Looking at Twills

Since I currently have the guild's 8 shaft Baby Wolf here, I am dressing it with the warp for the Looking at Twills workshop next weekend.

This warp is 2/20 mercerized cotton.  It's been a while since I've worked with anything finer than 2/16 cotton, and I remember now why I've pretty much given up.  It's not that I'm 'afraid' of it, nor that I'm 'worried' about working with such fine yarn.

It's more that my body is complaining.  My hands have lost some of their dexterity over the years and yarn this fine makes my thumbs hurt.  (Yes, arthritis due to working with my hands for so many years has made an appearance, not to mention joint/muscle pain as an adverse effect of not one but two medications I'm taking.)  And then there is my eyesight.  I've been short sighted for nearly all of my life and that is something that just gets...worse...as the years go by.

However, this warp is only about 8 inches wide, 36 epi.  It won't take long to get it done.  And even with my aging body, I'm still probably faster than any of the students in the class.  So they will get the experience of weaving with this yarn and then they can decide if it is something they want to work with.

The warp is the two colours on the far left, the other yarns will be brought as options for weft.  They can either use the colours in the warp, or choose a darker or lighter value in order to see how value will affect the cloth in twill blocks.  (Click on the photo to see the entire range of colours.  Blogspot cuts part of the photo out until you biggify it.)

For more information about colour and weaving, you might find Tien Chiu's on line class interesting.  Also Jane Stafford's on line guild.  This year will be all about colour and design.

Currently reading A Habit of Murder by Susanna Gregory

Musings

My life has been a roller coaster for more years than I care to think about.  Being a self-employed weaver in the 20th and 21st centuries is...challenging.  Then, for the past 10 years, add in serious, potentially life ending health issues (my allergies and whiplash injuries are not exactly life ending, just annoying), well, there has been plenty for me to muse on lately.

See, being self-employed means a whole lot of things.  Working to deadline.  Bringing in and paying for materials long before you ever see the income from using them up from making fabric to sell.  Accepting commissions and sometimes not delivering what the client wants.  Or making a terminal error because you are rushing, don't stop to think, mess up.

Like I did, recently.  (Yeah, still not perfect.)

My new medication is helping to keep me alive, but at a cost.  Fortunately the adverse effects aren't horrible, just annoying (see comment about allergies/whiplash above).  But one of the things it does is make me feel tired.

I don't have the fatigue brain fog any more - just this low grade feeling of never being able to get enough sleep to feel refreshed.

As some people with chronic illness say - my supply of daily spoons is limited - and I run out long before I'm used to.

I am going to exit my 7th decade in just over two years (I should have said 'exit', not 'enter' in a recent post).  When I chose to weave I thought I would production weave and sell my textiles for the first 25 years, which would take me to 50, then teach for the next 25 years, which would take me to 75.  Well, I'm damn close to that second number now. 

I am thinking I am well beyond 50 and yet, here I am, still weaving for production, schlepping boxes of textiles to craft fairs.  People I know have been retired for over 10 years.  And here I am, still working to deadline, juggling dates, commitments, scrambling to get things done.

As my energy drains out of me at the end of the day (like now) 'retirement' - at least from the production aspect of weaving - seems more and more attractive.  But I have this stash.

So now, I'm thinking that if I concentrate and work with intent on getting my stash woven down, that 2020 seems like a good year to end doing out of town shows.  This year I'm only doing one out of town, the other two are local.  So I will probably carry on doing the local ones - if only to sell down my inventory and reduce that aspect of my stash, too.

It is beginning to feel as though it is time to start winding up the selling textiles part of my career.  I do still enjoy the teaching, but now I am focusing more and more on the Olds program. 

Today I finished the run of silk scarves I wove for the fall sales.  I have some silk set aside for a project for The Intentional Weaver.  I may get that into the loom next.  Technically I only need about 7 projects to illustrate the weave structures I'm including, but knowing me I will want to do variations to show how to manipulate the weave structure to create different designs.  There are also several people who have offered to design and weave projects for me.  Realistically I probably will do, oh, 12?  Myself? 

Given how fast I am, that isn't even a whole lot of work.

I have made arrangements for my editor to come in July to deal with the photographs so I'm going to try really hard to get those 12 things woven over the next 3.5 months, in between marking homework and teaching classes.

Which doesn't leave a whole lot of time for production.  So I may be a wee bit thin on the inventory part of the craft fair shows.  But I am going to try to use my spoons wisely and balance my energy so that I can get everything I want done accomplished.

Because I can never seem to dream small dreams...

Guest Post - Mary Lessman

There are times in my life when I know I’m one of the very fortunate. This February I got to be with Laura in Prince George. In addition to spending time with two people who seem to enjoy me as much as I enjoy them I had the opportunity to learn a lot about myself and my weaving. Laura was at the end of a warp on the AVL and offered to let me weave 2 towels. I have little experience with linen and she had a couple bobbins in a humidor so I was set.

The surprise for me weaving on the AVL was how much attention I could pay to just the mechanics. The computer keeps track of the “treadling” sequence; the automatic advance keeps track of the fell line. “All” I had to do was keep track of me. It turned out to be quite a job. Here are things I learned in the order my mind became aware of them.

·    

8    * Wear Ear Protection. This is especially necessary when working with an air assist. That baby is LOUD. It is a lesson I’ve taken home. I have a Baby Mac and have been weaving with noise cancelling headphones on and really have noticed the difference when I take them off.

·        * Keep your feet flat on the floor. On the AVL one foot presses the pedal. One foot is, if you’re me, on its toes making my calf cramp. That habit took nearly 2 hours to break. My take home is to be aware where your feet are. I’ve found there is a good resting place for the foot not treadling at the moment. I can weave longer with more comfort if I am thoughtful of my feet.

·         *A pelvic tilt helps concentrate the power in your core when you pull the beater: That baby is heavy! It’s got all sorts of add-ons for a flying shuttle (If I recall correctly it can manage 4 colors at a time) and controls the cloth advance. Laura can throw the shuttle fast enough to just let the beater ricochet its way back and forth. I’m not so fast and needed to control it on the far side of the swing. It takes a whole lot of core strength to slow it down to my speed. Keep that tilt going! It has made a huge difference in my home weaving. I maintain good posture and can weave longer and feel better all around.

·       *  Relax your shoulders. Good posture lets you weave longer.

·       * The weight of the bobbin changes the throw strength. I didn’t appreciate how much difference this makes over one bobbin. I had to change my technique as the bobbin emptied in order to have it cross the entire width of the warp and end up in my hand ready to toss back. This isn’t as noticeable with my smaller loom but really made an impression on me.

·        * Watch the angle in the shed, too much leaves loops. As I was using linen the thread itself wanted to sproing like a spring in the shed when the humidor hadn’t moistened the inner yarn on the bobbin. I would have way too much slack to lay flat. Keeping track of all the above things made watching for this fall by the wayside too many times. Selvedges suffered.

·        * A humidor is your best friend with linen. The yarn softens and turns the selvedges better.

·       *  When Bobbins are dry in the center they are harder to control. Make sure they have plenty of time to humidify.

·       *  Fixing broken threads is the same with 16 shafts as with 4. You can get good at it. It only looks intimidating. When you are getting too much experience look for a reason.

·       *  A loud, breathing, puffing, clanking machine isn’t scary when you know what makes all those sounds. It’s possible to sort out what is happening where. Knowing helps make weaving deliberate to achieve the result you are hoping for. Weave with intention. It does help the results.

·      *   Relax your shoulders. It helps you with your rhythm, Loom Music as Laura calls it. Your accuracy will follow. Eventually the speed does too.

·       * Don’t use extra motions. I thought I was holding the shuttle above the beater each time but had the time to realize I was lifting it as I was supposed to but pulling it back towards me. The shuttle wasn’t waiting in the perfect place to hit the race and make the next pick. I was using energy I could use to keep weaving. Be aware where your hands are. You can weave longer and with more accuracy.

·         *Advance the warp regularly. There is a small sweet spot. You will get better results-straighter selvedges and a more evenly beat web if you advance every inch and a half or two inches (on my Baby Mac) making the entire process more rewarding.

·         *About this time I was breaking a sweat. This weaving is work! Make sure to tighten your core and make a slight rocking motion back to beat, forwards when changing the shed. When this motion comes from your core it reduces wear and tear on your upper body. You can weave longer. I mean that both that day and as a lifetime activity.

·        * There is a rhythm that will improve your selvedges and your cloth. Throw the shuttle, beat before/as the shed closes, change shed and repeat. The yarn is free to settle into the length it needs for a repeatable length of yarn in the pick. When I would throw, close the shed “locking in” the length of the yarn and then beat, the length of the yarn changed depending on how close the fell line was to the beater and the exact angle of the thread to the fell line. My selvedges straightened right out. My friend Kaaren said it doesn’t always hold true and I plan on having a chit chat with her about that. She’s a wonderful and knowledgeable weaver too.

·     *    When something changes look for the reason. This loom has quite a learning curve and so do I. “What you don’t know you don’t know” is huge with this kind of equipment. Why were the warp threads breaking? Why was the fell line changing (I forgot to reengage the gear of the advance mechanism after I fixed a broken thread. Laura had warned me.)

·      *   Distinguish between operator error and loom error. Sometimes it’s you, sometimes it’s not.

·         Relax your shoulders. Have I said how important I think this is yet? It’s easier to weave when your shoulders aren’t all balled up. Easier to sleep that night too.

·         Sometimes you have to ask for help. Laura isn’t a helicopter instructor which was good for me. I could announce every once in a while what I had just learned so she could get a giggle. When I needed help though, I needed an explanation why things were going wrong.

·       *  Last but not least, sometimes you just have to walk away Renae. Come back another day. Sleeping seems to help your body remember the lessons learned that day so things fall into place easier the next day.

All this made me realize just what a process it is learning to be an Efficient Weaver. Yes, I’ve taken her class and I have her wonderful Video  The Efficient Weaver  Thanks to both of those I had an idea what I wanted to pay attention to and where I was heading. If you have a chance, both are wonderful learning experiences and she didn’t pay me to say that.

Lest you think I did nothing but weave, I learned these things and with a couple of them my body learned them too with a two hour session one day and an hour and forty minutes the next. I was weaving with every sense open and attentive. No daydreaming happened. Each movement was felt and thought about. When I weave with intent at home these lessons have and are becoming part of my weaving practice.

What about the rest of the week? Why, I learned the basic stitches of bobbin lace. The second day it also started to become body memory. I reveled in the snow and left snow angels around the neighborhood. I spent an evening with my Prince George guild and enjoyed women whose company I love and who return the love. I watched Laura enjoy her new e-spinner, The Device, while I spun on my Russian spindle. We drank a lot of tea and laughed a lot. Everywhere I looked there was an inspiring bit of hand woven to make my heart sing. I’ll be back in three months. Who knows what I’ll learn then! I can’t wait.

In Person Shopping

One of the really big benefits of shopping at a fibre festival like Fibres West (or Olds Fibre Week or even the ANWG or other regional conference) is that you find out what else suppliers have in stock.

This year Jane Stafford had some new things which weavers might find useful.

I have been a big fan of Color Catchers for years, but it's almost impossible to find them in Canada.  However, Jane is now stocking Dr. Beckmann's Colour and Dirt Collectors which essentially do the same thing - trap loose dye and prevent it from settling elsewhere.  I routinely use these whenever I am weaving with hand dyed yarn, especially cellulose (rayon, bamboo, cotton, linen) yarns.

As always, I recommend that such yarns do NOT soak, at all, ever, even with these colour catchers.  Rather I recommend rinsing, rinsing, rinsing until the water is clear, or at least just a 'blush' of colour left, to prevent migration of loose dye.

The little magnifying glass is helpful if you want to see the weave structure of a cloth up close. 

Check out http://janestaffordtextiles.com or email if these items are not yet on her website.

Fellowship

Had a chance to talk to several of our presenters for Confluences next year.  One of the reasons I enjoy Fibre festivals is the opportunity  for face to face interactions with other Fibre people.

Our theme celebrates the fact that every culture around the world has some intimate involvement with textiles and one way to bridge cultures is to find a point of commonality.

If we can find that common ground, we can find respect and communicate beyond cultural differences.

While down here we went to the Museum of Anthropology to see the Salish textile exhibit.  It was a powerful display of craftsmanship.  It had both traditional and contemporary textiles.  It was so good to see that the knowledge and skills are being preserved and shared with the public.

One of our presenters was involved in some of the work in bringing this exhibit to the museum and we are greatful for her work.  Watch for details of her presentation on the conference blog/website.

Confluences.  The coming together of people, ideas, skills, cultures, all within the field of textiles.

That is my hope. 

Balancing Act

It has been heart warming to have both level one classes sending in their homework.  At this rate, I think everyone will complete their homework and get it to me.  And if not, well sometimes Life Happens and we can't always do what we want to do.

A discussion on a group I belong to was talking about 'perfection' and how if we aren't perfect we have - somehow - failed.

It is a concept I understand all too well.  When I was a kid in school, unless I brought home all A's, the focus was on what *wasn't* an A and a lecture on how I needed to do better.  Because a B simply wasn't 'good enough'.  I was expected to at least be in the top 10 in the class.  Woe betide me if I wasn't.

Working with textiles all my adult life I very quickly had to get comfortable with never being 'perfect'.  Figuring out that good was good enough.

That didn't mean I didn't try, try, try to do better.  To be better.

But, as a teacher, what is my job?  To rubber stamp whatever my students do?  To only point out their 'flaws'?

I try to be more balanced than that.  I try to encourage.  I try to gently point out where more attention needs to be paid by the weaver while recognizing what is 'good enough'. 

And some of the work truly is so close to perfect that there is little I can say. 

In my role as teacher I try to bring my decades of experience as a production weaver to share with the students.  I recently had someone comment - again - on how fast I was.  Yes.  I am.  I've spent my life becoming as efficient as I am.  Do I expect every student to emulate me?  No.  I expect them to become the best they can be.  And always strive to be better.  But I don't expect them to be me.

I see my main job teaching the Olds master weaving level ones as helping students understand the principles.  Of encouraging them to question.  To wonder why.  To ask 'what if'.  To set them up for the following levels.

It is not my job to tell them what to do so that they can get 'perfect' marks and Ace the class.  Because that isn't 'mastering' weaving.  That's just studying to the exam to pass the course.  And that isn't what it is all about.  IMHO...

Roller Coaster

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

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

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

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

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

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

*still available $25 Cdn including shipping

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