually allowed us to buy a larger house with room for a loom.  Which job I quit as soon as the mortgage was approved and started the weaving class a week late (I had to work out my two week notice.)

After years of being nudged in that direction, then months of fevered preparation, moving house, I finally found myself in the weaving room, sitting in front of a Cherryville counter balanced loom.

After getting directions about what to do, I sat on the bench, looking at the rags I had prepared, and really looked at the warp and loom.  As I sat there at the loom, I had a wash of awareness that I had 'come home'.

I was - finally - where I was meant to be.

Two weeks later my dad finally died and while I very much doubt he would have understood what I had just done while he was alive, I sensed that he now understood.  

I treated that class (all day Tuesdays) like a full time job.  I spent every day in the loom room, either reading, or weaving.  I was 'already' a weaver - I just needed to acquire the actual skills.  My physical body need to catch up to my 'heart'.  

So I would say that I had exactly the sort of epiphany that Fell was talking about, although he talks about other ways people reach that state.

But I will never, ever, forget the feeling as I sat, shuttle in hand, figuring out which treadles I was supposed to use, knowing that I was 'home'.  This was the 'right' path.  And I would do everything I needed to do in order to stay on it.

At times that meant taking part-time jobs to bring in enough money to buy yarn, etc.  I started getting requests to teach weaving, which I felt woefully inadequate to do, but I did know more than those wanting to learn, and I did my best to acquire teaching skills as well as weaving skills.

And then I had another epiphany - I needed to write a book.  Why?  Because so many people kept urging me to write it.

I'm now 'retired' - from production weaving/selling.  I still produce more than most people who weave as a hobby, so I still try to sell textiles (and maybe will again once the election is over and we see who 'blinks' about tariffs.)  I still teach through writing, currently focused on WEFT (who just asked me to submit a couple more articles - yay!)

But I'm now reaching the age where other family members tended to fall off their perch, with my mother being a bit of an outlier because she made it to 90.  Odds are that I could leave this mortal coil any day - nearly did on Aug. 28, 2024.

But I didn't die.  And my brain injury is coming along so that I can write, although with loads more editing because words fall into sinkholes, or I discover I have repeated words.  With the help of a friend willing to alpha read my text, I feel capable of continuing to write.  And hopefully, weave.

Tomorrow is election day in Canada.  I have been on tenterhooks about the result of the election - what it will mean to me, my country.  So I'm going to head to the loom and weave.  And hope for the 'peace' that we all look for as we walk our life path.

A friend says 'gold dust' to people as a way of wishing them 'luck'.  Besides, gold dust is better than tossing 'glitter' around, so I wish to all who need something - Gold Dust.

Expectations

 

The warp is beamed, ready to thread.  But I'm having a lot of pain so I don't think I'll be managing to begin threading today.  My next back injection is Tuesday, then 3 days of 'light duties' and then I'll see how I'm feeling.  I may try threading a bit as part of those 'light duties' but I've lined up a few other things that also need to be done and are truly 'light' when it comes to the 'duty' so we'll see how it goes.

I'm really scraping hard on the bottom of my cotton stash so I beamed a warp of 2/20 merc. cotton (left over from a couple other things) and will begin by weaving off the last of the Lithuanian linen.  This will make a really lovely quality of cloth (I've 'sampled' it - it's nice tea towel cloth)  There truly is almost nothing left of the linen, but then I've got a gigantic cone of unmerc. 20/2 cotton to use up.  I've enjoyed weaving with the linen and the quality of cloth that results, but I think I need to focus on other things for a while.  Since sales are pretty much non-existent right now, I don't really want to spend the money to buy more if all they are going to do is sit in my ko-fi shop.  :(

The new threading draft is a variation on a Swedish Snowflake motif.  What can I say?  My brain has not been functioning due to sleep disruption due to the pain medication, but I should also get a new drug next week so I'm anxious to try it and see if it is any better than the rest.  In the meantime I'm trying to not...challenge...myself too much.  But I also feel the need to weave, just for the physical activity (and the dopamine top up.)

I was moaning to a friend the other day about what I should do - maybe make my 'standard' warp length shorter.  But she pointed out all that meant was that I would get less weaving time per loom dressing time, meaning I would be doing even *more* loom dressing and less weaving.  :(  She's right, of course!

And the tariffs are...paused...again.  For 90 days if you can believe what he says.  Do I do a pop up 'sale' while it is still possible to get things into the US without a tariff???  Dunno.  

Spring has about sprung here, but so far as I can tell we are still teetering on 'drought' conditions.  The bush is far too dry, the snow pack too small.  I hope that we are spared wildfires this year, although there is no reason that we might be, given climate change and...drought.

Given the state of North American politics, I suppose we can write off any expectation of help from US wildfire fighters, but hopefully our other allies will be able to.  Be interesting to see if the US expects Canada to send wildfire fighters to help them, like we did early this year, sending water bombers to help California...  Since I doubt the administration would appreciate the assistance, I'm not sure we should.  Or could, depending on what is happening here.

Every year it becomes more and more obvious that climate change is NOT a myth but very real.  And that it has arrived.  And that it will get worse if we don't DO something about it.  Our election on April 28 will be a watershed moment for our country.  I hope that Canadians meet the challenge and vote for those who are willing to try to *fix* things instead of letting everything burn to the ground.  In some cases, quite literally...(looking at you Jasper)...

However, Life Goes On, as they say, so I have contacted my local guild and suggested a weavers gathering on May 25.  I hope I have my copy of WEFT by then, and I will bring my samples for the two articles in that issue.  I have also suggested that if weavers are interested, we could do something similar after each issue comes out.  I'm also feeling like I would like to be more 'present' at the guild (IF I can get the pain under control and IF I can walk up the stairs to the guild room.)

So many changes, many of them not welcome.  But such is Life.  We have to try to figure out work arounds.  It's time to put the soup pot on.  Better get that done, too.  At least it means I won't have to 'cook' the next couple of days as my biggest pot makes enough for 3 days.  I'm glad Doug isn't picky and doesn't mind 'leftovers'...they are pretty much my favourite item on the menu, chez Laura's...

Chaos

When I woke up this morning it was to the 'news' that the US president has - after two days - paused the tariffs.  Again.  Wonder if we claim 'time served' instead of starting the clock over again, every he has a mind to begin again?

No doubt the US automobile industry explained in words of one syllable what was about to come raining down on 'his' economy.

Since I have been pretty regularly continuing to make more tea towels, I have just now posted one of the new ones to my ko-fi shop not knowing when the tariffs will come back.  So I do understand anyone from the US not spending money right now.  As for Canadians, maybe you want to keep your money in Canada?

There are only 11 of these towels and they are rather...special...as in there are going to be very few of these towels made.  I am currently weaving another warp of this combination of yarns, but in a different design.  If there is any linen after that, I may use the rest/left over linen on a 2/16 unmercerized cotton warp.

The world may be wobbling on its axis, but I cannot let that affect me too much.  I have knowledge.  I have skills.  (Both or either can be debated, it depends.)

And I have the stubborn attitude that I need to keep teaching.  And mostly, I need to keep weaving.  With the current president, and all the rest of the alt right, trying to destroy as much of society as it can in the shortest possible time frame (so he can brag he did it in fewer days than his idol) my only 'power' is to keep creating.  Working with words; working with yarns, trying to drip a little creative energy into the universe.

Maybe even light a candle for someone else...and then there will be *two* candles to fend off the dark.

It's Snowing!

 

Snowflake border tea towel

Over all I'm pleased enough with these. 

They are 2/16 warp and weft, woven in a snowflake twill around the border with a plain/basket weave centre field

They are not 'perfect'.  It's difficult to control the beat when changing between two weave structures with such different take up rates (and resistance to beating!)

But if you can't be perfect, be consistent, and I did the best I could given the challenges.

I also found weaving them rather tiring, given I'm not over the brain injury.  On the whole, everyone (in the health care field) assures me I'm making an astonishing recovery.  Since I'm only just 4 months (as of the 31st Dec.) out from the injury with a projected 24 month recovery, I can't complain.  (She says, wanting to complain!)

Anyway, I decided I would sell these after all so I have uploaded them to my ko-fi shop.  There are just 4 of this design in this colour, so if you are interested I would suggest that you act quickly.  :)  

In the meantime I am threading the loom (slowly, so, so, slowly) as I am trying not to stress my back too much.  I get my next injections in January (Merry Xmas to me?) and I'm hoping that the new pain medication will keep things more 'comfortable' - and what will help is *not* stressing my back too much.  So instead of threading for 45-60 minutes, I'm limiting my time at the loom to about 30.  

In the meantime I'm working on another article for WEFT.  I started writing the current article yesterday and it seemed to go well enough.  Now I'm facing writing up the weaving records with all the instructions and...math.  Never my strongest suit, now I'm finding it particularly difficult.  But that's what calculators are for, amirite?

The folk at WEFT are making great progress and are on track to have the spring edition on schedule.  Stay tuned!

Window of Opportunity

 

The snow isn't as deep as this - yet - but it will be a white xmas!

There is a tiny window of opportunity for USians to continue to benefit from the US-CDN dollar exchange rate but it will be closing very soon.

I will be posting new tea towels to my ko-fi shop (hopefully today) and if you want to get the US$ discount, purchase before the end of the month so I can mail the parcels early in January.  Once the promised Trump tariffs kick in (25% according to the president elect) that will essentially wipe out the exchange rate differential.

And we have zero idea what is going to happen to post office/mail.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

(There will be no tariff on the 3 books on blurb.com as they are printed and shipped within the US.)

Touching the Hem of Perfection

 

three piece suit, featured in Magic in the Water - awarded a ribbon at the ANWG conference in Victoria in 1997 for 'technical excellence'

There are times that I have touched the hem of perfection.  Not many.  I might count them on one hand, if I think really hard.

The majority of things I have woven always manage to leave room for improvement!

And that's the thing with making things from 'scratch'.  There is (almost) always room for improvement.

And that is why I keep going to the loom - searching for the perfection that is nearly always 'lacking'.

Every warp teaches me something new.  I've been doing a series of tea towels using a fine linen weft, and one entire warp was...disappointing.  The floats were 'too long' for me to be pleased with them.  And yet?  They will still dry dishes - just not for as long as a different tie-up/treadling.  The entire warp of those towels was given away, rather than selling them.  They were a 'disappointment' - to me.  Not up to my usual standard.  But!  Still useful.

Someone once told me "Don't let perfection kill good" and I try not to beat myself up when something I make doesn't meet my expectations.  Every warp is another chance to try for 'perfect'.  But I remember not to let perfect kill good.

BlueSky is hosting an #artadventcalandar and the time line as of today is flooded with pieces that some of the artists now on that social media site.  I just posted something I made that I feel came close to 'perfect' but didn't use the hashtag because I don't think I'll post every day.

On the other hand it is inspiring to see so many different expressions of creativity.  I follow a few people who use embroidery as their artistic expression, and they are frequently thought provoking.  I think I'm going to find some pleasure for the next 23 days as more people post their work.  And who knows, I might feel like sharing more of mine.

***the Canada Post strike continues with the corporation doing some very sketchy stuff.  This may be a long drawn out strike.  And if the Cons get into power next spring, they may try and dismantle the post office entirely.  If you want to buy some of my towels, I will hold your order until the mail is moving again, but if you are in the US you probably want to purchase sooner rather than later when the tariffs are applied.  Link to my ko-fi shop in the comments.

It Depends!

 

                        Two yarns, same number of yards per pound, NOT the same thickness!

Yesterday I saw a conversation online about the 'proper' epi for a particular size of yarn woven in plain weave.  As usual, some people strongly urged people to use 20 epi, others strongly advocated for 16-18 epi.  Most people were calling it 8/2, so I could only assume that they were using and talking about US 8/2 cotton, not Brassard's 2/8.  (In the photo above, the rust yarn is Brassard's 2/16; the teal is US 16/2 cotton.)

Why do I call Brassard's 2/8 instead of 8/2?  Is it merely because I'm Canadian and 'contrary'?  

Not entirely.  (Although I freely admit to being 'contrary' at times!)

It is *because* I am Canadian and the first cotton yarns that I was introduced to were the 2/8 cottons from Brassard, South Landing and Curl Brothers, long before I was introduced to US 8/2 cotton.  At the time I had been very confused at how many USians would turn their noses up at 2/8 (or as they said, 8/2) cotton.  

Once I was able to see the yarns, side by side (in my own mind, if no where else), I came to understand why the USians preferred other yarns - all those lovely mercerized yarns which were spun ring spun, and then treated to have that sheen so typical of mercerized yarns.

Many USian weavers also referred to 'Perle' (or Purl) cottons as if they were a 'type' and all exactly the same.  (For example, check out Astra mercerized cottons compared to other mercerized yarns - they are not the same, either.)

It is why, when I answer a question, I will inevitably begin by saying 'It depends.'

That US spun 8/2 cotton is NOT the same quality as the 2/8 cotton (usually called 8/2 now, but if you look at the Brassard website on the French page, they *still* call it 2/8.)

I know you probably can't see it on this tiny image of their colour card, put it's still there, 2/8, just like when I started weaving back in 1975.

The thing is, open end spun and ring spun yarn are not identical to each other.  They have different natures/characteristics.  (If you are a long time reader of this blog, this is a repeat for you - but I've had some new readers join since getting involved with BlueSky.)

I've written about this elsewhere and here, else when.  As a weaver, one of the things that helps to know is the nature of your materials.  If you don't understand their nature, it's a lot more difficult to chose the various things that have to be decided on as you go through the design processes.  (More info on this in Stories From the Matrix and The Intentional Weaver.)

I am, right this time, sampling for an article I am going to be submitting to WEFT magazine.  My first sample turned out for one weft, not so well for the second one.  My decision to try again was set in concrete when I realized (belatedly) that I'd made a tie up mistake when I designed the 2nd option.

I anticipated that I would need a second warp to test a different epi based on the very different natures of the two wefts, so when I discovered that I did, indeed, need to set up a second warp to test the lower epi, I wasn't particularly upset.  It was Plan B all along.

Given the hours it may take to design a new warp, there is a reason I want to set the loom up to weave quite a lot of it.  The design hours get 'amortized' over a larger number of finished items.  

As for the balance of this first, tentative warp, it is being woven off as tea towels, using the 2/16 cotton weft.  They have great drape, which is desired in a tea towel.  They will likely be listed in my ko-fi shop late December or early next year.  I do still have to weave, wet finish, and hem them, after all.

Doesn't matter how 'efficient' you may be, you are still weaving 'slow' cloth...

It Isn't Finished Until...

after compression (plasticine)

Yesterday I wove the first samples and today I will weave the next two.  The first two look good on the loom, which may mean the second two will not.  But either way I'll weave them and judge them both after wet finishing.

Saw somewhere on line a knitter asking if you really *have* to block your knitting and one response saying no, not really.  

Unfortunately wet finishing (blocking) a knitted structure will provide some changes as it reaches its finished state.  With knitting it is less noticeable in some items.  And some knitted items really need to be blocked as part of it's finishing - primarily lace knits, but also other items.  For instance a knit that is primarily stockinette stitch will tend to curl on the edges.  Wet finishing it should fix that.  Other knit stitches may cause textures that are not desirable, as well.

Anyway, I'm weaving full sized 'samples' to check to make sure the cloth will turn out the way I want.  If they are successful, I don't need to weave more as these 'samples' will be elevated to 'finished' and I can move on.

I'm trying to get through my inbox because several things had stacked up due to my not having the spoons to deal with them.  As usual, they were less of a bugabear than I had expected, which will be teach me nothing - once more.

On the other hand, I was able to weave the two 'full-sized' samples yesterday - the longest I've woven since the brain bleed.  Partly I just really wanted to get them both done, and partly I knew it was going to be slow weaving (technical reasons) and partly it just felt so good.  So today I want to weave the second pair of full-sized samples, cut off, and wet finish and then see if they are going to be acceptable.

One thing about the face plant and all that followed is that I seem to be out of 'production' mode.  Weaving to illustrate articles puts much less deadline strain on me (if I do things in a timely fashion!) and it is letting me do the kinds of things I had not been able to do because the production always had to come 'first'.

I have no idea if the guild sold much of my stuff at the first craft fair, or the second one, or if they will sell anything at the guild room sale.  By slowing down my productivity I will have less stuff that needs to be sold.  Given my lack of energy I don't much feel like steaming my way through a 20+ yard warp anymore.  Perhaps that's not a bad thing...

Information on wet finishing available here as well as Long Thread Media and School of Sweet Georgia

PS - with Canada Post on strike, any orders placed via my ko-fi shop will be held and shipped when they settle their contract.

 

Prep Work

 

This is a photo of an old project but this is about the state the new warp is at right now.

I have two task lights at the front of the loom set up to shine into the work space (where the heddles are actually being threaded) and one at the back of the loom so I can see the bouts of yarn taped to the stick I used to pull them from the beam to behind the heddles.  This gives me good light at both the front and the back of the loom.  I remove the breast beam, reed and beater top.

Good lighting is essential, especially when working with finer threads.  They are hard enough to see even when the light is good, never mind if it is a dark dreary winter day.

Yesterday I managed to thread 3/4s of the current warp.  I print out the draft and put it onto a typists stand so that I can see it with just a glance over my shoulder.  As I finish each group of ends, I mark the draft (which is printed out completely so that I just follow it, from start to end), look at the next group, then pull those ends and thread them.  Mark off, check for next group, pull, thread, repeat.

Most of my threadings are over 16 shafts, and it gets difficult to keep them 'straight', so I have numbered the shafts on the top of the piece of wood at the bottom of the shafts.  The draft prints out using the actual number of the shaft, so it's fairly easy to note the numbers of the shafts in the next group, pull the appropriate number of heddles and stack them in the order that they will be used, then enter the ends into the heddles.  A quick 'check' to make sure I've got them into the heddle, slip tie the group together, mark off, etc.

I prefer to slip tie each initial group as it makes sorting out the ends into the reed easier.  And the way I tie the slip knot takes one simple motion.  (Apologies for the ad.  You Tube puts ads on some video clips, not me - I don't make any money from my You Tube 'channel'.)

The current draft has sections of 'satin' and it was very easy to break the sequence down into 3 threads, then thread those heddles, and then tie that group of 3 off and do the next group of three.  I don't do the same number of ends for each group - I may take 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 - or as in the satin areas, 3 ends at a time.  Grouping them by tying a slip knot in the group makes sleying the reed much easier.

This warp is essentially a 'test' warp for the article I'm hoping to write.  It may require a re-sleying, which I really don't like to do because all of my little groups will be undone and the threads all individual and loose.  I find I get a lot more sleying errors when I do a re-sleying, so it is something I try not to do if I don't absolutely need to do.

So I'm hoping that this warp will give me the information I need to determine the set up for the article project.

If you are interested in more information about how I approach my designing, The Intentional Weaver has a lot of information, but Stories From The Matrix takes a deeper dive into some things.  Both are available at blurb in either print or pdf versions.  And if you are in the US, the books are printed in the US so the current postal strike isn't an issue for you.  :)  

If you want to buy something from my ko-fi shop, I will pull your order and mail as soon as the mail is moving again.