Wednesday, September 08, 2021

Yarn adventures - where have I been lately?

Yes, I'm still playing with yarn.

The boring obligatory bit about being away and back now.  So glad that's over.  

Why I left blogging?

1. It feels like monologuing.  There isn't much interaction with others.  Even though I'm an extreme introvert, I do need some feedback.  There is something in me that is desperate to feel useful in this world.  That I'm not a waste of space.  I'm not cluttering up the internet with my natter.

That is why youtube is working well, I get measurable interactions.  Thumbs up.  Views.  Quite a few comments.  It's all positive reinforcement to keep on creating.  That I'm adding something of (at least) moderate quality to the internet.  For such a new channel, the feedback has been empowering!

2. Blogging used to be an individual, a keyboard, a journey.  

Then suddenly, blogging became a business.  A main source of income.  And from there, popups demanding my email address, the top (odd number) best or worst whatever.  Guests posts or a whole paid staff to produce/reproduce content.

That's not me.  

The professional blogger has a place in this world, but I don't want to be that person.

I want to be the old-style writer, where it's a curated journal of things I find nifty in this world.  

I worry that by being a blogger, I might fall into that trap.  Somehow I don't think I will.  At least I hope not.  Although I do home to put some discrete ads on here to help fund my creativity.  I'm unlikely to ask anyone for their email address - I hate writing emails.  


So I've been fulfilling my need of sharing elsewhere.  Forums get good feedback and keep the momentum going.  Here are some of the adventures I've been up to.  (hint, click "read more")



Handspinning and weaving are taking front and centre - often at the same time.

Here is some handspun cotton cloth, including some homegrown cotton yarn - yes, growing cotton in Canada is a real thing!  (I'm making something special for you about that but it will be a few months yet)



The upper picture shows how much cloth one boll of cotton makes on an 18" wide cloth in plain weave.


I've been playing with colour to see what happens!  Sometimes it works out really well - as in this case.


Sometimes it doesn't work quite so well (or maybe I just don't like yellow)


A bit of dyeing here and there



and one heck of a lot of spinning!


Happy spinning and weaving everyone.


If you like this sort of thing and want to see more of it, here are some things you can do to support me on my creative journey.

- go to youtube and give me a thumbs up!  Or even a subscribe!  That would be awesome
- or pop over to my Etsy shop and support me that way.

1 comment:

Josiane said...

Thank you for sharing these pictures! It's great to see a bit of what you've been up to spinning- and weaving-wise.

Also, you are definitely not wasting space or cluttering up the internet! I've always found a lot of value in your posts. I'm often learning something, and always leaving inspired.
I'm glad that Youtube is working so well for you, though! It's nice that you're getting the kind of positive reinforcement you need over there, especially since creating video content is so labour-intensive. Getting something out of it that helps you keep going is good!