Head Down, Bum Up

Hello!

I love this expression. I wish I do more of this and less pondering/wondering/dithering.

After I got the last three thoughts out of my head, (i.e. the last three posts posted,) which were very important to me, I desperately wanted to weave. Or make a warp. Or thread, at the very least. But when I finished the navy warp, I told myself I had to concentrate on finishing unfinished projects. And I found something interesting.

This is the piece intended for my Mom. I used several 26/2 cashmeres in Fibonacci in the weft. The warp is mill end 72/2 merino in 48EPI in a 6-dent reed. After several days of rest and a vigorous wet-finish, the reed mark never disappeared; so much so I should call this a cram/space design. Which suits this piece well because it has the grille look that goes well with the masculine kimono colors. Be it the size difference, the way the wefts keep the warps in their place, the draft, or something else, it surprised me because...

It never happened in the samples, (all silk wefts though some were sticky,) and didn't happen with Aha Aha, even though the silk was visibly thicker than 26/2 cashmere. Although I doesn't makes sense to compare widths of in-this-context sticky cashmere and slippery silk.

I'm in my fourth week of strange sleep pattern, and I now try not to think about it. I tried napping/not napping, playing music/audio books/reading books on paper, and/or drinking milk/herbal tea before I go to sleep, but nothing works. Sometimes I fall asleep but wake up queasily alert, sometimes I don't fall asleep. After two weeks and four doses, I stopped taking sleeping pills. Just don't expect me to be exceptionally useful in the mornings.

But insomnia isn't all bad for work; I sometimes solve a drafting problem, or come up with what to me are from-the-left-field ideas. I've been thinking about satin for a while, so of course I now have two double weave ideas! One night I got up and lined up Japanese sewing silks, then edited the order. If I'm good, if I finish all the unfinished but woven pieces, I'm going to make a warp, though I'm not sure if it'll consist of only these or be mixed with others.

It's still hot, although we've had moments of reprieve in the last few days, and glaring. I've been yearning to garden, but when I go outside for a few minutes, my arms turn pink and start to itch.

I have had a curious experience a few times, though; I "relived" winter gardening, not remembering or reminiscing, but I was suddenly transported for a moment to the climate/light/sound of my garden in the winter, exactly how it feels when I weed under shrubs. Nice, eh?

In a way, I wish I weren't going away, because I'm in a good work head space, and I started missing Ben about a week ago. But I know I'll love seeing family, and friends this trip; I also have a date with 1/2 of my fav cousin and probably her hubby, I'll enjoy the winter weather, and I'm going to have a ball bossing Mom around trying to make her exhibition as awesome as possible. February is not the best month for exhibitions in Japan, but I found a few good ones. Now if only NZ$ would climb the bastard back up... Sorry, a reference to Sir Ed.