I’ve been feeling quite impatient recently, on several fronts:
- The warp is taking longer than I expected to put on. I finished winding the thirty-one MILES of thread yesterday, and put it laboriously onto lease sticks and started threading this morning. It’s taking me 12-13 minutes per inch, which comes out to about 5 inches/hour, or about four and a half hours for the twenty-one inches left to thread. It will probably take another two hours to sley the reed, and then I have to make some loom adjustments before I’m able to start weaving – so it will probably be Tuesday at least before I can actually get weaving. I’d hoped to get there sooner!
- The latest issue of Handwoven is out, and my Kodachrome Coat is the cover!! I’ve been reading everyone else’s squeals of joy at the latest issue and feeling terribly left out – my copy hasn’t arrived yet, and I’m starting to wonder if it ever will! I can’t wait to see it.
- I haven’t had the time I wanted to work on muslins, and between weaving and the Handwoven article I’m working on, not to mention some upcoming work as Complex Weavers Publicity Chair, it feels like I’m never going to get there.
In short, I’m feeling overcommitted, impatient, and frustrated.
Which is why it was such a delight to get a comment from a blog reader on a post I wrote long, long ago, from Southeast Asia. It made me go back and reread the post, which is indeed delightful, and which reminded me of the joys of the road, and the fun in just letting things go and trusting in the universe to carry you where you want.
Here is the post: https://tienchiu.com/2002/11/arrived-in-ranong/. (It’s really hard to summarize without mangling, so I’ll just let you read it yourself.)
Having read that, I’ve decided that I’ve been focused too much on expectations, and need to let go of my mental to-do list. It’s not the doing of things that is stressing me out, but the juggling of all the to-dos in my head. So I’m going to write all the to-dos down in Evernote, organize them in order of importance, and then take the top item from the list and forget about all the others. One thing at a time, and don’t fret the rest. (Oh, and have fun along the way, too, because fun is the whole point, isn’t it?)
And, because every blog post should have a picture, here is the fully-beamed warp beam, with 55,000 yards (3.75 lbs) of 60/2 silk neatly wrapped around it. Isn’t it a thing of beauty?

Congratulations on the cover of Handwoven, your coat is truly exceptional. It was a voyeuristic joy to watch the process and see the successfully finished results. It is all too easy to get caught up in the “Must Do” to remember the joy is truly in the mere doing.
Best regards.
Lyn Lucas
Tien–
The Kodachrome coat is fabulous!! 55,000 yards of 60/2 silk…what patience!!
you know, your blog has become one of my morning “must check” sites! Your old entry, plus being an overnight pit-stop for an old friend who is working on a career as a conductor, and listening to his adventures recently in Russia, had me wallowing in memories of “ma jeunesse”- student days in Paris and just taking off when the whim took me by bike, train or with friends stuffed into one of those flimsy little deux chevaux and not worrying about reservations, food etc. Had great experiences. I just cannot travel with organized “tours!” I went on one with our Episcopal church, mostly because it seemed more like a rolling party with people I enjoy, but the “organized” aspect of it was a downer. (We were supposedly doing a pilgrimage “in the footsteps of St. Columba” but, being good Episcopalians, if you followed US around, you’d have concluded that St. C’s footsteps also included every decent pub between Iona and London (-;).
I have concluded that there is a difference between “travelers” and “tourists.” “Travelers” go to really understand and explore but “tourists” go to be entertained and amused. I have always preferred “traveling.”
Last time I went to Canterbury, my honorary niece, who I had taken along that year, and I attended a Huguenot service in the chapel at the Cathedral and were invited to tea afterwards. (The services are in the afternoon and the Cathedral underwrites tea at a local shop for anyone who wants to come along) and she and I both met an amazing bunch of people from all over the world, all of whom had some kind of connection to the Huguenot diaspora! You don’t get that kind of thing on a tour!!!! (She was also enchanted by “going to church in French!”) I often wonder if that’s where I got my “weaving genes” since so many of my ancestors were Huguenot “silk weavers.”
Keep doing the Tiger thing. Kudos on the “Handwoven” cover…that is SO exciting. You really amaze and challenge the rest of us with your explorations!
Congratulations on getting your Kodachrome Coat on the cover of Handwoven!
I usually lurk but couldn’t pass up the chance to tell you how gorgeous your coat in Handwoven is. I love reading about your thought processes as you work your way through the various problems and challenges you meet as you develop your ideas. Congratulations on a job well-done. I look forward to following your projects as you post them.
Joyce