Counting Blessings

rayon chenille sample warp for A Good Yarn: Rayon ready to weave....

Yesterday I threw myself a gigantic pity party and wallowed in the emotional mire for a while.  Why?  Life isn't fair and sometimes I forget that it isn't and rail against the 'unfairness' that we all must deal with when it rears it's ugly head in our lives.

After a day of moping about the house I finally picked myself up (venting at a good friend helped!) and got myself into the studio to do something productive.

Even so, before I managed to get a grip and shake myself out of the doldrums I did something incredibly stupid and then had to deal with the consequences.  Needless to say, dropping the entire assemblage of reed and lease sticks through the beater onto the floor was counter productive in the extreme, but I was able to straighten the warp out and get it onto the beam with the help of a brush.  Now a brush is not recommended as a great tool for rayon chenille but used carefully it helped deal with the resulting mess.

And doing something so incredibly clumsy focused me away from the unfairness of life and back to where it should always be - on the task at hand!

Today is my 4th blogiversary.  When I started this blog it was with the thought that my major health issues were safely behind me, that I could now proceed through my 'golden' years without too much fuss and ado.  After all, I was fixed, right?

Unfortunately such has not proved to be the case.  The reality is that, although I am well past my expiry date, life continues to be a series of challenges.  I have to remind myself that I am not 'special' in this.  That pretty much everyone I know has their own set of 'special' circumstances and I had better put my big girl panties on and just get on with it.

This morning Doug and I talked about the timing of his 'retirement' and I told him that with the way things were going I figured I would be lucky to have another 10, maybe 12 productive years left so whatever it is I feel driven to accomplish, I'd better do it now.  Therefore the trip over the pond next spring - a trip that I can ill afford, frankly - and if I don't get any teaching gigs while over there, well, so be it.  So far I've no firm plans (one tentative booking in Scotland) but hopefully I can spend about 3 weeks in Sweden and the UK and see some of the things I'd like to, meet some of the people in person that I've corresponded with.

(I know that last sentence isn't grammatical but making it so always seems so contrived - 'with whom I've corresponded' - see I do know how to write good!)  :^)

Anyhoo - one of the services Blogger provides is to keep track of things like page views, followers and such.

Therefore I know that this is my 982nd post - in four years.  I know that I have 232 official 'followers'.  I know how many page views each post receives.  It is a bit humbling.  I had no idea who might be interested in my pithy comments when I started this blog or if anyone even would be.  Interested, that is..  It has been heartwarming and the support and encouragement received  incredibly helpful as I have stumbled through life's hazards the past four years.

Part of the challenge yesterday was the fact that after the angioplasty, the broken ankle, the chemo - I really and truly thought that finally life had been 'unfair' enough and that I could now, finally, sail through my 'golden' years without further worrisome health issues.  Apparently not so much.  Right now I am not dealing with anything immediately life threatening, so I'm not sure why the nagging minor issues seemed so burdomsome..  But I sank into the gloom, feeling incredibly put upon, quite unfairly.

Life isn't fair.  Get over it.  Big girl panties.  Need big box of them.

Pearls of Wisdom

waiting for dryer, winding spools for next warp - Diversified Plain Weave with bamboo and rayon chenille

finished scarf

When a piece of grit gets into an oyster shell, in order to protect itself the oyster exudes a protective layer to cover the grit.  As time passes, the oyster builds up layer after layer of this protective coating to create a pearl.

Which is why I really like the phrase "pearls of wisdom".

Knowledge is built up of layers of practical experience and theory that the practitioner then attempts to bring into reality.  Sometimes the theory is correct, sometimes, well, not so much.  But as each attempt to create something comes to fruition more knowledge is gained and the practitioner can make a more educated guess as to how something that is theoretically possible may actually work the way they want it to.

It was with a certain air of arrogance then that I went ahead and wove all the samples for AGY: Rayon using a yarn I'd never actually encountered before.  I hope I don't sound vain but suitably grateful that the finished cloth is every bit as nice as I hoped it would be.  So much so that I am going to order in more of the yarn in different colours in hopes that I can do a short run of the new scarf for the shows in November.

The textured rayon is hand dyed, and as such I anticipated that there would be fugitive dye during wet finishing.  Rinse, rinse, rinse until the water came clear.  Then into the dryer until damp and because I didn't feel like firing up Puff, hand hard pressing to finish it off.  I'll trim the fringes (don't personally like the fuzzy bits at the ends of the knots) and the scarf will be done.

The photo doesn't show the lovely sheen the cloth has.  It is light and airy and feels like butter.

Consistency

I know I yammer on and on about consistency, but it's true - you really do have to be consistent on just oh, so many levels in weaving.

One way to check for consistency of beat is to drape your cloth in front of a window and let the light shine through it.

Today there wasn't a lot of light by the time I finished weaving the scarves so this is a pretty pathetic photo which doesn't show how lovely the cloth really is.  I took it without a flash so that the light coming through the cloth would show the placement of the threads.

This cloth is a tiny bit challenging to weave.  First off, it's plain weave.  Remember plain weave?  The simple weave structure that is technically way more difficult than any other weave structure to get 'right'?  Secondly one of the warp yarns is quite textured and the two warp yarns are different in terms of their elasticity.  The beat itself isn't a 'beat' as such but more of a placement - a light kiss of the beater against the fell.

So I was curious to see how well I'd managed.  I think I did ok.  :)

(The different colours of green reflect the scene outside my window - my lawn, the street and the neighbour's lawn and tree - the tree is to the upper left and looks like a darker green blob.)

In Praise of Longer Warps

Am just about to cut the tea towels off the AVL.

This warp was 30 yards long and about 10 yards of it went towards fabric for new office curtains.  Which I hope I will have time to sew up sometime this fall....or winter!

While it may look like there is an awful lot of warp left, the fact is the end is just over the top of the beam - in other words, about half a yard on the beam itself.  Which means that there is not enough warp left to do one more towel.

I could weave a square for a bread cloth or 'doily' but quite frankly I don't want to.  I have other projects in the pipeline and this warp needs to come off.

Do I feel bad about the amount of loom waste there will be?  No.

For one thing, there is less loom waste here than if I'd put 3 ten yard warps onto the loom.  For another, my thrums get recycled, one way or another.

Anyone worried about loom waste might think about mastering beaming longer warps.  You wind up with less waste per item than doing many shorter warps.  :)

Currently reading (or about to start) Two of the Deadliest, edited by Elizabeth George.  "New tales of lust, greed, and murder from outstanding women of mystery"  Several of my fav mystery writers are included in the collection so I'm looking forward to them and perhaps discovering some new favourite authors.  :)

Fund Raising

From time to time I donate stuff to worthy causes.  My latest has been to do some fund raising for Weavolution, a social networking site for weavers.  They are wanting to initiate some improvements to the website but for that they need some hard cash.

Over the summer I've run a series of auctions - things donated by generous people - hand spun yarns, hand woven textiles.  Since I begin travelling again in September, I've decided to wrap up the current round of auctions by finally letting go of the very last complete copy of Magic in the Water; wet finishing handwovens.

I kept one copy in reserve in case I had to deconstruct it to make the digital version, but in the end it was not necessary and so - ta-Dah! - here it is.

The auction is taking place on the Chat forum of Weavolution.  While I don't think you have to be a member of Weavo to post there, it's free so if you don't belong you might like to visit and join.

The auction ends at 7 pm September 1 Pacific Time Zone.  The shipping is also being donated so all funds bid on the book will go directly to web site improvements.

Here We Go Again!

Finished weaving the sample this morning and cut the 'before' samples, serging the rest to be wet finished.  I'm planning on 145 copies, as for the cotton, but of course that may change.

Beginning a big project is a bit - daunting - perhaps is the best word.  It's exciting and scary all at the same time.  Will it work?  Will I be happy with the results?  Will anyone else be interested enough to buy?

When I started this blog, nearly 4 years ago, I had no idea I had this much to say about weaving.  Not only have I wound up posting (embarrassingly) nearly every day, I still contribute to the chat groups and write articles for publication.  And now another self-published publication is underway.

When I see how often I post here I oftentimes feel like I should just be quiet!  And then people approach me at conferences or workshops and say they check my blog every day.  Which sort of gives me permission to write/post often.  :}

Anon mentioned in a comment that it would be good if I could travel around to help people with their posture and processes.  Well, I am, sort of.  Several guilds and conferences have booked me to come to their area and present workshops on working efficiently/ergonomically.  The next is next month in Texas.  Then January at the John C. Campbell Folk School - the title is Weaving Boot Camp, but no doubt we will cover ergonomics there - and so on.

I think I've got all my booked workshops listed on my schedule page (although a niggling thought that I'm missing one means I ought to go through my emails to check).  A couple more groups are talking to me about it and details will be listed on my website as they become available.

2013 is going to be a very busy year for travelling.  One of the trips I really want to make is to go across the pond.  One date is reserved for Scotland  in mid-May but mostly I think I will be touring, hopefully with a friend.  Again, details are waiting to be finalized.

Anyway, back to A Good Yarn: Rayon - I'm hoping to get it finished sometime in the spring but with so many trips (teaching, craft fair circuit, teaching again) I have to get started now.  But I also need to work on more inventory for the craft fairs, so will have to really get focussed so that I can be as productive as I need to be.

Niche Market/Saturation

threading the first warp for A Good Yarn: Rayon

First sample woven

It seems my days are getting more and more disrupted this week - first clinic visits which were supposed to happen last week and got moved to this week, then a family event tomorrow that never got put onto my calendar and therefore fell right off my radar.  So my plan to work on the Seattle guild program will have to move to Sunday.  Oh, well.

All I managed to do yesterday was thread the first of the AGY:R samples and weave the first bit to see how I liked it.  And I do.  Like it, I mean.  Well enough that I may do a short run of this cloth as scarves/shawls if I can squeeze that into my schedule before the sales in November.  I'm such an optimist!

One of the realities of trying to earn an income by weaving cloth is that you are appealing to a niche market.  A very tiny niche, at that.  What happens is that the market for one's designs can very quickly become saturated so that if you don't keep bringing new designs to the marketplace, sales stall.

It is so very easy to get seduced into repeating a well selling item over and over and then watch as your sales begin to droop, then sag, then become so small it isn't worth while doing the shows you've always been doing with the same designs you've always had success with.

As soon as a weaver/designer sees sales beginning to fall off it is imperative that new designs are begun.

One of the traps that can open up under one's feet is that of pricing product so low that sales are going gang-busters - so much so that there is no time for new design/product development because all available time is being poured into production.  Then when sales sag, there is no time for designing and all of a sudden, there are no sales at all.

How do I know this?  As you might guess, it happened to me.  And the result when sales finally dried up was not pretty.

One way to cope with drooping sales in a market is to find a new market.  Another way is to increase prices.  This strategy is called 'scarcity pricing' - in other words, make a small niche even smaller so that you sell fewer items but make more per item.  This can free up time for designing and perfecting new designs.

There are customers who can become 'fans' and will continue to buy new designs just because they like your designs and are willing to start a collection.  For instance I've been told there is one lady in my home town who recently bought her 12th Laura Fry scarf.  :)  But in order to keep her buying a 13th or 14th, that means I must bring new designs to the marketplace or there will be no incentive for her to keep adding to her collection.

Currently reading Until the Night by Giles Blunt