Weaverly

In Which We Tie Up Some Loose Ends

The doubleweave warp has finally come to its end, and all the weaving is cut off. I cut some pieces apart, and steam pressed the hems in place on the tree panel. I don't know if I stayed up too late watching Inspector Frost, or if my ironing skills are rusty, but the steam from the iron kept fogging up my glasses and I couldn't see what I was doing. Very frustrating. Consequently the hem widths are just an educated guess.

It was fun to see the reverse sides of all the pieces, always a surprise.

With a few minutes to spare before heading out for errands, I glued the back of this one. It's going to be cut apart into little pieces eventually.

At the loom, the last woven inch has been folded up and securely taped in front of the reed. It's not going anywhere!!!

While in back, the least sticks are inserted, ready for tying on the next warp, TBA.

And the super-exciting wonderful news is——the Compudobby upgrade has arrived! I have to wait until this afternoon for the Heavy Lifting Brigade to help me affix it to the loom. But now I can finally see the light through the trees.

An Excellent Day

Sunday was one of those perfect days you wish would go on forever.

Cotton (that's his name, he's an Australian Shepherd getting on in years, but hasn't lost his fine herding skills. He'll herd anything or anyone) joined us in the morning for a family birthday party, and enjoyed romping in the stream. Here he is drying off.

We had chocolate birthday cake with breakfast. A good idea. Should do it more often.

Then in an attempt to balance the food pyramid, I started a big pot of vegetable soup, which stayed on the stove all day. Here are the veggies before they were chopped up and tossed into the pot with the marrow bones: carrots, potatoes, red kale, rutabaga, and leeks.

In the afternoon, weaver Mary Kircher stopped by for a visit. We talked looms and software, and she showed me her beautiful handmade journal, in which some of the pages are actual looms! It's a really brilliant idea. She will be doing a blog soon to feature her journaling techniques, and I'll share the link with you when that happens. 

After dinner the homefolks settled in for a movie orgy. First, a session from the linguistics course we are watching on DVD; then an episode of our current fave on Netflix, A Touch of Frost; and finally, just at 9, Downton Abbey. I wouldn't miss Downton for anything, even though I must say this last episode was a bit sappy.

End-of-Warp Tales

You've all been there—almost the end of the warp, but you know you can eke out a few more inches of weaving. All you need to leave at the end is enough space to insert a couple of lease sticks so you can tie on the new warp, but you don't want to waste any of that precious old warp.

So you weave a few more inches.

Trouble is, the end of the warp seems to grow, not shrink! So you weave that little bit again. And again.

Sometimes the little bits turn into the best thing you've done on that warp. A life lesson in there someplace.