in which I contemplate

Since people seem to like the posts where I think out loud, and that's about all that I've got to talk about, I'm going to contemplate the distinct possibility that I've lost my mind.

I have been eating, sleeping, and breathing nothing but weaving for at least a week. Possibly more. There are piles (and I mean huge, honking piles) of weaving books everywhere. [Who knew I had so many? I turned them up in the oddest places - turns out I've been buying weaving books for years, a very bad sign.] There are five - count them - five full bobbins of singles sitting on a chair in my living room. For a reason I cannot explain, warping has seemed preferable to plying. And that's scary.

Yesterday Bee helped me wind warp for a second band. To those who asked what I was using the first band for - I don't know. It's too long for a bracelet but could make a cute strap for .... something little. It was for practice, learning, and I never intended to use it for anything at all. I spent quite a bit of time doing the warping for a second band, rearranging the warp threads (don't ask, its a pain) and making more little string heddles. String heddles aren't as big of a deal as they were, oh, three days ago. I've done them and redone them so many times that I can do them late at night when tired and while drinking wine. (This is a good thing. The bad thing is when I get too smart for my own good, try to innovate, and realize my bright idea didn't work and I have to redo the whole thing. I'm nowhere near ready to be innovative with this.)

I've been collecting sticks. Anything. Round, flat, popsicle, bamboo. I've been combing the house looking for things that will work to improvise things like a warping board (need one of those but in the meantime I used the legs of a clothes drying rack to do the last band.) I've probably read every single website that mentions backstrap weaving. And inkle weaving and tablet weaving too, because I'm nothing if not tangential.

I've been contemplating Peruvian textiles. In books, but also in the very small selection (the daughter needs to learn to spend money more freely) that Bee brought back from Peru. Rather than just making you listen to me, I will entertain with some pictures.

This is a small bag Bee brought home from Peru. Its done in basically the exact type of weaving I'm puttering around with on my own (at about 10 or 20 times the width). If you're paying attention, you'll notice that the twisted fringees on the bottom match the pattern bands on the bag.

Now, here's a closeup of the twisted fringe.

If you click on it for the closeup, you can see that

• most of the yarns if not all of them appear to be singles, not plied
• They all appear to be handspun.

I'm boggled by this. Not the handspun part, but the part about singles. All of the reading I've done has told me that the yarns are plied, and very much overspun in the plying, at that. I'm just going to assume that because this bag is relatively loosely woven, and definitely made for tourists, it was probably not made super strong.

Then there's this belt, which she bought in Pisac. It is truly mind-boggling.

The belt is all of 3.25" wide. Its so densely woven that it feels like iron. The patterning on it is incredible. Some of the threads (especially the white) are so fine as to be laceweight, and all of them are so tightly spun as to be wiry and feel rather rough. (They're also all plied, just saying.) I suspect that this piece would/will last forever.

So, this morning I went out to do laundry and brought along two books on Andean weaving (this should not surprise anyone - and in my defence its way too hot in the laundromat to knit right now). As I'm looking through one of them, I see some of the everyday coca bags and carrying cloths done in plainweave. In other words, just some stripes, no fancy patterning or bands of intense design.

I began to wonder. A sane person would have started with something plain. I mean, plain can be boring but stripes add interest and I could have handled that. I may have to do that too, just for practice on a wider band.

So, I was contemplating my obsessiveness. Wondering which particular psychological disease it might be indicative of. Thinking back to obsessions past and realizing that this is how I do things. Always have, as far back as I can remember. When I get interested in something I will read anything and everything I can get my hands on, on the subject. Speaking of which, can someone please tell me why books on Andean and Peruvian "art" usually contain 90% metal and pottery and about 2% textiles? Its driving me nuts - do these people have any idea what they're missing?

Anyhow, I seem incapable of just puttering along all the time. Sometimes I do, and am happy. Then something new will start me on a crazed course of insanity and I will lose hours and days in the pursuit of it. Whatever "it" is. The frenzied obsessiveness is scary, but its a cycle I've seen myself go through time and again. I would like to stop hearing the little voice in my head that says "jack-of-all-trades and master of none" but I've gotten pretty good at ignoring that broken record.

In the meantime I'm all ready to start on this

Please note gratuitous Alice.

Comments

[claudia]

Good for you, setting out on a new fibery path. These posts are like lovely postcards from a foreign land....

[Tamara]

Yay, Alice!!!!

[Kellee]

Also please note how gratuitous Alice matches gratuitous WIP.

[Carole]

it's nice to see Alice - it's been a long time. Hope she's dealing with the heat okay.

[Lee Ann]

I guess Claudia's not living under a loom-cloud....

Hello, Alice, you beautiful thing, you.

[Dorothy B]

Have at 'er. I'm interested.

[JoVE]

On the question of why all the focus on metal and not textile, I would guess because what women do often doesn't get considered art by the kinds of people that put those books together. But someone might call me a grouchy old feminist.

The weaving looks great. And when we went to Upper Canada Village recently they were weaving blankets with singles. So I don't think that is necessarily an odd thing. Not sure exactly what it means for durability but it means you could use those singles right off the bobbin and skip the plying part.

[Kathy]

That is one good lookin' birdie. I'm enjoying reading about your new interest (note "interest" or "pursuit" not "obsessiveness.") Not that there is anything wrong with it.

[lanea]

I love that the next weaving project matches Alice so nicely.

Can I please borrow some of your ferver so I can finish my current weaving project? I'm finding it less fun than I would like, and I need to finish it within the week. Stupid due date.

[Sigga Sif]

I hear ya. I notice an even more dangerous thing in my behaviour. I will obsess for days, spend countless hours preparing and setting up, all the while dyyyying to start the project. Then finally when everything is ready, I sort of lose interest. Been there, done that, what's next?

These Peruvian textiles are really beautiful. I look forward to your post about the technique ;-)

[Martha]

I do like the way you tend to match your projects to Alice. She must be flattered, too. She's a beautiful bird.

[regina]

IMHO, Alice is never gratuitous.

[Marcia]

Oh, boy, if you are insane, then there's a room for me in the same loony bin! And it better be lined with bookshelves.....

[Beth S.]

Alice coordinates nicely with your weaving. :-)

I'm glad to see you so enthusiastic. Doesn't matter if it's weaving, spinning, or knitting--as long as you feel passionately about it, it makes excellent reading. :-)

[naomi]

I would agree with JoVE--it's probably an "art" versus "craft" thing, and since textiles were generally made to be used, they weren't considered "art".

I like the way Alice matches the yellow in your warps, there.

[Cheryl]

Man, I have the same approach to things. I can see the signs in myself now too; as soon as I start acquiring books, I know the full blown obsession is looming (hey,a weaving word thrown in there for you!). Adn yesterday I spent hours researching lathes for my new obsession, building the perfect spinning wheel. I fear this will take over my life.

[Trish B.]

Singles are great for weaving-and you don't have to spend all that time plying. Obsession-no-call it focus, er... extreme focus. I just finished Level 2 of the OHS Spinning Certificate course and am now 'focused' on dyeing with plants; worsted spinning to follow.....

[Rebecca]

I saw a scholar give a lecture (to spinners) on Peruvian textiles a few years ago. It was really neat. They do ply the yarn from what I recall, but they have a slightly different way of handspinning it. The best part was the way it is culturally integrated, I wish I remembered more details. Some of the tasks are divided up so that the older women and young children do them together (I think spinning) and then as they get older they learn to weave. Then when they get old, they help the new generation. If I can remember the guy's name I'll let you know.

[historicstitcher]

You're not the only obsessor. My dad always called me a "storehouse of useless information" for getting on a single-subject learning binge and studying it, trying it, burying myself in it until I was satisfied, then moving on to another obsession. Some I'm over in days, others take years.

My 6-year old does it on a regular basis. I did not teach it to him, he comes by it naturally. He finds something interesting, observes it for a while, asks me some questions, and checks books out of the library. He then studies the pictures in the library books over and over until he has them memorized, shows them to me to share his enthusiasm, and we read the text. He then feels knowledgeable, and shares with anyone who cares.

Maybe it's not that we're weird, but perhaps we've retained the natural curiousity of childhood. Those who don't understand, the people who don't do it, are the one who have lost touch with their inner curious child? Just a thought.

[Kristina]

You should go to Peru. I was there in late April and it's just amazing. And then you can bring home all the textiles you like because the exchange rate is very favorable. Furthermore, women and men weave, spin and knit at every possible juncture. If you go to Cuzco, you'll see women weaving in the street. On one ocassion, we were driving through the country side when I saw a woman spinning as she was herding her cow.

Anyway, when I returned to the states, I too found that there was very little out there on Andean weaving. I'd love to know what books you're resourcing.

Best of luck in your weaving endeavors!

[Megann]

I love how Alice matches your weaving. What a pretty birdie.

[Sonja]

So when are you going to Peru?