More Musings

Once upon a time I was part of a group that wanted to have more time together to discuss faith issues but was finding the realities of scheduling to be working against us.  I started this blog to see if this was a way to meet that need.  I think I can safely say it has proved to be a perfectly good solution to some other problem.  So at this point I will recognize that this is, and has been, my blog and will use it as such.

I put a warp on my loom this week.  Warping a loom is a lot of work.  It is an exacting process and the finished produce will show how well it was done.  For this warp 320 threads to be measured to the same lenght (220 inches in this case), threaded through the reed (2 to a dent for 20 per inch), each threaded through the proper heddle in the proper order to get the desired pattern, then tied on and wound with even tension on all 320 of them.  All  while keeping them from tangling.  Do it well and weaving will be a joy.  Do it less well and you will fight problems every inch you weave.  Do it badly and it won't take a weaver to see that the finished cloth isn't what was intended. 

I have produced enough yards of cloth to know what I do and don't want to do.  I tried a different way of measuring out multi colored stripes that I will NEVER use again.  A few seconds saved at one step is not worth the complications caused on down the line.  I got a couple of inches of the warp through the heddles and realized that I didn't have the correct number of heddles on each shaft.  There are a couple of ways to fix this.  I decided that I was tired of having this problem and did a real fix.  Had to take out what had been threaded so I could take my loom apart to do it.  Wayne made a slight modification to the loom to make this easier the next time it needs to happen (not every pattern needs the same number of heddles on each shaft). 

My favorite part of weaving is watching the pattern develop from the work of my hands, but I don't dislike the work to make that possible.  I decided to take the time to make sure I had a trouble free warp to weave.  Had to redo a few things to make that happen.  Guess I will see how close I came to that when I start weaving.  There will be no escaping the reality that the weaving will show how well I did this.  It will also show any problems I have missed so far.  I think this is another thing I like about weaving.  The relationship between how well you prepare and the product you get is so clear. 

I suspect that the real difference between weaving and other actives is not how closely preparation and product are related, but how clearly.  I think I shall ponder this while going to work on other project today.