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Crazy as a Loom

Saturday, June 9, 2018

oh, well.


Sometimes, in the weaving world, things go wrong.

Really wrong.









I dyed this amazing bamboo warp, and put it on the sectional beam, one section at a time.
We were careful, but it didn't matter.

Weaving it was a feast for the eyes.....the colors........incredible.

But then.......

Individual threads, groups of two, or three threads, started to sag, get loose.

This is called "making it work".

Weighting each thread that comes up looking like it isn't under the right tension.

THIS, my friends, is a weaver's nightmare.




So much so that I had to watch the fell line for 200" of weaving.  

Big mistake.   Horrible neck pain.  Wicked headache..........

And when it took it off the loom, one side was PERFECTION......the other side....floats and floats, and even more floats.

Ugh.
Very depressing.

So I serged the ends, washed it, dried it, pressed it.
One side was drop dead gorgeous.




Then I mended and trimmed, and mended some more.....and managed to get these two möbius shawls out of it.




But I still have 12+ yards on the loom.......and I don't know what to do now.   I don't want to waste it........but how to make it better, or get it off and use it for weft....I just don't know.  It boggles my mind.


And I can't think about it right now.
We have a show tomorrow.....and that's my priority.

We decided to use my husband's truck for shows this summer.
I am in the process of trying to get him to take the back seat right out of the truck.
He's not convinced.



I was considering buying a new vehicle.  But have you looked at the prices of new vehicles lately.
Dear God.
I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around it.



I'm a simple girl, I'm afraid.
A new tea cup makes me happy.   $4.99 at Tuesday Morning.


A fresh batch of popcorn out of my Whirly Pop.

Yeah, that does it for me.



Saving my change in a jar I won in the Chinese Auction we have at Christmas every year.


Love it.


Walking my dog under this incredible sky, every day.

Simple can be beautiful.   



And today, a victory.    
I resisted the need to weed whack ....and honestly, I wanted to do it so bad it hurt.


But I know my neck needs me to be sensible right now.

So I am being sensible.

Grow weeds, just grow.









9 comments:

Janet said...

Beautiful colors! My suggestion for rescuing the warp is to start by inserting lease sticks into the warp--perhaps two pairs. Remove the weights from the loose threads. Pull the warp forward through the heddles and the reed--chain it to keep from tangling. If you have a plain beam, wind the warp onto the beam separating the layers with paper or sticks. Rewinding the warp onto the beam will be slow, but it will be worth it.

justjill said...

Grow weeds just grow. Love it, thats what I should say to myself!

Loom With A View said...

yep. Been there. Done that. Lead fishing weights are my go to. Sectional warping beams are wonderful, but they do have their dirty little secrets!

The fabric is beautiful! May I suggest fusible interfacing to hold the floats and then creating decorative cushion covers?

re'New said...

While you left the loom with it's problem for another time, you will come up with a plan :)

Vehicles... ugh. I'm driving a 2001 dodge pickup in all it's rusty, hail dented glory. I really need to start looking for a newer pickup, but the price! I only have about 112,000 miles on my truck and most used ones available have about that much too, so it's like not getting ahead with a used. So new? Heck no... Not sure what I'm going to do.

Twylla Alexander said...

"Simple can be beautiful." Lovely thought and SO true!

Shammickite said...

I'm not a weaver so I don't understand all the difficulties you are having, however I have to say I love the colours and the patterns in the shawls. And the gorgeous sky.

Karen thisoldhouse2.com said...


I'm not a weaver either, but it sounds like one of the reasons I'm not, lol. If what you have left is not suitable for a shawl, would it make a beautiful big square dog bed? Or is it too fine a fabric to use for that purpose?

Yes, take care of that neck! Weeds are just weeds. You don't need the extra pain, right??... '


viviene joeli said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Peg Cherre said...

If I understand what Janet said, I concur. Unwind the yarn from the back beam, rolling it forward through the heddles, but I might not keep the threads through the reed - depends on how well they move through it. After the back beam is empty, rewind slowly, with all the yarn under tension. It will definitely be easiest if you & Lois work together on this. If it doesn't want to move well through heddles, insert lease sticks in tabby sheds to make a new cross, remove threads from heddles and reed, and proceed as above.

I also agree with everyone who said that the shawls are beautiful!

Welcome to my world.

Because every thread counts

Because every thread counts