Last Thursday Snow Day
Because of the snow on the ground and the forecast for more bad weather until noon, I stayed home on Thursday. I got up, took a shower, and called my boss at 7am. Because I had all my time sheets turned in, he was ok with me taking the day off. Phillip had to wait until 8am to know for sure, at which time his supervisor confirmed that he would not be working Thursday or Friday. Phillip told me not to worry about the dishes. He said he would do them tomorrow when I’m not home. He knows how few “free” days I get.
So, I had ice cream for breakfast, then sat down at my loom. While I wove, Phillip sat on the couch. I think his original intent was to quietly keep me company while reading a book, but he kept thinking of things he wanted to tell me, even reading most of a chapter to me out loud. I spent more time fixing problems than making progress, not even half of which was due to having my attention divided. This is my third weaving project and the first on my own loom. It has been a learning experience.
Since I bought the loom off Craigslist used, it came with a big cone of white mystery yarn, which I used for my first warp. It did not come with a warping board, so Phillip made me one out of PVC following directions given to us by Mistress Morgana (Mistress being the SCA title given to her in recognition of her receiving their highest honor for accomplishments in the arts; which, in her case, is primarily weaving). The warping board was great, but slippery! So, I only ended up putting on a warp that was about an inch wide. Oh well, I can make trim. The loom also came with several mystery spools, shuttles, and a sectional back beam, but no tensioner or yardage counter.
I warped the loom with no errors, so far as I know. I threaded it to make a point twill with a single point in the middle. So far, so good. I began experimenting. I used up the reminants of a spool of white thread matching the mystery warp (presumably 10/2 cotton or finer), then used up a whole spool of green. That got me less than a foot of trim, so it was on to the larger length of light pink. The whole time, it was nothing but thread break after thread break. Thursday was no exception. I was constantly getting up to repair the warp.
I took a break and watched “It’s Complicated” with my husband on Netflix. He fixed cannelloni for linner. Then, back at the loom with no distractions and still more thread breaks! Finally, I ran through the entire spool of pink weft. It looked nice, except for the warp repair ends sticking out and the resulting tension problems. I put on a burgundy spool and kept going. Suddenly, it wouldn’t advance anymore. I had reached the end of the warp! Finally!
If I got nothing else out of this project, at least I know definitively what my loom waste is. (That is, I know how much extra warp thread I have to put on the machine that cannot be woven because it has to span through the loom mechanism from wherever you tie -on.) But, I did get something else out of this. The pink portion of the trim is enough to wrap around me once. If it doesn’t clash too badly, I might add it to the top of my purple “Viking” apron dress. The green and burgundy sections aren’t long enough to do much with, except maybe a pair of mismatched sleeves.
So, I had ice cream for breakfast, then sat down at my loom. While I wove, Phillip sat on the couch. I think his original intent was to quietly keep me company while reading a book, but he kept thinking of things he wanted to tell me, even reading most of a chapter to me out loud. I spent more time fixing problems than making progress, not even half of which was due to having my attention divided. This is my third weaving project and the first on my own loom. It has been a learning experience.
Since I bought the loom off Craigslist used, it came with a big cone of white mystery yarn, which I used for my first warp. It did not come with a warping board, so Phillip made me one out of PVC following directions given to us by Mistress Morgana (Mistress being the SCA title given to her in recognition of her receiving their highest honor for accomplishments in the arts; which, in her case, is primarily weaving). The warping board was great, but slippery! So, I only ended up putting on a warp that was about an inch wide. Oh well, I can make trim. The loom also came with several mystery spools, shuttles, and a sectional back beam, but no tensioner or yardage counter.
I warped the loom with no errors, so far as I know. I threaded it to make a point twill with a single point in the middle. So far, so good. I began experimenting. I used up the reminants of a spool of white thread matching the mystery warp (presumably 10/2 cotton or finer), then used up a whole spool of green. That got me less than a foot of trim, so it was on to the larger length of light pink. The whole time, it was nothing but thread break after thread break. Thursday was no exception. I was constantly getting up to repair the warp.
I took a break and watched “It’s Complicated” with my husband on Netflix. He fixed cannelloni for linner. Then, back at the loom with no distractions and still more thread breaks! Finally, I ran through the entire spool of pink weft. It looked nice, except for the warp repair ends sticking out and the resulting tension problems. I put on a burgundy spool and kept going. Suddenly, it wouldn’t advance anymore. I had reached the end of the warp! Finally!
If I got nothing else out of this project, at least I know definitively what my loom waste is. (That is, I know how much extra warp thread I have to put on the machine that cannot be woven because it has to span through the loom mechanism from wherever you tie -on.) But, I did get something else out of this. The pink portion of the trim is enough to wrap around me once. If it doesn’t clash too badly, I might add it to the top of my purple “Viking” apron dress. The green and burgundy sections aren’t long enough to do much with, except maybe a pair of mismatched sleeves.