Rebecca Mezoff Blog — Rebecca Mezoff

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The things I learned today... including the secret of weaving progress

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The things I learned today... including the secret of weaving progress

You can hold off on the stash intervention. I found my knitting. I can't believe I hadn't knitted anything for a month and a half and what's more, hadn't even thought of looking for the project in that time.

But I did find it tucked into the back of one of the living room bookcases on top of the maps. Just hiding innocently in the back dark corner. I think I need a nice big knitting basket that lives permanently next to my "spot" on the couch.

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And the last thing I learned today? If you sit at the loom and weave for 6 hours, you get a lot woven. I am so thrilled at my progress today and hope to repeat it over Labor Day weekend three times. I might even get the first two panels off the loom if I do that. I was spurred to this feat by a course I had to watch and the fact that the rest of my computer workload was put-off-able for the time being.

I am tentatively willing to admit...

I am tentatively willing to admit...

I am tentatively willing to admit that I might need an intervention of some sort.

While shooting some video today about how to start a continuous tapestry warp so your edges don't get saggy (in the newsletter on Thursday!), I became a little obsessed by a memory. Of a knitting project. I was sure it existed. I could see myself in my room at Penland working on it. I finished filming and pulled up the pictures from those two weeks. Nothing. Until I saw this photo from the day before I left.

The Hokett loom weaving that wasn't

The Hokett loom weaving that wasn't

I had grand plans yesterday. It was a beautiful day in Fort Collins--mid-80s and sunny. We are trying to go hiking on Sundays and it seemed the perfect day to do so. I love to hike high until the snow flies, so we headed up to a trailhead I had been at just a few days earlier with a friend from Michigan.

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I had packed my loom and some handspun hoping to get a few needed photos, but alas, this was all I could manage. The loom has naught but warp on it still.

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How many days can you go without a shower? The Colorado Trail in 9 days.

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How many days can you go without a shower? The Colorado Trail in 9 days.

My hike was wonderful. I was unable to post to the blog from the trail, so what follows is a little photo record of my walk. I hiked for 9 days and I can tell you with firm certainty that this is my limit for not having a shower. There is only so much a little bottle of Dr. Bronners and freezing cold stream water can do. I came to the trailhead at the only major paved road ten minutes before a hail storm and nine days in and that was it. The second car by was a nice woman with two dogs who, though she did turn on her car vent a couple minutes after I got in, did not complain about my smell. Straight to a hotel through a hailstorm I went. Clean clothes, shower X2, pizza... all was well. Though I got off one day before I intended to, it was the unknown shower wall that demanded it. Nine days is the limit.

Packing it all up.

Packing it all up.

Once I decided to go hiking and gave up all pretense of finishing an online course and half of a tapestry before I leave, I was able to dig into the planning.

My little spinning/weaving kit is ready. I've made some rolags at home as I can't bring the big hand cards (obviously too heavy). I'll bring this little flick carder which I can use as a lock carder or as a comb and hopefully will even be able to diz off short lengths of fiber. The goal is to weave a few tiny tapestries on the Hokett loom so I don't need long lengths of yarn, just a variety of colors and enough fiber to make me happy with the spinning. I have already spun some base colors on the spindle (the Olympics helped with that) so have some larger bits of yarn that have been washed and balled.

A flick carder and the two-hundred mile walk

A flick carder and the two-hundred mile walk

Do you ever reach a point where you just feel brittle? I can't think of a better word to describe my current state. I'm a little tired after the summer's teaching trips, but that passes eventually. No, the feeling is more of edginess. Like I'm living a little too close to the top of things--skimming along instead of feeling grounded.

Teaching is something I love dearly. Those of you in my online classes can attest to this. Most of the time I relish the opportunity to explain something a different way or to make a new video to review or provide more information about a concept. I will not give up the teaching. There is something immensely gratifying about interacting with students and I love the online format where I get to do this every day.