Good Idea!

It is never an easy decision to call it quits and start over. Should I try to make it work and hope for the best? How do you know when to walk away? A good idea shapes the planning of a design, including color choices, materials, and weave structure. That same good idea forms an ideal that guides and critiques the choices along the way. When I saw that the rug on the loom (THIS one) was not lining up with that ideal, I knew it was time to start over. (This new start is much closer to my original idea.)

Rosepath Rag Rug on the loom. Karen Isenhower
Brown rosepath design stands out because of contrasting light background. The print and teal pattern that borders the rosepath design brings in some of the color from the plain weave hem area.

Hold on to good. Let the virtue of goodness be a guiding star for decisions, behavior, and interactions with people. When our actions do not match that good ideal, it’s time to walk away from poor behavior and start over. We become zealous about other things, like good color combinations and perfect selvedges. (HERE is one of the best ways to improve selvedges.) Why not be zealous for good? I don’t mean pointing fingers at others. My own life is the only one I can inspect to see how it aligns with the ideal. The good idea is confirmed as the colors of gentleness and respect are noticeably woven into the fabric.

May you have a good day.

Warped for good,
Karen

4 thoughts on “Good Idea!

  1. I see what you mean when talking about the two attempts to make the rosepath rug represent you. Sometimes, it is almost like we don’t speak the same language as our work, which makes it difficult to keep going. If we don’t connect with our work, our heart is not in it. And yes, that’s when we need to quit.

    Your two attempts at this rug also made me think of how different people are and how differently we see things. What doesn’t work for us, works perfectly for someone else. And we may see the beauty in something that others find ugly.

    Imagine the first attempt at this rug…that all the fabrics as well as the rosepath pattern have a very special meaning to the maker. Anything added or taken away would ruin that experience. Because of the limitations, the focus will shift; the idea of what works will be different; the idea of what is beautiful will change.

    I love to experience just that, how the circumstances affect my work and also how I feel about the result.

    1. Great observations, Elisabeth. Limitations do indeed give boundaries that help creativity thrive. Viewpoint, and even timing, makes a difference in how we see something. There is truth in the saying, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” It is very possible that my own emotional withdrawal from all the wedding activity made it difficult for me to work within the confined boundaries that I started with. Now, I’d like to go back and try using the original colors, perhaps in a slightly different arrangement, to see how I could make it work. I think I needed a little more mental capacity to do that this time.

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