Getting back to Normal

I took my winders to the guild's two-day workshop on iridescence, taught by Bobbie Irwin and you can ready my post on our guild blog here.  It was everything I had hoped for and I look forward to implementing the things I learned.  By the time I got around to weaving Wednesday morning, I discovered my winders were no where to be found.  I decided maybe it's time to think about buying an electric bobbin winder, so I called Gayle, a production weaver, for her insight.  She said she was one of the last to leave the workshop and noticed my winders and packed them up, meaning to email me that she had them.

I told her - I'll be right there, which is relative since she lives in south Reno.  Gayle showed me her AVL winder and explained what I need to look for.  She also demoed her 40-harness AVL loom.  I've never seen a computer driven loom before - fascinating!  So my winders are back in the workshop and I have some time to think about an electric bobbin winder.  They are very long so I may need to move things around to fit one in.

This is as far as I've gotten with my gamp.  I washed and wet finished it today but still need to attach the tassels of weft colors so I can decide which combinations I like the best.

I finally finished weaving these towels and also washed them today.  I have to clip all the threads at each stripe and hem them, wash them again and then wet finish - whew!  There are a lot of steps from thread to towel!!

Maddie is absolutely obsessed with my packing paper anyway, but today she was giddy with happiness that I was finally back in the studio and simply would not leave it alone.  She kept hiding a toy in the center of the roll and then diving in after it.  I would pull her out, scold her and tell her no, sometimes a couple of times, she would cry then finally sigh and lay her head down for a nap.  It was an endless cycle so when I finished for the day, I pulled the paper up on top of my loom.

October was a busy month and November has started out the same with the workshop this past weekend, then a sub job on Monday and on Tuesday I had my first ever acupuncture appointment. She explained that I would probably not notice results right away.  I understand that.  The good news is that my insurance pays at the same rate as for physical therapy.  They wouldn't pay for massage therapy but Raina is also a massage therapist and plans to introduce that into my treatment down the line.  I'm optimistic.