Day Two

overall look at the booth

close up of painted rayon warp scarf

close up of bamboo warp, Tencel weft shawl

close up of bamboo warp, rayon weft shawl

Since today was Hallowe'en, I figured it would be pretty slow after around 4 pm.  And so it was.  So I took some photos.  

I rarely remember to get 'beauty' shots of my textiles.  Mostly my blogging is just sharing what I'm doing with people.  But I also need photos for media and promotion.  I think the last one shows the iridescence of the plum shawl rather well.

Show Time, part two

Studio Fair Set up went fairly smoothly and I got home early enough that I was able to finish the magenta warp.  Tonight I've managed a bit of fringe twisting.  Still hoping to get them wet finished in the morning.  That will give me a pretty good colour selection.  

Another thing about working in series is that the more different colour combinations I do, the more daring I get.  I think I'm going to be having some fun with rayon chenille for a while longer. ;)

Working In Series

I like working in series.  Yes, that means that I am doing essentially the same thing, over and over again, with minor tweaks.  It means that once I have found a design I feel is working, in a general way, I can then begin making small changes in order to see how they affect the whole.  

In a stripe sequence such as this, I can change the colours, the values, the weft yarn.  All such changes are tiny.  Many people would get 'bored' but I find it endlessly fascinating how such small changes can make such a large impact on the cloth.  

But then I'm also the person who finds it challenging to weave plain weave, so take this observation for what it's worth.   ;)

Cycle

For me, year end isn't so much about December 31 but the end of the craft fair season.

All of my efforts for the year are pretty much geared towards the sales that happen in Oct/Nov/Dec.  If the textile isn't woven and ready in time, I don't stop pushing, I just push those textiles into the next year.

This year was challenging, there is no doubt about that.  But knowing the surgery was coming I was able to make plans for recovery and work my weaving into my physical therapy in a way that benefited me.  When I looked at the filled booth at the U yesterday, I felt a certain level of satisfaction that healing had happened, and recovery, while that isn't 100% yet, has been quite good.

Seeing the extent of my inventory means that I am satisfied that I have sufficient stock to make it through the next three shows without looking as though my booth has been thoroughly picked over.  I made more place mats than I did last year, and there is an excellent supply of tea towels.  Not as great a variety as I would like, but depth of stock of what I did make.

The supply of scarves is pretty decent and I still have shawls to finish, er, finishing, and which will be ready for the show next weekend.

Depending on how well the last 3 (four, if you count the guild sale Dec. 5/6) sales go, I might even have enough inventory left over that some of the pressure of making more will be eased.  If so, I will be ramping up efforts to write The Book.  I should have a good 5 weeks in Dec/Jan to write.  In that time frame, if I work at it every day for at least an hour, by the time Mary come in mid-January, I might even have something worth showing to her.  I also have a couple of alpha/beta readers locally and am waiting to see what my alpha reader has to say about the first 9 pages.  (Probably that they need heavy duty editing - I fully expect them to be crap because you have to sift through a lot of dross before you find gold).

Mostly at this point I'm looking for feedback on 'voice'.  Because once I've determined my 'voice' the words should flow more smoothly.  Or at least, that's my theory.

Writing a technical manual is - shall we say - challenging.  How to convey the information without being so obscure no one understands what you are trying to say?  Or too condescending?  (Do I really want to write a Weaving for Dummies?)  Too casual or too pedantic - either are not good, in my opinion.  So I want to strike a balance between sharing my experiences - which are admittedly subjective - with 'hard' facts - the stuff that is generally 'true' for most.

In a 'soft' craft like weaving - your mileage may most definitely vary.

So, I have assembled a team of people who I know will give me honest (but kind) feedback, people who have expertise I don't have, and shushed my Inner Critic (mostly).

I still have doubts that I can produce a 'good' book but I'm going to try.  Ultimately the buying public will be voting on how well I managed.  I'm also taking a huge gamble by self-publishing.  But doing it under my complete control means that I will produce something that I can put my name to, and not have to worry about someone else editing it and determining if those xxx pages are all necessary or not.  It will have as much information as I can think of to fit in, no cuts because it will cost too much.  I will control the finances I put into this and I will determine how much needs to be included.

Am I a control freak?  Why, thank you for noticing!  I suppose what I want is to write the book I wish had been available when I started to weave...

UNBC

A solid two hours work got us to this point. 

Chenille Queue

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

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

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

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

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

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

What If?

Continuing to ask what if?   This time combining stripes of different weights of rayon chenille.  Tweed is 1300 ypp, solid blue and grey is 2000 and medium blue is 1450.   If it works I'm hoping for a sculptural effect.

And for those who have asked, the scarves are 8" wide, 66" long plus fringe, and priced at $100 plus shipping.