CONFUSED?

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I realized that those of you may be coming to my blog for the first time might be a bit confused by my last post.  Here is a brief explanation.

I spent months (actually, perilously close to a year) designing a silk warp for a shawl, dyeing the yarns, and getting the warp on the loom. The warp on the loom of yesterday’s post, is the warp in the waste basket.  Why did it end up there?

The original intent had not been a shawl at all.  Rather it had been a piece I intended to submit to a competition.  The deadline passed, so it became a shawl.  It had all become way too much for me.  I had to rethread at least 3 times because the complexity of the threading gave way too easily to errors.  The treadling, not yet finally decided, was also going to be extremely complex.  Moreover, many treadling decisions would be made as I actually wove.  Also I was using many colors, entailing multiple shuttles at a time.  I had over-reached myself and the joy was gone.

Add to this the fact that voice lessons, innocently started over a year-and-a-half ago, started taking over my life.
It took months, however, for me to come to grips with the fact that the warp, unwoven, had to come off the loom.  The prospect of weaving a simple prayer shawl made its removable possible.

Confused?” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on April 26, 2011. ©2011 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

GETTING THERE BUT GOING CRAZY

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

Today I went back to the loom—at last!—to continue the interminable sleying.  Much to my joy I finished sleying the right side.  That was all I had intended to do today.  But……………..there really wasn’t a whole lot to sley on the left side…………….why don’t I just make a start?

Sleying the left side has been a nightmare, largely because of the threading.  On the right side, the loom was threaded such that every 4 threads were pulled from one set of shafts and every other 4 threads were pulled from the second set of shafts.  And there are 4 ends in each  space. 

But on the left side, I clearly did something with the threading.  No threading error really shows because the error was in a transition from one block to another.  But because of this error, every 4 threads I pull out to sley has 3 ends from one set of shafts and 1 end from the other.  That way lies madness.  Even my fancy auto sley hook gave me such grief that I had to resort to pulling out only 4 ends at a time and sleying it with an ordinary sley hook.

I did get 16 ends sleyed on the left side and, given a fresh start on another day, I should be able to finish it in one sitting.  Hope springs eternal…………..

I do actually have plans for this miserable warp.  It had, long long ago, been intended as a shawl for a competition.  Forget it.  What I am now thinking of is creating some pillows out of it, perhaps cutting it up into patchwork.  If I do the patchwork thing, it could possibly work into an interesting vest.

I do hope my imagination returns when I start the actual  weaving!

Happy New Year!

Related Post:  Pulling My Head out of the Sand

“Getting There But Going Crazy” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on January 4, 2011. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

PULLING MY HEAD OUT OF THE SAND

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

My warp still sits on the loom, waiting patiently for me to find the time(?) to finish the sleying, tying on, and in general just getting it ready to be woven.  I have lost interest in it. 

It has been hard for me finally to say this:  I have lost interest in it. 

I have not, on the other hand, lost interest in weaving.  But I no longer have the kind of energy that I originally brought to this particular warp.  The tremendous energy I have been bringing to weaving these past few years, and which has culminated in this particiular warp, has been diverted.  To music.  To singing.  To working on the development of my voice.  And this requires more physical and mental energy, more purely physical strength, than weaving has ever required.  The work is exhausting.  The result?  I simply have neither the physical nor the mental energy left that this warp demands.

To give me the energy that singing demands, I have upped my levels of aerobic exercise and of strength-building exercise.  I sleep like a baby!

So I have been tempted to just cut the warp off and throw it away.   Get it out of the house.  Out of my sight.  But I cannot seem to be able to do that either. Doing that would break my heart. 

“Pulling My Head out of the Sand” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on December 18, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

Renegotiating Weaving (and Blogging)

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

Sunday was this blog’s third anniversary.  I think this is a good time for me to admit—to myself as much as to anyone else who might be interested—that weaving is no longer top priority for me.  I have known this for awhile.  It was really the ease with which I (temporarily) gave up weaving because of back pain issues and so easily and—dare I admit it?-- joyfully embraced the time for practicing for my voice lessons that told me life had changed a bit for me.

Music has been an important part of my life since the time I began piano lessons in second grade.  And singing—at least singing in choirs and community groups—has been an important part of my life since junior high school.  I have taken piano lessons, ballet lessons, viola lessons.  But my gifts in these areas, though present, were not nearly great enough to take me anywhere professionally.  So I began college with the intent of getting a BA in music and then going to library school to become a music librarian. 

The BA program in music was much too rigorous for most of us who started in it, so most of us turned quickly to other majors.  I to English.

For the rest of my life, music---choral music—was the one constant joy.  I dreamed of voice lessons. But the idea of actually singing in front of a person—it was far too dangerous, far too revealing.  So whenever the notion came into my head, I dismissed it, unhappily dismissed it.

But about one year ago, our church choir director suggested I take voice lessons.  No, not because my voice was horrible, but because she saw solo potential.  I thanked her for the compliment but that just seemed an impossible dream that I had long ago given up. 

And then the choir sponsored a vocal workshop for choir members with one of the local voice teachers---the one, in fact, that my choir director had recommended.  Barely five minutes into the workshop I realized that was it.  I could sing for her.  I could learn from her.  I was so excited that I could barely wait for the end of the session so I could find out if she was taking new students and, if she was, if she would consider me (at age 71, you understand!).  The answer was yes on both counts.  And the answer from my husband was yes as well.

So now I find myself organizing my days around, not weaving, but singing.  Weaving is still a top priority, but it is second to singing.  I will continue to make a determined effort to weave daily, but if I can’t, it won’t break my heart.  And the daily weaving will not last as long as it did.

Unfortunately I find myself with a wide warp with a complicated threading (and treadling) and with very fine threads.  I almost thought of removing it and beginning work on more “realistic” things.  But then I realized, I am enjoying this.  I am enjoying doing the threading.  The slow patience.  The weaving will take far longer than it might have otherwise, but I am now OK with that.

I will continue to blog about my weaving.  But because weaving is no longer top priority and so will consume less of my time and energy, I will blog less frequently and quite irregularly.  But, so long as I am weaving, I will continue to blog about it.

By the way, I have no intention of starting a voice blog.  Starting a voice blog just somehow does not seem right.  Singing is far too personal and intimate, at least for me right now.

Related Posts:  
Slow Weaving
Blog Writing

“Renegotiating Weaving (and Blogging)”  was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on June 7, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

LEARNING THE INS AND OUTS OF DRAFTING

Posted by Peg in South Carolina 

BOOKS

There are a number of good books to learn from.  My two particular favorites are Weaving and Drafting Your Own Cloth by Peggy Osterkamp and The Complete Book of Drafting for Handweavers by Madelyn van der Hoogt.  Osterkamp’s book includes an explanation of peg plans. More information about her book can be found at her website. 

Peg plans are useful not only for table looms and computer looms, but for reading drafts in old books such as G.H. Oelsner’s A Handbook of Weaves. For Oelsner’s drafts, go here.

DOING/IMITATING

If you have been follow this blog recently, you will see that I have discovered what for me is turning out to be another good way to learn and understand difficult-for-me weaving drafts.  Difficulty here is relative.  An extremely experienced weaver used to weaving many different weave structures probably finds few or no drafts difficult to understand.  Indeed, he can probably visualize the cloth from the draft before he even starts weaving it.  A beginning weaver, on the other hand, might find a 4-shaft Rosepath draft difficult to figure out.

In any case, what I have been doing is to begin with a draft I simply did not understand.  Indeed, I wasn’t even clear as to where the blocks were or what they were.  And precisely because I could not understand the blocks, I then set to create a straight twill set of traditional crackle blocks.  To see an example of this go a post I wrote a few years ago called  Weaving Four-shaft Crackle.

I then went to work to create the shadowing draft. These crackle blocks, with their shadows. I then modified by doubling some of the warp ends.

I tried to figure out which warp ends to double by trying once again to analyze Smith’s draft.  It was at this point that I became able to figure out the block structure of the original weave.  Having done that, I then tried to create that weave structure from scratch.  And so on. 

Doing this has been and continues to be an exciting adventure for me.  Yes, I have said/complained that drafting is tedious.  And yes, drafting is tedious.  But the adventure has turned out to be very exciting because it is leading me to a more profound understanding of this weave.

Perhaps there is a reason I am unhappy when my hands are not busy.  Clearly my hands are an important learning tool for me. I never could write papers for college classes in my head;  I had to sit at the typewriter. 

STILL NOT WEAVING, GOSH DARN

As you my readers might have figured out, I have not yet returned to threading the 1500 empty heddles waiting on my loom.  Sigh….

I am now doing physical therapy for my back and it is improving greatly.  In fact, I plan to make a start this week.   But it will be a slow and gentle start.

Related Post:  Weaving 4-Shaft Crackle
The Hard Work of Draft Designing

“Learning the Ins and Outs of Drafting”  was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on April 26, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

CRACKLE AND INTERLEAVED THREADING

Posted by Peg in South Carolina 

I took the easy way to begin:  playing with my weaving software.  I took my basic 4-shaft crackle threading (threaded two units per block, the blocks lined up in twill order) and did all the transformations I could work out with my weaving software.  A very simple-minded thing.  But, after a lot of unpromising tests, I did come up with something.

I interleaved this threading with an 8-shaft crackle threading (also threaded two units per block, with the blocks lined up in twill order) and got this:

OBSERVATIONS ON THIS DRAFT

1. There are many weft floats that are too long.  Aside from the “rule” that crackle allows floats of no more than 3, some of the floats are just too long to be weavable, though at 60 ends per inch on a piece that won’t get hard wear (dressy fabric, for example, or an art piece) this wouldn’t be a problem.

2. The crackle threading is no more.  But then, the point of this is not to come up with a new “crackle” design, but to come up with a design that might make for interesting weaving.

3. There are groups of doubled warp ends.  They occur because the two crackle threadings are the same size and the units are threaded in the same order.  This would probably be less of a problem if the two crackle threading units were of different size and/or if the threadings were in a different order.  This is definitely something worth exploring.

4. The final threading has no warp ends on shafts 6 or 7.  This happened because the 8-shaft crackle threading was much longer than the 4-shaft crackle threading.  This means that both threadings should (at least normally) be of the same length.

5. The new tieup failed to include shafts 5 and 8 in the tieup.  They are there simply because I added them manually.  I found this a bit strange.

6. This is not a draft to be woven.  It is simply the beginning of a journey.

AN IRONY

It is an irony that the weaving software which landed me with carpal tunnel sydrome has now led my straight, head-on, into the wall.  Using interleaved threadings, as well as echo threadings, with crackle has been in the back of my head for a long time.  But the notion of pursuing it has frightened me because it is such unknown territory, at least for me.  To try playing with it would risk lots of failures with no promise of success.  In fact, the whole crackle-a-day project was kind of a setup to avoid getting into all of this.  And yet, that is right where it has landed me.

But as long as I show up for work each day and take each day one at a time, I will be more OK.

GOING TO WORK EACH DAY

Pressfield, in The War of Art,  has this to say about getting to work each day:

Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.  Why is this so important?  Because when we sit down day after day and keep grinding, something mysterious starts to happen.  A process is set into motion by which, inevitably and infallibly, heaven comes to our aid.  Unseen forces enlist in our cause;  serendipity reinforces our purposes…..  When we sit down and work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings.  Ideas come.  Insights accrete.  
                                                                                                     (p. 108)

Past experience has shown me the truth of this.  And even yesterday, when I had at last begun to take on the challenge, the serendipity began………..and I was once again happy.

PROTECTING MYSELF FROM CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME

I have put a timer next to my computer.  When I start working with weaving software, I will set it for 20 minutes.  I will then get up, walking around, stretch, including some specific stretches for carpal tunnel.  I will then return, reset the timer, and so on.

Related Posts: 
4-Shaft Crackle Threading Straight Draw
Beginning 8-Shaft Crackle
Resistance to Doing the Work

"Crackle and Interleaved Threading”  was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on April 1, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

RESISTANCE TO DOING THE WORK

Posted by Peg in South Carolina 

There is a saying that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.  The teacher for me has taken the form of a book.   The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.  There is a subtitle, but I hate it.

ABOUT TO HIT THE WALL

I started reading the book this morning.  I have been reading the first part:  “Resistance: Defining the Enemy.”  All at once, my mind started working.  The timing of my back issues.  Yes, it gets me attention.   Do I need attention?  But the timing, it all started getting serious as I was getting into some really hard stuff in terms of crackle design.  I was getting ready to hit a wall.  I could see it.  I could actually feel the wall getting closer and closer.

The wall spelled the end of the easy stuff in the Crackle-Draft-A-Day Project.  The end, actually, of actually being able to come up with a draft a day.  The beginning of the need to take time to think.  Not just play around with easy possibilities.  Those easy possibilities were vanishing quickly.  I was going to have to start to think.

Why did carpal tunnel syndrome suddenly start?   Because I was using the weaving software way too much.  Is there a message there?   I think so.  I was using the software as a substitute of doing the hard work of thinking and imagining.  Using the weaving software, as I was, was largely a technique of avoidance, of resistance.  The devil at work.  And so I was punished with carpal tunnel.

FACING THE RESISTANCE

I have something hard to face right now.  I can’t weave.  I can’t even thread the loom, because of my back issues.  That doesn’t mean I can’t confront the resistance. That doesn’t mean that my mind needs to stop working.

Pressfield asks:

What does Resistance feel like?

First, unhappiness.  We feel like hell.  A low-grade misery pervades everything.  We’re bored, we’re restless.  We can’t get no satisfaction.  There’s guilt but we can’t put our finger on the source…….We hate our lives. We hate ourselves.  (page. 31)

So then, he goes on, we want a drug, we want to go shopping, we want to surf the net endlessly.  Anything to escape.

Not a pretty picture.

But, instead of moping and feeling sorry for myself (and spending half my time on Amazon.com……..), I could actually work. 

When I have encountered resistance in the past, I have used a technique that worked for me.  I would figure out one very small thing that I could do.  It might take only 5 minutes, or even less.  And then I would make an appointment with myself—day and time.  Of course, now I am resisting doing that!

SINGING AS PART OF THE RESISTANCE?

The strange thing is that I have not encountered this resistance in my singing.  I continue to practice 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours a day.  I continue to make progress.  I continue to work very hard.  I have said to myself, at least my body allows me to do this.  And so, that makes it OK not to be engaged in weaving-related activities. 

But think about it.  Where I am at vocally is very much of a beginner.  Not so with weaving.  Resistance rarely makes itself felt for me at the beginning levels.  It only starts to manifest itself as I progress onto levels which require hard work, really hard work, original hard work.

I have turned my singing into a resistance to keep me from weaving!

Gosh, if there is anything I am good at, it is playing tricks on myself.

It is time to stop writing about this.  It is time to kick butt and move on.

Related Posts:

Resistance and Finding Time
Resistance

"Resistance to Doing the Work”  was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on March 30, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

WEAVING AND COLLABORATION

Posted by Peg in South Carolina 

 

If you haven’t seen Tien’s wedding dress, do go and look at it.  It is stunning.  But read all the blog posts about it as well.  Here is the blog post with the photos.

But there is much more in Tien’s blog than the post with the photos of her garment. These other blog posts contain the story of all the ups and downs that occur in creating a project of this magnitude.  But even more important for me, these posts contain the story of an amazing collaborative effort.

The effort involves scores of people.  People who gave her helpful advice and encouragement in the comments on her blog.  People who lent her tools.  People who gave her things.  People who taught her.  I find it an amazing story.

Years ago when I lived in Georgia and was a member of the Chattahoochee Handweavers Guild, two members of that guild collaborated on a magnificent piece which won a major award at Convergence that year.  One was a gifted and experienced weaver.  And one was a weaver and dressmaker. 

They told the story of their collaboration at a guild meeting.  I was absolutely entranced.  This was not the story of the lonely weaver working by herself at her loom or at her sewing machine.  Of course there was this work, and much of it. Nor was this the story of a weaver collaborating with a client on a piece. This was a collaboration between two weavers, each of whom brought her own set of skills to the challenge, and each of whom challenged the other from the beginning of the project to its end.

“Weaving and Collaboration” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on February 22, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

SHIP IT

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

WHAT DOES “SHIP IT” MEAN?

“Ship It” is a phrase used by Seth Godin in his latest book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?*  Basically this means that with any project, time is going to run out, money is going to run out, it’s time to move it on.  Why?  Because, according to Godin, “…the projects we do are never really finished…….” (page 103)

Most of us weavers would probably interpret this to mean, send the piece, imperfect as it is, to the show, give it to the person.  It’s not perfect, but get it out of here to where it belongs.  Only then is it finished.

But I am interpreting Godin’s explanation of shipping as including something more than, say,  just getting a piece to a show.  Indeed, I find myself right now at what I would call a “ship it” moment in my own weaving.  And the warp isn’t even on the loom yet!

MY “SHIP IT” MOMENT(S)

I dyed the last of the warp yarn.  I clearly did not get the calculations correct because it does not match the warp yarn I was trying to match.  It is definitely brown, not a reddish brown.

Moment #1.  My first thought was to wind another 1600 yards of white 60/2 silk and dye it, this time, getting the right color.  But my next thought was, is this simply perfectionism for perfectionism’s sake?  Seriously, is this really going to matter in the final outcome?  I decided not.  I was done with the warp dyeing. I needed to move on.

A quote from Godin’s book:

Laugh at perfection.  It’s boring and keeps you from being done. (page 130)

I hadn’t read Linchpin at this point, but when I got to this quote, I smiled. 

Moment #2.  Still into perfection, however, I dreamed up the following plan.  I thought I would wind the rest of the warp with this incorrectly dyed yarn.  But I would put it on separate lease sticks and end rods.  Then I would insert these new brown warp bouts somewhere into the warp bouts I have already made.  I would insert them in a place where they would serve best as a design element.

This seemed a pretty good idea.  Doable.  And who knows, it might turn out to be better than actually having gotten the color right in the long run.

But this sort of thing could go on forever and I might never get the warp on the loom.  This warp will never be perfect;  the completed weaving will certainly not be perfect.  It is time to stop worrying about the warp and get on with it.  It has cost me too much in time as it is.

I close with one of my favorite quotation from the book:

Accept that everything is a draft.  It helps to get it
done.  (page 128)

*You can also find Seth Godin at his blog, here.

“A New Treadling” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on February 15, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

SOMETHING-A-DAY PROJECT

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

OTHER BLOGGERS

For a while, now, I have been fascinated by the daily project phenomenon on blogs.  I have seen this in art blogs, with people painting or drawing a picture a day.  I have seen it on photography blogs where people fully finish a photo a day. I have seen it on fiber blogs where people do a small surface design piece each day.  And I have even seen it on weaving blogs.

I have followed Janet Dawson’s Scarf-a-day blog with great interest and admiration.  Though this doesn’t mean that she puts on a warp a day, it still has been a very ambitious (and successful!) project for her.

I have also followed Tommye Scanlin’s tapestry-a-day on her blog Works in Progress. She doesn’t actually weave a whole tapestry each day.  Rather, she put on a long but narrow tapestry warp and then each day wove in a building.  She has been recording her progress in the side bar of her blog. Tommye called her piece a tapestry diary for the year 2009. 

If I had a second loom, I could put on a long crackle warp and weave a sample a day.  But, I don’t have another loom.  So, what could I do?

A friend suggested I already have a project not unlike this since I do something weaving-related every day.  But I want to do something that will notch my growth as a weaver up a bit more.

SOFTWARE TO THE RESCUE

Weaving software, I thought.  At first I kind of cringed since fiddling with weaving software is definitely not weaving.  Then about a week ago I woke up with the brilliant idea (ideas in the middle of the night always seem to be “brilliant”…….!)of exploring crackle drafts.  So, here is what I am going to do.

A NEW E-SKETCHBOOK

I have started called a new E-sketchbook called “A Crackle Draft Project 2010.”  I have put a shortcut to it on my computer desktop.  Each day (for five days a week) I will put in a new crackle draft. 

I will begin with the very simplest of drafts, a straight draw 4-shaft crackle threading with standard twill tie-up.  I will explore each day a new way of developing and altering this very simple draft.  Some explorations will be very simple and take very little time.  Others will be more complex. 

I will move from there to other threading possibilities and then on to six- and eight-shaft threadings of all kinds.  Everything is subject to investigation: threading, tie-up, treadling, color, texture….

WIF FILES

At the same time, I have started a folder on my computer called by the same name and will include in that folder all the drafts as WIF files that I will place in my E-sketchbook. I will try to remember with each entry in my E-sketchbook to include the location of the draft in my computer folder.
If I save these drafts as WIF files, why, then, bother putting them in an E-Sketchbook? 
In the E-Sketchbook I can make comments. 

COMPUTER DRAFTS AND PENCIL SKETCHES

There is, of course, a limit to what can be accomplished in terms of design with weaving software.  But I can think of them as the painter’s equivalent of pencil sketches.  Many artists have kept reams of pencil or pen-and-ink sketches they made, either for fun or as preparations for a final painting.  Weaving software provides the equivalent kind of experience in weaving design.

Related Posts:  
Sketchbooks for Weavers
E-Sketchbook
Printing Out E-Sketchbooks

"Something-A-Day Project” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on January 1, 2010. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

MUD, WORK, INSPIRATION

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

Yesterday I wrote about mud.  The color, mud.  What I did not write about was that I myself was dragging in the mud.  No inspiration, no enthusiasm, no energy.  True, it was a dreadfully rainy and bleak day, but never has that kind of weather elicited such a reaction from me.*  I was even beginning to think that I might be coming down with swine flu.

This morning I woke up.  No swine flu.  Energy pretty much back.  And an absolutely fantastic and to-the-point piece popped up in my blog reader, a piece, of course, which I must share.

MARKING MILESTONES

It is called “How to Defeat Burnout and Stay Motivated” and can be found here.  It is perhaps the best essay I can remember having read on the subject.  One of the things that got my attention was the author’s discussion of marking milestones along the journey.  Marking them, not just in your head, but in a journal.  Create them, if you have to. 

I had a voice lesson yesterday.  The 30 minutes usually feels more like 5 minutes, but it felt more like an hour yesterday.  Nevertheless I noted that one of the things my teacher does is to mark milestones for me.  The milestones she marks are quite small, but they are clear and well-defined, they are important, and when she marks one I smile.  I smiled yesterday. 

I don’t have a weaving teacher.  So I have to take over that function for myself.  Right now I don’t know exactly how I will do it, but I will figure it out. 

TRAINING INSPIRATION

Also interesting is his discussion of inspiration.  Inspiration seems to be a wispy kind of thing, a now-I’m-here, now-I’m-not kind of thing. But it doesn’t have to be.  It can be trained.  Go read the piece to learn how…….

A QUESTION REMAINS

One thing he does not talk about, however, is how to deal with the inevitable down days, how to survive them, how to believe that this day will pass, what to do when you are in mere survival mode. 

*This is probably not a true statement….(grin!)

Related Posts:  
Distracted and Out of Sorts
Get Back to Work

“Mud, Work, Inspiration“ was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on October 13, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

 

GIVING UP BLOGGING?

Posted by Peg in South Carolina 

I have noticed that for the past few months that the number of weaving posts on the blogs I subscribe to has been diminishing. I noticed as well that the number of returning weavers to my blog are less than half of what they had been. 

At first I thought it was summer.  But the drop does not seem to be reversing itself.

Then last week several bloggers (not all weavers) have written that they have decided to give up blogging, either entirely or for the immediate future.  Why?  Some had been blogging for a couple of years and decided they were tired, or had taught all they felt they could teach, or had too many other things they needed to do.

I’m in my third year of blogging.  Is it time for me to stop?  Have I said all that needs to be said? Stopping certainly would free up some time for me.  Quite a bit of time, actually.

I let that roll around my head for awhile. Then I realized that I could not stop, even if my readership has dropped.

Writing this blog is where I do a lot my thinking.  Or, to be more precise, writing this blog is where I continue and refine my thinking about what I am doing.  Writing this blog is also where I solidify some of my skills.  Writing this blog keeps me open to possibilities.  Writing this blog is even where ideas come to me.

Last, but not least, I like writing this blog. Or at least it is the reason that keeps me writing even when I don’t feel like it (which is rare). Perhaps this is the most important reason to keep blogging?

I love to weave.  I love to write.  Both are all about process.  And the writing reflects the process. And if the writing of it inspires even one weaver to engage or continue engaging in her own weaving journey,  I would feel that to be of great value.

Related Post:  Blog Writing

“Giving up Blogging?” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on September 16, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

SELLING MY WEAVING…NOT

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

Stranded Yarns recently led me to an interesting piece. It is called Etsy.com Peddles a False Feminist Fantasy. It can be found here.

The title, I suspect, was composed as an attention-getter. I love the alliteration! I think there is more to the piece than the title, at least for me.

One of the things it did make me think about was this. What if, some 35 years ago, I had been weaving. We had two small children. My husband provided the income. I had no need to work outside the home. And what if there had been an Etsy.com. I think I might have thought seriously about selling.

Why? Because Etsy. com appears to offer an easy way to test the waters. No talking to retailers. No going to craft fairs. No having to deal face-to-face with strangers. I am bashful now. Then I was very very bashful.

Perhaps even more important, it appears to test a weaver’s ability to enter into production weaving on a small scale. I’m almost sure I would have failed that test.

But even though I have no plans for selling my weaving, posts like the one called The First 4 Steps toward Selling Your Art pull me in. This particular post deals only with step one: Devote Yourself Completely to a Studio Practice. What an important step this is! She does a really good job of explaining what she means. The hardest one for me to deal with, though I try very hard (despite the fact that I have no plans to sell my weaving…….) is stated this way:

It’s also important to be able to turn down requests and invitations that would take you away from your studio time.

So why do I read this stuff? Why do I take this stuff very seriously if I have no plans to sell my weaving? Because the more I weave the more I get drawn into the wonder of thread/color interlacements. Because crackle has sucked me in. Because I am ambitious and driven but not to sell or even to show.

40 years ago I would have been ambitious and driven to show.

Related Post:
Weaving for a Living…….or Not
Designing Issues and Weaving Shows
Weaving for a Living…or Not (about weaver and fiber artist Anita Luvera Mayer)

“Selling My Weaving…Not” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on August 12, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

BLOG WRITING

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

Leigh, in one of her comments, has called attention to my prolific blog writing. Or at least to her it seems prolific now that her time is being taken by moving house.

My snap answer was that I love to write. Well, I do!

But it is much more than the love of the writing that keeps me writing. It is how my writing and weaving have become almost indissolubly linked. Blog writing is (mostly!) a pleasure in itself, but it also moves my weaving forward.

On those days when I cannot blog, which, fortunately, are few and far between, I am dreadfully frustrated, just as I am dreadfully frustrated on a day I cannot weave.

This week is going to be low blogging and low weaving and, although it is because of another activity I dearly love going on this week, still I am frustrated. But, much as I love weaving, I also love music and will not sacrifice this week’s activities for the sake of weaving and blogging.
More days in a week would be lovely. But there would still be choices.


Related Post:  Blog Anniversary!


“Blog Writing” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on July 28, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

BLOG ANNIVERSARY!

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

Today begins my second year of blogging.  Well, actually, it was Saturday, but I don’t normally write blogs on Saturday. Anyone curious about my first blog post (besides me!) can go here to check it out.

Writing this blog has turned out to be playing a vital role in my development as a weaver. I am grateful to those of you who encouraged me to start a blog.

I am grateful to all of you who take the time to read it, whether or not you comment. I know that commenting takes up precious time, something few of us have enough of.

And I am grateful to all you weaving bloggers. The community you have created also plays an important role in my weaving. I only regret that, like you, have precious little time to comment.

Related Post:  Weaving and Blogging 

“Blog Anniversary!” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on June 15, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

DISTRACTED AND OUT OF SORTS

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

And maybe even a bit grouchy…………

It all started innocently enough: I decided to make a bra. Yes, in case you didn’t hear me correctly, a brassiere.

I do sew. As a matter of fact, I sew pretty well. I don’t sew a lot anymore. Mostly just occasionally on weekends. Weekends are when I do non-weaving things I enjoy. Sewing is one of those things.

Because I like to sew, I follow a few sewing blogs. Not many. Just a few blogs that really interest me. I don’t comment. I just haunt them. Until one blogger suggested a bra sew-along.

This blogger sews beautiful bras.

I love beautiful things.

The mountain was in front of me.

I joined the bra sew-along.

To say the least, things have not gone well, and I haven’t even started sewing a bra. It took me at least a week to decide on a pattern, and then I finally bought two patterns because I just didn’t know what to look for.

And I also decided I would start with a camisole and panties. Sort of work my way up to the bra. The camisole was a disaster and I hated the panties. I sulked. I posted on the sew-along. I sulked some more.

I knew what was wrong. The basic thing was that I hated the fabric. So I ordered the right fabric and figured out what to do right with it.

And then I ordered the fabric and supplies for the bra. How many hours did I spend in front of the computer trying to figure out who to order from and exactly what to order? Hours down a seemingly endless hole.

For the past ten days it seems I have spending much of my life on the internet trying to get all of this sorted out. Weaving has suffered. I have been so anxious that I’ve neglected my aerobic exercising, though not my yoga. Even my bum ankle squawks at me when I sit for too long in front of the computer.

But at last I feel like I am coming out of that dark hole that sits in the computer screen and finally returning. It feels good to be leaving behind all that anxiety. Sewing can return to being a fun weekend activity, a change of pace from weaving activities.

Related Post:
Maddened by Ideas
Focus: A Postscript

“Distracted and Out of Sorts” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on June 9, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

TO READ

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

The Wise Juror -- A post on nurturing your own individual voice in creating art. Listen to your work is the advice. From Robert Genn’s newsletter, “The Painter’s Keys.”

Pretty Sketchy – an interesting point of view on what sketch books are all about, namely, about thinking.  And don’t miss the link to the Flickr group.

Must Read Book: Brain Rules – Scott Berkun’s review of this book (Brain Rules) has definitely caught my interest.

Build a Self-Development Day – I wouldn’t build mine in the way that Persistence Unlimited does on this blog post, but I would like to play with his ideas in my own way.  I’d be curious if any of you have ideas of how you might plan your own self-development day.

Tips for Survival as an Artist--from Michael Shane Neal: Part 1 – I found this very interesting.  For me personally, the paragraph on setting aside a part of each day for study was most gratifying.  As you might remember, I have decided to do that.  And, if you have been noting my closing quotations on recent posts, you know the book I am currently reading!

Related Post: Weaving Resolutions for the New Year

“To Read” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on May 26, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

MADDENED BY IDEAS

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

Maddened as in tormented! It all began innocently enough. I simply would find my mind wandering, as I wove, to thoughts of my next warp(s). Blues and reds. Narrower threading blocks. Similar to what I am doing, but different. All kinds of ideas floating around.

Then a notice from The Textile Museum in Washington, D.C. arrived. A request for fiber entries focusing on green. I discarded the idea…….but not the request……. I started thinking.

First, however, I rechecked the deadline. Deadline is not till January. I could do something interesting in this crackle. I have not a prayer in the world that I could weave a piece that would get accepted (one of the things you have to submit is your curriculum vitae!!! oh sure!). Still, especially considering how difficult green can be, I thought it would be worthwhile accepting the challenge. And glimmers of possibilities started to float into my brain.

Also occupying my head (I can’t figure out how there can be so much room in the poor thing!) is a knitted lace summer sweater—raglan, top down. All very vague. Except that the lace pattern will be a very easy one. But then my poor head got more and more engaged. I realized it would not take that much yarn so I could use some of my handspun. Realizing that pushed everything else out, including weaving. The result is that now ideas are now coming to a critical mass where I really have to start to the labor of the actual designing. Hard work. And I want to weave!

Then there is the “small” matter of thinking about and looking at some interesting yarns for knitting our son’s annual Christmas sweater. I have always used relatively inexpensive yarns. Partly because I haven’t trusted his washing. But I’ve learned I can trust it, so this year I have decided to splurge. And I am so excited because it will be a splurge for me as well to feel wonderful yarn flowing through my fingers and watch the rich texture developing. We are going to Charleston this week (and then again next week) for Spoleto. Charleston has a simply wonderful yarn store…….

Not to mention that I am following a bra sew-along and learning that I just might be able to make really beautiful mastectomy bras, and so am looking at patterns, fabrics, books………..

And the Marimekko knit that just arrived – destined to become (when?) a nightgown for my daughter…..

Sometimes creativity feels akin to madness. I feel I will burst if I cannot work on all of this at the same time.

This madness tends to happen when I’ve been away on a trip, even a very short trip. On the way back, as I sit in the car and knit, ideas start to flow. Slowly, then more quickly. That night I wake up with more ideas and thoughts. Once. Twice. Sometimes multiple times. I don’t write them down. I know they will still be there when I get up.

In the morning I sit at the computer and go through the process of getting everything written down and roughly organized. The madness begins to dissipate. I can get back to work.

Yes, we were away briefly this weekend………….(grin!)

Related Posts:
Focus: A Postscript
Weaving Art Pieces
Weaving Masterpieces

“Maddened by Ideas” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on May 25, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

“GET BACK TO WORK”

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

A friend sent me a link to a short piece by the writer, Elizabeth Gilbert. It’s called “Some Thoughts on Writing” and it can be found here. It arrived just before I did some weaving on my latest piece, some weaving that left me momentarily a bit disappointed. Actually, I wanted to cry. Just a little. But I’m too grown up for that. If you believe that I have a bridge I’d like to sell you…….

But this piece was so appropriate for my disappointed state because in it Elizabeth Gilbert says something I needed to hear:

“…all writers think they suck.”

It’s not just writers who think this and need to deal with it; so do weavers. Elizabeth deals with it by……..well, read her piece!

But how do I deal with these disappointments? By seeing, not something awful, but something that is a problem. And problems challenge. This is how I can forget my own ego and “get back to work”.

Some things that getting back to work might mean for me:

• Taking a break (or walk, or nap—short or long)
• A little (or a lot) of unweaving
• Cutting off and starting all over again
• Continuing to weave with an open and curious mind
• All of the above

Elizabeth Gilbert talks a bit more about getting back to work:

Always, at the end of the day, the important thing is only and always that: Get back to work. This is a path for the courageous and the faithful. You must find another reason to work, other than the desire for success or recognition. It must come from another place.

Getting back to work, in other words, is not necessarily easy. There must be a reason for letting go of disappointment and getting back to work.

And so, my readers, I have two questions for you:

1. How do you get back to work when you feel that what you are weaving “sucks”?

2. Is there anything in Elizabeth Gilbert’s piece that you find helpful?

Related Post: Work

“Get Back to Work” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on May 19, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

WAYS OF CREATING AND AN AWARD

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

A few months ago I found myself engaged in an email conversation with a composer who is now learning how to weave. This started me thinking about the process of creating .

I have begun to think in terms of two ways of bringing an idea into form.

COLLECTING MANY DIFFERENT IDEAS

One way is to collect a lot of different ideas. Ideas that may well have very little if any relationship to each other. This seems to be my way.

I collect ideas that come to me in the middle of the night. Ideas that come to me in the middle of a concert, ideas that have nothing to do with the music I am hearing. Ideas that come to me when a painting moves me. Ideas that come to me when I am planting a tree or a flower.

Similarly, I collect pictures that I like. I put pictures from magazines and catalogs that appeal to me in a large sketch book, sometimes making comments about what I found appealing. I make notes of pictures from books I own that I like. I collect images from the internet and keep them in folders in My Pictures.

What I then have is an array of possibilities. As I begin putting a warp on the loom, and work on the finishing of the warp just removed, I sometimes start looking at this array of possibilities. More often than not, I do not. In the process of the weaving of the warp I have just removed to finish, I have discovered the next project.

FOCUS ON ONE IDEA

Another way is to allow oneself to be seized in the moment by the idea that comes. To analyze it, research it, make notes about it, collect information, make sketches, and to continue this process until a veritable folder or notebook is created that can be filed away, to be pulled out at a later date. The notebook then contains enough material to begin the detailed work of creating the intended object. This is not my way.

Or is it?

By the time I have the warp of my current project woven, I already have a small folder with both information and ideas about my next project. I will have done research and made some tentative decisions about it. So the weaving I am in the process of doing is at the same time my inspiration for my next weaving. It contains the ideas for my next weaving.

COLLECTING GEARED TO A FOCUS

Why, then, keep collecting all these nuggets that I rarely look at? Well, I do look at them, but primarily for color ideas. But other idea nuggets get collected as well. Some of those nuggets get stuck into my brain and have an impact on what it is about my current weaving that is going to inspire my next weaving.

One of these nuggets I have is about double-weave, for example. Double-weave and crackle. One side crackle, the other side plain weave or twill. Both sides crackle, reversible. Both sides crackle, different colors on each side. Both sides crackle, but different block designs. Whether or not to stitch the layers. Interchanging the layers. Yes, thoughts about this grow increasingly intense. The point when it becomes more painful not to take up this particular gauntlet than to take it up is the point when I will begin serious work.

THE AWARD

Now for the award. This is an award that Leigh has gifted me with and I am very honored indeed. For this is an award having nothing to do with weaving but with creating community:

"This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!”

I am passing it on to some other community-creating weavers:

Nigel, Kaz, Cally, Lynette, Laura, Janet

Related Post:
Multi-Pocket Folders
Organizing Projects: Part One
Why I Weave as I Do
Weaving as Exploration

“Ways of Creating and an Award” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on April 2, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina