Weaving Woes



A pretty winter sunrise



This morning I woke up early, fed the cats, got my coffee and went to work on my scarf project.  For this one, I'm using eight harnesses instead of the usual four and a twill weave that requires keeping accurate count of all 240 threads at one time.  Counting out threads is sort of like playing Sudoku, where you keep repeating the same numbers over and over to yourself.   When my mind wanders (and, believe me, it does), I have to backtrack to a starting point and begin again.  Weaving is not for impatient people.

Last night, I'd gotten this far before I got sleepy, began making mistakes and went to bed. 




It took me all day to get the warp properly threaded and tied on, the harnesses and treadles tied up and the the weaving started.  Then I discovered some twisted threads and had to take out my first few rows and retie.  I wove again and, this time found that I'd tied three of the harnesses up incorrectly.  Unweave again, fix the harnesses and try again.  This time everything looked good other than it turns out that the twill draft I'm using is for a different type of loom than mine -- no big deal except that the pattern is coming out on the bottom side of the fabric.  In order to see it, I have to crawl underneath the loom and look up.  It isn't the most convenient way to weave, but, hey, it's keeping me limber.

I'm now two color blocks along in my weaving.  More bad news -- the second colored rectangle is definitely smaller than the first.  I've counted and recounted the threads and I come up with 16 for both rectangles -- how can one be 1/8" larger than the other?  More counting, recounting, studying the rectangles, checking the yarns.  I simply can't figure it out.  I had enough of counting threads -- at least for today.  I'll look at again tomorrow and will figure it out in the light of day.  I'll also have the patience to unweave yet again what I've already woven twice. 

I stopped for the day and took a brisk walk with Bruce and the dogs. 




At last: A three-egg day



When we got home again, the hens had a surprise for us:  

Perhaps not the most productive day I've ever had, but I got to spend it doing exactly what I wanted. That'll do!