Slow Cloth and Watching it Grow

I have been thinking about the "Slow Cloth"/"Slow Food" discussion.  I agree with the thought that slow food as opposed to fast food is a big improvement.  I like the idea of spending the time to prepare food.  Although for some of the nights when it is my turn to cook, I rely on the pizza delivery man.  I would like to spend more time with the cooking, I have always enjoyed doing it, but I get caught up in doing other things...like weaving.

Slow cloth is not that it takes longer to do something, but that you are doing it with purpose.  That you want to spend time on it, at that time.  I also love to see the fabric grow.  

I even like to watch the fabric grow in the videos of the modern looms, where it grows inches in a second.  Have you watched the videos that weavers have made of their warping and weaving process?  The warping is interesting, but I like to watch the fabric grow.

When I weave there is that first pleasure of seeing that the pattern is working.  That I figured everything out right.  Then comes the weaving,... and watching it grow.

I use a measuring tape that is pined along the weaving so that I can tell how much is woven and how much I need to weave.

And with some patterns I have a straight pin that moves along to mark the blocks or the pattern repeats that have been done.

And there is the wonder that I am constructing an object out of raw materials, that I am making something that will please me, or someone else that gets it.

There is the joy in the making.   This to me is "Slow Cloth."

What is it that you do to get that joy?  I always love to go to events where I can see others that love what they do.  Going to a Renaissance Fair, I see people getting joy out of their choices.  I almost want to start doing that process too, just because I can see how much fun they are having.  (That is probably how I get involved in so many more projects that I can finish.)

The joy is in the doing, the making.  I look at my sisters and see the joy in sculpting a beautiful doll, making a fantastic costume with delicate detail, and painting a wonderful feeling to make it physical.  We, as sisters, dabble in each others craft and enjoy each others gifts.

We are able to find joy in the things that we do.  What have you found for yourself to do?  I keep thinking of the line from a poem that I read:

"It is the refrain chanted by the chorus of your accumulating years:  

"If not now, When?  If not here, Where?" 

And the only obedience that will set you free 

is surrender to the energy and fire congealed in your gifts."

I have felt it sad when I see people that have not found their gift, or have left it behind.  Me, I find more that I want to spend time with than I have time.  I need to focus on that thing and keep the joy.  We all need to find that enjoyable thing, and revel in it.

I just read this in a book of Sufi poetry that my daughter got from the library.  Isn't it beautiful...!

Hafiz

Wants you to know

Your life within God's arms,

Your dance within God's arms

Is already

Perfect!