No Rest

This afternoon I started dressing the small loom again, mainly because I have an order for this colour of mats.  I didn't promise delivery before Christmas, but I'd like to get them done and shipped - and paid for.  Because the show season didn't go as well as I would have liked.  I knew I was low on shawls.  I knew I was getting low on scarves.  Turned out I was low on place mats, too.  If you don't have it there to sell...

Yesterday I wound a couple of warps, this one included, but didn't even try to dress the loom.  I was tired and that is a recipe for mistakes happening.  As it was I was distracted and had to stop several times and recount my ends to make sure I was winding the warp accurately.

By 4 pm I'd hit the wall, so to speak, but managed to get this far:

I'm ready to weave, but rather than carry on while tired, decided to just wind bobbins so that I can start weaving tomorrow, hopefully when I'm better rested.

Seasons/Cycles

People sometimes forget that for me, weaving is a year round, full time job.  And so when I appear at a craft fair, the contents of my booth do not reflect just a few weeks or even months of work, but at times, years.

Since I have never yet actually sold out of anything in one year, whatever is left gets brought out the next year.  And the next.  Until I get sick of dragging it around and donate it to a worthy cause, or sell the last few pieces of a line at discount prices, usually at the annual guild sale in December.  It's a great way to support the guild (who gets a % of sales) and get rid of things that have been hanging around for far too long.

Some of the things in my booth might have been woven five years ago; some were woven this year.  

But bottom line?  If I didn't work at this all year round, I would not have enough inventory to do the (now) three major shows that I do in October and November (plus the guild show in Dec.)

Weaving by hand is still a labour intensive activity.  People constantly want to know how long is has taken me to weave something.  Which is very difficult to say without doing some serious number crunching.

So - place mats.

It takes about 30-40 minutes to wind a warp which will yield 12 mats and one table runner.

It takes about 30-40 minutes to beam that warp.  (What can I say, I'm fast)

It takes about 30-40 minutes to thread that warp.  (See bracket above)

It takes about 10-15 minutes to sley and tie on.

It take about 30-40 minutes to weave 4 mats, so a total of about 140 minutes plus breaks to weave that warp.  If I push hard I can weave the entire 10.5 meter long warp off in a day.

Cut and serge?  About 30 minutes.

Then into the washer and dryer.

Then a couple of hours to press.

Hemming takes about 40 minutes each.  Yes, finishing an item can take as long if not longer than weaving (as in shuttle throwing).

Then a final press.

Then tagging/pricing.

And I'm fast.  Most weavers can't come close to my efficiency.

Yes, people can buy place mats for cheaper at Target.  But they won't get my designs.  Because in the 21st C what hand craftspeople are selling - in addition to their skill - is their unique design aesthetic.  Something that cannot be found anywhere but from them.

For all the people who have believed in me and my skills/designs over the decades - my heart felt thanks for supporting me in my dream of creating unique textiles.

We set up for Studio Fair tomorrow, set up for Circle Craft Christmas Market (Vancouver) next Tuesday, and once I get home I will be re-opening my shop on the Circle Craft website.  

Stay tuned...

Currently reading Mr. Churchill's Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal

Rolling Deadlines

We got home last night and are still dealing with a time zone change of 9 hours.  One of the benefits, so to speak, is that my body thinks it is 'later' than it actually is local time, so I got up 'early' and got started on my day.  I'm trying to stick to the local time zone schedule as closely as possible in hopes that my body clock will be tricked into getting back into the swing of things as quickly as possible.

Because I came home to rolling deadlines.  By that I mean that they are coming thick and furious for the next six weeks.

I have a full calendar of appointments and commitments for the next couple of weeks whereupon I head out on another trip (and another time zone shift) for two weeks, arrive home on the Monday, set up for the first craft fair show on the Friday and then the following three weekends they run back to back with less and less time between them.  Plus that pesky 450 mile drive to - and from - the last.  In November.  Which means possibly winter driving conditions...

At which point I may fall into bed for two weeks.

So far today I have dealt with finances - at least the start of dealing with the urgent things and preparing for the third quarter sales tax reporting - done some necessary shopping, taken care of some emails, some personal, some conference related, woven a table runner and two place mats.

Now I'm fighting the fact that my body thinks it is actually 2 am.  I still have a meeting I really want/need to attend this evening but it is fairly early so I may fall into bed again at 10 pm.  Or maybe by then my body will be waking up again because it thinks it is actually 7 am...

Ah, the joys of travel and time zone changes...

Be Prepared

With both looms empty and today yet to work, I'm dressing the small loom with a place mat warp.

I really don't like leaving both looms empty when I go away, especially on a long trip with major time zone changes.  I come home exhausted and brain dead from jet lag so I really don't want to have to think.

Plus I need more all white mats as I'm woefully low on inventory.  Of course I never really know what will sell at any given season, any given show, but generally I need about 3 dozen white place mats and some runners to get through the season, so I like to have four dozen.

A friend did a study of her sales and she determined that if a textile person sold 40% of their inventory they had had a really excellent show.  So I always plan on having way more than what I think I might need.

Partly because I like to have a selection of colours for people to choose from, but also I have seen how, when inventory gets really low (like my current shawl inventory) nothing sells.  There isn't enough selection for people to choose from.

So I'm a wee bit concerned about not having much in the way of shawls, but this year really didn't leave me much time for getting any woven.  Not mentally, not physically, not emotionally.  I did the best I could and that will have to be sufficient.

I have nearly two weeks between trips and loads of appointments that can't be delayed so there won't be a lot of time for weaving.  Having the loom set up for mats means that I can squeeze studio time in between and hopefully get the two warps I wound last month woven and maybe even wet finished so I can bring them with me to hem while I'm away.  If there is room in the suitcase, which is already getting really full of stuff that needs to go.  Either that or they will get hemmed between the first and second craft fairs and ready to go to Vancouver and Circle Craft.

Labour Intensive

Why do I weave, anyway?

Such a hard question to answer.  All I know is that it called to me, over and over again, until I could no longer ignore the siren call of the yarns, the equipment.

Frankly I could have made a whole lot more money in a more 'traditional' job, one where I got up every day, showed up at work, did what needed doing, collected my paycheque, made pension contributions, had paid holiday time where I actually had a holiday instead of a working 'holiday'.

But that type of job was...stifling.

When I sat down at a floor loom for the first time, it was as though a heavenly choir sang "You're home, You're home!"  It felt so...right...my butt perched on the bench, feet on treadles, shuttle in hand.

Has it been easy being a hand weaver in the 20th and 21st centuries?  Nope.  Jobs that are labour intensive, especially those done by women (and it so pains me to type that), are generally not much valued.  It has been a constant struggle to justify my prices.  The question most often asked at a craft fair is - you guessed it - 'how long did it take to make X'.  

Thing is, economies of scale mean that I don't sit down and make one of anything from start to finish; rather I work in groups.  So a warp of place mats (shown above) is 10.5 meters long.  From that warp I get one table runner and 12 place mats.  It takes me, say, an hour (probably less, but let's go with that for simplicity sake) to wind the warp.  It takes about 5-10 minutes to rough sley, 10 minutes or so to beam.  Threading might take 30-35 minutes, sleying another 5 minutes, about a minute and a half to tie on and throw the first six picks to spread the warp.

Generally when I'm weaving I do about 30-45 minutes at a time and can weave about 1/4 of the warp in that time (it's fast - there's a reason for that - two in fact).  

If pushed, I could weave off the entire warp in one day.  Since turning 65, plus surgery, I don't usually push that hard much anymore.

So let's say - oh, two days to make a dozen mats and a table runner.  I could crunch the numbers down further to get a more accurate minutes/mat but let's just say two studio days.

The mats sell for (2017 price) $13 each.  The table runner is $26.  That's $182 for two days work.  But wait!  Out of that $182 I have to pay for the materials, the electricity for the studio, the rent for Puff, (the industrial press), and all the other expenses of running a business.  

Even at $91 gross a day, that's pretty low wages, and more realistically, it is much, much less than that.  And of course, there is still the finishing to do...

So...why do I do it?

I do it because I am self-employed.  I get to choose whether or not I work that day (you can tell that I choose to work most days!  I explained to a 19 year old on Thursday that when you are self-employed every day is a potential work day.  Because if you don't work, you don't get anything done, and you don't have any income.)

I wanted something where I got to choose what I did.  To walk to the beat of my own drum.  I wanted a roof over my head and food on the table, but I didn't desire diamonds or gold plated toilets.  I wanted a life that fulfilled me creatively.  I wasn't looking for public acclaim.  The only 'recognition' I wanted was the buying public to pay me the price I asked for the textiles I made.

I am now in the last 'half' of my 6th decade.  I have lived a life that was part hard physical labour, part mental exploration, then follow up in reality to see if I'd got it right.  I have taught and learned from many.  I have - even if I say it myself - left a bit of myself behind in my writings, here and elsewhere.

While I still have things on my bucket list I really want to accomplish, I look back on the last 40+ years with a certain satisfaction.  And, while there are things I would change, I would not change the decision I made lo, these many years ago, to become a weaver.

Procrastination for the Win?

The past year has been so stressful with one thing after another I find myself completely derailed.  I find no appetite for doing what needs doing, so I am procrastinating by doing things that really aren't very high on my to-be-done list, but need doing at some point.

So today, instead of firing up the AVL and working on that 60 yard warp there, I am winding place mat warps.  Because I will need some of them for this fall, and why not begin now?  

The AVL will wait, after all.

Currently reading Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

Hurry Up and Wait

There are times when Life Happens in such a way as to reorder all your priorities.  So it has been at chez Fry for the past week.  Unfortunately it is also a waiting game so nothing productive can be done about the situation except wait for answers.  

Yesterday I got to the loom, but I am so out of practise and my focus was not on what I was doing and in the space of two,place mats I had three broken ends.  It was time to quit and do something else.  

Today I managed to fix the third end and get back to weaving.  Today I am trying to be mindful and go slowly, feeling the rhythm of the loom.  So far, so good.  

Picture shows the mat body and hem, and the cutting line I weave in to make cutting them apart easier. 

Stacked

Having done an inventory of what I've got ready for the fall shows, I was able to tell what colours I needed to make in order to have a good selection for sale.  While Mary was here, I wound warps and here are five ready to go.  I also noticed I was low on natural 2/8 cotton, so I'm waiting for another yarn order to arrive.

Mary helped by beaming a place mat warp before she left so I spent the morning (when I finally got myself to the loom) threading that.  Now I have a dental appointment so it will have to wait until I get home before I finish sleying and tieing it on.

In addition to these warps, I need more all white and more neutral.  These warps will get interspersed between weaving on the AVL.  There are still about 6 yards (towels) left to weave on the blue/green warp.  After that is done, I will do another 40 yard warp of white/natural/beige in snails trails and cats paws (twill blocks) and then a shawl warp is scheduled.

But I also have other deadlines, the most pressing being the webinar on Craft U in just one week.  Working on making the butterflies fly in formation.  And I need to test my microphone on the new computer.  Eeps...

Counting Down the Days

With an estimate of 'sometime in January' for my surgery to happen, I'm starting to count down the days.  As it is the 14th today, that means that I should hear from the surgeon's office any time now and I'm beginning to look at what else I'd like to accomplish before I'm on weaving hiatus.

Overcoming a serious dose of procrastination I managed to get the last (of the in-hand) interviews transcribed yesterday, got some parcels that ought to have been mailed on Monday packaged up today, and taken a long hard look at the calendar and how many more days I might have to finalize preparations - like packing.

I'm hoping to finish this rose place mat warp yet today before dinner, take the table toppers to guild tonight to hem them so Doug can give them their final press - either before or after we get back -, beam the shawl warp onto the AVL and thread it, if not sley and tie on.  I'd also like to weave a light blue mat warp but we'll see how that goes.

I have the yarns pulled for a 'gentle' shawl warp for the Leclerc Fanny and want that ready to go before I leave, too.

Packing should not take long as I'll mostly be in my jammies but will need some clothing for the one or two days in Vancouver before surgery (we're hoping to find a movie theatre with The Imitation Game showing) and perhaps a day when I get out and the flight home.  And then it will be back to jammies when I get home.  :)

In one way, I suppose it might be easier to wind up on the table as an emergency - not having had months of waiting around.  On the other, I've had plenty of time to get myself mentally prepared for the 2-3 month recovery.  And I remain hopeful that it will only be that long - I know some people who have taken longer than that.  :(  I know that I might not be able to weave much on the AVL right away so I'm hoping that a friend will be able to help me dress the Fanny with more of the 'gentle' shawl warps to help me with physio - weaving is very much going to be a big part of my recovery, just like when I broke my ankle.

Today the sun shone - it really helped lift my spirits.  Now to see how much patience I have to use up until the phone rings...

Next Step

Next step in the process.  (background is a commercially woven throw with spinning motifs woven in double weave)

After the weaving comes the wet finishing.  Doug spent much of Sunday and Monday pressing.  The table toppers are done as are a stack of place mats and table runners.  Still more mats to be run through but Doug has other things he needs to deal with for the next few days.

Unfortunately the dark green and the dark blue just underneath are both very hard to see at night so I struggled a bit with the hemming.  I decided to leave them to daylight but the days are so overcast and dreary right now I don't know that daylight is any improvement!

However, I want to at least finish hemming the table toppers because they are quite wide (41" in the reed) and since range of arm movement is going to be somewhat limited, figured I'd better get them done now.  Once they are hemmed they will get a final pressing and then they will at last be ready.

And yes, I'm still waiting for the phone call firming up the date.  However I'm thinking I should probably drag my suitcase out any time now and start filling it, just in case there isn't much notice between the phone call and when we will need to leave.

Piling Up

Cut the table toppers off the loom this afternoon.  There are five for my customer to choose from.  From the far left, two 100% cotton woven in twill blocks, the rest are in plain weave - from the centre a cotton/linen blend weft, linen weft and 2/16 cotton weft.  Not entirely happy with them - yet - although wet finishing should improve them considerably.

I wound up using a temple, which while slower than not using it gave me better results.  So....

Still no word from the hospital with a firmer date so I'm recklessly continuing on steaming through as many warps as I possibly can.  So far it doesn't seem to be making my back or hip worse, which is good news all by itself.  The bad news is that I'm ignoring computer work, which will have to stop soon so that I don't leave too many things unattended to before we leave, whenever that will be.

Partly I feel as though I need to store up as much weaving zen as I can because it is likely to be up to  three months before I will be able to weave.  Six weeks of no loom time last summer was bad enough!

At this point I just want to get it over and done with.  Thankfully it should not be too much longer.

Trying to decide what to leave on the looms - I've got enough 2/16 bamboo for a warp - sort of - I think I can make it work for a shawl warp.  Since I pretty desperately need more shawls for inventory it would be good to get some more in the queue.

As for the small loom, I've time to weave a few more place mat warps, I think, so I've wound a nice deep red one from the left over red in the table topper warp and have a beige/sage combo pulled for next, maybe.  I've done the math for a shawl warp for the small loom, too, and since that yarn needs just the barest brush of the beater am thinking that might well be my first foray into weaving when I get the all clear.  With any luck I can begin sooner, rather than later.  But it will depend on how the healing goes.

I very much appreciate all the good wishes and the sharing some of you have done privately.  It really helps to hear from people who have already trod the road before me and to hear how much better life will be afterwards.  We will have the iPad with us and I expect Doug will post updates to Facebook for those of you on that.  Who knows, I might even buy some air time in the hospital (they don't have free wifi).  :)

Place Mat Progress

If you have been following along on my adventures, you might remember this post.

Well, that pile of yarn now looks like this:

Yes, this is all that is left as of today.  I've already wound the warp for the cream and will wind two more shorter warps for the rose and green because there is less than one pound of each of those and it was taking about l pound 3 ounces of yarn for the weft on my standard length mat warp.

In addition to this progress making place mats, I've also woven 32 tea towels, using up 6+ pounds of the singles 10 tow linen.  With 4 and a bit pounds left, I've beamed a 30 yard cream warp in hopes of seeing the end of that particular yarn very shortly, too.

One of the things cancelling my teaching contracts has done is open up the next year to not having to think about anyone else - no hand outs, no re-tooling class samples, no ironing out travel details.  It is kind of refreshing to be a little bit selfish, only having to think about what I want to do.  Getting stuck into my stash and using it up as quickly as I can.

In the meantime I'm in limbo waiting to hear what happens next - and finding out a possible time line for when it's going to happen.  So I'm trying to stay in the here and now, focus on weaving and picking my way through as much of my stash as I possibly can.

Adapting

Sometimes Life Happens and Things Change.  Or Need to be Changed.

With my back taking so long to settle down I have had to radically change my expectations.  Normally I would count my productivity in how many yards I weave in a day.  Right now I have to count how many inches.  Because 120" sounds so much better than 3.5 yards.

Or in how many units I get done rather than how many warps.

Before my back went wonky, I could easily weave off an entire 11 meter long (15 mat) warp in a day.  But I'm finding weaving on the Leclerc a lot more problematical than weaving on the AVL.  It's the step on the brake release, bend sideways, crank the warp forward, really crank on to reset the tension that is being the most bothersome.

So I am trying to listen to my massage therapist and chiropractor and not sit for 'too long', walk lots, and carefully monitor what my back is telling me.  And count progress in inches rather than yards because it's all progress, right?

The More Things Change...

...the more they stay the same.

showing hem with woven in cut line - click photo to biggify

Right now I'm doing a whole of the 'same' thing.  With 50 yards on the AVL and a run of place mats happening on the Leclerc, there is a whole lot of same happening.

And that is just fine by me.  In spite of my back still not right, I have managed to weave a little on one or other of the looms every day.  I am over the half way mark on the AVL, and approaching the half way mark on the place mats.

Sometimes things turn out better than hoped.  With the place mats I could not, in most cases, get a perfect colour match to the thick cotton for weft.  Going with 'close enough' I ordered in the yarn from Brassard and wound warps.  In the end, the slight variation in colour has enhanced the textile, giving some visual depth or texture as well as the actual, physical, texture.

Currently reading The Undead Pool by Kim Harrison

Easy

next mat warp, beamed, lease sticks ready to be transferred behind the reed

Dad had a phrase he used when he saw someone do something particularly skillful.  It might be a man keeping 20 plates spinning on sticks on the Ed Sullivan show, the logger sports at the fall fair or the RCMP Musical Ride.  He would smile his gentle smile, shake his head and say "Watch out for someone who makes something look easy."

When a friend would comment on something mom had made, a cake she had baked and decorated, a garment she had sewn, a sweater she had knitted, he would draw himself upright and say, with just a tinge of pride, "My wife built it."

Dad died the same month I started weaving.  He didn't live long enough to see my brother Don grow into a successful man, turning his childhood dreams into reality.  He didn't see me turn weaving into my career, my passion, my life.  He wasn't able to enjoy my travelling around North America, even as far as Europe, Great Britain, Scandinavia several times.  He wasn't able to see the publication of Magic in the Water or any of the Big Projects. 

I hope that if his spirit checks in to this reality from time to time that he will drop by when the latest Big Project goes public, draw himself upright, smile his little smile and say "My daughter built it."

An early Father's Day post...

Queueing Up

So here is the queue of yarn to be used as weft for place mats.  That big cone of blue/green?  It's nearly 5 pounds.  The rose cone at the back?  I used up 1 pound 4 ounces as weft on an 11 meter long warp.  In other words, there is some serious weaving required to use up this yarn...

I'm waiting for more 2/8 cotton to arrive so that I can use up most of this yarn.  I had enough beige that I was able to wind a 'short' warp (9 meters) which should use up that pale beige beside the blue/green.  It's only just one pound.

However I'm also waiting to hear back from the designer at which point I will have to leap onto the AVL to get her proto-type 'samples' for photography done.  If I can manage 5 yards a day it will take 10 straight days of weaving to get that warp woven off.  And of course, that's an optimistic goal.  :-/  Life has a way of happening, after all, and I do have other obligations as well as the weaving.  (Yes, I do have a life.  Sort of.)

But the good news is that the level 2 class at Olds is a 'go'.  Which means I also have to do my teaching prep.  And 4 more Craftsy blogs.  And outline another 'big project' for someone else.  Although my involvement in that project may be more input than actual performance, so to speak.  That is embryonic, and not my idea, I'm just sticking my two cents in.  :)

I also offered to transcribe some files, so I will have to fit that into my schedule somewhere.  It's looking like my 'leisure' time won't happen any time soon.  And that's just fine with me, really.  I had a lovely weekend away with my mom visiting with family friends at a 60th wedding anniversary and I'm actually looking forward to some of these 'new' projects lining up for the summer.

Currently reading Night Broken by Patricia Briggs

Mundane

Mundane:  of this world, worldly; of the universe, cosmic; dull; routine

I was on a panel at a conference once and referred to my weaving as mundane - to a chorus of groans from the audience.

But I didn't mean that my work was dull; rather I meant that my intention is to make something of and for this world, textiles that I hope will be used every day, not tucked away in a closet for 'special' occasions.

There is something rather comforting to return to a tried and true design, one you know is successful in terms of its function, one that you don't have to think about very much, one you can just do.

After 18 months of nearly non-stop critical deadlines I am, this week, looking forward to enjoying a little mundane.

Doug mailed off the samples for the designer and spent much of the weekend winding pirns for the 50 yard warp on the AVL.  It will take a few days for the go-ahead from her, though, so in the meantime I am working on another place mat warp.  I weighed the several cones of yarn I want to stash bust and one of them is nearly 5 pounds, several at 2+ pounds and several more at one pound each.  That's a lot of yarn!  But it will be great for place mat weft and since I'm low on inventory of mats, it's a good time to plough through as much of this yarn as I possibly can.

The weft is one strand of the stash yarn plus two strands of 2/8 cotton.  They are not exactly the same colour which is giving the cloth a nice richness to it.  This rose is one of those 2+ pound cones so I expect I can do two 11 meter long warps - and still probably have a little bit left over.  But it is a pretty colour and so far I'm enjoying the weaving.

Currently reading Gold Digger by Vicki Delany

Leaning Tower

Part of the challenge of weaving for an income is just how much work it actually is when done on a 'large' scale.

Weaving aside, because the actual shuttle throwing is only a very small part of the process, there is a great deal that is required once the threads are interlaced.

While I may be known for my pithy comment than it isn't finished until it's wet finished, that is easier said than done.

Because even once the wet finishing is done, there is still more required.

Once the warp/web has been cut from the loom there is (for tea towels and place mats) the cutting apart and serging.  Then a trip through the washing machine and dryer.  Once that is done, off to Puff (the industrial steam press) for the initial hard press.

Then the bucket of textiles comes home where it resides on the sofa beside me and I try to do a little hemming each evening.

After hemming, they go back to Puff for a finishing press.

But lo, we still aren't done!

Labels with care instructions have to be printed out and affixed to the care tags.  Then the tags get attached to the textile along with the price.

And then - finally! - the piece is ready to be sold.

Doug has been very busy doing the pressing and so I am now faced with five buckets of textiles piled up behind the love seat.  The stack will topple over soon if I don't deal with it, so that appears to be the next task that has gone critical.

PS - anyone who wants to buy from me can email me at laura at laurafry dot com and let me know what they are interested in.  If I have something appropriate in stock I can send photos of what I have on hand...

Currently reading The Crowded Grave by Martin Walker

Second Verse...

...same as the first...

Turns out this warp is the same length as the last, so the last one was also about 14 meters.  And, since I was able to nurse it through to the end, I won't bother cutting off mid way and re-tying, I will just nurse this one through to the end, too.

Since this warp is identical in every way to the last one, why didn't I just tie it to the old one?

There are several reasons for that.  One, I'm faster at completely re-dressing the loom than I am at tying knots.  Secondly, this yarn still has residual twist energy in it so it's a bit unruly.  Trying to tie knots into it then nursing the knots through the heddles would not be a whole lot of fun.

Thirdly, if I did want to re-tie I would beam the warp first, having cut the old warp off behind the heddles rather than tie onto the front of the loom and drag the whole mess through the heddles onto the beam.  Especially with yarn that has residual twist energy in it.  But beaming it from the back of the loom would be a pain because my valet is set up at the front of the loom.

So no, I don't tie on any more.  It's something I gave up doing a very long time ago when I was still slow at dressing the loom and tying on was a time saver.

I'm getting low on yarn to use with the textured yarn to bundle a thicker weft so this will be the last place mat warp for a while.  I'll go back to the towels and see if I can't get more of that yarn used up.

But I am struggling to get back into a routine.  Part of the reason is that none of the looming deadlines has reached 'critical' yet, although that will change very quickly.  I've promised to send the yarns and instructions for the April workshop next week.  And, since I can't find my master copies of the drafts, I will finally take the time to up-date that topic with a somewhat nicer format.  It's been on my list to do for ages and I just never seem to find my round tuit.  Now I've got to do at least this topic!  It's not a big job, just time consuming, so I will have to begin working on that over the weekend.  Next week is fraught with appointments and meetings so I'm going to have to find that round tuit quickly.

Another One Bites the Dust

Since taking the photo, the tall gold/beige cone has been emptied.  The mat warp is about half way woven and there is enough warp left to finish the gold/beige bobbins and hopefully start on the darker beige waiting in the wings.  From the size of that cone, it will probably take two more warps to use it up - maybe three!

And this is how the mats look on the loom.  The photo shows the plain weave for hem and the start of the place mat itself using the bundled yarns to make a thick weft.

For information on how I do this, check out Handwoven a few years ago.  I believe I called the article/project Stash Busting Mats or something similar.

People often tell me how patient I am to weave.  Not at all.  In fact I am a very impatient person!  You don't need patience to do something you enjoy.

Making textiles for other people to use and enjoy delights me in a way that I can't possibly describe.  If you feel the same, no need for me to explain.  If you don't, you wouldn't understand why I, and others like me, do this.  The fact that people are willing to pay a premium for hand made items is a gift.  That people buy my textiles means that I can continue making more.  My productivity is such that I long ago out stripped being able to just give my stuff away.  Not to mention that I also need a source of income - to buy food, keep a roof over my head, pay for a vehicle and gas to drive it.  This is how I make my income.

I supplement income from selling my textiles by teaching, either in person or by writing.  Our society is changing in ways that may or may not be useful.  The big change I see coming is the ability to produce publications like Magic in the Water, A Good Yarn, etc., and be able to sell them.  Therefore the switch to considering an ebook of some type.

The poll in January leads me to believe that there might be a market for such a book.  The vote was pretty evenly split between projects and how-to information.  I think I can see a way to combine both of those but will need some time to mull it over.  Since this project is for after the Next Big Project happening in May, there is time to let things simmer on the back burner while I explore options.

I approach writing a book in much the same way I do designing a textile.  What is the purpose?  How best can I arrive at that purpose?  I will spend a lot of time puzzling over what is possible and how best to present the information I would like to convey.

On the other hand, I may abandon the effort entirely because writing a technical book is a heck of a lot of work and I have no idea if there will be sufficient people willing to buy it to make it worth my while or that they will find it useful.  It only takes one bad review to put others off from buying a publication.  Lots to consider....

If you have suggestions for content, email me laura at laurafry dot com