The last week has been fairly quiet, partly because of my loom woes, but also because I’ve been busy writing and revising my programs for the Seattle Weavers Guild, where I’m lecturing tomorrow. The first is about the creative process in craft, drawn heavily from the book, of course. It’s illustrated with a ton of photos from Autumn Splendor, and some of my color-gradient shawls. The second is about the saga of the wedding dress, from the Sharon Alderman workshop that started it all to its final destination at the American Textile History Museum. Full of gorgeous photos, of course. And I have two suitcases full of samples, muslins, and finished pieces to show.
It was a lot of fun writing both programs, and I can’t wait to deliver them! I’ll be speaking at the guild meeting tomorrow, delivering both the morning and afternoon programs.
I have also finished the manuscript! I wrote the concluding paragraphs yesterday morning. There are no more “write intro!” or “write more here!” notes in the text. I will likely make more edits before my surgery – adding and subtracting quotes, updating some diagrams, etc., but the text is complete. I’ve already sent it to one beta reader, and will send it to a few more friends for feedback shortly. It’s 128 pages single spaced, and almost 40,000 words.
So, all in all, things are proceeding nicely.
Loom-wise, Mike and I made a last-ditch attempt at getting the loom repaired on Saturday. It failed, so I spent all day Sunday drawing a pentagram, lighting smoky oil lamps, and chanting incantations to summon an AVL technician from the netherworld, aka Chico.
Well, kind of. I did send an email requesting a house call, which (according to my last correspondence with AVL) will take place next Monday. Hopefully that should finally fix the problem. I’m fortunate enough to live within a 3-hour drive of AVL, so a house call, while expensive, will not entirely break the bank. I think I’m going to finish putting on the warp this weekend, so we can test the loom both with and without a warp on Monday.
Off to pack for Seattle! I’m leaving this afternoon, so I really do need to get everything put together.
The cats, of course, are helping!