My life is wool. Not literally, but only barely. I’ve spent most of my time combing wool again last week. This part of the process is taking longer than I had hoped. I might see how much of the fleece I get through this week and start spinning next week even if I’m not done. I don’t actually need all four pounds of the fleece, so spinning and combing at the same time instead of combing all of the wool before spinning may work better.
I started reading Overdressed: The Shockingly High Price of Fast Fashion by Elizabeth L. Cline. I haven’t gotten far into the book, but I’m shocked at some of the statistics I’ve read. It was written in 2010 and it stated that a person in the US will purchase on average 64 pieces of clothing a year. It’s an average and I’d be curious to see the actual data, but still. I thought about how many pieces of clothing I’ve bought this year, including underwear, and it’s maybe 20. Maybe. Half of that number are the tights I wear every day. Granted, my clothing is probably part of fast fashion, though on the pricier side of it as I wear plus sizes. I wonder if Cline will touch upon the plus size fashion industry in regards to fast fashion. If not, I think I’d like to look into it.
I also picked up the loom I will be using from the Fiber Arts Studio that’s part of the Indigenous Arts campus at Evergreen on Friday. My sister-in-law drove down from Tacoma so I could use her minivan to bring it home and my fiance came with me to help move it. The loom is over 100 pounds and moving it wiped me out for not just the rest of the day but the entire weekend as well. I decided for Saturday and Sunday to separate locks from the fleece but not comb them to give my arms some rest; I have chronic pain in my arms and shoulders that I’m currently going to physical therapy for. It sort of makes you wonder why I decided to do such physically intensive activities for my studies this quarter, to which I can only respond: I have a passion. I don’t always think clearly when it comes to my passions. And while combing wool is tedious, I’m enjoying it. Though I’m going to force myself to read more this week; I have several books waiting for me to go through.