Links! I got Links!

 

green weft on dark blue warp - colours not true

So frustrating that I cannot seem to get a decent photo of the new towels.  The warp yarns were three shades of dark blue and the weft a dark green of about the same value for this design.

Yesterday I pressed the latest towels off the loom and I have to say, I'm rather pleased with myself.  :D

No, they aren't 'perfect', but the issues are minor and they will still dry dishes.  Plus I love the colours and the play of the warp and weft.  I'll try to get photos later today - see if I can get something akin to how they actually look.  The warp is Peacock and Bleu Moyen from Brassard with navy blue weft and the tile design looks really good (*I* think).  Good enough I have come up with a few variations that I will weave.  Once the current peacock/blue warp yarn is used up, I will start weaving shawls.  (I can get 5 warps from the 32 spools of yarn, beaming sectionally.)

The past week or so I've got my calendars organized, ready to take bookings for Zoom into 2025(!)  If anyone is interested, topics and fees are on my website.  I am considering raising my fees, partly because I've been told - by *guilds* that they are too low.  A couple even sent me more than I asked for, saying that the presentation was worth more than I was asking.

Info here for 1 and 2 hour presentations.  If you book now I will honour the current fee schedule.  For US guilds, I can take a US dollar cheque, or Paypal.  For Canadian guilds, e-transfer, Paypal or cheque all work just fine.

Let me remind you of my blurb offerings - Magic in the Water (magazine format), The Intentional Weaver and Stories from the Matrix which both come in print or PDF formats.  There are still two signed copies of Stories in my ko-fi shop, along with copies of Weave a V by Kerstin Fröberg.  And of course, a bunch of tea towels, various designs and colours.

My workshops with School of Sweet Georgia are available - all four of them - and I hang out there to answer questions.  Looks like you can sign up for one month, 3 months for the full year.  You get all the classes that SOS offers for your registration - and there are lots of them.

Handwoven/Long Thread Media has a couple of classes, too.  

Don't know what winter (or summer) is like where you are, but we are in the midst of a cold 'snap'.  If we don't have to go out, we aren't.  As soon as it warms up, it should snow.  Since we only have about 8" on the ground right now, I will try very hard to not complain when it does snow.  We desperately need the snow to help protect against the drought conditions.  Seems like staying in and playing with fibre is a good way to get through the current harsh weather.

My goal this week is to sift through my photo files and choose the photos for the next book.  It's not a task I enjoy which means I'm procrastinating by doing other things instead.  OTOH, those have been ignored for far too long, so, win?

I have a couple of zoom presentations in Feb. and March.  Hopefully I will 'see' some of you one of these days, even if it is by 'remote' means.  

Cold Snap

 

After months of too warm temps (yes, really!) we have achieved 'winter'.  And it is with a sense of relief that the new HVAC system seems to have passed the cold temp test very well.  

While I have faith that things usually work out well, I am also pragmatic enough to know that sometimes things don't work properly the very first time.  So I went to bed last night unsure if the natural gas would cut in when it was supposed to.  

For a wonder, I slept through the night (not a guarantee these days) but Doug was up in the middle of the night and says the system worked as advertised and we woke up to a warm house.  

Yesterday I didn't accomplish much, but that was ok because I had scheduled some light duty days.  My ankle is 'better', which is another relief.  I won't start weaving until next week and hopefully it should be fully recovered by then.

I did very little yesterday, but after too much pain and too little sleep, it was probably a Good Thing that I didn't try to do much.  And most people do actually take days 'off', so if I take a day away from the loom once in a while, I'd actually be more 'normal'?  

With the colder temps have come clear skies and we woke to a blue sky and strange yellow orb above.  This is what I would call 'normal' - for us.  Bonus that I have nothing to do outside of the house until next Tuesday.  By then the deep dive into the nether regions of the thermometer might be over and things will be back to more 'usual' winter.  

Today I have a stack of towels to press and add to the hemming pile.  I also have a stack of towels ready for their finishing press, but they will have to wait until the damp towels finish drying.  So, tomorrow?

My goal for today is to begin sifting through photos for the book.  I have to do a quick skim of the text to remind myself of what should be illustrated, so I can see that task taking several days.  Having a different task to alternate with the brain work is a good idea.  Eventually I lose all perspective when I do that kind of job, get tired, and just choose images randomly.  

The photos for this book will be less eye candy and more targeted, appropriate to the topic, so I want to choose the best images.

There are several other items on my task list that I've been procrastinating over - time to clear those off my desk during this time of light duties, too.  

I did do a sort through one of my filing bins and tossed quite a few things out.  Still loads left to deal with.  I just find it difficult to throw things away if there is any chance of 'needing' them in the future.

There is a stack of CDs with files stored on them, and not one of my computers has a CD drive.  Hm.  Unless that old one stored away has one.  Maybe I could transfer the files to a thumb drive and...ok, one more thing to add to my task list!  See if that old computer will fire up and if it has a password, what that might be!

I had intended to drop my serger off this week to be serviced and forgot.  I may ask Doug to drop it off when he goes out today.  It gets dirty really quickly because I am working with loom state webs.  And it is long past due to be serviced.  

Hopefully, these days of light duties will work to let the injection take hold, my ankle to heal, and I can begin weaving again next week.  It looks like maybe 4 more towels to finish off this warp, then set up the next one.  And keep picking away at my stash.  Such a weight coming off my shoulders as the stash continues to reduce.

For those dealing with extreme weather (of whatever sort) I hope that you and yours stay safe and well.

Mental Health Day

 

Winter has arrived.  At last.  We got a bit of snow yesterday - not a huge amount, but enough to make driving a challenge.  Now we wait for that cold front hanging over our heads (so to speak) waiting for the temps to plummet.  

I had a really 'bad' night last night.  I finally managed to accumulate about 4 hours of sleep, but I'm still reeling from the pain and sleep deprivation.

Today I got another SI joint injection, but so far nothing seems to be drastically 'better'.  Of course it does take some time to work its magic.

Then when I got home I twisted my ankle.  Good thing I had already scheduled 'light duties'.  It isn't a bad twist, just really annoying.  Adding insult to injury, that I can't take my boots off without causing myself an injury.

I have no more appointments outside of the house until next week.  I have a list of 'light duty' tasks, but I just...donwanna.

So I am sitting in the office ignoring the pile of paper on my desk that needs to be dealt with.  

The most important and time sensitive task is sifting through photos for the new book.

This is being billed as a 'memoir'.  I wanted to talk about being in the business of being a self-employed weaver in the 20th and 21st centuries - an anachronistic profession at the time I chose to do it.  I had intended to write a 'how to earn an income from weaving' book, but realized that barely anything I did then is pertinent to this time of social media and internet.  The path I took no longer exists and people will have to find their own way to meeting their business goals.

OTOH, there are lessons to be learned, and as a human being, I am quite sure that my lessons are not unique to me.  So rather than a how-to, I decided once again to tell my stories.

I have never talked much publicly about being in the business of textiles.  When I was a kid, my mother always insisted that we never 'share our dirty laundry'.  So we never talked about the fact that we were poor and struggled to make ends meet.  Or that we had challenges, like depression, to deal with.  During my childhood, people didn't even talk about being sick with cancer - instead there were whispered comments about the C word.  As if cancer were contagious, or a character fault.

Being a woman in a 'women's' field, there was the struggle to get paid, never mind a 'decent' amount - just paid.  We were supposed to 'share' everything.

I had to learn to set boundaries, and doing that is never easy.  And there are people who will not react well when you do.

For a while I hesitated to even share those lessons, but then I realized that perhaps they were a lot more valuable than me describing how I entered the craft fair circuit, did marketing the way it was done in the 1980s and 90s.  Because none of that is truly pertinent in the 2020s.  But learning how to deal with impostor syndrome and burnout?  That is still an issue for many.

I think it's good that we are able to talk about such things more openly now.  There were a few people who began to speak out, and because they were, I felt empowered to now share my stories.

Even so, the 'market' for my stories is limited; even more so for stories about what it was like to deal with being in business.  So this book will be pdf only.  Probably via my ko-fi shop, because they will allow digital products.  And they don't take a cut of every sale, so I don't have to price this book to cover those fees, just the Paypal fees.  That means I can charge less.  Because I am fully aware that anyone who is trying to earn their income from being in the textile business doesn't have a lot of spare change laying around.

OTOH, the lessons I learned are valuable.  Even if the reader realizes that they don't want to do *that*.  And if I am going to model being in business, then I have to value my information, not just give it away because I'm supposed to 'share' everything I know for free.  That doesn't pay the bills.  And I do have bills - from internet costs, to computer upgrades, printer ink, just keeping the lights on and the furnace running.  Society expects people to generate an income.  Yes, even people in anachronistic professions.

Shall I share the title?  I'm calling it A Thread Runs Through It; a memoir.  Because I am talking about a part of my life that consumed me from waking to sleeping - and truth to tell, nights as well because I dreamt about things, too.  It also follows along with other of my public writings - like this blog - Weaving a Life.  

It was interesting on a personal level to actually stop and think about what I have done over the past, what, nearly 50 years.  It was the work that was never seen by others, but without it, none of what the public saw would have, could have, existed.  As part of the book, I did a chronology.  By the time I finished it (and no, I did not include *everything* I ever did, far from it), I sat back and thought about my life.  "No wonder I'm so exhausted.  No wonder I am in so much pain."  And yet.  And yet.  I would not go back and chose a different path.

And I thought of my mother, who had an incredibly difficult life, what with one thing and another.  The last five years of her life had been beset with health issues and had not been a lot of fun, frankly.  When the doctor told her they had already sent in a referral to hospice for her because they could take better care of her there, she looked solemn, absorbing what he was saying.  How long, she wanted to know.  Up to six weeks, maybe.  She shuddered and said that she hoped not.  

Then she looked at me and said, "Well, I'm 90 years old.  85 of those years were good."

I was shocked to hear her say that, given everything she had endured, but I find myself reaching the same conclusion.

I look back.  I see the path clearly now, when while I was walking it I had no idea where it would lead.

I have some regrets but they are mostly things I did not do, not the things that I did do.

And ultimately, if anyone else can learn from the things I learned along the way?  Bonus.

As for the rest of *this* day?  I think it will be a mental health day.  Let the injection do what it can to help me function.  Let my ankle rest and begin to heal.  Let my brain stop scrambling, trying to do all the things that need doing on my task list.

Today is a Snow Day.  A Mental Health Day.  And I have a new jigsaw puzzle to build and a book to read.  And I may feel inclined to toss those 14 towels ready for wet finishing into the washer and dryer so I can press them tomorrow.

Light duties might be 'light', but they still need to be done.

Snowmaggedon

 

Canadian Snowflake draft

It would be so tempting to complain about the snow falling today, but truth be told, I'm more relieved than bothered by the challenges of making my way through the fresh snow.

We are well into the new year now, and frankly the appearance of 'real' winter is welcome in this household.  The memories of last year's wildfire season are much too fresh, and having essentially zero snow on the ground at this point in the year does not bode well for the wildfire season coming up, all too soon.

We used to consider fire 'season' to be around early June (in a 'bad' year) through to September.  Now?  More like March through to - all year round, given how many fires are *still* burning.  Contained is not 'out'.  Something too few people seem to understand.

Most of the fires are to the far north east of us so...out of sight, out of mind?  But I can't forget the string of smoke filled days we had to endure.

The forecast is for cold temperatures to start moving in from the Arctic and I know this is not welcome news for many.  For those people who have no home to take shelter in, I am aware that life is about to get even more difficult than it already is.

We have donated to various local charities - from the women's shelter, to the group building tiny homes for those who either cannot find a bed in a shelter (because they are all full) to those who cannot afford to rent a room.  

The world seems to be crumbling on so many levels right now and I feel powerless to stop it.  Our donations are but moss in the chinks of a log building.  But less is better than more hardship, so we do what we can.  

I haven't really left the house much for a number of reasons, but this week I have to go out today and again tomorrow.  That means I have accumulated a list of errands.  Fortunately I live in a small-ish town and my errands today are fairly close together, mostly on main streets.  So I'm hoping once I get out of our neighbourhood and onto the main streets the snow won't be too thick.  And that drivers will take the prevailing road conditions (poor) into account and drive according to those conditions, not as though it is summer with dry pavement.  

From today for the next 5 or so days, I am on 'light duties'.  I have accumulated a stack of things that I've been ignoring that can be considered 'light' and honestly?  I'm looking forward to finally clearing them off my task list.  And then prepare for the next build up of 'things I don't really want to do, but must'.

We all have them!  Life comes with an abundance of things that must be done, regardless if we want to do them or not.  Time and time again I have proven to myself that letting such things build up simply makes them 'worse' - as in I want to do them even less.  And yet when I do actually do them, they turn out to be simple(ish) and relatively easy.  Will I learn from this?  Doubtful.

Along with the dreaded donwanna tasks, the next book is no longer on hold so much of the next few days will be sifting through and selecting photos to go with the text.  This is the part of producing a book that I really don't enjoy, but again, needs to be done.  So I have set myself an 'artificial' deadline - because without one, I will procrastinate!  My goal is to get the photos and other documentation to my editor by the weekend.  And then next week I can go back to the loom, finish the current warp and move on to the next.

I'm really looking forward to doing that because it seems I have less of the 2/16 cotton than I had been thinking, so now I'm really motivated to finish that bit of my stash off.

For now, I need to get some lunch so I can head for my 1 pm appointment, then do my list of errands.  And that should pretty much use up the rest of my day, and my energy.  Day 1 of 'light' duties solved.

Coupon Code

 

Hat Trick

A 'hat trick' is scoring three goals in a hockey game.  I suppose I could consider 3 self-published books in a lifetime a 'hat trick'?

Today and tomorrow (Jan. 8 and 9, 2024), Blurb is offering 20% off when customers use the coupon JANBOOK20

These books rarely go on sale, so it's always nice when I can offer a discount to folk.  With everything going up, up, up, I know that a lot of people are struggling financially.

I try to keep my prices as reasonable as I can, but just like everyone else, I have expenses to meet, bills to pay.

We are finally getting winter, and as has been happening of late, the weather just has to be 'extreme'.  So we have snow warnings, and *cold* temperatures are forecast.  I guess our new HVAC system is going to be put to the test!

This week is a bit of a challenge anyway since I will need to be on 'light' duties for at least 5 days.  I've got a list of things I can be doing, and I'm sure I'll feel better once I get those niggling tasks (ignored for far too long, some of them) completed.

Yesterday I dug through some more papers and tossed a bunch.  I hope I don't regret throwing more stuff out!  But there comes a time when I really do have to let go of things.

As part of my light duty week, I will be working on the next book.  This one will have very limited appeal, so it will be only digital, sold via my ko-fi shop.  My editor was quite encouraging when we spoke last week and we did some rough planning.  Now I have to find some photos to illustrate a few things.  This book won't have a lot of photos, but we feel some are needed.  

Yesterday, looking for some things for the new book I found some other things I thought had been tossed long ago and are suitable for this book.  Since I forgot they existed, they are images that haven't been seen before (on my blog or elsewhere), so there will be some new content in terms of images.

Am I written out yet?  Dunno.  I did do a more 'usual' memoir in 2019 - sort of a pre-history, covering more of my childhood, formative years.  Will I bother?  Will anyone care?  Do *I* care?  Maybe the act of writing the memories down was more self-help than something that needs to be shared?  That is also a possibility.  The jury remains out on that one.

During these tumultuous times, I send everyone best wishes for the coming year.  

Connected

 

After weeks (months?) of 'too warm, too dry' weather, we are being advised to buckle up because winter is coming.

Starting next week the temps will drop to -20 to -30 C.  Today we have -10 and weak sun shining on the thin layer of snow that drifted down over the past few days.  It's too little and far too late, but we desperately need precipitation.  In our part of the country, we want much higher levels of snow than we currently have in order to do a number of things - hold moisture for the summer, to be released slowly during spring.  To store moisture in the ground to help reduce the danger of wildfires raging through the northern boreal forests - already ravaged last year with millions of hectares of forest burned to the ground.  This damage has negatively affected the entire ecosystem of the north, destroying the habitat of the animals who live there - yes, including humans.  To increase the ground water levels to provide water for our very lives (we can live for weeks without food, only 3-4 days without water.)

I grow weary of the people who don't understand the connectedness of life expressing delight that they 'don't have to shovel snow', then complain because they can't go skiing.  As if the snow should only be on the ski slopes, not on the city streets.  

As if life on earth should bow to their convenience, their desires, not that life is a vast global web of effects, each reliant on determining if this planet, and the beings that live on it will survive - or not.  As if they have and continue to have, an impact on what is happening and that they could make different choices.  That oligarchs don't give a flying fig about people like me, and yet I am constantly being told it's 'my' fault for the way things are, and if I can't afford food I should just eat less, while they buy their 9th yacht or 3rd private jet and dodge paying taxes just so they can hoard more 'wealth'.  Which can't buy potable water or safe air once we've finished destroying this planet.

I grow weary of people who deny that some humans don't deserve to be safely housed, receive the health care they need, when they need it.  That when they cry 'freedom' they only mean for themselves, or the people who look like them, not for every person on the planet.

This morning I read a beautiful expression of how every thing on this earth is connected.  That we all interact with each other, and I just...wept.  I wept for the people currently being bombarded, pounded into dust.  I wept for the people who only want to live their life true to themselves, to love who they love without the state interfering in their lives, trying to erase them.  I wept for the children being murdered, wholesale, robbed of their dreams, their families, their chance to be the best they can be.  I wept because of the desire of some to force others to be who and what they wanted, not what or who the person actually was.  I wept because we are ignoring the very real present dangers, and being manipulated into fearing others, based on their skin colour or the god they may - or may not - worship.

I don't know the people who participated in this exchange. But I am grateful to the last person who chimed in.  I don't think I will ever look at another being in the same way.  I will endeavour to remember that we interact, on a molecular level.  Every single day.

That we are all connected.  We are made of stardust. 

And now I'm going to go to the loom and connect some warp and some weft and think about the vastness of the universe and what I can bring to it - my creativity, my acceptance that this is a marvelous place, and work on loving everyone, as best I can.

Recalculating, Recalculating

 

Latest 'doodlings'...

I'm still on a mission to use up my 2/16 cotton stash.  As part of that stash I had (I thought) a box of black.  Nearly 10 pounds.  A significant amount of black!  

So, I had been weaving away using up some of the other colours left, trying to decide how to use the black.  What colour warp?  Which design(s)?  Because it was going to take a lot more than one warp to use up that much weft yarn.

Yesterday I was about to finish using one of the dark navy yarns, so I started preparing the next weft, and I pulled that box of black down from the top shelf where it had been residing for, oh, 2 years?  3?

The first thing I noticed was that the yarn was very shiny.  Hmm.  Was it mercerized?  No, I had used all the mercerized black a few warps ago.  Must be cotton.

I set up to begin winding bobbins and looked at the yarn more closely.  

Oh.

Not cotton.  Brassard bamboo.

Definitely not wanting to use a 'rayon' in tea towels.  Not that it won't dry dishes, rayons are very absorbent.  They also take a lot longer to release the moisture once saturated.

All my planning of the previous few weeks had to be tossed out the window and I had to re-think my plans.

Now, instead of doing the next warp, which has what looks sort of like reptile skin, with the black weft, I will be using up more of the other colours I have.

There is a large 2 pound cone of a green which will do more than one warp all by itself.  So that will get used for the 'chameleon' design.

I have a greyed green cone that is nearly 3 pounds.  That greyed green is going to 'sadden' the brighter peacock and blue of the warp, so I need something a lot more subtle.  I will have to page through some of my other designs, see if I've got something already in the queue.  

And I have a bunch of natural to use up, which I think I will use on the above 'tile' design.  I took the draft I'm currently weaving and messed around with it, and I think the white weft on the brighter blues will look quite nice.

I'm not sure if there will be enough yarn left for another warp, so now I have to begin thinking about something other than tea towels.

With nearly 10 pounds of black bamboo, it seems I will be making shawls later this summer, after all.