The project of exquisite pain
Finally, after much belaboring and a delay due to an emergent weaving project (yes, there is such a thing, and I actually managed to complete it in time for this weekend), I have fully embarked on my Chalice the Third project. It is a Perugia towel, where the base is a six-shed lozenge twill in 40/2 linen, and the blue sections are worked in pick-up brocade (which I've never done before) . This means that I lift each and every thread according to the pattern to form the shed for the blue weft to pass through. Yes, there are 450 threads in this warp. Yes, this is in fact the most incredibly tedious thing I think I have ever done. Right now, it takes me around five hours an inch for the pattern section. I'm pretty sure this project will go on the list of things I do once and probably not ever again. It actually looks way better in the photograph than it does in real life. (The pomegranates are the little fruits with the checkerboard pattern in them. There are some acorns in there too).
