I seem to be in The Waiting Place right now on most of my projects. The wise Dr. Seuss describes The Waiting Place like this:
You can get so confused
that you’ll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place……for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.
So here’s what I’m waiting for:
- On the kimono, I’ve ordered several different kinds of thread to experiment with, and some of them haven’t arrived yet. I also don’t have the sewing pattern for the kimono, so I don’t know what length I’ll need, and I won’t know for a few weeks.
- On the book, I’ve gotten in touch with a really knowledgeable/experienced person who is going to help me edit/market the book. That’s a really exciting development – this person has been an editor, an indie crafter, an author of a book on craft, and currently organizes a craft show, plus she knows social media – so is uniquely qualified to assess/edit/help market the book. However, it does mean waiting a week until she gets me her recommendations – I’m hesitant to do much editing work because it may all need to be redone afterwards
- I’m due to write an article for Handwoven, but am stuck waiting for a pattern to arrive (which will happen on Wednesday). After that I need to order the yarn, so it seems likely I won’t be able to start for at least two weeks.
About the only thing that I’m not stuck on is the ball gown, so I’ll likely work on that next. I need to paint a bunch more fabric with dyes (simulating warp painting) before I can do the next iteration of the muslin. Or maybe I’ll actually weave a sample of warp-painted fabric to see how the pattern, structure, and yarns work in my particular context. Or I might try working out the lines of the front in plain muslin, so I can get the shape right before working in (expensive!) hand-dyed fabric.
I’m also going to cut off the warp that’s currently on the loom. I’m not sure why I’m having so much trouble, but I’m breaking a thread every half-inch or so. I’m guessing it’s tension problems, since it’s mostly happening on one side, but I’ve tried adjusting the tension to no avail, and weaving it off is extremely frustrating. I could re-sley and try it with a more open sett, but since others have woven successfully before at the same sett, I doubt that’s the problem either. I’ll try again with a different warp. Heartbreaking after spending so much time setting up the warp, but I know perfectly well the hazards of thinking about sunk cost – no point in throwing good time after bad. I did get some useful samples, anyway.
So what have I been up to, then? Fruitcake! I decided to make my yearly batch of fruitcake this weekend. Here’s my recipe:
Mix eighteen pounds of chopped dried fruits, nuts, and candied citrus peels together in a giant bin:
Mix up nearly two gallons of fruitcake batter:
Mix the two, then shovel the yummy mix into loaf pans:
Bake at 275 degrees for about two and a half hours, then remove and let cool. (No photos of the baked fruitcakes yet, alas.)
Sprinkle with liquor (I’m using rum, whiskey, and Southern Comfort for three different batches) over a period of 6-8 weeks, then let age for 6-8 weeks more (total 3-4 months). The alcohol and sugar will preserve the cakes while they’re aging, and the flavors will mellow out into a wonderfully moist, fragrant fruitcake. Yum!
So…while I have been waiting, I have not been idle!
