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Of Bogeymen I have a confession.  The thought of doing saline lavage of my sinus cavities kind of creeped me out.  Which is a bit puzzling to me because as a kid, I knew that my father did this routinely.  Frankly it creeped me out then; it creeped me out as an adult.  Why?  Who knows.  I was just very resistant to the thought of doing this.

Unfortunately the environmental allergies I am plaged with were literally kicking my butt and the naturopath highly - yay, even strongly - urged me to consider it.  To sweeten the deal he had some samples that I could try and if I couldn't get over my aversion, he told me to just throw the container and sample sachets away.

So I came home with them, where they balefully stared at me all of yesterday and this morning until I finally opened the package and read through the instructions.

Huh.  That was it?  Didn't sound too bad.  Girding my loins, I prepared the squeeze bottle and tried it.

Well, I'm not a huge fan - it's not something I'm going to look forward to to make my day but I am actually feeling a little better, certainly I'm breathing better, and that can't be bad, right?

So I started thinking about all those years I had been creeped out about doing this and how just having the right equipment and clear concise instructions made it possible to overcome my aversion and banish the boogeyman to allow myself to do this.  And how many weavers have their own personal weaving boogeymen.

One of the big ones is, of course, getting the loom dressed.  I can't help think that if they just had the right approach (for them) it would all go so much more smoothly.  But we seem to get caught up in "that's the way I was taught so I'll continue to do it this way rather than learn a different method".

Another one is advancing the warp.  So often I see weavers who are weaving much too close to the reed.  They don't want to stop and advance when if they would just force themselves to stop and do that they would have much better cloth - fewer broken selvedges, fewer loops, fewer inconsistencies in beat.

One that really puzzles me is winding bobbins overfull because they don't want to have overlaps of the weft.  Especially stick shuttles - they wind and wind and wind until they have shuttles that are larger than the shed their loom provides which means they are causing needless abrasion shoving the overfull shuttle through.  And all in the name of not wanting to have a weft join/overlap.

In the end, we all have to face our boogeymen and banish them.  Our lives will be better for it.

Currently reading Troubled Bones by Jeri Westerson
Posted by Laura Fry at 5:50 PM 
I had a doctor recommend a netipot a year ago, and like you I was reluctant. Still don't enjoy it, but it did help a bit. Not something I want to use every day, and I won't watch myself in the mirror when I do use it.

April 12, 2012 at 9:17 PM 
Same response here: I don't' especially look forward to it, but breathing's nice. Another one that helps me, but is difficult: there's a school of thought that says we pick up allergens during the day in our hair, then breathe them in all night because they're on the pillow. Washing hair before bed really helps, but then my hair is wrecked in the morning. In pollen season, my hair gets at least rinsed twice a day.

April 13, 2012 at 5:53 AM Rhonda from Baddeck said...

You talkin' 'bout me there? I had ALL of those problems (still have the nasal flush aversion). But you addressed each of my weaving fears in your "Efficient Weaver" class. The more frequent overlaps bothered me until I realized the boat shuttle is at least 4 times faster (for me) than the stick shuttle. And they're less visible in multi-colored and/or patterned towels. I'm getting faster at threading & sleying, too.

April 13, 2012 at 7:12 AM 
Allergies are such a pain - literally. Not sure why the human body falls into that particular rabbit hole - all I know is that I've had them all my life. I'm hoping for improved health and fewer allergies. :)

Rhonda - it's great to hear that you continue to make progress. :)


April 13, 2012 at 9:35 AM joyofweaving said...

A friend of mine also has allergies and he swears by doing what you're doing. He feels so much better.

I used to do the "weave up to the reed" thing because I hated advancing my warp. I could never get the same tension or I'd advance too far and had to get up to roll the warp beam back and again didn't get the same tension. That all ended when I removed my tension brake system and started using a weighted tensioned system. Even and consistent tension throughout my weaving makes the whole thing so much more pleasant. Now I can advance much more often without worries.

April 14, 2012 at 10:22 AM Spinning Out of Control said...

I have been putting this off as well. But I really need to try the saline. The pollen is very high down here and windy so my sinuses are killing me. I wish it was summer.

April 16, 2012 at 1:58 PM Laura's Links Laura Fry

Weaver, author, teacher of weaving
