This week I felt like the Little Engine that Could.
I got off the plane Friday a week ago, and promptly cried. Seems as though it rained the whole time I was gone. Which meant that all the flowers and all the bushes were lush and glorious and so were the weeds. Mutant I tell you…
There was nothing to be done but roll up my sleeves, or rather keep them rolled down on account of mosquitoes are just emerging, don some gardening gloves and have at it. I spent every day since I’ve been home in the garden for a couple of hours and what a difference a couple hours a day makes. The gardens are looking kept and pruned and fresh and just plain pretty. And I feel like I made a contribution to my home, and I actually enjoyed it. There is still much to do in the garden, really it is a job for the whole summer, maintenance is sort of big in this department, but I can sit outside and smell the clean air, watch the birds, and not have an anxiety attack, or weed attack, same thing…
Meanwhile, I had some prepping to do for my next venue, everything had to get shipped ahead on account of the fact that I’m going from Oregon, Fiber in the Forest and Eugene Textile Center back to back, directly to Anchorage Alaska where I’ll meet up with my husband for a cruise. He booked this cruise a year ago before his cancer diagnosis and it is really important for both of us that we go. Alaska is one of the few places in the US we have never been.
So, once I got everything in order in the studio, there was a longing to just weave something, we did have a couple rainy afternoons where gardening was cut short. But alas, the plight of a weaver, seven looms and only one had anything on it and I wasn’t in a mood to weave off the bubble cloth from a workshop I took months ago.
But… back in 2012, yeah it was that long ago, I checked (stupid blog, it is there in the archives [1] reminding me of my failure to complete some things… ) Back in 2012 I started a very complex 19 thread pickup pattern on one of my inkle looms, I won’t say how many of those I have, probably two dozen, I’m an educator. John Mullarkey [2], arch rival and fantastic tablet weaver, was coming to stay with me for a couple days and I had to impress him with something…
So I started this… Back in 2012. Where it promptly sat collecting dust in the corner of my studio…
[3] 
[4]
I really loved this piece, but 19 threads? What was I thinking… (for those who are in the dark and don’t get the 19 thread part, the center section with the pretty design is created with 19 pattern threads that are hand manipulated row by row according to the chart. It takes a lot of time.)
Anyway, I’m going to be teaching at Fiber in the Forest [5] in Oregon next weekend, along with my arch rival John Mullarkey [2]. I’m teaching a garment thing, and presumably he is teaching some tablet weaving thing, but I’m sure meals will be full of snarky comments about whose bands are better, tablet woven vs. inkle woven (mine are of course…)
Last April, 2015, John and I both taught at the CNCH retreat at Asilomar, CA and we performed what looked to be the first annual battle of the bands [6]. It was great fun, we raced to set up our looms and weave off a small band, all the while sending barbed smack talk back and forth, much to the delight of the audience.
As it turns out, John and I are hosting the Battle of the Bands redux for the weaving guild that meets at the Eugene Textile Center [7] after Fiber in the Forest [5]. Then I follow with two days of inkle weaving classes for the Eugene Textile Center, first a beginning class [8] where we do discuss pick up, followed by a more advanced techniques class [9].
So… I looked at that loom. I calculated how long one repeat would take, just under four inches, 40 minutes if nothing went wrong… I figured out how many days until I left, (I get on a plane at 6:30am Wednesday morning) and figured I could realistically weave three repeats a day, and still have time for workshop prep and gardening.
The whole while I kept saying, “I think I can, I think I can…”
I even took the loom outside one afternoon when it was warm and sunny…
[10]
And this morning, right on schedule, I pulled this baby off the loom, all three yards of it, and I am just so freakin’ proud of myself. I thought I could… And I did.
[11] 
[12]
So there John Mullarkey, top that… (he probably will)
Stay tuned…