Back and forth, and back and forth…

It’s time for more weaving! As you can probably imagine, weaving can be a very meditative activity. Your foot presses down on the pedal (treadle) to lift the shafts, you throw the shuttle in one hand, catch it with the other hand, and then pull the beater bar towards you to compress the yarn into place. Press, throw, catch, pull, and again! Press, throw, catch, pull – you get the idea!

(Like most things, it’s meditative until you flub something up! Then, not so much!)

The good news for me is I like bigger yarns, thus the whole weaving process goes faster! And each time I run out of yarns in the shuttle (these are called weft yarns), I alter things to keep it interesting!

I am currently moving from the purples into some browns. And I’ll be honest, the browns are going to get more play! It’s just a fact of life! The sun rises in the east and I like brown  more than purple! What can I say?

When figuring out the nuances of using a loom, there are always little pitfalls to watch for! I have found that my yarns will slowly inch to the right over time. I don’t know if that’s because the floor is slanted, the reed isn’t locked in tight enough, or what! But, each time I forward the yarns, I have to give the reed a little push to the left to keep everything on track! Otherwise, my fabric starts interfering with the ratchet/locking mechanism, which is bad news! I’m sure every loom has it’s quirks! Weird, right? (All the weavers in the crowd are shaking their heads sympathetically, and the non-weavers are saying “huh”??? No worries, I’m just musing!)

When I weave, I typically have some sort of noise going on – music or television, usually. If I’m watching TV, it has to be something I don’t really have to pay attention to. So, reruns usually work great! I’ve also found that cooking shows do it for me! This is crazy ironic since I don’t really cook! Go figure!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I like to bundle of different yarns together in the shuttle. I stumbled on this technique once upon a time when my yarn wasn’t hefty enough. I combined a fine, charcoal wool with a solid, fatter yarn and completely fell in love! I find the look and the texture of the fabric to be richer and more interesting than with a single yarn! Ultimately, it just reinforces the fact that things happen for a reason! (And that, my friends, is your deep, philosophical thought of the day!)

Next up, much more weaving! I’ve just started with the browns! Believe me, I’ll live here for awhile! Talk to you soon!