Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Fidgeting

Some birds around here are like me; they are chirpier on cooler days. Fantails are going crazy although on their best behavior they're still crazy. A wax-eye came though a narrow crack in the living room window, panicked, and pooed all over the window sill. I couldn't catch it in Ben's big, soft leather gardening gloves, so "cornered" it in a cardboard box, and slowly moved the box towards the window's opening. Don't come back; you pooed too close to the cashmere stack.

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I enjoy knitting in the evenings so much I've been going to bed an hour later every night but don't feel tired in the morning. If I wake up during the night, I can go back to sleep. I'm following what Oliver Sacks recommended: if I wake up, start doing something, (he meant reading,) I stop the moment I feel drowsy, because he wrote we have a 2-3 second window after which, (as in by the time I finish the sentence,) it's gone.

I happen to think my tubular scarves are pretty wonderful, if I may say so myself, and I know Mom is going to love it in spite of her protestations. I don't want to stop after Mom's, (even though by 60cm, I'm going to be sick of this particular one,) although these are too warm for Nelson. And my family is completely sick of Mom and me forcing scarves upon them. Then I thought, I have many friends in Minnesota! A mate in Maine who posts a bunch of shivery pictures! Surely there are a few more. And it doesn't get cold over yonder for another, oh, four months? Evil smile! Targets!! I'm scheming.

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I fidgeted all morning, not tired, just restless, after having finished the work on May Sale. Funny how I had tons of great ideas of what to do next while working on it. It felt like a mini mental whiplash. While there are tons of little things that need doing/finishing ASAP, I kept refreshing my Facebook page and checking Emails every 15 seconds. Silly, I know. I was really looking forward to some culling and cleaning.

I kept eyeing the knitting right next to me, but it was cold and I knew downstairs would be easier to heap up. So I wove. Usual selvedge-to-selvedge weaving is a good workout, I don't need heating but clasped wefts are different.
Clasped weft is time-consuming, especially with three colors at once. For a while I thought I got a hang of it, knowing how to pay attention to the two boarders simultaneously; then I forgot where I was with the treadling. And this one is a no brainer: 4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-1-2-3.) The technique requires my complete attention. I was about to quit a few times, but I grew interested in the way lines/shapes grew, and I kept going. After two, (three?) hours, I got about 20cm woven and I was quite done.

But here's my next problem. You know I'm not "small", but I'm very short. So with the piece advanced and the start of it over the breast beam, my middle keeps rubbing against it, sometimes distorting the shapes. And this is going to continue because I have my face just above the cloth when I do clasp the wefts.

Yikes.

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"Solvitur ambulando," a phrase I learned today, but hardly a new concept. Is this why we go on, or how we go on???

2 comments:

  1. I love your piece! Can't wait to see it finished! I have never done clasped weft, but I would like to try it. The next months are reserved for non-creative weaving of folk costume fabrics, at times boring but very important for my bank account ;-)

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    Replies
    1. That kind of work here is called "bread and butter" work here. ;-) Do use the most comfortable loom for clasped wefts - it is hard on the back otherwise. :-< And ssssssslowwwwwwwww.

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