new/old beginnings
I’ve gone out to the studio
sat down on the loom bench
and given myself a good talking to
I haven’t woven in a very long time – months
well – the time has come to finish the tea towels
it starts with un-weaving 7 inches of a complicated pattern that has a significant threading mistake
all these months I’ve been trying to convince myself that it wasn’t necessary
what the heck!!
the weft is all natural dyed cotton from my 2020 dye challenge
– too much time invested to just throw it away
so time to get on with it and then the loom is free to do something exciting
meanwhile – besides 2-3 hours of heavy garden work each day
I’ve been working on the colour study for June – purple
one flower cut from of a designer fabric sample and stitched
I have a collection of embroidery cottons – some of them my Mom’s and some I stitched with as a child
several skeins have a price marked as 15 cents!!
they are kept in the same box my Mom used – it is an old humidor
don’t know where it originally came from because my Dad smoked a pipe – maybe grandfather?
Mom wrapped all the small lengths of thread on bits of cardboard
I inherited my scrap happy, recycling habits
and when I’m really too tired to think I sit and spin
now I’ve developed tendonitis in my thumb/wrist – silk is strong stuff
not sure if it is the spinning or all the work with the pruning shears
and the computer keyboard adds to the problem
hard to give it all a rest
it’s tea and cookie time – developed some new habits during covid
the great news is I’ve got a date booked for my second vaccination!
www.onesmallstitch.Wordpress.com 
When I had looms, at one point in my life, there was this “warp” that became “dog on the loom” (do you know that weavers term) – by the time I got back to it – the notes of what I was doing had disappeared, the shuttles were filled so I just started weaving – and when it was finally off, it actually looked pretty good. I’ve no idea what I did with it!
Now I have sliver that could be easily spun up – but the el.wheel is behind something in my store room and every time I think about doing something about it – I look at the stuff in front of it and walk away. A couple of weeks ago I shifted all the spun yarns out of the large basket like container and found out I had a lot of very nice yarns…maybe one day I will get to them!
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Catherine – I’ve never not woven for so long in all my weaving years, I know it was something to do with how I was dealing with the Covid situation – hardly ever leaving the house/garden but with my second vacc. in sight I can feel a change in my attitude. I spin all the time and have cupboards of yarns which I’ll never be able to use all of, just love to spin and to natural dye.
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Your embroidery threads are so neat and tidy! I love the idea of a box with history to store them in. Good luck with the weaving.
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Sue – the yarns I use now for stitching are thrums left over from weaving and they are just a big tangled mess! Hope I’ll be back to weaving today, it has been a challenge.
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Starting again so often is and having to do a lot of undoing is horrible! I hope you enjoy it again once you get back into it.
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It must be difficult to motivate yourself when work in the studio give you pain – and especially when it involves un-weaving! I have a sewing box my mother left me, which is an old octagonal biscuit tin which she covered in leather and pricked out her initials in the lid. It’s much treasured, and I wish I had someone to leave it to.
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Kate – I’ve never (cross fingers) had any physical problems caused by weaving – always been really careful. It’s the fine hand pinching/gripping and holding tightly that is a problem. Gave up knitting several years ago because it causes my fingers to painfully swell up – arthritis! It’s the little treasures, passed on by folks we loved, that have no monetary value and are rich with memories that truly matter.
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Wonderful news about vaccine #2!! Your studio must have missed you…but I am sure your garden is grateful for the attention! I have a humidor that was my dad’s too, but it is the wrong shape to store embroidery thread in. I just open it to sniff once in a while, though the Hittys are wild for me to do something with it that involves them.
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Kjerstin – the gardening is endless, seems to be a great growing year. Don’t remember the humidor being used for any other purpose. I have this wonderful picture of you looking for Hitty sized cigars and the girls all lighting up 🙂
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