Cranbrook by Schacht www.schachtspindle.com

Guild meeting was Saturday, and we had an excellent program, all about the care and feeding of your loom. Lorelei Caracausa was our expert. She is one of the owners of Heritage Arts and a member of our guild. Lorelei said we should treat our looms like a piece of fine furniture. Wow! Guilty as charged!

And speaking of our guild, take a look at our new guild website.  It was really nice to have this group today because it was exactly what I needed after a difficult week. My mother broke her hip, which meant surgery, staying with her as much as possible in the hospital, and now visiting at the rehab facility. Now that she’s been moved, the first thing she wanted was her computer. She has two blogs here and here, and also participates in a couple of writing groups. Busy lady!

Trivia of the day–it is said that lack of sleep costs US businesses $63.2 billion a year. Then we have tweeting ($112 billion a year) and retweeting ($65.6 billion). And transferring your LPs to MP3 files costs the nation $11.7 billion a year. Who even thinks of these things to research? Even more wasteful activities can be found here. I don’t need research to know about my wasted time.

An email came that said registration was open for the Surface Design conference in San Antonio. While perusing the various activities available for the conference, I noticed this:

Janet Echelman
www.echelman.com

Taking Imagination Seriously

I didn’t recognize the name, but I certainly recognized the net form in the picture, for I had seen several pictures of these installations, and find them fascinating. I followed the link and found the TED talk below. Serendipity at its best! The link to this same video is here.

At year’s end there’s always a list–well, actually at any time of year there’s a list. But the worst words list comes at the end of the year. Some of these words I have not heard of, like selfie. Others I heard many times while the grandchildren were here–epic. Just in case you don’t know, anything that’s really good is epic. I had not actually read this list but heard about it on the news. No one mentioned curate. That one I read about in the NYTimes. Here’s is a quote from the Worst Words list:

To curate – to organize information on a web page or other non-museum entity.

Museums have curators, galleries have curators–are you a curator because you found 10 cute puppy photos and posted them on your wall? Probably not. Did we just curate this banished words list? We’d rather not say.

The article in the Times was really about a new blog by the curators at the Cooper-Hewitt called Object of the Day. There are some textiles, but I didn’t see a way to do a search, which means going through all the postings. Not onerous, but another rabbit hole for me.

Back to curate–I had noticed that I was hearing/reading that word much more frequently, but just thought I was out of the loop. It’s especially prevalent in decorating magazines. I just read an article about hanging pictures in groupings, which, of course, have been curated.

The weaving has begun. Yay! And we’re getting rain! Double Yay! Water restrictions in winter? Yep, it was about to happen. At least this long, slow soaker  of a rain has postponed that for a while.

Several weeks ago I got the newsletter from Folkwear and saved it to peruse later. I really love the hat above. Why I don’t know–I rarely wear hats of any kind, although I like the idea of hats. This one is called the Metropolitan hat. I always enjoy this newsletter because of all the links to exhibits. There’s on at the Fashion Institute of Technology. There’s an exhibit coming up called Shoe Obsession. I’m not a shoe-obsessed person, but do find the different styles interesting–just don’t make me wear them! And this brings me full circle…I recently visited the website of Kim Bruce Fine Art. She has a whole series called “Heels.” They are cast encasutic, which I have to admit that I know nothing about. I like this quote though:

Pins are thought to be feminine objects yet they are hard, straight and sharp but used with soft, flexible and warm fabrics.

I certainly had never thought of that, but it is so true. Take a look at this series and her other work. She also does websites for artists.

The warp is tied on to the apron rod, and while doing that simple task, the brain was working, thinking about a couple of experimental pieces I want to try. And since I have a Schacht Baby Wolf sitting in my studio that I have never used, why not warp it up. It's a used loom and came with lots of bells and whistles, like a raddle that I don't know how to use. So, what else does one do? Google it of course! Below is a You Tube video from Webs with very clear instructions. Maybe even I could do this!

Something else I was thinking about while tying on--how do other weavers tie on to the front apron bar using a horizontal loom? I've tried lots of different methods--well, not really, just two. I used the Nyquist method and the usual where you take the group, split it, and tie. This method means I have to tape my fingers to prevent blisters. I really would like to know what works for you. Oh, and by the way, I am patting myself on the back for figuring out how to embed the above video. It's not as simple as in Blogger. Unfortunately, I can't figure out what the heck I did to the text in this post!


This is what I tell myself right now, but I don’t seem to be listening. After a week with house guests (daughter, husband, two boys), I have been on the run doing all kinds of errands and getting caught up. Still all that extra laundry has not washed itself! About the time I think I know what I’m going to weave next, indecision sets in. I did go to FedEx Office and have enlargements made, so that’s a start. Now to actually get into the studio, clean up all the yarns from the last project, and get started.

I have also been making a list of, gee, I hate to say goals, but I guess they are–at least things I want to accomplish in the coming year. Gardening is one of those things, and that means getting back to composting. I feel guilty every time I throw scraps away. Got caught up in an article in NYTimes about composting, then followed a couple of links. One led to the above picture. Felt bowls! There were also some pretty cool light fixtures, but I didn’t go down that rabbit hole.

Another rabbit hole might be exploring A Handful of Salt, a blog about design, craft, etc. They have now published a print edition (above). Do you see the w word?

For the first time in what seems like a long time, I am excited about the coming year. Not about resolutions (I gave those up long ago), or words of the year (nothing every really seems right), but because of what I have accomplished this past year. Back in the spring I made a dump list of everything I wanted to do around the house, organized room by room. I have completed half of the chores on the list! It feels so good to draw lines through those tasks. The areas that have been reorganized are staying organized. Yippee!

There are no weaving/tapestry to-dos on the list, and 2012 has not been a stellar year for me and weaving. Which brings me to what I’m excited about. I am really looking forward to weaving more, doing some new designs, trying new things, looking for new outlets. That doesn’t mean that the original dump list is going to be ignored. There are outside things that simply must get done. I’m hoping that gardening will be my friend again. So, here’s to 2013! Let’s make the best of it! Enjoy! And for me, simplify.

About a year and a half ago, I was barely getting through the day. At some point, I don’t remember now, I heard about I done this. It’s a free online calendar where you list what you got done that day. Everyday I got a reminder email, which I replied with what I did that day. I’m telling you, some days it was nap, shower, and wash hair, but gradually things improved. And for you naturally organized doers, this probably sounds pretty strange. After more than a year of keeping this calendar, it is nice to look back and see what has been accomplished. Which brings me to another stage….

I’ve been thinking about things that I need to start doing to chop that to-do list down. Several months ago, I created a huge to-do dump list, writing down everything I’ve ever thought about getting done. I mean EVERYTHING! The good thing about forgetting that list existed? I got to draw lines through a lot of the items on the list. Tah dah!

It is time to get back to where I was in my weaving world. It’s time to start jotting done those to-do items regarding to weaving and art. After the kids leave, it should be time to hit the floor running, although I’m sure there will be a let down period. I always hate to see family go home.

So…May all our weaving days—and others—be shiny and bright.

Except for those busily completing Christmas gifts, is anyone else doing any weaving? I’m certainly not, but the to-do list has gotten much shorter. There are still a few niggling things that need to get done, and more that haven’t even been added to the list. Like hem towels.

I took some old recipes from grandmothers and great-grandmothers, scanned them, and had towels printed at Spoonflower. This was my first experience doing this and I learned a few things–well, really just one major thing. I’m happy with the cotton/linen fabric and with the way the recipes look. However, I did not choose a good placement on the fabric. They are centered on a fat quarter, but in the wrong direction. I could have printed two on each towel. As it is now, I think they will be too small for “tea” towels, so I am going to take some of the excess fabric and add to the length. Of course, this all could have been avoided if I had just ordered one as a test. Hmm…well, I really didn’t know how long it would take to receive them. I’m sticking with that story. Of course it’s not about impatience!