Some Thoughts on Paperwork Part 2 of ? - Looking, Moving Slowly, Focusing/Highliting

One of the things we were repeatedly told in the figure drawing class of yore was to look, to not jump right into a drawing and start waving our hands/arms. I was very bad at this, often drawing as I prepared to look. Some weeks ago, in order to combat this, I somehow began to look for an element in the face I want to highlight, even leaving out other parts. I still started drawing while I looked for that special part, and often I still put in much too much, but the new focus helped quietening the mind. Some faces/poses yield so many elements I want to highlight; and let's face it, others, none. The easiest to highlight was the hair because of the textures and shapes, so much so some different faces ended up looking similar to each other on paper. Never mind, making things more complex is my forté; this simplification is new and exciting!  

I think this is why I turn to blind drawing more and more, as it slows down the hand. 

Then a new issue emerged; it's to walk away when I feel I'm finished. I try to stop by writing Q and to put the tool down, but more often than not I keep going and have ruined by meddling; and I seem to do this more often more recently. 

This man held a Matisse-shaped paper above his head, right elbow resting on the table. His eyes were also very quirky. I didn't get that far.

* * * 

Another thing I noticed; in short few weeks, I was gestural-drawing, something I loved years ago, but cannot turn on/off. I do it more often when I draw standing, or if I'm working "bigger". I try not to interfere, and it doesn't happen as often as I like, but when it does, it's intoxicating. 

Looking at the photos, I can't tell you with where one the magic happened. I don't know if I should make a note in future. 

* * * * * 

Something I tried in the private group: instead of blind contour drawing, I tried blind contour cutting. I noticed right away, when I'm cutting, I can only cut the outermost, or another, line, not all kinds of lines to illustrate a shape. Duh! I chose some of Modigliani photos and paintings I'm familiar with, but they were extremely quickly done, and somewhat unsatisfying. Groupmate C asked what I was going to do with them, and while I knew I had to do something, I had no idea. I chanced upon something I did with an incomplete screen print years ago, but it didn't work this time. I have other half-ideas, but I'm not sure if I want to spend too much time on these. 

* * * * * 

I knew this, but it remains true still: I prefer older people to smooth-skinned young faces in general, and faces that have lived a life, if you get my meaning. 

Also true, some of the best/loveliest/most interesting faces/poses don't turn out right in my hands, and the harder I try, the worse they come out. This is frustrating, and to put it mildly, soul-crushing; I could be working on a quick masterpiece in that time. I think this is what makes these sessions addictive, because maybe next time a beautiful face poses in a stunning way, I will be able to capture it! 

This man had the most professorial face and demeanor, and the only man wearing a jacket in my two months of Zoom drawing, but of course I couldn't do him justice. I can only hope the host picks him again. 

All the pics from Zoom Faces are from February; the private group photos are from January. 

Some Thoughts on Paperwork Part 1 of ?

I've been taking part in art Zoom art for upwards of three times a week for two months, two being free, public/anonymous, hour-long face-drawing sessions based in Europe, Drawing is Free and Pencils for Tea; the third, a private group I was invited to by chance. On reflection, it's been a rather intense and sustained effort, though the face sessions in particular don't feel that way, and as you can imagine, I've had thoughts. I better start, in no particular order, before they escape. 

Even in this short time, I noticed a changes/widening of my setup, so I'll start with those: 

Technique: I like blindish drawing, though it depends on the day how much I peek, or even if it's only occasionally blind. Looking at the photos, I think I'm actually drawing more without looking in recent times than two months ago, but facial parts are more and more falling into the right places. 

Increasing I am holding tool at the top, just grasping the tool at the top 1cm/2cm, not having control of the quality of lines, for dry and wet medium. My favorite is my Dad's old fountain pen. Although drawing with the non-dominant had was my go-to in the past, I haven't tried it yet.  

Tools: I started with thin black markers, color gel pens, highlighters I found while cleaning the office, gold and silver felt tips; then added a refillable fountain pen, water-soluble crayons and watercolor/gouache, in part to reduce plastic consumption of pens. (I've only bought gel pens and felt tips recently.) I usually use only dry or wet medium in a given session, but have mixed them up occasionally. 

Paper: I started smallish, either multiple faces on A4 pages or one on A5 pages, but recently I'm spilling out of A4 sheets. I have considered bigger, but each face sessions are relatively short, (2mins-something to just under 5mins,) I haven't. As well, I tend to sit during the sessions; I'll most definitely consider bigger if I were to stand and draw, always a possibility. 

Even with the wet medium, I tended to stick to 110g-ish paper, white for the most part but black also. Now I use different colors and weights, for the strange reason: there seems to be a distinct lack of inexpensive 110g black paper in Nelson! Previously black sketchbooks were available anywhere inexpensive white visual diaries, (usually 110g,) were sold, though I can't remember if they were more expensive. 

Now if they are available, they are twice or more times as expensive, and/or with 2/3 or even half the number of sheets. I have sourced 140g A3 paper in fantastically saturated black, but this costs more than the higher priced black sketchbook sheets, and the paper is too smooth, while I prefer bumpy/rough. One of the $2 Stores had breathtaking dark-mid-grey pads, around 100g, with rougher surface, 30 sheets for $2.50. (I know!!!) which holds water pretty well for the weight. I'm also trying out color printer paper. (If that dark-mid-grey came in cashmere or merino, I wouldn't hesitate to get a few kgs right away.) 

I'll keep looking for thin, rough black paper, but I know my preferences will change over time. I am, though, sticking to the inexpensive materials, because paperwork is therapy, in contrast to weaving. I work quickly and go through a lot of material. And it makes more sense for a pensioner.  

I'll stop here for this post. These pics are from January, before I got paper in different colors. 

Stella's (Worldwide) Adentures - Part II of II

This post may be a little cryptic as I decipher scribbles or try to remember what I didn't scribble. If you're a weaver or are familiar with weaving jargon, I hope you get the gist; otherwise, you can laugh and think, "Oh, what a load miscalculations!" 

2026/1/21
I started working on these premises and made the warp and wound it on the back beam:
Warp: 30/2 100% merino, 60ends, (14ends per repeat*4 reps+4fl,) * 2.2m; folded in half to weave two strips side by side.

Threading: same on both, 5678765-1234321.
Sett: 48EPI on the right set, 42EPI on the left. 
Weft: sample 30/2 single, doubled, and tripled. 

2026/1/22
I threaded, sleyed and started sampling. Very quickly I discovered one 30/2 threaded in each heddle was too fragile as ends were breaking left and right and I could not sample properly. Times I used 30/2 in the warp, I doubled and used two ends as one. Neither am I dexterous enough to weave two strips side by side.

I made a second warp, with 74 ends, (14*2ends per repeat*2.5reps+4fl), 2.2m; threaded in the same way but only 2.5 repeats wide, and sleyed at 48EPI, 4pairs/8ends per dent in a 6-dent reed; I'm weaving only one strip. 

2026/1/23

Sampled. 

Far right: It was obvious even 30/2 tripled, (in 3 similar, not identical, colors,) made the design fussy and the motif squashed. But I noticed leftover merino used to spread the warp ends at the start looked good. (I also noticed a threading mistake so fixed that.) 

Second right: I had three similar 100% knitting merino leftovers and auditioned them. I liked the orange best as I felt it matched the (faded) Bayeux mood best, but it was too airy and squashed the motif, and the value was too close to the warp the motif did not show up well. The dark purple showed the motif best and was the thickest weft but there were no similar colors used in others' contributions as yet. Teal, on the other hand, showed off the motif well enough, but also several blues already used made it fit in the group best. 

The question was, whether to try sampling 30/2 quadrupled with one color and sample, (to show off fussy weaving for my aesthetic satisfaction, taking extra hours to weave,) or to go bold and sensible with the leftover merino. We actually took a quick trip into town to photograph Stella with a couple of iconic Nelson locations while I decided I'm going with the sensible direction. 

Second left: I reduced the width to two threading reps wide; 2.5 reps had a nice with symmetry and the stripe was wide enough not impossibly difficult to weave; 1.5 reps would have suited the project better but would have been close to impossibly slow to weave. I also thought the directional movement in the draft when positioned sideways would allow the asymmetry. I wove 40cm, expecting it to shrink to perhaps 38cm-ish. (I made no measurement nor checked shrinkage.) Tar left experiment with pale yellow 100% linen just for fun. 

With the weaving finished, and the teal strip inspected, I foolishly took the rest of warp off, put away the tools and vacuumed before wet-finishing, a bad order but I do it all the time. Of course I found a lifting mistake and the wefts were banged into position too firmly I couldn't mend it, so wet-finishing I did, briefly considered using the strip as is, then went back to the warping board. I also thought 40cm on the loom was too short. 

Rather than rescuing the discarded warp, I made another 2.2m, threaded with two threading repeats, and sleyed at 48EPI.

2026/1/24
I wove again, this time 42cm-ish, checked very carefully for mistakes, with the warp and tools untouched. There were no mistakes, but I had the presence of mind to notice the erratic beating. My beating is inconsistent at the best of time on better looms, but I was weaving on Klik, standing up, (because if I sat I can't see the shaft numbers,) and my back was hurting. If need be, I had another warp ready to weave. 

2024/1/25
I have never manipulated a piece in the wet-finishing this much, trying to disguise the different beating. Even though I had enough time to weave another, with the bad weather I was not sure if it would dry in time for me to attach it to the linen cloth, (itself a time consuming task, I expected,) package it up to communicate tracking numbers, etc, and for Ben to drop it off first thing Monday morning. For the first time, I even took out a hair dryer to coax the strip to dry faster.

The next conundrum was the position on the linen. Earlier I decided I'd love the top right, opposite Mia's text, but the just above it, the hemming of the linen is a little curvy and I wasn't sure how to deal with that. Also, with a strong teal color, the longer length, and the height, my strip overpowered Mia's text. (I did considering cutting the mistake off the first piece and using that.) We looked at bottom left, which might have been OK after 30 others contributed; bottom centre, which was interesting but in the present stage looked crammed; or bottom right, the color, height and length dominating the least there. 

As well, the weather improved, the temperature shot up, with high humidity after all the rain, I hemmed it at the coolest spot in the house, the top of the stairs, where the light wasn't great. That task took about an hour and a half, redoing some stitches so they remain as invisible as I can manage. But I was done at a reasonable hour of... can't remember... something like 8PM. 

Q. E. D. As Mom used to say: "Quite easily done." I don't know about easily; Klik is not an easy loom to weave pieces, (though great for studying new structures or sample while editing threading/sett rapidly,) I did so enjoy being a weaver and thinking and talking about it. It was a great reminder. 

2026/1/26
The box was sent off to the next contributor, Helen in Canterbury, first thing in the morning, and she received it at lunch time the following day. We already miss the noisy girls. And I have plenty of warp still left on the loom. 

Stella's (Worldwide) Adentures - Part I of II

I joined Mia Hansson's Stella's (worldwide) Adventures, which turned into my first weaving project of 2026. Here's a good intro to what the tour is. (Stella's Adventures group page covers or will cover her entire trip.) Now let me tell you my part.  

2025
I came across Mia's Bayeux Tapestry Story group page on FB early in the year. Mia is a Swedish Brit single-handedly trying to recreate the Bayeux Tapestry over a decade. Her group page is crazy informative on the techniques, process, and decisions she's had to make to carry out the project, while we fans often interject wild or informed speculation, all in buzzing joviality. There, Stella the Persistent Assistant appears from time to time to make mischief. 

Mia decided Stella should travel to get out of Mia's hair, so she solicited hosts to welcome her worldwide, and by the way, hosts should add some embroidery to the linen Stella will be traveling with. I didn't rush in, but when Mia announced the countries she's had volunteers from, I flippantly wrote, "New Zealand?" I didn't hear from Mia for months and gave no further thought, until in December, she requested my address, informing me Stella was about to leave Australia! I was working nightly on my needlepoint at that stage, so no worries, I can wing it. 

2026/1/15~18
On 1/15, I received an unsmall box containing Stella and her (new) little friend Arlette; a pink notebook in which hosts wrote background of themselves, local info, or their contribution, (some riveting reading itself;) and a piece of linen 82cm high and 135cm wide, neatly hemmed just the way Mia showed us she does on her project.

(The linen is not crocked but not pressed; it's my fault for not tugging from all sides.) This is 100% unbleached linen in plain weave, with quite a hefty weight to it, giving it that lovely large-dog-leaning hand. The recreation project is done on linen, (though now Mia suspects it could be linen/cotton,) 70cm high and gazillion meters wide before hemming, in a twill from memory. Both this cloth and the almost stiff embroidery gave me the impression the original Tapestry was probably far from delicate or fragile but hefty and more "down to earth", which is probably how it lasted this long. 

What astounded me in the first instance was the high level of embroidery skill of the previous hosts. Mia's star in the center, (Stella,) and the Bayeux-style tree in lower left, (see little Stella hanging on?) by Brigitte were done in wool in the traditional stitches used by Bayeux seamstresses. I realized it's been decades since I did cross stitch, maybe over 50 years since "freehand". I have bitten far more than I could chew! Reluctantly only at this point I joined the Stella's Adventures FZB group, and flipped through the pink notebook. I discovered the length to which everybody went in researching their subject, or took Stella around their homes/regions to introduce to the rest of the group. There was even a visit to Bayeux Museum and the cathedral where the tapestry used to be hung!! To say this was going to be a two-pronged project was an understatement. 

With bad weather coming, I started with Stella-around-my house, planning to move on to around Nelson on the group page front. In there I snuck in my trepidation about the lack of embroidery skills, to which Queensland weaver Lyn commented I should attach a piece of my weaving. Oh, I never thought about that! By Sunday morning, I knew what I was going to do.

2026/1/19
What: If you look at the pictures, considering I'm the 20th of 50 to contribute, though there is still plenty of space, placement is a consideration. Also, I wanted to use New Zealand Merino, somewhat fragile against friction, so I didn't want it to go where the cloth was likely to be folded. I decided a short narrow strip, or two, wouldn't be too obtrusive but also wouldn't disappear in the busyness.   

A long strip along one side was immediately voted out for not being harmonious with the other contributions. 

On the other hand, a strip the width of the text at top left (2cm*23cm), or the text+small Stella (2cm*30cm) would create a balanced look, but to make the weaving a little easier, I might make the width-on-loom between an inch and 3cm. I could put it at top right, or bottom right; it could even work bottom right and left, though top will probably be rubbed less often.

Warp: 

The linen cloth has a tinge of yellow, while in the 30/2 merino I plan to use, I only have pinkish "naturals." Of the two the darker taupe appears less jarring. Elsewhere I have undyed merino, but they are far whiter than the cloth, so that's out of contention. 

Weft: 
(This was part of the group page entertainment; I let the girls have some say.) 

Mia uses something like five or seven colors, in darker values than what I have, and quite a lot of yellow in them. There is a Burgundy, (I have brick orange in its place, which Mia says is closer to the original,) a dull yellow, (mine, a brighter version,) and indigo, (mine, second row far right.) Then I may pick maybe two others between green and blue. Mind you, the big difference is she makes pictures with these colors, while mine are weft colors, in clear horizontal squares. (I'm judging everything by looking at photos on her Tapestry page.)

And then I found Brigitte took Stella to Bayeux Museum, and there they had a display of the wool colors. 

I'm doing the usual. I'm not sure if I want to use many colors or just one or just a few.  

Sett: 
The merino I plan to use is 30/2 100% in the warp and the weft. Previously I used this in the warp at 36EPI to go with 26/2 and 20/2 cashmere wefts. At that time I experimented with 36EPI and 48EPI, (but apparently not 42,) and mentioned 48EPI was too tight as if the yarns had no room to expand. I think for the purposes of this project that sounds about right, as the embroidered part in wool is stiff. I'll sample 42 and 48EPI.

Draft: 
I had a quick look at Mia's finished length for a possible Bayeux-based abstract border motif, (over 55m so far,) but nothing jumped out. She being Swedish, I thought of one 8-shaft pattern I really like but only used once.     

Ooops, this is Stella; I think she's a Viking girl, as Mia used to make Viking reenactment costumes, and Normans were Viking descendants. The draft in question is to the left of her head. It can go the way it's drawn, or turned. I'll be weaving a long, narrow strip, while it will be attached sideways on the cloth, so wide and short.  

I usually prefer the bottom look, but in this case I like the directionality of the top two. I must consider what's the easiest to lift. Either works well in terms of warp repeat numbers to make an inch- or 3cm-wide strip. 

Decisions: 
With the easy stuff done, I have to decide on the following before putting a warp on and sampling: 
1) Weft colors. In fact, am I also happy with the neutral weft warp color?
2) One idea is to put on a wide multi-colored warp and weave a short, wide strip for the Stella project, and then to resley and weave a scarf  from the same warp. In this case, however, there will be gazillion warp ends to tidy before I can attach the strip/s to the linen, so in the first instance this sounds like a terrible idea. But a colorful scarf?  
3) The threading/orientation.
4) In case I need two strips, I should put on two warps side by side with a wide gap in between and weave the two at once.  

2026/1/20
No work done but went over notes. Making up my mind is sometimes the hardest thing to do. But I am enjoying the process as I have not had a "thinking" project since the elephant blanket of 2019.  

More to come.

That's Our Summer Done, More or Less

Ben and colleagues had a lot of leave accumulated, so it appears half the team had a nearly-month-long (or longer,) summer holidays; Ben had exactly four weeks off, which ended on the weekend. We, I, prepared a very long house project To Do list beforehand, some items long standing, but most tied to the building work we had done last winter/spring. 

We worked often but in short spurts, sometime taking turns going outside depending on the task, while the other cooled down inside or cooked; very different from our usual pattern. One big reason was we did a lot of scrubbing/sanding and oiling/staining/painting outdoors, so there was a lot of waiting for things to dry. The weather was largely cooperative, except a very wet Week 3. (Around then, Ben hurt his back again - he just gotten over his November incident, and the homeopathic remedies I've been taking for arthritis abruptly stopped working.) But it felt as if we fell into a new old-people working pattern. With a couple of holiday left,  we had not even finished a third of the list. 

Another reason we worked in such a (re)lax(ed) way was probably because we had "four weeks" in mind; somehow it felt so much longer than three weeks, Ben's usual summer break. We kept doing a little here and a little there, that on Sunday when we debriefed, we actually finished a little under half the jobs!! 

Our place looks chaotic inside and out, because we're not finished with projects and sometimes stuff is left out; flower pots and dead weeds are left all over the patio that's not what we're focusing on at that moment, but we'll get around to them eventually. Even the garden, overgrown even more than usual, had bits done, and I can tell which trees Ben pruned and look more polite better than before he pruned them. 

Plus, it's January/February when we get the really high temperatures, so some of the paint jobs, (I'm dying to paint the inside of three most frequently used closets,) can be done before the summer is well and truly finished. It's also up to Ben to build two small outside "tables", one for weeding/tidying/repotting flower pots, (so I don't have to kneel or bend often,) but more importantly a skinny side table on the front door step so folks don't walk too near the kitchen window and hit their head against the sharp corners. If he does, it's my job to clean up the wood we'll recycle.  

Our To Do list and the house remains in jumble, which kept me awake some nights, but importantly we feel rested, that we didn't spend the entire summer break doing chores. We're relieved because by last October/November, we were utterly exhausted from what felt like a hectic year but really wasn't. 

Old people ways of life, eh.  

* * * * * 

No weaving took place during the break, but suddenly it popped up. I'll talk about it really soon; it's an exciting, in a way complex project, but won't take long to finish, either. 

On paper, I only finished the smallest of the unfinished collage/drawing books, though I made progress on four other. I attended three zoom art session and rediscovered the joy of face drawing, even though the faces are through a tiny screen. Without intending, I found myself drawing larger and gestural. It's been great to suddenly find myself back in familiar territories. 

Mary Ann Moss has a new Substack, and in one of the vids she recommended face drawing zoom sessions by Brit Chloe Briggs, so I "went". Funny how one thing leads to another, giving me courage to try new things, or old things in new places with new people. I'm having fun, even though there are great sessions, good sessions, and downright sucky ones.  

When I'm not doing it alone, I'm pretty good at not looking while drawing blind contours, although mine are never strictly contours. There is magic in them, where we inadvertently get things surprisingly and pleasingly accurate.

This one was not blind, and I messed up the first version, but I was desperate to capture a unique pose. 

I love colors, and I love drawing big. I'm now routinely filling A2 pages in 3 to 5 minutes. The bottom one, though, was a fluke; it looks nice and immediately identifiable, but it looks too tidy for something I did. 

My favourite of the season so far. I'm trying to look more carefully, for longer, so I spot the most attractive shapes and lines. It's often the hair, but with her, the more I looked, the more attractive the hands became. Unfortunately I'm not composed and find myself drawing before I start to take a proper look look, so I have to revise my lines many times. That is why I love this one so much, that I managed to look carefully. 

I continue to be involved with the Letter Journal group, part of Admin for a second year. The group itself will be ten years old in March, though I didn't join until some months later. The "bigness" of each challenge seem to get bigger; I need even more time to do each spread, sometimes spending weeks practicing. But it's lovely to be exposed to others' creativeness, exhilarating just to try to keep up, even if my outcome is crappy. Collaborative works is like problem-solving for the most part, but I get a real sense of accomplishment when I finish a spread. I need to remember to photograph more results.

I've also made steady progress on the needlepoint project; I'm still not using colors as attractively as I used to, but the shapes are more interesting and I don't have to think too hard now. 

* * * * * 

And lastly but not the least, we cooked some delicious meals, nothing exotic or challenging, but ordinary meals that tasted great. Among other things, I'm into making pizza with a tortilla shell as a base. Because there is substantially less carbo, I can taste the toppings better, but the shell holds better than the cauliflower base we tried some time ago. 

I/we have plenty of projects leftover, but I'm making 2026 a(nother) year of finishing projects. It won't stop me from starting new ones, but things will get done, fingers crossed. And if we can use up old material, all the better. 

Onwards!   

New Year's UnResolution

Hi, everybody. Have we all safely made the crossing and landed on 2026? My Day 1 is nearly over. And I've had some thoughts. (EDIT: I wrote this last night, but didn't have any idea for photos, so I'm posting on Day 2, and I'll get into the paint after I post this.)  

I quit "Resolutions" a few years ago, if you remember, but I still have some... guidelines? for the year, something to keep in mind before rushing into,out of action; not very different from the last few years', but then there have been very little changes in my life, so that's the way it goes. 

The two main guidelines are: finish projects I've started, and continue "decluttering". I've put in some effort in both areas in recent years, although intermittently and at a blind arthritic snail's pace. I get great satisfaction from finishing projects, (being a great starter but poor finisher, finishing comes far less often,) and anything I'm not too keen on, I have culled them over the years. So what's still left is worth pursuing. 

Decluttering; I don't like this word, because to me it's like tidying, while what I need to do is to get rid of stuff; shedding; discarding. In this day and age where everybody seems to have too much stuff, it's hard to give away old stuff some old lady saved for many years, unless they are rare/vintage/antiques. But I hate the idea of increasing rubbish, (around here they get buried in the ground,) so they sit in our house until we have a better plan. 

I started selling books online last year, and I've had a modest success selling some old weaving books, but I have many more, not to mention mountains of non-weaving books, so I have a long way to go. It's still nice to send them to folks who want them. In Nelson I have the option to donate them to Founders Book Fair and over the years we have donated boxes and boxes, with a few more boxes to go in the next couple of weeks, but if I could get some money to go towards last year's roof repair or dental implant, all the better. 

Other guidelines are familiar ones; exercise; eat healthier and in reasonable proportions; read more books; and a new one: write (more). I've gotten out of the habit of organize my thoughts and editing/revising them. Many times, even in replying to emails or to blog here, I find the task overwhelming and can't be bothered, mainly because I haven't been living an interesting life worth recording/reporting. Sometimes it's far easier to pick up a knife and make a jar of pickles, or get my sewing box to mend items that's sat in the ironing basket for months. 

20 or 25 years ago, I made a decision to simplify my life, to make it smaller and not busy so I could devote myself to learning to weave. Growing older, having less disposable income, and the Plague all helped, to the point I'm now living a teeny tiny life. I like it, I'm quietly satisfied with this simple, plain life of an oldie, concerning myself with littlest things immediately surrounding me. At the same time, I'm reading much too much about politics on screen and not enough books with good content; I don't socialize in person much, so don't have many real conversations; and I don't write, so I never organize my thoughts, so I don't have interesting/funny things to say. I've become a boring person. 

I ran into someone in the supermarket, and later went to a small gathering, on New Years Eve. I repeated myself and brought up matters like digging out oxalis bulbs from a patch we hadn't used to grow veg in a decade; and sorting paints, stains, and oils to prepare for household projects we hope to tackle this summer. And I didn't tell them in a funny way! 

So there you have it; that's another guideline for the year: don't be boring!  

An Anniversary of Sorts

Hello! Hard to believe, but it's been a year since I last posted here. I've intended to post something since Septmber-ish, but really couldn't think of anything with a semblance of substance. 

All year I did exactly one thing relating to weaving; I selected a few cones for the next project, in the colors a staff at the Suter Shop requested. Other than the week we had the hallway and stairway repainted, they've obligingly sat waiting in their regular station. 

After I finished the tied unit weave last year, I was infuriated at how I make everything complicated, (I still have the two fine tied unit projects and one clasped weft with three wefts on the three warped looms,) making weaving all work and no fun. I always intended to get back to it soonish, and these colors were going to go on the Ashford 8-shaft, but I couldn't come up with a pretty idea. And here we are. 

I still love needlepoint, but with no supplies available in Nelson, I felt "deprived" of my beloved hobby as some days I had such vivid recall of working on past projects I could see and feel them as if they were real. In May a light went on and I looked for sources online in New Zealand and found two. I've had this idea of an almost-door-sized hanging inside the front door in yellows forver, and I bought a large canvas and gazillion skeins of wool, but ordering colors online was hard, even with samples and color numbers of previous projects. I'm also so out of practice I've been working very slowly as I can't "see" the design on a blank canvas, and unenthusiastically as these shapes and colors don't sing to me like. I'm even taking out patches, something I've never done before.  

This one is a sample/practice run for the larger project, but it's still twice as wide as usual, and it's proven unwieldy, so I don't know if I'll go ahead with the door-sized version. Ben and I are wondering if it can be somehow secured it on to a rigid heddle minus the heddles, or if we can build a simple frame out of PVC pipes or something. We shall see.  

I've had three or four intense doodling periods without specific projects, and managed to finish a few sketchbooks. I love working on ones I make, usually A5 but some A4 or even A6, with a few pages of inexpensive drawing or watercolor papers. The subjects are usually Modligliani-like portraits, but not exclusively. One of the fun thing I've been trying it to look at photographs, of Modigliani and his friends as well as current real persons like Ben and AOC, to draw them in his style. And between now and the end of the year, I have plans to finish half a dozen tiny projects, lots of them collage. I've been working on them for years, and some are already finished, but I need to know I've done everything I needed/wanted to, and them put them to rest. We shall see.

* * * * * 

This year life was busier, and I noticed as I get older each of these "out of the ordinary" tasks take a great toll, i.e. they suck up my energy so quickly and completely, all that's left is the cartoonish sucking sounds echoing in my head. 

There were a couple of administrivia that followed Mom's passing, made worse by the fact I never use grown-up reading-and-writing Japanese any more; customs and processes changed in the 30 years since we left, especially after the earthquake and Covid, so I needed my siblings' help. Issues settled, with our both parents gone, for all intents and purposes we're more or less estranged from each other, both siblings busy with families and circles of their own. It's a sad situation, something Dad was adamant should not happen, having seen it in Mom's family. On reflection, though, my siblings were too young to remember the good days of that extended family, they may not have understood what Dad meant. 

* * * * * 

 

I had the good luck of meeting a builder who specializes in reworking old homes and a fabulously knowledgeable handydude early in the year. I contracted both to fix a non-serious but long-time roof leak and to extend the steps in front of the door, the builder to fix/build and the handydude to clean/paint the roof in the aftermath. These two appeared to have been fairly casual about coming and going as it suited them, (or, they had firm plans in their heads, and just weren't telling me,) and it having been in the dead of the winter when it rains a lot, for six months off and on, I wasn't sure who was going to pop around when. But the jobs got done, and we are very happy with the results. Good blokes, both. 

You'd never believe it, but because of the builder's scheduling changes and the weather, I scrubbed/sanded/stained the wood charcoal over two or three weeks in June-ish, with the help of a scaffold the handydude loaned me. I could only work 1-3PM each afternoon because of the moisture/temperature/light, but it was an interesting and rewarding experience. Gosh, you can really tell the difference in the season from the pics. 

There are more to be done by us this summer; the wood for the entrance steps was very green, so we had to wait until summer to oil/stain, in natural pine-y color probably. Ben will build a narrow side-table like thing to go under the bay window since the corners of that thing are really sharp and normal-height people could easily hurt their faces/heads, (although I fit right under it.) We don't want folks to walk too close to it. More than half the flower pots still sit in another part of the garden since late April, and they need prettying up and arranged. As for the rest of the garden, they were completely neglected until very late spring; we've been working on some patches, but we have a long way to go to bring the whole place up to our normal-messy standard.  

* * * * * 

The biggest issue of 2025, though, was aging, both cognitively and physically. Cognitively I'm doing what I hated when my mom did; speaking without thinking first but with irritatingly firm conviction. It drives me mad, but I can't tell when I'm doing this and only realize afterwards. I repeat myself more than before. Writing has become onerous, which surprised me, but most days I just can't be bothered. And then there is technology of all sorts I'm not even interested in but are required to lead a normal life these days. 

By far the biggest issue of the year was osteoarthritis, especially on my left hip. After contemplating for a long time, I finally switched to a new GP, who promptly sent me to get X-rays, but then declared I didn't have arthritis, only to rescind it that judgement. I have "moderate to severe" cases on both hips. I still like her and, for now, trust her. 

For at least half the year, I was hurting and couldn't sleep most nights while the hip throbbed all night. I slithered inside the house, and crawled on and off that scaffold like a snail. I never had someone else's arthritis so I can't tell you if I'm exaggerating, but I got in the habit of wondering what the heck I was doing with my life. 

Came September, after months of what felt like a life of an invalid, I started taking joint health remedies, often ignoring dosage recommendations, all day every day. Be they psychological or not, (some of them I think are not,) they have worked and the last three months I have not stayed up all night but rather woken up later after I've been in the same position for a while. These remedies don't cure arthritis nor or work forever, and already I'm increasing intake of powder collagen, but at least I'm moving some of the time, and getting some things done. And my GP is monitoring. 

Arthritis prevents me from exercising, though, even from walking descent distances, and, I had two long-awaited dental implants, (made possible by pension,) so I can chew properly now. Tough my weight in numbers haven't increased much, I swear my mass is massive and ever expanding! Ben and I will eat better and walk this summer, and if long walks is not possible, I may start looking at gadgets we can help me at home. And speaking of Ben, he now has a chronic back problem, but that's another story. 

* * * * * 

Aren't we all exhausted by politics? New Zealand, because of the size of the country, has turned so far Right so rapidly it's making my head spin. Among the issues that disgusts us on the Left is our current regime is trying to cancel the Treaty of Waitangi. I can't tell you what a big deal that is. And we're looking at another election in a year's time but the Left has gone all purple and not doing itself any favours to try to win my vote. I've been a consistent Left-leaning voter all my voting life, and I really don't understand how we got here.    

* * * * * 

What's for 2026? For me at the top of the list is arthritis: my GP's plan is to try physiotherapy for practical purposes, (because they can't "cure" arthritis,) and then see if, (or I say "when",) I need to be seen by a specialist. New Zealand's health care is OK in general, great in emergencies, I hear, but involves a lot of waiting, and I've been waiting to be seen by a physiotherapist, although they did get in touch with me to tell me the wait is long, but can they send me written stuff in the meantime? 

If we can wing it, we would like a trip to Japan before my movement is further restricted. We'll see family, but Ben hasn't been home since 2018 for Mom's 88th, and a last? meaningful trip in Japan to see somewhere interesting will involve a lot of train and bus rides, which require stamina, so the longer we wait, the less practical it feels. So this is on the wish list.  

I would like to get back to weaving. It sounds so strange to see it written down, but now this has become a goal, yet not an unachievable one. The big loom's mechanism and speed is still a problem, but we need to spend some time thinking about a remedy. Table looms, on the other hand, are so versatile and handy, they are becoming my favourites. Four-shaft Jack is also superb in making sturdy quick pieces. And I still have the RH. Something will happen soon enough. It's just prioritizing, since any task takes so much longer these days, and between drawing, needlepoint, the house, the garden... well, I've honestly haven't got time to stay an invalid! 

Lastly but not the least, with life being sucky in general, I've noticed a lot of little kindness of strangers of late. Perhaps I was careless to have missed them in my younger days. Perhaps folks are taking pity on this fat little limping woman. I don't know. but I appreciate them, and the fact I notice them. 

I hope you'll hear from me once more before the end of 2025, but even if not, do have a lovely end of this year and a easy start of the next, with your loved ones, filled with laughter and good food. 

See you soon. 

EDIT: I had a dream about Mom this morning, not as frequent as Dad popping up, but more often since the anniversary of her passing last month. For the last year I was so relieved she was finally able to quit her horrible life of the last year, or five years, depending on how you look at it, I honestly didn't feel as sad as I expected. 

She went into care five months before Covid, and was informed of the extent of the "plague". Nursing homes all over Japan had/still have their own rules about closure or visitation restriction rules, which went on for years. By the time most rules went away, all her friends were busy again, some even going into care themselves, so my siblings were her only visitors. I quit teleconference with her in February when I felt it was more burden than fun for her; I discussed it with my sister, who agreed. In retrospect, who knows?

It was only around the first anniversary that I started to finally miss her, realizing she not only left her misery, but us, too. I said so to my siblings, and I don't think they were very impressed, although the estrangement started long before that. I'd forgotten about that until now. 

The Sixth

I've nearly finished preparing The Sixth and Sunflower I for the Suter Shop; perhaps I'll take them on Thursday on the first anniversary of visiting the shop in a long while and meeting Annie the Manager. The Sixth needs fringes trimmed, and I still see 60/2s sticking out both pieces, but I want to write this post before thoughts escape.

The Sixth, much of A-side, the side I see as I weave.

The Sixth, most of B-side.

 

Colors and Pattern Wefts

Weaving a larger piece on a larger loom made me focus on "big picture" colors, especially the patter wefts, in contrast to minute nuances that include tie-down wefts. I contemplated this towards the bottom of this post; see the second last photo. We know I default to gradation, and then the shiny or bright or very saturated fall out of favour, while it's these very flashy colors I wanted to use in this piece. Should I select a narrower range of pattern weft colors for the next piece to make the piece more vibrant?

Ditto the size/scale of the patterns and frequency of color change; there's no need to change colors as often as on the small loom, especially tie-down wefts. I can't decide if longer repeats in both directions so the motif "bits" are larger, or even some continuity in the threading, (in the next warp,) and lifting, (even the next piece on this warp,) all the way would be more suitable. I'm also thinking about my pet-project of elaborate tie-down patterns, but for this to work well, weft color/changes may need subduing.

Big Computer Dobby vs. Tiny Sample Looms - Physical aspects
There are technical/physical difference in the way I weave on the two looms. The most obvious is the swing of the arms, but as important to me is the distance between Shaft 1 and the breast beam and under it, i.e. how much I can see of what I've woven.

I found more weft "loops" on Sunflower I. While weaving The Sixth, I made similar loops, particularly with 60/2 for some reason, but I was able to see them and correct them right away. 

Of course the big difference is pre-decided, (yeah, I just made up a word,) lifting/treadling vs spontaneous. I was able to concentrate on other aspects, like colors, tension, selvedge, or weft loops. But I haven't made major discovery, as I was trying to get used to standing and weaving on the big loom, paying attention to the air-related problems of the last year. I suspect, though, in future re. tied unit weave on the big loom, they may be more planning ahead of threading and treadling, even with colors, and concentrating on the technique of weaving as I weave.

Sunflower I, one side.

Sunflower I, the other side.

Onward!