on the loom....

Last week I loaded up the loom with 12+ yards of black wool/silk.  After tying it on and beginning to work I realized that the 3/1 twill pattern I had designed wasn't working.  So I ask myself; do I stop or let it go and just keep weaving? My brain said to just move along....no one will notice.  My heart said, "Fix it or it will drive you crazy and you are already dealing with elevated blood pressure".

So, I listened to my heart, cut off the stuff I didn't like (telling myself that I can save those ok pieces for another project...a small bag maybe?), retied the warp to the front beam, and off I went........only to discover another problem! Argh!

Since I was about 30" into a scarf, I thought it best to continue.  Not a big problem, just a quirking thing like I like working with the wool/silk at 24 epi and I had it set to 20 because I forgot to change the reed. Oh well...it happens.

But I didn't panic...I didn't even get upset.  Instead, I pulled Carol Strickler's A Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns off the shelf and started searching.  I fooled around with some twill drafts using Fiberworks and found my answer!

I settled on a draft by Judith Rygiel, p.56 #231, a block of plain weave and a block of 2/2 twill. Perfect!  I did fool around a bit with the treadling and from there my imagination went wild - but that's a future entry.

Today I am a happy weaver.  Struggling through this subjective problem was a good lesson for me.  I had to stretch and find something new, something that pleased me.  If I'm happy with the results, someone else just might will be as well.