Yesterday started my creative year. I know, it seems an odd time to celebrate New Year's, but fall is my most productive and creative time, and my work year has always seemed to begin with the start of the school year. I was talking to a friend about it, and she said for her it goes back to the time when she lived an agricultural life, and the creative work could begin when the harvest was in. But for me (never lived on a farm, though often lived in farming communities) I believe it goes back to my school days, as I truly loved the beginning of a new school year, the smell of new crayons, the clean empty notebooks to be filled. Then, when my own children were young, the beginning of my work year was when they went back to school each year, leaving me with bits of empty time to fill with my creative work.
The photo above was from my 2nd grade year: first grade on the front row, second on the next row. I'm the one with the red arrow pointed at me (see how special I was, even then?). My older brother was a year older, and he is behind me and to the left. My dad was the music teacher and high school band director, and he is on the top row of the grouping, furthest to the right (with the flat-top). This picture represents half the school, which was grades 1-12, plus all the faculty. My older sister was three grades higher than I was, so she was in the second picture, which would have shown the other half of the school. This was a small consolidated school (the small town, and out-lying agricultural communities) in western Colorado. The school still exists, and I'm willing to bet things are still done this way. It may be smaller now, due to the demise of the small farms there. I don't see my teacher in this picture; she must be in the other half. Miss B was later fired when it was discovered that she was the enterprising Madame of a local prostitution business, and was employing girls from the upper grades. Small towns can be pretty spicy places! (No kidding... ask me to tell you about my First Grade teacher someday! Now why did I like school? - It was better than a soap opera!)
School is large in my mind this year, as my first grandchild is beginning her formal education. She started kindergarten yesterday. She's just 4 1/2 years old, but so smart that keeping her out another year would have been ridiculous (not just my grandma-opinion, she was tested and the school system agreed.) Seems like it was just a short time ago that I was in that second row. How can I now have a grandchild almost there? Now doesn't THAT sound like something a Grandma would say?!!!
Anyway... since this is my creative time, I have been working again at the loom. The "February" tapestry is a bit past the mid-point. It is still somewhat 'boring' to weave. I feel like I'm weaving the same bits over and over again! No color variation, and not a great deal of shape variation. Can't wait to get to the bird in another 2-3 inches or so!!! Variety being the spice of life, I am hoping that bit of a change will be enough to save this tapestry from truly being The World's Most Boring Tapestry!
5 comments:
Purely from an observors point of view, the colours are lovely, but I can understand how it must be weaving it
Kathy...because at present I am having so much trouble getting weft to nicely cover warp, can you please explain your heading....plastic bags?? yarn??
Thanks from Janet way over East
Janet, the header is just a scrap yarn - a ball of something I am never going to use otherwise, that is bulky enough to spread the warps, and that will be easy to remove when the tapestry is off the loom. If your weft is not covering the warp, either your weft is too bulky, you are not 'bubbling' enough, or the warp width is pulling in, causing the sett to change (be narrower between warps.) Check those things out, and good luck! It's a common problem.
We are all waiting for the bird. :-)
Nice work!
Well, it looks really pretty to me!
Thank you for sharing the photograph--and the gossip! My, my, better than Desperate Housewives!
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