sweetgeorgia

Attraversiamo

Attraversiamo. So, apparently this means literally “to cross over”, as in “hey, let’s cross the street”-type usage. I learned this lovely new bit of Italian last night from the book by Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love, where she simply gushes about how much she loves this word. How beautiful it sounds. How delightful and Italian it is. It is her most favourite word in Italian.

This morning, I pass by the silk scarf currently on my loom. It is bathed in light. It actually seems like it’s emitting light… even in this soaking wet grey Vancouver weather. And I notice the beauty and profound effect of “crossing over”.

The yarn used here for the “crossing over” or the weft is bamboo yarn with several dips of indigo. It took me several attempts at first to find the best yarn to cross with this warp. The warp is varied and mixed up, with one side heavy with fat and chewy turquoise silk singles to the other side where several slim strands of osage and iron dyed silk peek out. Sprinkled throughout are the bumpy bits of silk boucle, bursting from the surface of the fresh woven fabric.

Initially for wefts, I had tried an ethereal, kid mohair laceweight yarn dyed in pale turquoise, but the core yarn disappeared into the warp stripes and all that was left was residual haze. Crossing it with something stronger like 20/2 silk only made it look and feel weft-heavy.

But this bamboo seems to fit perfectly. The warp is turquoise, warm blues, aqua greens, and even maize yellows. The indigo-dyed bamboo is still a warm blue, but less so than the warp. A cool blue, even. And so the colour shift that happens when you cross the two is the most appealing thing about weaving. It is the relationship between the two — seemingly disparate — colours that is magical. The best fitting weft will merge with the warp… not disappearing into it and not overwhelming it. But it will colour and shade the warp and produce something that makes the warp even more beautiful. The weft is subtle, complementary and supportive.

I’m pretty sure Gilbert didn’t have anything about fabric on her mind when she wrote about this. But the analogy seems so obvious to me: that the person you choose to cross over with should be, in overwhelmingly simply terms, a good weft. That this person should merge and blend with you in such a way as to create a more beautiful life.

Attraversiamo. Let’s cross over. There’s something better on the other side of the street.

Some days I want to gough my eyes out.

And other days, I am saved by the beauty in things like this:

It’s 100g of 20/2 cultivated silk. First dyed lightly in weld. Then dyed in marigold. And finally overdyed in madder. It’s absolutely gorgeous in the skein. And I am grateful for the light it brings into my life. When all else is dark and despondent, I am thankful that I can see and see beauty in something as simple as colour.

Inspi(red)*

Now that we’re pretty much exactly halfway through 2007 now, tell me, what’s the most inspiring thing you’ve seen or experienced in the past six months?

Maybe it’s because today is my loom’s one-year anniversary, I’m feeling all sentimental and wondering what I’ve been doing all year and what I’ll be doing on this day next year. Between now and next June, I’ll be attending a month of lectures and workshops at Maiwa’s symposium. So far, I’ve registered for Michelle Wipplinger’s Colour Institute II, Dabu Mud Printing, Ajrakh Blockprinting (including the masterclass) and the Working Traveller. I wonder if Charllotte will let me just pay rent and live at Maiwa East for the month of October… the place is already furnished.

Charllotte is also looking at arranging a Maiwa trip to India in February 2008 and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to participate in that. They’ll be travelling to a number of different villages where the dyeing and textiles are made for Maiwa. I’m not sure how long the trip is for, but if it’s only a couple weeks, I may choose to stay a few weeks longer on my own. Who knows.

Also, I’ve been looking at the Kawashima Textile School in Kyoto and possibly spending some time there weaving, dyeing and studying. This is the same school that Chisako Hisamatsu attended to get a more in-depth education in Kasuri (an ikat technique). You could live, weave, eat, sleep, and dye there for anywhere from a few days to a few years. Dreamy. Possible? Impossible? Who knows.

Where else can I go? Indonesia? Thailand? Sweden? Denmark? Hmm… My desire to live someplace warmer (seriously, I’m sitting next to my heater and it’s nearly JULY) has me thinking about the textile/fashion program at CCAC in California too (although San Francisco is not much warmer than Vancouver, bleh). Hmm…

My time in London was WAY too short and I’ll have to find my way back somehow. I didn’t, unfortunately, get to meet up with Amelia and her friends and would love to do that next time. There was a knitting exhibition at South Wimbledon that I missed because I was running around quite a bit (even though I was at Wimbledon for a couple days, grr) and of course the one day I picked to visit the V&A is the one day the textiles room was closed. What did I see…

The “New York Fashion Now” exhibition at the V&A. The DOBAG rug woven for the British Museum. Some of Preeti Gilani’s textile work… hand-dyed silk and Jacquard weaving. The room full of massive Mark Rothko paintings at the Tate Modern (I went to see this TWICE, I loved it so much). Helio Oiticica’s Body of Colour exhibition at the Tate Modern as well. And something I wish I had seen for real:

Ptolemy Mann completely floors me. I’m absolutely in love with her work. What are you absolutely in love with these days? What inspires you now?

Okay, never thought I’d name a post after a GAP product, but hey, it’s all good. One of the only things I bought in London was a product Red t-shirt… african cotton made in Lesotho. It would make Jen proud.

Pulling back to snap back.

Umm, did someone say hiatus?

As some of you may have heard already, I am planning on pressing the pause button on both my businesses (one of which I’ve run for the past ten years!) this spring.

Starting April 15th, I will be travelling for at least six months and possibly up to one year. During this time, I will not be able to fulfill any yarn orders. Some of you already have orders set with me and I will be working on them before I leave. But unfortunately, I cannot accept anymore special orders at this point because there are just not enough dye days between now and mid-April to get everything completed. If you would like to purchase my yarns, please do contact the retailers listed on my website. They are all fabulous and helpful and would love to see yarn in your hands!

To me, it’s been obvious that I have been MIA for the past few months — zero movement on the FO front, zero time to do any personal dyeing, or spinning, or weaving. The only way I’ve been able to survive these past few months is with the unconditional support of family and friends — all of whom have pitched in hundreds of hours to wash, dry, reskein, package and label yarn and orders that are shipped out to you. But even with all the help, I still find myself working 18 hour days and 7 days a week. Compounded by working for the past 10 years on my design firm… well… I need a vacation ;P

I would LOVE to be able to work out new colourways using new yarns and natural dyes. I would LOVE to see your new projects in my new yarns. But before all that can happen, I need to recharge and reconsider — see if it is actually feasible to be a production dyer… and sustain that energy over a long period of time.

I sincerely appreciate all the support you guys have shown me and your passionate interest in my yarns during this past year. It is my hope that I will be able to return to the dye pots at a later time with more energy and enthusiasm, brimming with new ideas and experiments that I can share with you all!

<3 SweetGeorgia

PS. I do have a whackload of yarn I’ve stockpiled (accidentally, of course) and will be looking to unload over the next few weeks. Please stay tuned

And just for the hell of it, let’s have a contest. Tell me where you think I’ll be traveling to. One randomly selected commenter who correctly names at least one of the many spots I’ll be travelling to will get yarn. Contest ends Friday, February 16 at 11:59 PM PST.

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I have 1,365 unread blog posts to read and I don’t even know where to start. Who’s preggers, who’s podcasting, who’s been awarded a new book… I have no idea. Should I read them? or pretend they never happened? Heh heh.