Your Weaving Studio: Peace or Chaos?

This past weekend I had a towel project warped and ready to weave, so why was I was doing everything except weaving? Since normally I love to weave, I knew something was up. Instead of weaving, I would pick up my mindless knitting project, or peer into the refrigerator to see if anything tempting had miraculously appeared, wasting another precious half hour of my weekend. Late Saturday afternoon I finally forced myself down the hall and into my weaving studio. Without really thinking about it, I began to straighten up the room.

Bobbins empty and ready for use! Photo credit: Susan E. Horton

I put the cones of linen back in the closet where it belongs with the other linen and same for the cones of cotton, Tencel, and wool that were scattered all over the place (some even laying underneath my loom with a shuttle or two). My bobbin rack was bursting with bobbins full of thread that weren't actually functional for the towels I was weaving (or any project in the foreseeable future). I found their matching cones and unwound a healthy number of them. I shelved a few books (including a binder resting on my sectional beam), filed weaving records, and threw away the junk that seems to find its way into my studio. In other words, I cleaned up. When I was finished, I realized that I had solved the procrastination issue. The problem wasn't about not wanting to weave, it was about not wanting to weave in chaos.

Using my sectional beam as a bookcase. Photo credit: Susan E. Horton

I'm not advocating that everyone clean up their weaving studio, far from it. Many people thrive on chaos and sometimes I do, too. My point is about making your studio someplace that you want to be. If a view to the outside matters, orient your loom that way. If you love music, bring it into your studio. If you like to listen to books on tape, make that happen. I like to have a door I can shut when I want total quiet yet open when I want to know what is going on in the household. Place artwork on the walls that is meaningful and makes you happy. Space limitations affect us all but using the space you have in the best way for you will make your weaving more enjoyable. I encourage you to give it some thought.

What happened on Sunday? I spent the day weaving towels.

Weave well,

Susan