New Waterproof Booth

Wow, the dry Summer show season sure went fast! It seems like I just got that canvas booth built, and I guess it's kind of true.

But, that booth did what I needed for this season - it let me earn the money that I didn't have last month to buy a bigger, drier booth.

And one of the shows was a big success, bringing income just in time for me to replace the booth before the rains come.

One thing I've found is that almost all shows allocate 10x10 booth spaces. The 8x8 fits within that, looking more full with less merchandise on display and gives me two feet of space behind the booth for storage. Nowadays, though, I don't need the booth to "look full". There's enough merchandise that it is full.

And then there are the racks... Those were a fantastic bargain. They had been loaned from one shop to another here in town. When that other shop closed down, the owner of the racks didn't want to have to store them again so she sold them to me cheap.

If I thought the van was full before, it is even more full with those three racks in there. Two of them pack down, but the third really doesn't. Those racks take up more space than the whole other booth because that booth breaks into flat pieces. It's good, though. The new booth can house the demo loom completely and display 50% more merchandise without looking cramped.

Between the new canopy and the new racks, it's a whole new booth, just in time for my next three back-to-back shows. We could get rain at any of these shows, so I couldn't have waited another week to get the weatherproof booth. Whew!

New Overall Cloth Pattern

For this next batch of cloth, I've decided to expand my comfort zone again. I've gotten into a rhythm with my bookmatched cloth that's dark in the center and light at the edges. That design is beautiful, but I want to try something new.

This next batch of cloth will be dark in the center and at the edges, fading through light and back to dark as it travels toward the edges.

There are a few major challenges with this:

1. I've never wound the edges, which require less tension, before winding the sections next to them. I'm just praying it works out OK.
2. The gradations need to happen twice as fast. I'm going to do my best to keep them from looking too abrupt and "stripey".
3. I need to make sure the bookmatching is correct.

This last part kind of scrambled my brain for a while, until I found a way to describe the direction that each section lies and make sure the sections all lie correctly.

I created a system a couple of beams back that helps make sure my bookmatching is right, that the sewing is easy, and that the bookmatched pattern is eye-catching as a design element. I put one obviously different thread near, but not on one of the edges. In this case, it's the reddish thread.

Going from there, my coding is pretty easy. I draw an arrow pointing at the edge with the red thread. Every other section coming from the center should have the red thread on the right.

I want an even number of sections on each side so that my bookmatched sections appear in pairs. This means that I wound an "extra" set of sections in the center of the beam, leaving 14 sections, 7 pairs, on each side.

I used my coding system to follow the direction that each section should point, ultimately verifying my mental calculation: the outside section should have the red thread pointing toward the selvedge.

With that puzzle behind me, I'm ready to start tomorrow by tackling the next problem: changing threads to give a smooth but rapid gradient.

Great Start On Welsh Conversation

A while back I wrote about how I was inspired to learn Welsh and set a reasonable goal for myself: 10 new words a day.

It's been going well. I do study vocabulary for 30-45 minutes every night before going to bed, using a spaced repetition system to ensure that the words are actually memorized and not just skimming the surface of my brain.

The reason I am learning a new language is to have conversations. Drilling vocabulary doesn't do much to move me toward that goal. Yes, the vocabulary will be fantastic to know when I understand how the language works, but it doesn't actually help me much in learning the stuff that will lead to conversation skills.

So I went searching the web for another way to learn that would help me with hearing and speaking. I found a site called SaySomethingInWelsh.com. Unbelievably, it's free to download mp3 files of every lesson. I've put them all on my iPod so I can study while I walk.

This course takes a totally different approach than others I've seen. They start out with very little vocabulary, just enough to teach the workings of the language itself. And then, I am required to practice using the language. A lot. Each lesson teaches a new aspect of the language using the very few words that I know. It requires me to speak out loud to practice creating dozens of useful sentences. This ensures that I know how to apply each concept before moving on to the next one.

So far, I've covered:
- speaking about my actions (I am doing)
- talking about ideas (I like, I want, I can, I try)
- verb combinations (I like trying, I want to try)
- speaking about another's actions (you are doing, you want to like doing)
- asking a question (are you doing?, do you like doing?)
- answering a question, positive and negative (Yes, I am doing, No, I am not doing)
- some helper words and how to use them (how, what, something, nothing, it)
- simple future tense (I will do, you will do)
- simple past tense (I have done, you have done)
- mutations, specific to Welsh, but very important to listening. Some words are pronounced differently after other words.
- just about every combination of these ideas (will you try liking to speak?, I have enjoyed trying to do, etc.)

And I've learned all of this in spare time over about five days. Every time a new concept or vocabulary word is covered, I am drilled on ways to combine it with the ideas I've already learned. It reinforces the old ideas while teaching the new ones, just like using spaced repetition for vocabulary.

There is one big trick to using this course, and it's the pause button. The way it's structured, they describe a new concept and then help you to understand it by asking you to create new sentences in Welsh. They say a phrase in English and give you time to say it in Welsh before you hear it spoken correctly by two different speakers.

I learn very slowly through listening, so when I tried to create and say the phrase in the time they allow, I felt like I was running a marathon. At the end of 15 minutes, my brain hurt and I just wanted to give up. And then I discovered that I could pause the recording and give myself time to think. Now, a 30 minute lesson takes an hour or more while I walk in the woods. I do that same lesson two or three times before moving on to the next. And each time, I use the pause button less and move on when I grasp it "well enough." I know the new ideas will be reinforced during the next lesson.

This course is changing the way I think of Welsh and building my confidence in my ability to learn it at all. It really looks to be the missing key to becoming conversational very quickly and giving me the framework that will make my vocabulary useful.

If you're learning a new language, I highly recommend a system that teaches speaking and concepts first with vocabulary later. It works!

Slowing Down

This past week my community brought me an experience that's beginning to restore my faith in community.

First, some background... When I discovered the spiritual community that I have called mine for the last eighteen years, there was one feature that caused me to recognize it as the one I wanted. It is a primary tenet which states that each person has a unique life experience and a unique perspective as a result. Nobody can speak for another. Instead, we need to communicate directly, listen to the experiences of others and work together to create a situation that works for all. And far from being just an idea, this was the foundation of the community's structure and everything that happened within it.

The application of this tenet has shifted over the years, apparently without the older members of the community noticing. Sure, lip service is still paid to the concept, but it is not being practiced in everyday life any more.

Instead, the group has succumbed to the same processes that rule the ordinary corporate world. Deceit and political alliances hold the majority of the power. Honesty and openness are punished with one-sided scrutiny, crushing those who jeopardize the power structure and threaten to flatten it.

By failing to recognize that the organization had lost its soul, I continued to operate from a place of trust and openness, rapidly becoming the primary focus of the new kids on a quest for power. I still haven't heard most of the horrible things attributed to me in a two-year secret campaign, but the few that I have heard are unfathomable to anyone who knows me. (Not surprisingly, these stories quite closely predict the actions of the storytellers.) The whole situation has caused me deep pain, ultimately resulting in my decision to leave that community and start over with a few trusted friends and create a new community.

But the pain and distrust have crept far into my soul. It's difficult to see a community that had earned so much of my trust and informed so much of my world view transformed into something so completely the opposite of its foundation.

Still, I have held faith that this new community could embrace the "old" ways and apply them to building a healthy, functional organization. This week, my faith began to be restored.

If you read my blog regularly, you will have no doubt noticed that I work HARD. This ethic is backed up by a sense of responsibility to my community. We are starting over from scratch without the event-based income stream of our previous organization. We also live in the poorest town in one of the poorest counties west of the Mississippi. Work is scarce. Winter is coming. My weaving business has seemed like the best option that we have for an income to sustain us this Winter.

And so, for the good of the group more than myself, I work long hours to crack the puzzle of earning a consistent income from weaving.

The amount of work that I do and the level of responsibility that I take for the success of our new community has been taking a toll on the group. Others are spending time together and strengthening their relationships while I work and work and work. And when I'm not working, my mind is churning on the next days' work. My todo list always has at least fifty "past due" items that won't be done that day.

And this week, the group reached a breaking point. It has become too much.

So they called a meeting to discuss it. It was difficult to hear how my behavior has been affecting them. It was difficult to accept that I need to shift my priorities and change my behavior. And it was difficult to dig into the depths of my life experience and find out why I react this way to an unstable situation. But we did it, together.

I got to hear exactly what behaviors were causing difficulties for others. I got to hear what the group wanted from me. I got to integrate this new information and tell them what I was willing to give. And we got to craft some agreements together that will help us to resolve the situation and move forward.

This is all I've been asking for. I have a lot of personal growth to do. Everyone does. After a few years of painful experience, this new community has come together to support each other with the openness and honesty that will help us to each become the best person that we can be.

And what is the solution to the difficulties? I need to prioritize my relationships as highly as my work. I have set a goal to work four hours a day and spend more time with my friends. We'll be getting to know each other better by hanging out and sharing our hearts to find the common ground that will become the foundation of our new community.

And, in return, others will spend some time traveling to earn an income to help us make it through our first Winter together. We'll be making concessions together to ensure the success of the group instead of letting anyone take the lion's share of work and income-earning potential.

By working together, we've found a solution that meets the needs of all.
This is exactly the type of honest interaction that I've craved over the last few years. I'm sorry that my behavior has caused difficulties for others, but ecstatic that the trust I place in my community is proving to be a wise investment. I can't wait for easier times when we're less focused on survival and more focused on creativity.