anger transformed

A few weeks ago, some people on the internet really pissed me off.  I went to a forum (not permies) to ask a very specific question about a project I wanted to make.  In response, I got hammered with a crap-load of everything I'm doing wrong and how my whole project is impossible.  

This kind of behaviour in public really bothers me.  It's not just that the poor poster will turn around and give up on their dream, but the hundreds or thousands of people reading that thread won't ever try it.  They will warn their friends about how impossible it is.  That it can't be done.

The funny thing is, humans, have been doing exactly this thing I wanted to do since... well you know that whole agriculture thing that someone thought up; take that day and go back three times as far, and you're almost there.  We've been doing this thing since then all the way through to the 1970s when suddenly - poof! - it is now impossible and everyone stopped doing it.  Everyone except the rest of the world who didn't know any better and kept on doing it.  

Thanks to the internet, I now know that it is impossible.  So what do I do about it?  Do I scream?  Do I stalk these people online and tell the world how horrible they are?  Do I sit and sulk?

Nope.  

I turn off my computer.  

It's been off for about two weeks now.  Every night, for about 4 hours a night, I do the impossible.  

I go to my sheep and ask him for some wool.


I take this wool and spin it into yarn.  


The yarn I make is handspun singles (which means it is unplyed).  This is the type of yarn that cannot be used for weaving because it is too sticky and weak.  The internet is animate on this "known fact".

I take this yarn and I put it on my loom.  I abuse it in every way, putting impossibly tight tension on it, beating it harshly, all the things that must never be done to non-commercial non-synthetic yarn.  



I have less problem with my handspun yarn than I've ever had with any commercial yarn.  

It's turned into beautiful fabric and I can't wait to make clothing with it.


My anger at these people is now transformed into proving them wrong.  By now, I've forgotten who it was I was so angry at.  I'm not even angry at them anymore because I have a beautiful fabric and I have loads of photos and I know at least two magazines that like my writing style and may be interested in publishing my story which will inspire people to stop believing the 'truth' about handspun yarn and start making their own beautiful clothing.  

All this because of what I learned on permies: How to make the world a better place instead of being angry at bad guys.  

Thank you everyone here for being so awesome!

Years back, I needed to make something with what I had at hand. I did experiments with the materials. I figure out how to do what I wanted and needed to do. It came out great. I got graded on it. I took it to an expert that owned a store that carried one of the materials I used, in fact, I'd bought it there. He stood up straight, saluted me and bowed. He said what I did was impossible, and did I want to work at the store and teach classes. He said he would not have believed it, but there I was with the proof in my hand.

One place I lived had a Tesla Museum, near where one of his labs had been. Every year they hosted a 'put up or shut up' technology seminar that ran for a few days. Bring your whatever. It had to literally sit there on the table, in front of anyone that wanted to watch, and could be approached by anyone. No fancy schmancy super controlled lab stuff. It either worked or it didn't. And it was there large as life for anyone to be next to or touch or whatever. No pulling a trick. These seminars were world renowned and people came from all over to not only demonstrate, but watch/participate. We need more of that.

One place I worked, we grew and shaped specialty wafer substrate (not silicon) for world market. We had these highly modified machines that would grind the edges off and grind the piece to shape. NOTE highly modified. A good operator with about a year of experience on the machine and a bit of skill could do amazing things with enough setup time. (we saved scrap for such things). The machines were supposed to hold a tolerance of 1/8". We had them doing microns (200 microns is about the thickness of a 20# piece of paper, aka common copy/printer paper). One batch of material was rejected by a company after we had done it to their specifications. Another would take it if we could rework it to a half micron tolerance. Each thumbnail sized piece was worth about $100... I took two hours to set things up with scrap, then started to hand feed pieces. And was hitting tolerance. We had just hired a process engineer out of school, he'd read the manuals and was arguing with a VP about a customer's job and the specifications--it just couldn't be done. They walk up as I feed piece #5, and they watch me work. I hand over the piece and paperwork. I was within tolerance. The other four pieces were within tolerance. (I saved 29 of 31 pieces). The VP ordered the process engineer to report to me for the next week, to me he said pretend we just hired him in this area, train him. He didn't have the skill to be a great operator but he learned what those machines could do. (I do swear that someone liked me that day though on that run).

Do it the way you know how to do it, and GitRdun as we say. I do love proving someone (the naysayers) wrong. IF you can weave that single ply (and that picture, that fabric looked awesome) then continue to do so.

I think I might take some more yarn like this and go to my local yarn shop.  Warp up their loom.  Weave more cloth in public so people can see how easy it is to do this impossible thing.  

I know loads of people will come up to me and give me advice on the way I should do it.  They will tell me I'm wasting my time, that it can't be done.  I know this because I know these people personally.  They have given me this advice before and in the past, I believed them.  More the fool me.  

But others will see what I do and they will tell me stories of when their grandmother in the Old Country used to do the same.  Or maybe they did it in their youth.  Or maybe they want to learn how and then I'll have to teach a class.  Or maybe they will be inspired to do some impossible thing.  And that last one, if just one person did that because they saw me at the loom, that would be the biggest victory of all.

Isn't this what Ghandi suggested Indians should do to get round the tax on cloth in the 1930s ?
So why did it become impossible ?https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2156064/
Maybe they were thinking of hand spun on commercial machine powered weaving machines? Even though the historical precident was in the other direction .

David

I just watched the video where it was linked to on a blog I follow.



Rather than sitting around feeling cheated, this is how he got his revenge. I thought it seemed in the same vein as this thread.

It's also great to see the transformation on that knife and a couple of cool cooking techniques. I'm now another step closer to investing in a complete set of knife sharpening tools.

edit: linked to wrong video, corrected now

I have found that for every idea, 15 people make the claim that it is impossible to do. Overall there can be some merit in that process, but I try and being positive, think outside the box, and do things with what I have. So now rather than post my thoughts, I just do it and then post about it after what most people would perceive to be impossible is done, is done.

I learned this from a VERY successful businessman here. He was an incredible philanthropist and now long gone, left a legacy. But what he did was simple, he never announced anything to the media, nor even gave away what he was doing himself, until after the deal had been done. In that way there was nothing any detractors could do to derail his plans. By the time anyone found out what he was doing, everything had been signed and was already in the works. I now do likewise.

As for being angry, it is easier said then done for sure. I am no better and would be lying if I said I let everything roll off my back. I don't because I do care. Paul Wheaton alluded to this in his post about "avoiding Wheaton Labs". The guy loves people, wants to help them out, knows Permie types are not immensely rich, and was really hurt by childish tirades. In short the guy is a caring person and when a caring person is accused of the opposite, it can make you mad. I say this because I know.

My only outside-the-box advice on anger might be to look into medical causes for rage and anger. I know I was seething inside for a long time and thought MAYBE my anti-seizure drugs were to blame, but that was not it. Ultimately I found out my Pituitary Gland is not functioning which is causing a loss in hormones which is causing me to be extremely agitated. Now I say all this in the present tense because my hormone levels are not right yet and I am better, but not where I should be. So it might be a medical condition causing irritability too.

David Livingston wrote:Isn't this what Ghandi suggested Indians should do to get round the tax on cloth in the 1930s ?
So why did it become impossible ?https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2156064/

It was exactly what helped win India's independence.  They were spinning a much finer yarn from a more difficult material too.  It was handspun and handwoven, single ply yarn just like mine.

Homespun textiles have been at the heart of most successful social changes in history.  It was also a really big part of the back to the land movement in the 1960s and 70s.  But this was the first time we didn't have the preceding generation with the skill to teach us how to do it.  So a lot of people learned from books and magazines.  Somewhere, about 1970 to 1972, it was published that one should never weave with handspun yarn, because..... a big list of reasons all caused by inexperience at the wheel.  Somehow this was published and republished in books and magazines since then.  

Now we are at the cusp of a textile revolution.  North American hasn't had this many people spinning and weaving at home since William Morris and his Arts and Crafts Movement.  It looks like it's just beginning.  Our mentors are the people who learned back in the 60s and 70s.  The message has been strong that one should never do this because it's too difficult.  But when we press them, we discover that they never tried it themselves because they were told it was too difficult.  The ones who did try it and found it easy are starting to speak up, but they aren't online.  Maybe they are too busy weaving.

My story is not very technical. In 2004, I walked into a place called tools and space, and told the man that I needed a straight gouge  and a curved gouge. I planned to sell some carved bowls. He asked how many bowls I had carved, and I told him that I had never carved one and that he would only see me again, if I was able to sell enough that week, to make it a viable enterprise. There was laughter, from him and bystanders, who were all woodworking types.

I returned in a week, looking for an adze. I had become quite proficient and productive. Most importantly, I was producing the stuff on a beach where lots of tourists walked by. They bought my bowls. This is the only artsy type thing that I have ever done, that paid decent money right away. Within two weeks of starting, I consistently pulled in $200 per day or better. It only work on sunny weekends in the summer. That was fine with me, since I had a regular job.

I found my raw materials on the beach and did not pay for a venue to sell from. So many crafters throw away their money, to pay for flea market stands or other space.

One of the fellows who snickered at my initial efforts, still sells stuff at a flea market. His are all lathe turned items that are quite time consuming. A good portion of his meager earnings goes to the operators of the Moss Street Market.
..........
I didn't start out angry, or get angry with anyone. I went in there cock sure that I had conceived a superior business model to my competitors. Within one week, my confidence was shown to be justified.

When I first started demolishing buildings there were people who ran wrecking yards that sold used materials. Just about everyone thought that I should start spending my time and money running one of these yards. They are all gone now. Those doing it my way dominate the market. We tear the buildings down and use the building's site as the retail location. It costs nothing. Various authorities have told me I'm not allowed to do this, due to zoning blah blah blah. I do it consistently and have done so for 22 years.

I don't get angry at much and it's far too much bother to stay angry for long.  About 5 minutes is my attention span to stay angry - it just takes too much energy to be actively angry at someone.  It also takes a lot of time away from doing the things I want to do.  

Even though I don't stay angry for more than a few minutes, the feeling of it sticks with me like an oily residue.  Fire gets rid of oil pretty well, so I use it to ignite motivation in me.  I learned early in life, of all the possible things that I can do to piss someone off, the worst and most lasting is to prove them wrong.  To show them (in public) that the thing they said is impossible - isn't.  

A lot of great things in my life were like that.  I once got furious at a bus driver on my morning commute into work.  At lunch, I bought a bike and I rode an impossibly long commute by bike every day for over a year until I moved from that city.  I can't remember who he was or what he was doing that got me so furious, but I do remember how good it felt when I could make the commute by bike in less time than it took to do it by bus.  Other people saw how easy it was and they started riding their bikes again which made me feel validated and righteous. Not just a few people started riding their bikes. A lot of people!  Enough that there were some serious and positive changes to the bus service in that city after 9 months.  

But if I had sat in the pub each night complaining about how crappy the bus service was in that city, I wonder if anything would have gotten better.  

Another time, a teacher at school told me that it was impossible and unsanitary to make sourdough bread.  I knew this was a bit weird because commercial yeast had only been available for about 100 years, so they had to make bread from something prior to that.  Why not sourdough?  But no, the teacher said differently and we got into a bit of a tiff.  (it's possible, I may not be good with authority figures if they haven't earned my respect).  I went home that weekend and learned how to make sourdough bread.  I've been making it ever since and have taught loads of people how to do it and they taught their friends, who taught their friends... and just keeps growing.  A few years later, people started writing books about sourdough and now it's possible again.  I wonder if I wasn't the only one who was frustrated by modern thoughts on bread making.  It makes me think that someone else was and instead of sitting around being angry at the system, they learned how to make their own sourdough bread and published a book about it.  Pretty darn cool!

Here's the cloth all washed up and ready to make into clothing.


I'm pretty chuffed with myself so let me list the impossible.  like Douglas Adams said: "If you've done 6 impossible things this morning, why not round it off with breakfast at Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe?”

1. Larry is not a wool breed of sheep, his genetics are pure 'meat sheep'.  Because of this, it is impossible to make a nice fabric from his wool.

Because of this, I assumed that the finished fabric would be used for a coat or outerwear of some sort.  Since it's not possible to make next-to-the-skin-soft clothing from this kind of sheep, I assumed they were right.  But alas, the finished fabric is far too soft for a coat.  I'm either going to have to full it (wash it to make it shrink and felt together) a bunch or make something not-a-coat.

2. Handspun singles are not strong enough to stand up to weaving.

Um, wrong.

3. Handspun yarn cannot be used for warp.

wrong.

4. it's too much work.

so's growing carrots.

5.  it takes too much time.

45 hours exactly.  It may be a lot if I sat down and did it all in one go, but I didn't.  It took me a few days.  It took me a lot less time than growing carrots.

considering how satisfying and joyful the experience was, that's not much time at all.  I wonder how that stacks up to the 'average' tv time of a person in the 15 days it took me to make it?

6. One must choose a pattern first, then make the cloth.  One must start with a finished object in mind.

wrong.
if I had done this, a) I would never have started and b) the cloth that I made would not have been suitable for the pattern.  I didn't expect my cloth to turn out so soft.  Now that I know what it is like, I can choose what I'll make from it.  


There's more, but like Douglas Adams said, it's breakfast time.  

5.  it takes too much time.

45 hours exactly.  It may be a lot if I sat down and did it all in one go, but I didn't.  It took me a few days.  It took me a lot less time than growing carrots.

considering how satisfying and joyful the experience was, that's not much time at all.  I wonder how that stacks up to the 'average' tv time of a person in the 15 days it took me to make it?

according to this people my age group watch 33 hours of TV per week.  So in the two weeks, it took me to make my cloth (totally 45 hours of my life), they would have watched 66 hours of TV.  

Interesting what 'it takes too much time' looks like from this angle.  

r ranson wrote:

5.  it takes too much time.

45 hours exactly.  It may be a lot if I sat down and did it all in one go, but I didn't.  It took me a few days.  It took me a lot less time than growing carrots.

considering how satisfying and joyful the experience was, that's not much time at all.  I wonder how that stacks up to the 'average' tv time of a person in the 15 days it took me to make it?

according to this people my age group watch 33 hours of TV per week.  So in the two weeks, it took me to make my cloth (totally 45 hours of my life), they would have watched 66 hours of TV.  

Interesting what 'it takes too much time' looks like from this angle.  

You're recycling what I call 'zero time'. As for me watching TV, what's that? Heh. Happier without.

I was talking with a shop owner today and he's keen to have me weave in his shop with my handspun yarn...

... on the condition that I spin extra for sale (he gets a commission which I'm good with).  We'll make a kind of promotion out of it.  I'll get the loom for maybe a week, talk and educate his customers about how to do it, maybe teach a class on it.  

I've been asked to show my cloth to a magazine editor who is coming to town at the end of the month.  She's can see first hand what it's like and ask me to write an article or not.  It's a pretty big deal as she's a fairly major celebrity in the yarn community but we've been talking by email and she's absolutely lovely.  

So all in all, a pretty positive response.  

Saw this and just couldn't resist

Had to smile when I read these posts. You see, since I retired and started creating my homestead, I've been told over and over by well meaning people that I simply can't do this or that. But being passionate about working on my dream, I forged ahead anyway. Oh I did my homework as I went along, but we've managed to build our own house, barn, and multiple outdoor structures ourselves. Put up miles of fencing without using a giant power drill. I grow a number of veggies that I was told couldn't be done here. I cut our propane use by 75%, which everyone said would be impossible. Derocked my garden areas by hand and saved the rocks for a 900' long wall. People said it was crazy to think that I could create soil where I could use a tiller......just couldn't be done, I'm told. Nobody around me even tries.

I now get 100% of our food from the farm, either directly or via trade & sales. (But I do cheat by eating dinner out with friends one day a week. I do this for enjoyable socialization, not because I don't grow enough food.) Yup, I was told it couldn't be done. And our homestead farm is supporting itself comfortably and starting to generate extra income for personal use. Oh, I've been told that it only could be done if I were willing to live at a poverty subsistence level. Ha....not true. Of course I was also told I was too old to do this and that I'm presently too old to farm. Ha! They're wrong again.

I don't get angry. I just shrug and go on my way. Maybe it's because I'm old, but I just don't care about the naysayers. Oh, I'll tell them that they're wrong about ME, but they might be right about themselves. They indeed might fail if they tried, but I'm not afraid of failure and welcome it. Failure is a great learning opportunity.

Nicole Alderman wrote:Saw this and just couldn't resist

You know, I love this.  I even gave it an apple, I love it that much.

And yet...

... when I'm looking to learn new things, I love going on forums and reading about other people's learning experiences.  

Every time I am inspired by reading of other people trying impossible things, I want to give back to the world and thank it.  I have this idea in my head (probably delusional) that by sharing my learning experiences, other people might be inspired.  This is why I share what I'm doing - both failures and successes.

It was said earlier that some don't tell anyone what they are doing until they are done.  I think this is very safe.  I also think that sharing early on will help inspire more people to break away from the neigh sayers and just do amazing things.  It did for me, but maybe I'm unusual.  Lately, I've been evaluating this belief.  It seems like permies is the only place left on the internet that this holds true.  sometimes I think it's better if I stopped sharing as there is so much hostility when someone challenges the status quo.  

r ranson wrote:

Nicole Alderman wrote:Saw this and just couldn't resist

It was said earlier that some don't tell anyone what they are doing until they are done.  I think this is very safe.  I also think that sharing early on will help inspire more people to break away from the neigh sayers and just do amazing things.  It did for me, but maybe I'm unusual.  Lately, I've been evaluating this belief.  It seems like permies is the only place left on the internet that this holds true.  sometimes I think it's better if I stopped sharing as there is so much hostility when someone challenges the status quo.  

I too can't help but share my thoughts and attempts and failures and successes. I value so much the amount that can be learned through true dialogue. There's things I haven't considered that others might point out. There's some small thing that I might say that might help someone else without me even knowing it. There's something that someone else tried that failed or succeeded at that I can learn from. We can learn so very much from each other if only we are willing to listen and to share. I love that permies is a safe place for us to share our knowledge and learn from one another!

We used to watch a show on satellite called Junkyard Wars. One team was a batch of rocket scientists and engineers, and they had a 'two brain rule' which meant some things were mandatory you brought another person in on it. Two might find the flaw (thus saving time) or get to the solution much faster (thus saving time). My husband is now disabled, and we adopted this as a (face saving way) to get the other person in on a project or a problem. Sometimes he's stumped and I'll look at it and go 'why don't you do X?' and no way X would have ever crossed his mind...

So, not only forging off to do whatever needs to be and don't tell the naysayers until you're done; sometimes you do need a cohort to bounce it off of, give a hand, or at least commensurate when it goes sideways.  

That's what's great about the Permies forums. We can find an extra brain, someone to laugh with us, console us too, help us learn and cheer when it happens!

Your cloth is beautiful.  I only wish I could touch it to feel the softness.
Your post reminded me of when I used to work in potteries.  We ran a workshop and invited a Columbian pottery to lead a session and she decided to make small ocarina flutes shaped like animals. The people in the workshop were a mixture of potters, non potters and children.  
She showed us how she made the animal flutes. The heads were made hollow.  The potters said but if you do that it will explode in the kiln.  She said it's not a problem..
She  had different kinds of clay which had varying shrinkage rates from 13 to 25%.  She enclosed one type of clay within another which had a higher shrinkage rate meaning as it fired it would shrink more than the other clay section and so squeeze it and break itself or the other section depending which was stronger.   The potters said but it will break.  She said it's not a problem.
She embedded clay shapes and joined pieces not as a standard potter would using scoring, slip and creation of suction but by adding tiny clay nails to the shape and nail holes on the other pieces and putting them together. The potters said but but but...... She said it's not a problem.
When the pieces fired .... This is a true story... All the ocarinas made by experienced potters (who made them believing the Columbian potter was crazy/stupid/wrong, it will never work) exploded in the kiln.  All the other ones, made by people who just followed the instructions and did so without question, came out of the kiln in one piece.  They didn't put limitations on their work or put obstacles in their paths.
The only people losing out in the weaving situation are the people who say it can't​ be done.  Exploring the world and how to do things as a child would is far more rewarding and a far richer world to live in.

Lots of TV bashing going on here. Most things to do with wool can be done perfectly fine in front of the TV. You can have your entertainment and wear it too.

Dale Hodgins wrote:Lots of TV bashing going on here. Most things to do with wool can be done perfectly fine in front of the TV. You can have your entertainment and wear it too.

Absolutely.

30 of my 45 hours were done in front of the box watching Doctor Who videos from the library.  When I discovered that the library lends out movies for free, I quit paying for cable tv.  There are only a couple of shows I really like, so what was the point?

The thing is, if I look at my spinning, it is too even.  I have to watch something else so I can get some handspun texture into the yarn.  Otherwise, people complain that I'm re-labeling commercial yarn.. which I'm not.

How awesome, R!  Now I'm dyeing to know what you're going to make from it.  I vote for "not-a-coat"!  

I've never done any fibre arts beyond that my grandmother taught me to crochet with cheap acrylic yarn. . So all this actual, real, traditional, handmade stuff leaves me in awe.  It all looks impossible to me, even when I see cool people like you doing it.  I really cannot imagine how those "primitive" humans many thousand years ago ever got started.

And my compliments to Larry.

I will admit I've attempted drop spindle. I have done tablet weaving. I have done dying with natural gathered stuff since 1965 (under my paternal grandmother's tutelage. I was pretty small in '65, '66, '67). I want my own wheel and I want a few different kinds of looms. I will probably not be able to turn/build a wheel but a loom may be possible. (I met an ancient but lovely full size Leclerc once... been in drool ever since).

Oh. I took lessons from a woman who knew the ones that tried to save/salvage/preserve the old cottage industry lacemaking. I could learn from a book but I decided someone that did it was a good reason to pay for classes. I did learn to make torchon lace, built custom pillows and ran one with 400 pairs of bobbins, 'gold' thread, and was 5 1/2" wide. She helped me set that one up. Five years later, I stopped at the shop I met her at to buy some linen thread to run some 16 pair edging, and she CRIED because most of her students didn't do it past a year and I was still doing lace.

I still do some torchon, for myself. Do NOT ask me to make gold lace. I had asked others for several years that I'd met through the medieval re-enactment group that's international. They might have a sample of gold lace up, but would not even consider doing it for someone else. I found out why when I embarked on that project to make the lace for the costume I was building for myself.

Raven, welcome home. We're sisters of a different mother and father. Kerry Rodgers too, you're our little sister.

Kerry Rodgers wrote:How awesome, R!  Now I'm dyeing to know what you're going to make from it.

Me too.

I'm thinking about this jacket from the book, Built by Wendy, coats and jackets by Wendy Mullins.  I got the book from my local library, it looks really good.  Easy to use and adjust the patterns.

The more I hug the cloth, the more I feel it wants to be a tunic.  Too many decisions.

I think it would kill me to cut that lovely fabric if I made it! To spend so much time making something so gorgeous and soft, and then cut pieces of it off. I can barely cut normal, machine made fabric, and even then I generally keep all the small scraps. I probably need help, lol. I guess that's why I knit--so I never have to cut my creations!

A lot of old patterns were very cognizant about waste, so the pieces were few and waste minimal. How about an Irish Braght cloak?

I made ONE and spared very little. That cloak should easily last me another 40 years. THAT is what you should Try? (warning pattern was Folkwear . and took some real doing to finish) (edit, correcting wonky spelling-I must've sneezed)

Oh that's so true.  I would be able to weave blankets or rugs.  Stuff that was pretty much finished and set as it came off the loom but I know I couldn't cut fabric I'd put so much time and love into.  I would be so worried I'd mess it up and it would be wasted.  I'd just end up with a pile of beautiful handwoven fabric

I often get stuck on big projects that i knit or crochet for myself.  I have come to realise I get worried that it won't be as wonderful as I picture in my mind so I get right to the point of finishing and then chicken out.
As I type I realise that I finish other people's stuff and make sure it is up to scratch but not my own.  Hmmmphh I think I've spent far too long putting every one else first and on the odd occasion I think I should have beautiful things as well I'm only giving it lip service.  Until it's finished I could still pull it out and make it into something else for someone else.  Gosh I'm bad.  Must get out some unfinished project and finish it for me!!

I think the jacket looks perfect in your beautiful soft fabric.  Please update the thread with the finished item I would love to see it

I got a LOT better about cutting or tearing hand loom when I had to turn a Hudson Bay Blanket into a Renevous'er jacket. Start a nick and rip a $500 blanket. Oh yeah....

I'm not going to post too many photos until I know if the magazine wants to publish an article about it.  But here's another one to tease you.



I'm working on my Ashford Table Loom with treadle kit.  I adore this little loom as it's compact, easy to use, and it folds up small enough that both the loom and the stand will fit under my bed.  I've tried so many looms before this one and got rid of them all after a few months.  This one's been here over three years and I weave on it almost daily now.  Now that I've spun enough yarn that is.  

One of the things I love about looms is that they have to be well made.  They don't work if the construction is shoddy.  A good loom will last the life of the weaver.  A very good loom will last 5 times as long.  It's the ultimate buy it for life item.  I find that inspiring.  

Deb Rebel wrote:I got a LOT better about cutting or tearing hand loom when I had to turn a Hudson Bay Blanket into a Renevous'er jacket. Start a nick and rip a $500 blanket. Oh yeah....

Tell us more about this jacket.  Any photos?

It was a long time ago. But you literally tore the blanket into various rectangles and sewed the coat from it, and made sure the stripes were to the bottom and such when you assembled it. I did a bit of ravel to get the thread to sew it together too. I'm betting it's going strong yet (I made it in the early 90's).

Nicole Alderman wrote:I think it would kill me to cut that lovely fabric if I made it! To spend so much time making something so gorgeous and soft, and then cut pieces of it off. I can barely cut normal, machine made fabric, and even then I generally keep all the small scraps. I probably need help, lol. I guess that's why I knit--so I never have to cut my creations!

Raven, I had the same thought as Nicole.
You could make a tunic without much cutting ...

Nicole, I quilt. I make microblocks. These are very small versions of the common blocks with very small snippets and snibbets of leftover fabrics. The truly unusable I will cut to a medium small rubble and use to stuff pincushions. The secret to stuffing something is use the SAME stuff to stuff it. Yarn snips, use just yarn snips. Fabric rubble, use just fabric rubble. And so on.

Deb Rebel wrote:A lot of old patterns were very cognizant about waste, so the pieces were few and waste minimal. How about an Irish Braght cloak?

I made ONE and spared very little. That cloak should easily last me another 40 years. THAT is what you should Try? (warning pattern was Folkwear . and took zhohgojing

Deb, what is zhohgojing?

Deb Rebel wrote:It was a long time ago. But you literally tore the blanket into various rectangles and sewed the coat from it, and made sure the stripes were to the bottom and such when you assembled it. I did a bit of ravel to get the thread to sew it together too. I'm betting it's going strong yet (I made it in the early 90's).

Is there a pattern somewhere in an old book, or where ever did you get the pattern, idea /instructions that gave you the courage to rip up that blanket?

Kerry Rodgers wrote:How awesome, R!  Now I'm dyeing to know what you're going to make from it.

I do more language art than fiber art, so I confess that Kerry made me chuckle with this. Thanks!
If that's Larry up in the original post, please tell him he's a handsome critter. I'm glad he has avoided/branched out from his 'meat breed' predisposition.

Kerry Ceilidh wrote:Oh that's so true.  I would be able to weave blankets or rugs.  Stuff that was pretty much finished and set as it came off the loom but I know I couldn't cut fabric I'd put so much time and love into.  I would be so worried I'd mess it up and it would be wasted.  I'd just end up with a pile of beautiful handwoven fabric

I often get stuck on big projects that i knit or crochet for myself.  I have come to realise I get worried that it won't be as wonderful as I picture in my mind so I get right to the point of finishing and then chicken out.
As I type I realise that I finish other people's stuff and make sure it is up to scratch but not my own.  Hmmmphh I think I've spent far too long putting every one else first and on the odd occasion I think I should have beautiful things as well I'm only giving it lip service.  Until it's finished I could still pull it out and make it into something else for someone else.  Gosh I'm bad.  Must get out some unfinished project and finish it for me!!

I think the jacket looks perfect in your beautiful soft fabric.  Please update the thread with the finished item I would love to see it

That is called Spawning UFO's... in quilting (Unfinished Objects). Sometimes my club will literally host a sew-in weekend and we gather with these mostly done things and finish them off. Or trade. I don't have a commercial sewing machine, yet; but a friend does. My hubby had a pair of Carhartt  insulated coveralls that needed shortening and I wasn't able to do it. Friend did some sewing for others (I will NOT anymore, many stories why) and had three pairs of trousers to hem for HER hubby. For three years. I said let's trade. So she worked on the shortening, hemming, resetting the zippers and snaps. I sat there and hemmed those trousers. Her hubby walked by and said WHAT? I said, we're trading. Oh. He got his trousers to wear finally, at least.

I have hand quilted fabrics to make stuff for myself. Spend ALL that time guiding the fabric sandwich around to free motion quilt that up, NOW I'm going to cut it?!?!?!?!?  Yeah. I know.

Okay what is that fabric going to become? I'm dying to know as much as everyone!

Thekla McDaniels wrote:

Deb Rebel wrote:It was a long time ago. But you literally tore the blanket into various rectangles and sewed the coat from it, and made sure the stripes were to the bottom and such when you assembled it. I did a bit of ravel to get the thread to sew it together too. I'm betting it's going strong yet (I made it in the early 90's).

Is there a pattern somewhere in an old book, or where ever did you get the pattern, idea /instructions that gave you the courage to rip up that blanket?

Many years back (early 1990's) Tandy Leather had a series of books put out for the Rendevous'ers. The black powder and buckskin people. I learned how to work bone, horn, work with sinew, do quillwork, run crow beads on a loom, and in there was the 'how to turn a Hudson Bay Blanket into a coat'. And someone paid me to do so when they found out I had a 'how-to'. I used a few ravels to sew it together with and added some artificial sinew in some places to keep it relatively authentic yet make sure it held together.

The biggest hit was I sewed a free floating fleece lined deerskin belt pouch to hide a water bottle in. Deerskin stretches and has no structural strength so I had to figure out to hang/balance the weight of the insulation (shearling) and bottle separately and came up with a 'coin pad' of harness leather that took laces that transferred the weight and stress straight out to the belt fastening. The deerskin outer 'floated' as a covering bag with flap.

I am very used to laying out $$$ per yard silk, etc, and laying out pattern with tape measure, French curve ruler, pins and chalk, then getting up the nerve and putting the scissors to it. If it's for someone else, NEVER do 'snip snip snip...oops'. EVER.

I'm sure, that if you look there will be simple patterns that are a minimum of cutting and waste to do what you want. Japanese style kimonos developed from their use of 14" back belt looms to weave the silk. You ended up with fabric strips and you really didn't want to cut them much... so your methods drive the style and cut of your clothes.

Deb Rebel wrote:

Thekla McDaniels wrote:

Deb Rebel wrote:It was a long time ago. But you literally tore the blanket into various rectangles and sewed the coat from it, and made sure the stripes were to the bottom and such when you assembled it. I did a bit of ravel to get the thread to sew it together too. I'm betting it's going strong yet (I made it in the early 90's).

Is there a pattern somewhere in an old book, or where ever did you get the pattern, idea /instructions that gave you the courage to rip up that blanket?

Many years back (early 1990's) Tandy Leather had a series of books put out for the Rendevous'ers. The black powder and buckskin people. I learned how to work bone, horn, work with sinew, do quillwork, run crow beads on a loom, and in there was the 'how to turn a Hudson Bay Blanket into a coat'. And someone paid me to do so when they found out I had a 'how-to'. I used a few ravels to sew it together with and added some artificial sinew in some places to keep it relatively authentic yet make sure it held together.

Did it look something like this? (was looking Hudson Bay's Wikipedia site and saw this)