Aging Out

Object lesson - yarn doesn't last forever.

The very dark navy that makes up the majority of this warp is 'old'.  Purchased in the late 1990s for a couple of projects, it has languished since then on my shelves, patiently waiting - and apparently deteriorating - ever since.

Now very dark colours, especially those with a lot of black in them, tend to deteriorate more quickly than other colours (in my experience).  So it seems for some of this yarn.  In the very first section, one end broke three times.  I finally replaced it.  Before finishing the section, another one broke.

After that, every time an end broke, I would replace it until I ran out of replacement tubes.  The last three sections didn't have any broken ends, so I'm hoping that I've got all of the weak yarns changed out.

I did manage to find a few very small tubes of dark blue so that if any more break I can replace those, but still, it was a frustrating end to the day.

Thing is, I remember those two long ago projects and this was not an issue with either warp.  So all I can do is conclude that this yarn ought to have been used up a long time ago.  A reminder that yarn does, indeed, have a best before date and obviously those six tubes are beyond theirs.  At least for warp.

The tubes have been set aside and as I worked I thought about what to do with this yarn.  My goal for the past three months has been to use up as much of the 2/16 cotton wound onto pirns as I possibly could.  I'm very close to being done now.  This warp and the one after it will bring the emptied pirns to about 90% cleared.  I told Doug that once this warp and the next are done, he can go ahead and pack up all the empty pirns and we can ship them to the new owner of the pirn winder.

Whatever is left is minimal and I won't feel the pressure to empty those quite so much.

But after that?  I am going to use up the weak dark yarn.  The plan is to use up some more of those turquoise/teal tubes and the weft will be the dark navy.  I'm thinking it will be quite dramatic.  I even have the draft I am going to use sorted out, just want to tweak it a bit.

So a friendly reminder:  use your stash!  It won't keep forever.

One of the most heart breaking things I had to do was trash 600 pounds (no that's not a typo) of a friends' yarn because it either hadn't aged well or there was critter damage.  Literally, use it or lose it due to age.

Cutting Losses

beam with one section 'short' of yarn

through the washer/dryer, ready to be pressed, then hemmed and pressed again

I beam warps onto the Megado sectionally and sometimes, things go 'wrong'.  So it was with this warp.  One end was giving me grief and the section 4 in from the selvedge wound up needing me to stop beaming, deal with a broken end several times.  Eventually I replaced the errant tube of yarn after which things progressed perfectly well.

But apparently at some point I lost count of the turns of the beam and so it was that I discovered that it was shy several wraps of warp. 

By this point I had woven 16 towels on the 20 (approx.) yard warp. 

When I posted a photo to Facebook yesterday several friends commiserated with me about the loss of the yarn.  One suggested cutting the warp narrower to make something other than tea towels.

But the design is such that it could not easily be cut narrower and it would have taken hours to re-thread.  For two more towels? 

Nope.

There might be $2 worth of yarn left on the beam.  Certainly less than $5.  I am not going to spend hours and hours of my time trying to salvage that dollar value.  Not when I give my thrums to a friend to use in her hand spun yarns.  The yarn won't be wasted, just given over to a different use.

But each of us has to make such a decision for themselves.  If I was new to the craft, if I didn't have a gigantic yarn stash, if I hadn't already woven 16 towels?  My decision might have been different.

Over the past few days I have made other decisions about cutting things out of my life.  This stay-at-home opportunity has brought many things into sharp focus.  Things that get shoved to the side because Life is demanding our attention on this and that and the other thing and sometimes the really important questions get shoved out of sight.

Marie Kondo had a lot of grief thrown at her for her down sizing suggestions.   However, I find the basic principle sound - does it bring you joy?  Keep it.  If not, get rid of it.

I am slowly looking around and seeing things that do not bring me joy.  And without guilt, I am letting them go.

Survive y'all!  

Covid Challenges

My You Tube Channel

Workshop via Handwoven (Long Thread Media)

With the stay at home orders and businesses being closed, many people are experiencing hardship in terms of income.  Events are being cancelled.  People are disappointed that their long awaited chance to meet with others is being thwarted or that they can't afford to purchase things.

This tightening of belts also affects the teachers, the event planners, the businesses that supply craftspeople.

I am seeing more and more comments from people involved in the business of crafts that customers are asking for things that simply cannot be provided.  Free patterns from people who make a significant portion of their income from designing and selling patterns, either one at a time or in books.  Teachers being asked to suddenly tool up and start providing on line classes.  For lower fees because of course they don't have to travel and the student doesn't have the interaction with the instructors for feed back.  Ergo, the student shouldn't have to pay as much as for a live event.

The instructors are agonizing over these requests (in some cases, demands).  They want to oblige but they, too, are suffering economically.  With society in economic lock down, they don't have an income either.

There have been several people advocating for events to go on line without having any understanding of what it would take to get there.  Most on line classes are months in the making, not days.  Every successful (and by that I mean a good experience for the student) on line class has had a team of people making what you see on the screen happen.

I have uploaded a number of video clips to You Tube.  A recent comment highlights that not all video experiences are 'good' for everyone.  Under my winding a warp video, someone commented that I worked too fast, they couldn't see what I was doing, not useful for a beginner.

All valid points.  But my video clip wasn't meant for a 'beginner' but someone who had an idea of what warp winding was all about, and showing how to wind a warp on a warping board more ergonomically.

While there may be dozens of videos on You Tube, few of them are very good. (Not even mine.) The quality of video camera available to most people is not great for clarity.  The clip is a single point of view - and it may not be the point of view someone needs/wants to see.

Editing is a skill and most people don't have that.

Most people don't have space in which to set up filming.  Space to set up cameras.  Good lighting.  Good acoustics!

When we filmed The Efficient Weaver, we did the sequences out of order and by the end of day three we thought we'd got everything and wrapped up filming.  It was only after driving the crew to the airport and dropping them off that I suddenly remembered we had not filmed the rough sleying part.

What can I say?  Three days of intensive filming from 9 am to 5 or 6 pm, setting up shots, filming, reviewing the results, re-doing, moving along to the next.

I felt a certain amount of satisfaction that the crew complimented me on how well prepared I was and that they had feared the filming schedule was too ambitious - two different topics, two different locations, all wrapped up in three days.  But the thing is, I had done some camera work for the local volunteer tv station, plus I've been involved in theatre and dance as well as teaching for about 30 years at the time the taping was done.

Generally getting good video of things that are meant to convey information, especially that of physical skills, cannot be banged out in a matter of days.  I spent months doing the preparation work that allowed the filming to be accomplished in three.

One event has cancelled this years in person event and immediately there were calls for it to go on line.  They have called for volunteers to investigate doing on line events in the future.  Two years is enough time to investigate the possibility of doing an on line event.  But it would mean completely revamping what they offer and how.

This is not a bad thing.  But it won't be the in person event people are used to and it won't necessarily be much cheaper as each presenter will have to have a crew to do the production work.

In the meantime, Rule#303.  If you have the means, you have the obligation.  Help organizations to stay alive.  Throw some cash at independent instructors - many have Patreon accounts (I have ko-fi).  Buy their books.  For those who already have on line classes, maybe now is the time to sign up.  If you have skills to put classes on line, you could maybe help with that, too.  The only way we are all going to survive this is to help each other as much as we are able.

Three already existing on line classes:  Janet Dawson's on bluprint, Jane Stafford's on-line guild and Tien Chiu's on colour. 

Threads

"Consistently portrayed as three women spinners, each of the three Fates had a different task, revealed by her very name: Clotho spun the thread of life, Lachesis measured its allotted length, and Atropos cut it off with her shears. Sometimes, each of the Fates was assigned to a specific period of time: Atropos – the past, Clotho –the present, and Lachesis – the future.

The representation of the Fates evolved through time, and it seems that it often depended on the medium through which they were portrayed. Thus, in the visual arts, they were usually depicted as handsome women, but in literature, they are often imagined as both old and ugly. Any case, they are almost always pictured as weaving or binding thread. Sometimes, one – or all – of them can be seen reading or writing the book of fate."

The above was taken from a website on Greek mythology.

As a child I read.  A lot.  I read everything I could get my hands on, including fairy tales.  The Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson.  As an adult I read a biography of the brothers Grimm and found out that the brothers had collected the tales from an ancient oral tradition, and - because they were so filled with violence - cleaned them up.  What we came to believe were unexpurgated stories had been carefully edited for 'polite' society.

All that aside, it never fails to amaze me now how many of those tales had thread or spinning/weaving at their centre.

Rumplestiltskin, spinning straw into gold, Rapunzel letting down her hair to make a rope, Sleeping Beauty, pricking her finger on the spindle, some versions with Hansel and Gretel leaving a thread in order to mark their path, the Swan Princes, which is really about the sister who must process nettle fibre, spin and weave shirts to turn her brothers back into human form.

I suspect that because everyone in society either participated in the production of cloth or knew folk who did, everyone knew the kind of effort/labour that went into cloth making and how crucial it was to their well being.

Even today the language of cloth making has been co-opted for the technology of the internet and information.  This morning I followed a thread on Twitter, discussing the English language and how English absorbs words from other languages, constantly.  

Ask a child what a shuttle is and they will tell you it is a vehicle that goes back and forth.

And so on.

So many of the lessons of weaving can be directly applied to living.

During this time of uncertainty, I find myself relating life and weaving over and over again.

When I started weaving I was overwhelmed at the choices that lay before  me.  I had a really hard time trying to decide what to make, how to make it.  Too many choices!!!!

Eventually I realized I had to form a vision of what I wanted at the end of the process, then back track to decide what steps I needed to take to get me to my goal.

Living is much the same.  In terms of my career, I finally came up with a vague 'plan'.  I would give myself five years to learn the craft and five years to learn the business side of being a professional weaver.  I would weave for 25 years, then teach for 25 years.

Instead I wound up doing it all, at once.  

But I started with a vision.  A plan.  When I felt overwhelmed, I focused on what needed doing next.  One step.  The journey of 1000 steps was too big to comprehend.  Too difficult to conceive of finishing it.  It was like the times we hiked to the base of Mount Robson.  The peak was always there, sometimes clouded from view, but there.  Tantalizing.  Within reach.  If I could only take one more step.  Then one more.  Then another.

My goal was never the pinnacle, but the base - and I did it.  Twice.

I also wove for 25 years and taught for 25 years.  In fact it was 44 years and counting.

So why I do keep doing it?  

Because I have more to learn.  More I want to do.  More I want to explore.

Right now the first step in accomplishing that 'more' is to survive this time.  Once that has been accomplished, I will figure out the rest.  

Survive.  That is the first step.  The rest will unfold as it will.

Guest Post - Tanya

From time to time I offer students a chance to write a guest post.  Tanya took me up on my offer to share her experience with the Olds program:

“What could I possibly tell people about the Olds Master Weaver Level 1 class that is not already outlined very clearly in the course materials?” This question has been on my mind since Laura so kindly offered me space in her blog to write about my experience.  I could write about how amazing it was to learn from LAURA FRY!   I could tell people about how the homework is exactly as simple as is outlined in the manual and how long it took me to complete (84 hours if anyone is interested).  It would be fun to tell all the things I did wrong and how I fell in love with a new to me edge finish (double twining).  I could probably write a book about all the things I learned.  The longer I thought about it (over a month)  the more I realized that what I really wanted to talk about  was the way my learning happened both in class and in the homework.

 I am a teacher by vocation and by inclination - I teach elementary music, continuing education weaving classes, piano lessons and children’s church classes.  I am also the oldest daughter in a family of four.  You can imagine the incredible potential for not only bossiness but “stick your nose into everyone’s business” edness that those statements imply. On the very first day of class I said to myself “You have spent 800.00 and driven 650 miles to learn from LAURA FRY - not to teach, not to expound your opinions, not to show off what you know - to learn from LAURA FRY!”  That became my mantra.  Don’t get me wrong, I helped when I was asked and participated where I should but I really, really tried hard to be a learner and get whatever information I could from the expert in the room.  When Laura presented her way to wind the warp I tried it.  When she demonstrated craziness with holding 4 threads and threading heddles with a hook - tried it.  

When she only tied one choke tie on the warp  and I figured there was no way in the seven levels of Hades that that would end in anything but disaster - yep, I tried it.  Some things she taught came easy, some shocked me in their simplicity, many were physically awkward and many times I had to remind myself of why I was there - to learn from LAURA FRY!  I was not always successful (there was the disaster when someone asked about overshot and I explained it exactly backwards) but at the end of the week I was full to the brim with things I had learned from LAURA FRY!

I began the homework within days of getting home. As I read through the assignments I made some deliberate choices about what I was interested in learning.  A classmate had stated he didn’t think the homework could possibly take 100 hours - I decided to keep track.  Laura explained over and over that her processes were developed in the context of becoming as efficient as possible “micro seconds people”.  I wanted to know if switching from my method of dressing the loom to hers would cut down on my time so not only did I write down my own process for the assignment, I timed it.  I then warped the loom as close to her way as I could and timed it.

I used color in the swatch assignment because I was interested to see what happened.  I researched end finishes from tapestry weaving books to see if there was something beyond hem stitch and plied fringe.  For my final project I based the plaid I used on the winter coat a second grader wore at Christmas. 

 I molded each assignment to not only complete the requirements but to learn what I wanted to learn from it.  As I boxed it all up to send off I felt like I had had a rich learning experience tailored to my own interests.

The Master Weaver Level 1 class has elevated my weaving process to a very different level. No longer do I see myself as a person who weaves but rather as a learner who is immersed in the craft of weaving.  Thanks Laura!"

While emailing back and forth with Tanya over her post I asked if I could include the numbers she sent re: time spent dressing the loom.  She said yes, but that her efficiency continues to improve so she is even faster now than when she did the original time study.

She used exactly the same parameters for her study a warp of 58 ends, same materials, same length.

Previous method:  124 minutes

New method:  95 minutes

Efficiency is not to be fast as you can, just to be the fastest person around, but to be more productive and get to the 'fun' part - the weaving - with less stress to the body.  

Everyone has to find the best practice for themselves because change one thing and everything can change.

Dealing With Stuff

pile of mats and runners

Doug has agreed to help with some administrivia tasks.

Now that my business is closed and I will no longer be selling my textiles directly, there were some decisions that had to be made.

The local guild has a few sales opportunities, plus the Community Arts Council has a consignment shop.  So going forward, my things will be for sale locally on consignment.

When I was selling directly, I sold place mats individually.  Most people buy sets, but not always.  Some like to mix things up, some like to colour code the mats to family members, some want two mats, then another mat to be a centre piece making an odd number instead of an even one.  So I sold them one by one.

However, doing inventory for consignment sales makes this...onerous.  After some mulling about it, it seemed obvious that I needed to sell in sets again.  That meant everything had to be re-priced to reflect the price per set of four (or two).  If they were going to be sold in groups, I no longer needed one tag per mat, but one tag per group.  Which meant I could save some money by reusing tags.

What that meant was someone needed to go through every single mat and table runner, remove the tag, carefully peel off the price sticker, then re-price the tag, and then put them together using the stem gun as sets of four (or two).

And it might as well get done now while we are both staying at home as much as possible.

Since this task is very time consuming, Doug agreed to do it.

The other thing that had to happen was that the phone number on the tag needed to be crossed out because with the closure of my business, I cancelled the business line.  And I must say the phone not ringing several times a day with calls from call centres or scammers has been lovely!

Once the mats are done, the tea towels will need to be re-priced as well as the phone number crossed off the tags.  I have not been tagging the new ones made this year because they might as well all get done at once. 

With the re-tagging, I also made the decision to increase the prices.  I had not had a price increase for a couple of years, and it seemed like it was time.  I am fortunate in that both consignment opportunities take a very low percentage, but increasing my retail price means we both get a little bit more.

I have a feeling that things are going to be very tight, even into the fall and the craft fair season.  At this point I have no idea if the big local craft fair where the guild has a booth is even going to go ahead.

Things are going to remain uncertain for the rest of this year and on into the next from the looks of things.

Stay well.  If you can, stay home.  Let's get together on the other side of...this...

Things Can Change

?

One of the things I do is mull over decisions, not just creative decisions, to be honest, but I rarely accept the first thing that occurs to me as the final thing.

My challenge this past while has been to work on using up the yarn that had been wound onto pirns.  I had quite a lot of pirns - like in excess of 1000.  At times I would wind pirns in anticipation of needing that yarn, then having things change.  So it was with a whole lot of 2/16 cotton.  I was expecting an order from a shop and in the end she changed her mind and I was left with pounds of the yarn wound onto pirns, ready to be woven.  And no order to weave.

Now that the pirn winder has gone to a new owner, I needed to clear the yarn off the rest of the pirns so it became a priority to use it up.

There was rather more green than I normally use and so most of my tea towels have been some sort of green.  I am running out of options and yet there are still more pirns with green wound on them to use up.

Checking over my stash, it is getting harder to find good combinations for warp to weave off that green so I have been stretching my creative juices.  

What I have is enough black/dark blue to wind a warp.  What is more iconic than the northern lights, primarily seen in...green...against a dark sky.

So the next warp will be some sort of variation of the impression of the northern lights dancing across a dark sky.  To that end I spent several hours playing with a design concept and came up with something yesterday afternoon, editing something I had come up with the day before.  

But the draft didn't set right.  It wasn't giving me the effect I had been looking for and it simmered on the back burner overnight and this morning, niggling away at me.

I just now went back to the draft and changed the tie up.  That's it.  Just changed the tie up.  And carefully saved it as well as the original.  I have two different greens to use up so I may weave off the one with one shade of green and switch to the other for the second.  Those two yarns may not be enough to weave off the entire warp so I will see what else there is on pirns.  And if there isn't enough, because I've done a pretty good job of using up the yarn, there are other colours still on my shelves on tubes.  

Or I might leap off the pier into the deep end and use white.  There are, very rarely but not unheard of, white northern lights.  

Time will tell.