When things go wrong
Weaving drafts and other projects
I warped my loom on my last day in the studio before the new year. It was late in the day (a big no-no), and I was talking with some people who had stopped by for a visit (another no-no when warping). The draft wasn’t looking right on my phone, and after I had fully dressed my loom, I realized that something was way off. It was so late in the day, however, that I just decided to wing it—with no clue how the pattern would end up. It certainly wouldn’t be the one dictated by the draft.
I sent a picture of my warp and the draft to my friend Ellen, and she explained where I had gone wrong. So, I wove the scarf with my modified pattern (making a few adjustments along the way) and decided to try the original draft another time.
Since it took so much longer to weave the problem scarf, I decided on a quickie scarf for my second project last week. A leathersmith on my floor had gifted me some indie-dyed yarns she no longer had time to knit with, so I wove her a scarf from a skein of it (the one she liked the most) as a thank-you. There’s nothing like an easy (and fast) project to recalibrate the brain after a stressful weave.
Most of the studios at Lowe Mill have some sort of sofa or other comfortable seating in them, but until now, I only had my weaving chair (a padded rolling desk chair) and metal folding chairs in my studio. The idea of finding the right-sized sofa and hauling it up four flights of stairs to my studio was too daunting a task to rush, so I bided my time finding one. Then, I saw on our Facebook tenant page that the studio across the hall from mine was giving hers away—and it was just the right size. Brad and I were saved not only the hassle of hauling a new sofa up a hundred stairs but also spared from purchasing one.
My studio is in a constant state of change as I add new furniture or remove existing fixtures. Maybe at some point, it will be where I want it, but until then, I expect lots of moving pieces.
Some of the Shetland fleece I’ve been working on over the past few weeks finally made it to my wheel and is now ready to be moved from bobbin to niddy noddy—though I’m waiting until this week for that.
As far as 2024 weaving projects go, I think I ended up with around 49 total (34 of those were woven in November/December). My goal is at least 52 this year, and I don’t foresee any reasons why I can’t accomplish that (and possibly more)—even if I’m pacing myself. The biggest issue is trying not to overwork my back, so if I stick with two projects per week (maximum), I should be okay in that department.
