Trish Leaves

My friend Trish, who has been a much-appreciated critic of my efforts, even when only family and one other friend knew I was weaving, gave me this card and a handpainted Turkish bowl for my birthday. She knows me well; she knew I'd try to recreate part of this in a draft, and I've been thinking my un-corkscrew. But if I know more weave structures, I'm sure I will have more options to consider, well, as long as they are one-shuttle weaves. (So far the only two-shuttle weave I remember was one warp of Repp for the sample exchange; I was six months behind everybody else AND I was recovering from tendinitis AND I had a sticky warp so it was, let's just say, maddening. )

For those of you looking for a case study on mild (even light-hearted) depression and attempts to reduce intensity/frequency by cognitive behavioral therapy, contact me. I was reading some more of "Feeling Good" by David D Burns, and I was laughing so hard I was shaking. I'm not as harsh a critic as the examples in the book, but I was exclaiming, "Yup, yup, yup" for about 12 pages.

I'm starting to see how people in the creative fields can fall into this trap. My simplistic view is we are our own bosses, critics harsh or not, and quality control inspectors> We often work physically alone, and/or not show or discuss work until they are finished and "ready" to be seen. It's easy to start chasing one's tail and go round and round. In my past work, when I needed to prepare a manual, for example, I had my own ideas but consulted other manuals and discussed the contents and possible improvements from the start; I even had others read parts as I was writing the next part, so the finished product was always a group effort, and I was never isolated. While I enjoy the total control over the "content" of my weaving, the burden of emotional responsibility can accumulate and appear a bit overwhelming when I don't like the look of the last piece, and the warp tension is going silly on the current, and the yarn order on the next project is taking a little longer to arrive.

And in that vein, blogging, commenting and these interactions are good tools/toys for me to stay in the community, as it were.

Thank you, community.