My year in review

It hardly seems possible that it is New Year's Eve already. Where did the year go? I thought I would take this opportunity to look back on what I accomplished this year and how it fit into my goals.

A year ago my goal was to learn the skills I needed to complete a replica of the triangular Mammen artifacts. The new skill I needed to learn was brocade tablet weaving. I didn't reach that goal, but that doesn't mean I did not grow during the year.

I began the year completing 3 projects for King & Queen's A&S competition. You can see them if you look back in this blog. The embroidery project highlighted the level of my skill in this craft, but didn't push me to learn new stitches or history. I enjoy embroidery, but I am not passionate about it. The most fun was spinning the thread. With the nalbinding project I began to learn how to tease out new information from an artifact. While the period weaving project was really more about testing my hypotheses about spun thread, I also began to learn about the relationship between the weaving and the thread, and what that means for the finished cloth.

Much of my time during the year was spent spinning and knitting my mother's cashmere scarf. That was a joy to create. I increased my skill at spinning short staple fiber, and greatly improved my knitting skill.

I spent the year seeking new fibers to spin, and to date have played with 25 animal fibers, plus silk. This taught me a lot about how the different characteristics of the breeds impact how they are spun. My skill as a spinner improved as I learned to confidently manipulate different staples lengths, crimpiness, slipperiness, etc. I no longer have a "favorite breed" - I like them all.

In the summer, I was invited to present my period spinning research at the 2013 International Congress on Medieval Studies, at Western Michigan University. (It's a bit scary, but I'm excited, too.) Much of my time in the fall was spent spinning to fill in gaps in my research, and beginning to re-write my paper for an academic audience. I am looking forward to meeting Gail Owen Crocker (the moderator for my session), and I hope to have an opportunity to talk to her about the Mammen artifacts.

The one thing I did this year toward my original goal was to take a brocade tablet weaving class at Hrim Schola. While this class taught me the basics of what I need to know, perhaps the most important thing I learned was that there are many people in the SCA who are passionate about tablet weaving, and I am not one of them. I suppose I can console myself with the fact that in period it would have been highly unlikely that the same person completed the nalbinding portion of the artifact as completed the tablet weaving part.

Sometimes the path life takes is different than the one expected. That doesn't mean one shouldn't set a destination. There is a reason why I called this blog "the meandering drop spinner." I always set myself a goal, but my curiosity takes me in many directions along the way. It may take me longer to get there, but I generally find I am a better person for having wandered.