Ripples of Joy

(I’m a day late and a dollar short, but here is my post for yesterday.)

I finished and delivered two items from my UFO pile this week. May I say how pleased I am with myself for being so productive? 

The Yoga Mat Bag - this was not really a UFO since it only went on the list a few weeks ago and so technically is a new and finished-right-away project. My niece is taking her first yoga class. It is her 5th birthday and my sister asked if I would make a mat bag as a gift. My niece keeps borrowing my sister’s mat bag. I made that one years ago. Now my niece has her own. As you can see it is purple and pink, and matches her mat and her Rapunzel dress.

The Quilt - I don’t consider myself a quilter. I’ve made 4 quilts in 30 years of sewing. So I’m not a quilter but I do quilt. I like quilts because they always tell a story.

This is a special quilt for a friend. The quilt top and fabric came from his mother’s stash. She passed away a few years ago. He kindly gave me all of her fabric along with many quilting and knitting related tools. It was a very generous gift. The quilt top was already sewn and my friend asked me to finish it someday if ever possible. 

Well, it sat for a long time. Then a surprise baby came along for he and his wife. This January, the baby turned one. I thought it might be appropriate to finish the quilt to celebrate the happy occasion. So, a few months ago, I dug out the quilt top, backing and binding from the gift stash. It sat again for awhile. In December 2011 I realized I had run out of time. I basted the layers together end of December and started hand quilting beginning of January. I hand sewed every night for 2 1/2 weeks. 

I missed the actual birthday but I gave the quilt to my friend and his family yesterday. They were very surprised and amazed that I remembered. Really though, the quilt is a legacy from my friend’s mother. I just helped finish its story.

Soon after the giving, I watched a large orange coy fish swim just below the surface of the water at the pond in the Chinese Garden at the Huntington Library. The fish’s tail waving back and forth created gentle ripples on the surface of the water. It made me think how joyful that fish must be to swim all day. I thought about how happy it made me to finish the quilt for my friend and how happy it made him. That’s how I create my ripples of joy - making stuff for my friends and family.

Controlled Chaos

I love designing. I love the process of thinking through the details of a project. I think about shape, color, texture, purpose, the recipient. Sometimes I think for a long time and sometimes design decisions come quickly. I love designing for different mediums.

Then comes the practical aspect. The process of turning a design into reality.  The finished design opens the door to chaos and the path out of chaos is in the myriad of steps to complete a project. Be it a quilt, a sweater, a new yarn, a towel. I love the process - controlled chaos. 

The chaos of quilting is defined by piles of fabric, pieces to arrange, threads to trim, and batting to baste. Quilting by hand or machine is the next stage of the chaos. Then the quilt requires edge binding. When I’ve cut the batting and sewn the binding to the front ready to hand sew to the back I know that the chaos is contained. The visual treat of piles becoming straight lines then turning into a textile that can be folded neatly is amazing.

The chaos of spinning is defined by the shearing of sheep, processing the fiber into roving, choosing dye colors, splitting and pre-drafting the roving and finally watching the individual fibers twist into yarn. 

The chaos of weaving is defined by cones of yarn, a warp chain, dressing a loom, sampling. I love the moment when the warp is finally tied to the front beam and the tension is even. The path from draft to weaving always feels a bit messy to me. There are so many steps to do before actually weaving. When I get to throw the first pick of the weft, the chaos disappears.

Life is chaotic and messy, too. I rarely feel in control of mine. Containing the chaos of my textile crafts helps me feel organized and neat. Although, looking at the stuff around me - the piles of paperwork on the floor surrounding my desk, my spinning wheel and basket behind my chair, my loom and sewing table stuffed into my bedroom - sometimes makes me wonder if my textile work may be contributing to my sense of daily chaos. I love my life.

Spinning in Madrid

I am spinning 4 oz. of a 60/40 Merino/Bamboo blend that I purchased from Chameleon Colorworks. The fiber was white and tightly braided when I put it into the indigo dye pot at the Griffen Dyeworks Fiber Frolic in 2009. When the braided chain came out of the pot it turned a lovely blue.

As I unbraided the chain, random white spots appeared throughout the roving.

I then split the roving into 3 sections to spin 3 fine singles. The finished yarn will be 3 ply. The yarn has a lovely sheen from the bamboo and a bounce from the merino. Here is a picture of the 2nd bobbin.

Along with spinning this week, I’m in the middle of reading Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte (translated from Spanish), about a down on his luck swordsman in 17th century Madrid. Also, my son has been fixated on the 1981 cartoon Zorro. It’s been strange to “hear” a Spanish accent in my head as I read and then hear a questionable version of the same accent from the TV as I spin. Anyway, my head is filled with images of doublets, hose, capes and felted hats with plumes. Captain Alatriste often wears something called a buff vest, a densely quilted canvas or leather vest which can repel incidental sword thrusts. 

As I spin and quilt this week, which I have managed to do everyday this week even if only for a few minutes, I think about how long it would take me to spin enough yarn to knit a pair of hose for daily wear or quilt leather by hand in an effort to save a person’s life. Well, it would take me FOREVER. But pre-industrial revolution it would have been my job. Regardless of the time it takes caring for my family, I would have had to spin and sew MANY minutes of the day. My fingers would be tipped with calluses like rocks and spinning and quilting would not have been fun. Making textiles would have been food on the table and maybe a penny or two in my pocket.

Frankly, I’m super happy that I get to work with fiber and yarn because I’m interested in it and not because it has to pay my bills. I feel lucky to live in a time when materials are readily available and the selection extensive. I’m happy that my 5 minutes of spinning per day yields pleasure and beauty.

Welcome to Textile Sanity

I intend to post a blog once a week this year.

I will write about my relationship with textiles. The how and what I spin, weave, knit, crochet, felt, sew, teach, etc. Textiles make me feel connected to humanity and history. Sometimes my work in textiles feels like a solo act as I recently moved away from my established textile community. But I know that there are others everywhere in the world that share my interest and love of yarn and fiber and what it can be made into. I will find those folks.

I also have a few UFOs (UnFinished Objects) that are on the to-do list this year. I know we all have UFOs laying around and the pile never seems to diminish. Projects just seem to rotate as some get done and new UFOs get added to the pile. I will endeavor this year to complete more projects than I start. Last year the pile seemed to grow even though I also completed a number of projects.

Current UFOs I am actually working on are - 

• hand-quilting a child's quilt for a friend 
• spinning an indigo dyed merino/bamboo blend yarn
• knitting a Central Park Hoodie cardigan

On the UFO list is  - 

• to sew a yoga mat bag
• spinning golden beige silk on a drop spindle
• weave a triangle shawl for a fiber exchange
• spin cotton on a charkha and weave the finished yarn into cloth for another fiber exchange
• felt some lovely green merino fiber for a third fiber exchange

I don't know why I keep participating in these fiber exchange projects except that they expand my circle of textile friends and the projects all challenge my skills in some way.

Time is always a factor in our lives and mine is certainly taken up by my 5 year old son. But textiles are a tactile necessity for me. Working with fiber keeps me sane. So I guess I am actually writing about my sanity.