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The Delightful Myth of Summer Quiet

It is true that certain cautions have been aimed at me that might explain a tendency I have to be at the mercy of happenstance . . . .”Be careful not to be adrift on the sea of life” “If you’re not proactive – you’re reactive.” etc.  But I don’t know how to defend my time (is this familiar to anyone else?). Especially when it comes to family and friends, no matter what my urgent studio plans, if my daughter calls, I talk.  If a friend wants to walk, I walk. If the dogs look forlorn, I play. If my son looks thin, I cook. No one is vigorously demanding my time, but I am completely porous to the immediate (some might say imagined) needs of those around me.  This is not a back-door brag because sometimes the immediate (perceived) needs will distract me from something I am doing that is more important to the long-term needs.  In any case, Dr. Freud, this is all a lead up to my annual surprise (old dog – new tricks might also be a problem) at the fact that “I WILL DO IT WHEN THINGS CALM DOWN IN THE SUMMER” is always a fantasy. Things have never calmed down in the summer.  Things are always busier, livelier and more travel-y less predictable and controllable.

I have the same problem within my weaving life – I can’t set a path for myself and stay on it. A guild challenge comes up and it’s on the loom, a friend needs a gift and it’s on the loom even if I am in the middle of a project I am trying to see through to the end.  It is not that I don’t finish the project, but it takes much longer with all the detours, and I don’t get to all the refinements and details that I had envisioned.

So, this came up . . . our guild (why I didn’t know this was coming is anyone’s guess) is responsible for the NEWS samples this Fall. NEWS is the New England Weavers’ Seminars – essentially our regional weaving conference.  So our smallish group of active guild members need to gear up, pick a draft and start weaving samples (due in Sept? Oct?) I figured that if I am weaving samples they might as well be something I would like to explore.  So this is a deflected double weave based on a broken twill profile draft.  It is a little hard to see in the picture, but there is an interlocking squares (will deflect into rings-I think) motif that I really like. I am pre-weaving a sample to show to my guild pals – to see if they want to weave it or something similar for the NEWS samples.  I am looking forward to seeing it washed.  More/better pics to come.

Sorry for the outpouring – just shamelessly using my blog as my proxy therapist.