I received a letter from my son at boot camp yesterday. A real letter. With a stamp and everything. I read the letter six times, I held the letter, I cried over the letter. This simple piece of paper meant more to me than anything you can imagine. My son, who is a bit dyslexic, and can’t spell to save his life, wrote us a letter, with all kinds of spelling mistakes, and I wouldn’t change a single one of them. This is one of those events that a mom puts right up there with first steps and riding a bicycle for the first time.
And today, I finished the yardage! The house was unusually quiet for a Saturday morning, my daughter was at work, and my husband at a legislative event in central Jersey, so it was just me and the barking dog. I cleaned, did laundry, and then I wove. And I wove… I went to the back of the loom and to my surprise, there were the knots.
Seeing the knots come up off the warp beam is always a mixed feeling for me. On one hand, I’m almost done, but on the other hand, I’m almost done… Which means my loom will sit empty again for awhile. 
I wove this off way quicker than I thought, and I was surprised that there were only 7 yards when I cut it off. The original warps were 10 yards long, there must have been considerable shrinkage when I dyed and rinsed the warps. And on top of that, I wove a sample first.
The yardage is washed, and hanging up to dry, so the color is still a bit intense because it is damp. I did dry it for about 30 minutes in the dryer to take some of the moisture out. This is the kind of yardage I’m going to love cutting into a garment. There are some really gorgeous areas, and there are areas that don’t really excite me. Like where all three warps turned into the same color at the same time. 
It will be interesting to see it hang fully, and decide if I want to photograph all of it for the Convergence yardage exhibit.
Last night I spent some time with my daughter, who taught me how to do a name draft on the inkle loom. She is quite proficient at it, and explained it really carefully, and I got my first name out quickly, and am working on my last name. I’m choosing to do all three design areas at the same time, which is quite challenging, but I’ll encourage the participants in the class I’m teaching to do each area separately, it is really a brain stretch to work all three together. But the effect is really wonderful.
It has been a good couple of days. We are due for some really heavy rain, and substantial flooding, but it would be worse, it could be three feet of snow…
One more thing, I just got word that the 2010 brochure for Harrisville is out, and I’ll be teaching a 5 day workshop there, called a Wearable Extravaganza. The web page for the workshop is quite lovely. The class will be August 16-20. It is going to be a busy summer!
Boy, do I remember the day I received a letter from my son from Boot Camp. I cried, too. He wrote about 4 in total and I have saved them all. It’s a special cherished moment for so many resons.
My son is a Captain in the Marine Corps, 2 tours of duty in Iraq under his belt. It never gets easier.
Thank him for his service. And thank you.
Thank your son for me as well. I appreciate the support, and glad to know I’m not the only one who cries over letters from their son.
Hi, I found you through Steph’s blog and just came to take a look around. Isn’t it interesting and sad how the art of letter writing has declined. I was in the military for nine years and can say that nothing meant more in those first few weeks and months than a letter from home. My mom actually wrote every week or so and I would often check the mail several times a day hoping for a note.
And on a completely separate note – lovely weaving!
Well thanks Kathy! Steph is my favorite blogger. I had a guy in the post office today tell me, as I was mailing my 7th letter in 7 days, how much it meant to him when he was in boot camp. That cheered me.