What? A Weavng-Related Post? Get Out!!

Busy, busy, busy. And a lovely customer from Canada just ordered ten (yes, 10!) scarves from me (basically doing all her Christmas shopping in one fell swoop), so I'm even busier, busier, busier.

It was interesting, she asked whether I give discounts for bulk orders as we were first talking, and I hesitated for a moment. I do, for wholesale and consignment, but I wasn't quite sure how to handle it with a normal customer.

So I just put it out there - I told her how many pieces I require my wholesale customers to purchase and the discount that I give them, thinking it would probably scare her off. Obviously, it didn't! She didn't bat an eyelash and is actually going to wind up buying quite a few more than she originally mentioned. And I learned to dare to be open to talking about things like this frankly with customers, you never know when somebody is going to order ten pieces! (Pricing work to allow for consignment and/or wholesale is an entirely different ball of wax, of course, and one I would *really* rather not discuss - people get so grumpy when it comes to setting prices. I mostly try not to worry about what other people are charging, one way or the other...)

Hey, plaid! Not normally something I do, is it? (It's just a 2/2 twill, nothing complicated.) This customer, again, asked whether I ever do plaid, and, I normally don't, but I bent another rule for her - I generally say I do custom work based on my current designs (learned that one the hard way) - but, I thought, you know, plaid might be kind of fun, and said "sure!". And she ordered four plaid scarves! (All bamboo, she is vegan and doesn't want any silk, wool, alpaca, etc.)

Anywho, I had fun poking around the clan tartans at Handweaving.net and made up my own kind of asymmetrical version. And I'm having fun weaving it! I thought the color changes would annoy me, but, so far, they aren't.

I'm using Robyn Spady's neat trick of working in the weft wends - when you're working with plied yarn, you split it in half, carry half of it back a couple of warp ends through the open shed you just tossed it through, then wrap the other half around a selvedge edge and bring that part back one or two warp ends past the first end. Then your tucked in weft ends don't bunch up too thickly at one selvedge, if that makes sense. Great tip from Robin's Tips N Techniques seminar a couple years ago at NEWS!

And, I'm looking forward to giving my second lecture in New Hampshire next week!

Busy Week - And a Return to the Dark Side?

Phew, crazy week, or so it feels, though I'm not quite sure why. I had a birthday (we won't talk about how old I am), managed to take some pictures of some scarves this morning (and have several more waiting to be photographed):


(Mixed twill scarf, using Dragon Tales scrumptious variegated yarn, sett at 24 epi, IIRC). I just got it listed in my Etsy shop.

And I delivered two custom scarves, including this one:


for my friend Bob, a fellow artist on the fourth floor at WAS. It's 50% cashmere, 50% bamboo with a hem-stitched fringe and it's a scarflette, not full size. I loved weaving this piece! (Still loving working with that cashmere!) More to come from this warp...

Bob is a silver smith - and his jewelry is *gorgeous* - and he repairs handmade flutes, too! A weird little bit of coincidence, there, because I was a very serious flutist when I was younger, and my teacher repaired flutes, too. I even got to play one of James Galway's flutes when my teacher was repairing it. Amazing instrument. I won't comment on Galway's tonal quality. (It sucks.) (Apparently, I couldn't help myself, lol.)

And I also spent Saturday and Sunday in Boston! On the 33rd floor at One Beacon Street, right next to the Common and State House. The views are *amazing* I cannot believe I forgot my camera both days, oy. I love the city, and it was really fun to be in there again. To work.

Uh-oh. That's the Return to the Dark Side part. A former colleague of mine (yes, lawyer) is working on a case involving a *huge* amount of document production - which means the documents need to be reviewed (for relevancy and privilege), which means he needed lots of help... I actually never mind this kind of work - document review, drafting motions, etc. - it was the arguing with opposing council that I loathed (and which you do a lot more of as you get more senior). So, I'm hoping to get in 30 -40 hours on this case, we'll see how it goes, discovery can be a bit of a moving target as the parties involved negotiate what to produce. But, if I do get in about that much - hey, that's studio rent for the rest of the year + some yarn, too! (Or a ski trip!) I'm heading in again this evening for four hours or so...