There hasn’t been much in the way of weaving around here for a long time. The last thing to actually come off the floor loom was my rainbow scarf, in February 2007. Since around October last year, I’ve had two warps draped on looms – a blue one on my baby table loom for some plain weave fabric for trimming a jacket I’m intending to make from some handwoven overshot I wove years ago, and a black one on the 4-shaft floor loom for both a scarf, and also some plain trimming for another planned jacket. Both warps got wound onto the back beams of the respective loom, and then progress… stopped.
Today, I decided to take advantage of the sun pouring into the sunroom (its winter here and chilly) and spend a couple of hours and get the loom threaded. After all, I only had to find my spare set of lease sticks, thread 224 ends, sley the reed, tie on and then I’d be weaving, right?
First step: find spare lease sticks (because my usual set are on the baby loom, where I’ve done over half the threading, but it’s a very awkward height to thread and if I wait until I’ve finished with them, I’ll never get the other warp done.)
Nope, spare lease sticks I was sure I had don’t seem to exist. But I have a pair of suitable sticks, so all I need to do is drill hole in the end, right?
Battery of cordless drill is dead. Found DH. Found his power drill. Talked DH into driling holes, because his drill is too heavy for my hand. Sticks are ready….
Nope, sticks need sanding. Rummaged in laundry cupboard for sanding paper, and finally found it. Sanded sticks in carport, while freezing my fingers off. Sticks now ready to put into warp cross…
Hmm… better dust the loom first. Fine black wool warp plus accumulated dust are not a good combination. Dust loom. Insert lease sticks. Set things up to start threading…
Where’s the pattern?? I was sure I had a suitable draft printed around here somewhere. Okay, I can quickly draw up a basic twill/advancing twill combo on the computer…
No I can’t, because I’ve changed from a PC to a Macintosh since I last did a weaving draft, and my weaving software doesn’t work for Macs, and I can’t find a suitable up-to-date basic software…
Finally found a previously printed out draft I could easily adapt without resorting to graph paper and pencil (phew!!). Sat down at loom, started threading…..
By this time, it was after 3pm, and the sun was getting low, and the room cold. I’ve threaded two inches of the eight, but the rest will have to wait until tomorrow.
However, at least I have made some progress! And here’s the evidence:
Isn’t that always the way it works?!! Two steps forward and one step back. But looking at the big picture – at least it amounts to one step forward! Next time you’re looking for a draft, check out http://www.handweaving.net There are tons of drafts online that you can print out. Go to the Weaving Draft Archive and then click on Draft Search for the fastest results. When you have oodles of time to fritter away, look around the site – it’s better than a private library!
Your description of “weaving” made me laugh. I’ve been going through a similar scenario – I want to do Z, but must first do Y, but that requires doing X beforehand…. and would be good to do F while I’ve got the area cleared…. until I get frustrated and have to sit down and knit a round on my sock to calm down. Glad to see you managed so well! and with a black warp! That’s a handy resource that Kimberly mentions. Thanks!