2018->2019

Today is the last calendar day of 2018.  It's been quite the ride.

It is also time to get back to work.  I will finally open the Christmas cards that have arrived and write out my own.  There is a reason my cards say "Season's Greetings" or "Happy Holidays".

But after that?  I need to begin writing out mailing labels and customs forms for the book orders.

I know I could type them out and print them, but I sit at the computer far too much already.  And I want to take the time to think of each person and in my own way thank them.  It's a big ask to expect people to purchase a book, sight unseen.  So I want to spend a little time appreciating these people who took the leap and purchased.

Plus I don't want to get writer's cramp, so I will pace myself and do this over several days, in between weaving.

I'm getting close to finishing the current warp, the next has been crunched, plus I should hear shortly from Tien what she wants/needs done next for samples for her on-line class. 

I have 8 scarf warps wound ready to go into the Leclerc Fanny, plus I just ordered a huge amount of 2/8 cotton from Brassard which will arrive sometime in January once they are open again after the holidays.

Conference planning continues.  Some scheduling issues were caught and will be dealt with before we go live with registration.  Always like to find these before we go live.

Sending my best wishes to all for a productive new year.

Currently reading The Broken Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin

At the Ending of the Year

The current year is about to roll over into the new and many people are taking the time to pause, reflect, and generally sort out how their lives are going so they can figure out how to proceed into the new calendar year.

My year begins with the solstice and the returning of the light so this exercise has been much on my mind of late,.

I have a little book called A Grateful Heart with quotations from various sources and from time to time I will pick it up and open it randomly.

Inevitably it will open to precisely the quote I need.  Today it was:

No longer forward nor behind
I look in hope or fear;
But, grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here.
     John Greenleaf Whittier

Asking Questions

“The best teachers are those who show you where to look, 

but don't tell you what to see.”

― Alexandra K.Trenfor

When you don't know something, but want to, the best way to learn 
is to ask questions.  But when you don't know what you don't know, 
you don't know that you don't know it.

This is where a good teacher is invaluable.

After teaching for over 40 years I have come to have a new
understanding and appreciation for the role of good teachers
 in my life.  The ones who were open minded.  Who asked questions
and let me wrestle with finding the answers.  The ones who didn't
 judge me when I got it wrong, but encouraged me to keep looking. 
Who lifted me up, not tore me down.

All of these things have informed me in terms of teaching.  Which
is not to say that I am the best teacher for everyone.  I have made
mistakes and not been 100% on the ball every day.  Each time I
recognize I've not served a student well, I try to determine where
I went wrong and how to do better.

The fact of the matter is that we all process information in a way
that works best for us.  I know recent articles have questioned
that, but in my experience, in a group of 20 people there will be
some who learn by listening to an explanation, some who need
 a demonstration, others who need to do it themselves.  Aural,
 visual, kinetic.  Still others can winkle out meaning from reading.

We live in very interesting times with the rise of the internet.
 Instead of books or an in-person teaching experience, we also
now have on line classes, dvds, chat groups.

For people wanting to learn how to weave, there are a variety
of ways of obtaining information.  I have contributed video clips
to You Tube, done dvds, presented power point 'lessons'.  But
mostly I have written.  It really is my preferred method of
communication.  

Regardless of how someone learns, the gathering of information
begins with questions.  When not enough is known, finding a
good teacher who will help guide you by asking those questions
then assisting you to find answers is the first step on the road
to understanding.

Was just talking with someone about how our personal journey
informs who we become.  As I look back on my life I was blessed
with a majority of really good teachers.  Teachers who made me
 think.  Who taught me how to recognize things like emotional
trigger words, editorial bias, and think critically.  I took lots of
science classes, assuming I would go on to university, so I learned
how to set up experiments, analyze data, adjust procedures and
not be afraid of 'failure' because that was how to figure out what
didn't work and make changes to my processes to come closer to
success.

Taking English, English Literature and other classes like Social
Studies taught me how to write essays.  How to research topics
and come to conclusions.  How to write with clarity.

When I look back on my early years as a weaver, I see how my
music classes, dance classes, sports, all informed the physical
skills and how I could self coach myself through the ergonomics
of weaving.  I also asked professionals - physiotherapists, massage
therapists, dance instructors who had taken degrees in movement
- if my posture and processes were good or would lead to injury. 
Their feedback confirmed that I was doing things in a way to
reduce repetitive motion injuries.

Teaching workshops I learned how to interact with people and
how to communicate in ways which - hopefully - would help
them understand.  As mentioned, I didn't always succeed, but I
 tried.  And always - I learned.

So my philosophy is pretty much as above, both the meme and
the quote.  Good teachers lift their students up, not tear them
down.  (I've had both kinds, I know the difference.)  Good teachers
help guide their students, not dictate to them.  Best teachers
applaud  when their students go on to eclipse them.  Because
learning is not a competition.

We stand on the shoulders of giants.  We build on what has
gone before.  We help others become the best they can be.

For those people wanting to learn?  Find a good teacher.  Become
a good student.  Learn as much as you can.  Learn how to apply
what you learn to achieve your goals.  

Then pass it on.  That is how we keep this craft alive and vital.

On Line Resources

I don't 'do' resolutions for the coming new year, but thought I would share some on line resources for people who want to increase their knowledge in the coming year.

As some of you know, I have been weaving samples for Tien Chiu's on line course on colour for weavers.  She has launched her first class which will begin shortly.  You might want to check out her resources and consider if her class is right for you.  She has been working on streamlining her website and will soon move the forums to a different platform which she hopes will be more user friendly.

Jane Stafford's on-line guild is another resource people may find helpful.  I've known Jane since the mid-1980s and she gives good straight forward information in a concise clear manner.

Janet Dawson's class on Craftsy is a basic class on learning the fundamentals of weaving.  Just this morning she mentioned that she now has over 8000 students - something that shows people are becoming interested in weaving again.  Recent articles say that hand weaving is having a resurgence.  Something that makes me feel confident that the craft of hand weaving will continue for a long time to come.

Heddlecraft is an on-line magazine by Robyn Spady.  She covers one topic in depth per issue and includes .wif files for those with computer software for weaving.

Interweave Press has now migrated much of their dvd inventory into 'classes' such as mine.

WeaveZine and WeaveCast were created by Syne Mitchell.  Syne continues to fund the website so that people can access the articles and podcasts.

These are just a few on line resources.  Feel free to add more in the comments.

(PS - all of those named above are also instructing at the conference here in June.  For two of them it will be the last in person teaching they will be doing.)

Moving Right Along

Now that Christmas (and the introductory offer) is over, it is time to gear down for the long haul.

My immediate schedule now switches to conference planning.  We are very near to announcing the registration opening.  If people haven't yet signed up for conference email notices, I urge you to do so asap as things are getting very near to being ready to go public. 

While I plan on having some copies of The Intentional Weaver for sale at the conference, not everyone will be attending it and sales will continue through blurb going forward.  (If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, Magic in the Water is also there.)

What I would ask is that anyone who feels this book is worthwhile?  Could you please go to the page and click on the 'share' buttons?  Marketing a self-published book is challenging because you find yourself constantly tooting your own horn.  Which I am not too shy to do, but it helps people to know if the book is truly worth the purchase price and if they might find it helpful if others say so and not just my ego saying it is.

We are getting some snow today and I have chosen to not go out but to have some quiet days this week in order to plunge back into what needs doing next.

I reached the half way point in the current (30 yard) warp, I've used up three tubes of cottolin and am about to start the fourth and last in my stash.  Yesterday I wound the first of the linen bobbins which are steeping in the humidor.  And I crunched the numbers for the next warp, which will be a twill block version of Canadian Snowflake but in bright cheerful colours - the warp is Peacock and Emerald Green, the weft will be navy or turquoise single linen. 

Of course I am once again weaving linen at the dryest season, so I will be putting the humidifier on in the next couple of days to try and make the linen behave better.

If the relative humidity drops below around 40% I find that all fibres start to get cranky - even cotton will develop static electricity - linen and silk are even more prone to problems.

But I need to get to the loom, so off I go...moving right along...

An Introvert's Christmas

A friend made and gifted me these a few years ago.  They wound up in my teaching box - a perfect example of Summer and Winter and a fancy twill bookmark.

As a professional weaver, participating in the round of craft fairs that brought in a large percentage of my income for the year, by the time Christmas actually arrived I was exhausted.  Or else I had critical deadlines early in the new year.

There were many years when I spent several hours at the loom on Christmas day, either before or after spending a few hours with my brother and mother.

Well, both of them are gone now and there are just the two of us.  We have no plans for Christmas day, other than to veg.  We have library books to read.  I have a warp on the AVL and 10 or so scarf warps to go into the small loom.  There will also be more weaving for Tien's colour class, but she is taking some time off after launching her on line class and spending time with her family.  We agreed that my weaving the painted warp for her could easily wait until she is home from the holidays.

So while I have weaving I want to do, there are no actual critical weaving/teaching deadlines I need to scramble to meet.

There are a few pending orders to be dealt with - cheques held up in the mail, Paypal requests not yet paid.  I've decided to wait until after Christmas to deal with the follow up emails.

The orders are processed, a folder for books to be mailed in Canada, one for overseas, and several to the US.  Orders are in alphabetical order and I'll begin with Canada and overseas and clear them out of the house first.

While I'm waiting for the books to arrive, sometime in January according to the company, I will begin writing out mailing labels and customs forms.

But all of that is going to wait, too, because I have cleared off the table and now have enough room I can make some jigsaw puzzles.

It used to be holiday tradition that I would go for coffee each day and make puzzles with my friend.  But she is gone now, too.

So I am going to enjoy an Introvert's Christmas and stay home.  Read.  Weave.  Make puzzles.  Rest when necessary.

I will begin on the conference again in the new year.  But for now a very quiet, contemplative, Introvert's Christmas sounds perfect to me.

Feedback

Since getting home from San Jose, I have slowly been getting back to the loom, trying to build up muscle tone after not weaving much since early Oct. 

Even when I felt like weaving on the AVL, I didn't 'have much energy or focus, so while I did finally manage to finish the warp I'd left on it, it took a long time.  Then the loom had to be dressed again and we were on the road doing craft fairs.  There was just one week between getting home from Calgary and heading to San Jose, and all I managed to do was thread the loom.

In between monitoring my email, the blurb website, processing orders, I have tried to get to the loom every day - although not always making it.

However, I'm over a third of the way through the warp, finished two spools of cottolin for weft and started on the third colour today.

A big project like writing and publishing a book is an exercise in riding the roller coaster of hitting one deadline crest, sliding down into the valley, then pushing upwards to the next.

The introductory offer finished Friday at midnight and now the wait for the arrival of the books.  I will do as much of the paperwork as possible before they arrive, but need to take a few days off.  I'm thinking making a few small jigsaw puzzles might be just the thing to clear my mind for the next deadline crest.

In the meantime feedback is beginning to come in.  Tonight I got this lovely email:

"I just received the hard-copy, (which has increased my knowledge in just the first chapter-the description of yarns is so succinct yet thorough.-and I have been spinning for some years).  I know this is a treasure I plan to read from cover to cover (which I honestly don’t do with many weaving books). I would like to buy the PDF, but am not sure how to order it.  (I ordered the book and Magic in the Water through Blurb).  

As Tien mentioned, I feel my little weaving room has been turned into a classroom, with you hovering somewhere close by.  Thank you and many blessings for the coming year."

Thank you Deborah - Happy Weaving!

 

(For anyone else wanting the PDF, it is now available via the blurb website.)