weaving, and more thoughts on process and product
Each Wednesday, I take stock of the projects I’m working on, and where my brain is at.
More weaving this week. And it’s gotten me thinking even more about the connection between process and project (product).
Are you in it for the process?
Or for the product (project)?
These weaving projects,
the one up above,
and the multi color length of fabric from last week,
started because I had the yarn,
and wanted the fabric.
(Project) Product.
I want the fabric.
I want these yarns to combine and interact,
to play and dance off of one another.
There are plenty of ways to create fabric.
And tons of things that can be done,
once the fabric is finished.
I don’t know what I’ll do with this fabric once it’s done.
But I want the fabric.
And I chose to create a woven fabric,
because weaving is faster than knitting.
Process.
Because weaving is faster than knitting.
Back when I originally got this pile of yarn,
it was the middle of winter,
in the middle of my self-made wardrobe project.
It was damn cold.
And I had originally thought about making,
a slip stitch knitted sweater with this lovely pile of autumnal yarn.
A slip stitch,
to blend the colors –
like in my crazy colorful sweater (that still needs sleeves).
And because,
a simple slip stitch (knit 1, slip 1, knit 1, slip 1, etc.),
is wicked warm.
(It’s the stitch I used to knit my winter coat.)
But that never ended up happening.
And so the yarn sat.
And sat, and sat, and sat.
And then I borrowed a loom.
Originally I borrowed the loom for a totally different project.
But I wanted to get some practice first.
I’ve woven before, but not on a rigid heddle loom.
So I finished what was already warped,
and then warped one of the skeins from my pile of yarn,
And started blending colors,
two colors at a time, five colors in total, plus the color of the warp.
Last week, I started and finished, and was entranced by the process.
Entirely entranced.
Entirely entranced by the process.
It turns out,
that I have no internal rules about weaving + color.
I have many internal rules about knitting + color.
Well…
I have a part of me speaking up and saying,
“what the hell are you talking about?
“you have NO RULES about knitting + color,
“you’ve knit this, and this, and this,
“and you’ve worn them all.”
To which, I have to laugh and say,
“yes, that’s very true.
“But the process felt different.”
The process felt different.
The process feels different.
With my knitting, I plan the whole project from the beginning.
Sometimes it changes.
Oftentimes it changes.
But from the beginning,
I can visualize the finished piece.
The beginning, the middle, and the end.
They are planned.
It is planned.
With my weaving, I don’t.
I don’t care.
I don’t care that, the end and the beginning are entirely different.
I don’t care that, the middle stops and starts.
I don’t care that, the transitions between colors aren’t smooth.
I don’t care that the piece of fabric doesn’t look visually complete.
I want the fabric.
And I want the fabric for it’s malleable fabric essence.
I want to create the fabric because this fabric isn’t in existence anywhere else.
I want the fabric to be fabric, I’m just going to cut it up anyway.
The project isn’t done yet.
The final project isn’t even started yet.
Once the weaving is done,
the weaving is done.
The fabric is complete.
The project,
whatever the project ends up being,
isn’t done.
The process feels different.
Because the product is different.
playing with weaving, and woven fabrics
Each Wednesday, I take stock of the projects I’m working on, and where my brain is at.
Full brain. Busy week.
Writing. Reading. Weaving.
Another week of playing with color.
Experimenting and exploring.
In a different form this week.
No knitting. No crochet.
Not peaking at colors through a layer of black and white.
Not swatching and swatching and swatching.
Well, swatching –
but one long giant woven swatch.
A pile of yarns.
Beautiful colorways in and of themselves,
mixed and combined and woven together –
literally.
I borrowed a friend’s ridged heddle loom,
and spent Halloween exploring the depth of color that can be found in a single colorway.
A beautiful, beige-tan color.
Not one of my normal colors – not at all.
But it was already warped,
and excellent for practicing.
Not my yarn. Not my color.
And I thought it was just a whatever color.
But it’s not.
Maybe no color is a whatever color.
I think no color is a bad color –
at least not in the right circumstances.
So maybe no color is a whatever color either –
at least not in the right circumstances.
typing isn’t very photogenic and coming back with fresh eyes is all part of the process
Each Wednesday, I take stock of the projects I’m working on.
I’m tired this morning. It’s gloomy outside.
I’ve worked on no craft projects this week. And typing isn’t very photogenic.
I haven’t figured out how to type & knit (or sew, or embroider) at the same time.
And most of my free time this week, was spent sorting through my wardrobe.
It turns out,
that after leaving your clothes in a drawer for a year,
sorting through them is pretty easy.
So this week has left me with,
a pile of clothes & stuff to go to housingworks,
yarn forming into piles – projects at their tentative beginnings,
many typed words,
many deleted words,
and a love affair with the enter key.
I thought about not posting this morning.
But not working on a project,
is part of working on it.
Space and distance and rest,
coming back with fresh eyes,
– part of any creative process.
And if Wednesdays are for taking stock of the projects I’m working on,
then isn’t noticing the times of non-progress,
part of the process of taking stock?
And in reality,
I have worked on a project – all week long,
that ebook about color
that’s passing from the realm of ideas,
where anything is possible
and coming down to land in reality,
with all it’s constraints.
But that passage is messy,
and on a super gloomy Wednesday morning,
all that typing doesn’t feel like progress at all.
I’ve written enough things that I know that this is just part of it
(for me).
It’s just where I’m at,
and it prompts me to appreciate the objective progress,
of creating things with hands and fiber.
I don’t need cheering up or motivation,
though I’d love company in the comments,
and any thoughts you’ve thunk on making/creating/creativity/etc.
