Day 11, and a cold

I discovered it is hard to figure simple things out when you have a headcold.
But tapestry weaving is a low energy way to get through a cold. I am weaving this in the spare room. Early this afternoon the sun poured in the room, I was needing a nap due to feeling blah so, my dog and I had a nap in the sunshine for a couple of hours. Progress is being made.

Calming the Ping Pong Brain

Today is day 7. It is Saturday, there is a crew chopping down a tree in the front yard. My DH is watching hockey and I have nothing to do. This Tapestry Diary is great in calming down my busy brain. For over a year I have been in business mode. Get things done, deal with this, deal with that, what do people need. Today feels like lightness. I am sure the business will return but for now I am calm.
I have made it a practice of quiet while I weave. No radio, no music or TV. Just my thoughts and thinking about the warp and the weft, the colours, the textures.
I am learning constantly. One yarn has completely frustrated me. It is a lofty single and breaks nearly upon breathing. I will use it sparingly but maybe I will add twist to it on my spinning wheel.
As I am weaving my mind is creating and building tapestries. It is good for me to slow down and focus on this one piece.

Warp and weft, combined
Feeling fiber, soft and coarse
Slow Art calming me.

Criteria Change

Because this is my challenge, my tapestry diary, my daily practice, I get to change the criteria. The demarcation of my daily work in grey is no more.

Day 4 of my Tapestry Diary 2017

I must say I am enjoying this immensely. My 15 minutes turned into close to 2 hours.
I am battling perfectionism and my need to have a road map. There areas I like and some not so much. But because one of my criteria being I cannot change something the next day, I need to incorporate those iffy areas into the rest of the piece. We shall see.
Still working on refreshing my technical skills. New goal: to know these skills well enough and to gain muscle memory so I can create and get lost in the idea and image.

January 2nd. Day 2

I am back to work after the Christmas break. It was a clean up day in preparation for the children tomorrow. My body is sore and I am tired. I sat down to weave working on just basics and weft direction. It was very relaxing.
I moved the loom out of the studio and am weaving in the spare bedroom which is a funny little room with 1970's wood paneling. I love this room, it feels like a nest. It faces south and can get some amazing sunshine. It just seemed like the right place to weave.

The Palette

Happy New Year!

I have gathered a small portion of my Handspun plus a bit of other yarns from my stash to create my palette for my Tapestry Diary. I see that I am lacking in greens. Okay I have a great swack of green wool but it is tagged for a sweater, so I am not touching that. I see I will need to dye some yarns or scrounge.
One of my goals for this year is to not spend too much on craft/art and to use and or finish up some ufos.
I have been thinking about my personal criteria for my tapestry diary. Width will be based on the amount of seine twine I have but no wider than 20". It turned out to be 16" wide. No cartoon(under drawing), priority of yarns will be Handspun but other yarns are 100% okay. I can change alter at will during my weaving  session but cannot alter a previous day's work. Each day's work will be marked by a woven line of colour (as yet to be determined). My emphasis will be on learning technique all the while thinking colour and design.

And most importantly no judgement. This is a journey.

Tapestry Diary 2017

Well it has been some year. My father was ill and passed away in April. My father in law followed in August. With grieving and care of my mother, my creative life has been nonexistent.
To gain some of that back I am going to start a daily practice. But painting right now has no pull for me.
To get me through this past year, I have been knitting. Fiber calls me and I need to slow down my ping pong brain. I had been starting to think about tapestry weaving. I have done a little in the past but need to refresh my skills and gain confidence. But I was wavering. Then a dear friend challenged me if I challenged her back. So I am going to start a Tapestry Diary. I plan to blog my efforts here. I have some criteria to follow but other than that, I will weave for a minimum of 15 minutes a day.
In preparation to starting,I cleaned up my studio and warped my big pipe loom. The warp is 16" wide and nearly 4' tall. Weaving will start soon