Websites and Weaving

Purple yarns tied and ready to overdye.

The bottom of the weft-faced ikat part on the loom

Website Portion of the Day

Today I worked on websites--my guild's and my own. Thankfully, I had some help because this website stuff is a whole 'nother language. Turns out that I had no index page on the ftp. But it's done now, revised, and online!

Weaving Portion of the Day

Then I got to weave. Started the weft-faced ikat part today. That always goes a little slowly at first, just to get the design to line up correctly. I had to take out the first few rows then rewind the weft from the opposite end. That did the trick, and it's working now. I only got about six inches done today, but tomorrow I'll be able to start right in first thing in the morning.

Setting Intentions for the Year

I've been thinking a lot about choosing a word for the upcoming year as a way of setting an intention for the year. This is to take the place of New Year's resolutions, which I gave up years ago. But I like this idea of having a single word to set the tone for the year and kind of use as a mantra. The whole idea came from Christine Kane, so check out her blog. The problem, though, is choosing THE one word. I think I've narrowed down my choices to two--release and clarity. If I can't make the final choice between the two, I'll go with both.

Tomorrow is the day I get to weave again. Yeah! I also have a to-do list a mile long. Since I have a tendency to try to put too many things to do in a single day on my list, I am making a master list and choosing 3-4 items from the list for the next day. But first thing tomorrow I will build a fire in the stove and weave. After a few hours of weaving I can get out the list and start checking them off.

One thing I have done in the last week is to make an inventory of my accomplishments for the past year, and I feel pretty good about that. For a list of questions to jog your memory, check out Alyson B. Stanfield's newsletter. I've accomplished more than I realized in the way of making art and taking care of the business of art. So, I am acknowledging myself and celebrating, a la Alyson.

New Weavers

I was amazed at how well the boys did with the weaving. The Wolf Pup is a direct tie-up loom, so they had to use two treadles at once for plain weave. Above is Zane, who is five. He talked to himself as he wove. "One and three, push the yarn, bubble, BEAT." Look at the delight on that face! He's loving the weaving, especially the beating part.

Here we have a wayward yarn. I love Beck's concentration.

It takes a village--gotta get that beating done! And where are those treadles?

They've left for home now. I'll find bits and pieces of toys for several days in all the nooks and crannies. I am very grateful to have so much time with them this year. Love hearing those sweet voices saying "Grandma." I'll miss them, but ...

Now I get to return to my own weaving. Plus, I have to dye yarns for a commission piece. I'm really looking forward to this project, as it will have colors that I don't use very often. I just hope that we don't get icy/freezing weather while I'm trying to get dyeing done.

Great Time

It's amazing how much little boys can mature in six months. Astoundingly, they have showered and gone to bed when told. The older of the two likes to read to his little brother before the lights are turned out. They have been sleeping in their sleeping bags in one big chair--their choice. We've done lots of activities while they've been here, but what they like most is weaving. Yeah! I am astounded that the 5 year-old understands that each row in paper weaving has to be opposite of the one before it. The older of the two has been weaving on my Baby Wolf, just his size. I let both of them weave on the big Cranbrook--with a little help from Grandma.

Today we drove to visit their great-grandparents. I have a big family, so there's LOTS of people there. It can definitely be a little overwhelming and very noisy. All the children did a really great job, playing with their much older cousins, their baby 2-year-old cousin, and carefully holding and touching their one-week old cousin. I'm really going to miss them when they leave Saturday, but I'm hoping that I can entice their parents to take a short vacation this summer with my offer of babysitting services.

Exciting Weekend!

This is a really exciting time for me. My daughter and family are driving from Charlotte to visit, about a 1000 mile trip. They will be visiting for about a week, so I've planned many things for the little boys and me to do together--probably way more than we'll have time for. I never decorate the tree any more, just wait for them to do it. The ornaments get a little higher each year as they grow taller and taller. This year we'll have time before Christmas to make some ornaments with cookie cutters and the salt/flour dough that you bake in the oven. Then we'll paint them. I hope that works out. Kind of scary to think of using paints with 5 and 7 year old boys. One year we used glitter and construction paper. I had glitter around the house for a year.

I also got a Klutz book called Artrageous. If you're not familiar with Klutz books, they're great. Each one focuses on an activity with very clear directions and includes all the materials needed for the activities. Last summer we used the potholder one to weave. The boys really enjoyed it.

I hope we will also have time to watch the birds. I'm getting my feeders out for the first time in ages. The finches really look pretty in the winter. I used to keep the feeders filled religiously, but that kind of fell away when I got the current loom. I can no longer see out and watch the birds as well as I could with the previous loom. Yesterday I saw a platform feeder that suctions onto the glass of a window. I may have to get one to try out. It looks kind of like this one, except that it has metal thingies below that help support it.

Good Friends

Today I had lunch with a group of my weaver friends. A great gathering! Everyone brought something for an lunch with an Italian theme, and there's not a bad cook in the bunch. The table was beautiful and festive. The power went off for a while, but that didn't matter. We sat around the table visiting, solving the world's problems, and, of course, discussing weaving. All the while we were visiting the weather got worse and worse--colder and windier--but friends make it all better. I recently read a painter's comment about how visiting with a friend and discussing art was good for her. Discussing our passion is probably good for all of us, and is something I want to make more time for.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

When I went to the grocery store today, it was 77. By the time I finished my errands, the temperature had dropped 15 degrees! And the winds are still gusting at 30 mph. Winter is NOT my favorite time of the year.

Grapevine sale

Our guild is participating in a local art sale to benefit the Grapevine library this Saturday, so I spent the afternoon finishing up a couple of pieces and pressing others that have been stored. I hemmed one of the smaller pieces, something that I don't usually do. Then I cut the board and put the Velcro on it for displaying. Tonight I made labels for each piece to put on the back of a business card that I'm using as a hang tag. Each card has a picture of the piece it's hanging on.

Chaos

Instead of doing what was on my list today, I did what was planned for later in the week. I moved furniture. Now there is chaos everywhere! Instead of finishing up one project first, I have just jumped in with all projects at once. So, the plan is that tomorrow I will weave for the first half of the day and finish at least one project in the afternoon. This will be great once it's done. I moved what I call my design desk into my office. That will give me room to use my smaller loom in the studio. I have some ideas for small pieces to weave, but don't want to tie up the big Cranbrook with one of those small pieces. Weaving the small pieces will also be a break from some of the larger pieces that just go on and on sometimes.

The one thing that I accomplished that was actually on the list is getting the new PO box. I have been thinking about this for a while and finally sprung for it. I really don't want my address on my website, yet there does need to be an alternate way of being contacted.

It's pretty chilly in the mornings right now, so I'm really looking forward to having a fire in the stove and weaving. That's a very warm, cozy thing to do in the winter. Love it!