Organizing Projects: Part Two

The project in the planning stages is usually the most fun, if only simply because it is the newest kid on the block. This is one reason I choose to sit at the loom first. If I didn't do that, the part of my day devoted to weaving might focus exclusively on that newest kid.

But after sitting at the loom, the temptation, of course, is always to turn to that planning-stage project. Witness, for example, how long it is taking me to get to finishing up the mending on the last crackle fabric. And this despite the fact that I have not been sitting at the loom this week in order to give my back plenty of time to heal. This is the one I have to work at moving along. This is the one, as I plan my day when I wake up, that I am most likely to shove into the background.

Ultimately I do get that finishing done. It may be simply because of the psychological need for closure. It may also be because the project in the wings is moving closer to the loom and I am beginning to sense another idea about to become a project in the wings. This is what is happening to me now. So I am going to try hard to put my energies into finishing that crackle fabric sooner rather than later.

The project in the wings is also the most complex, so in addition to all the notes I make and accumulate, I keep a very short to-do list. This consists of 3 or 4 items that need to be done next. I put only a small number of items on the list so that I don't look at it and throw my hands up in desperation. I also try to make the individual items small enough that it does not take a tremendous amount of effort to gear myself up to do them. For example, here is my current to-do-list for the next crackle project:

1.Wash out old dye containers
2.Make 1 liter of SAB Yellow 1% Stock solution (throw out old stock solution)
3. Make an additional 400 ml of Mustard Yellow

The first to-do item is the hardest and the one I most dislike. These are the dyes I mixed for the last project which I did not throw out because I thought I just might use them. I never do use them, so I don't know why I always pretend that I am going to. I am simply trying to avoid the cleaning up. The second two I will do at the same time, since once I have everything ready to make stock solutions, I might as well make all that I need. It just looks so much easier to write them out as two different items. Besides, when I am done, I can tick off two items, not just one! And then I can just delete these items and add the next few.

As for Dorothy's comment about a second loom. Yes, I can see that happening to me. But since I can sit at only one loom I have no reason for getting a second loom. Were I to get a second loom it would probably be a table room which I could take to workshops. When I was in Georgia, CHG workshop participants could rent looms for the workshops. That was really nice. Here, however, I am not close to a guild offering workshops I would be interested in. So I suspect a table loom would probably gather a bit of dust.

There is a time when I do covet a second loom: when I am taking part in a swap of some sort. Then it would be so nice not to have to worry about weaving off what is currently on the loom so I can put on the warp for the swap. But that is a luxury I cannot afford!