anger transformed

Someday I'd love to see what you made from the single-ply meat sheep wool fabric. . . . no rush!

Julia Winter wrote:Someday I'd love to see what you made from the single-ply meat sheep wool fabric. . . . no rush!

I made it

I wear it daily

I need to photograph it.  

I want to share with all here who spin their own yarns that I am in awe of your skill, and those like and including Raven that then weave that into cloth on a real loom, that I aspire to someday be able to do the same.  As I approach my 60th birthday I am feeling that time is running out to learn the skills. City life and the pressures of making all the bills take their toll.

In the past 2 years I've taught myself how to make twined woven rugs with strips of cloth, mostly old sheets. But I have long wanted to own a floor or table loom, like since I was a child and attended my first Renaissance festival and watched someone else weaving cloth on a floor loom. I find the more I work with textiles, the more comfortable and inherently right it feels. Any anger or frustration in my day seems to melt away when I work the textiles I have access to.


So towards this drive to learn these skills, I have been researching the many natural fibers that can be used in spinning and weaving. I was surprised to find nettles among those listed in plant fibers. I knew of flax being the source of linen, and that hemp fibers make a nice cloth. Sheep make wool, and alpaca too. I've even attended an alpaca shearing that saw 1 lone sheep come for his own shearing. I hope I have enough time to raise my own everything and learn, to hopefully pass along the skills to some of my grandchildren.

I welcome any input on my quest. I continue to research all things to do with the learning, but without the raw fibers can't acquire the knowledge from practice. What tools do you prefer for spinning, and what have you tried and discarded as not quite what you were aiming for?

Thanks in advance for any responses to help steer me along.

The other day I was in the shop and the woman behind the counter was talking about how great it is to be a bachelor.  Being me, I responded with how great it was to be a spinster.  

Well, apparently, I said something rude and she tried to get the management to ban me from the shop.

But it reminded me that the word spinster still has a negative connection.  I think that's a shame.

So I made this.  



I think that was a great way to transform the hurt I felt into something pretty.  

Some more tips and proof that singles can be used for weaving

Someone said something yesterday.  It was unnecessary and unkind and very very public.  It's also not the first time.  There is a trend in that group to say things to keep people in their place and discourage newcomers to the craft while pretending to be kind.  Things that when you look at the individual words aren't mean at all, but the cumulative effect is hugely damaging.  (the thing is, I don't even think they know they are doing it, or that their words can completely shift the direction of a life - and then they wonder why it's so hard to get new people...anyway)

So I gave myself a few hours to feel angry about it.  And I got really angry.  I didn't throw things, but a lot of weeds died and firewood got ready for winter.  

I do not do well with gatekeeping.  

Now I'm in the place where I'm thinking the best revenge is success.  

Trying to decide what to do with this energy.

How can I feed this energy into growing my youtube channel faster than it is already?  

There are some ideas in my head I'm trying to sort through once I finish CAPEtember2022.  Organizing the yarn and getting it ready to become cloth has been a big help organizing my thoughts.  Another reason why I'm enjoying this project so much.  I can't wait to see how it turns out.

I'm also thinking about where I want to put my energy in the upcoming year.  I should be teaching beginner weaving again, but this was difficult on my health.  It took 100% of my energy for several weeks before, during, and after the 6 weeks of teaching.  I think we can tell by how tired I am in this video about it.



So... it's about energy.  Transforming and directing it and making choices about this.  

I wonder where I will go with this.  I'm excited to find out.