The Weaving So Far

I wove quite awhile yesterday but only got 29” done. I couldn’t bring myself to stop with the changing colours every 8-row repeat. At least until I run out of most of the different coloured yarns. Or finish one section of the 3 panels for my blanket. It’s just so darned slow! I also kept getting weft loops on my right selvedge and had to unpick a row or several to correct them. Grrrr… That’s what I get for not weaving more. I lose my ability to do a good job. I won’t even show you the uneven beating. I hope most of it will come out in the fulling, which I plan to do fairly thoroughly which is why this is such a large piece of cloth.

The constant colour changes remind me too much of tapestry weaving. It’s too much fiddling and thinking. I just want to have my design set so I can get into a rhythm of throwing the shuttle. I must stop, think “which colour should be next, no that one was just a few rows ago, do I have enough of this left, need to wind more bobbins, blah, blah, blah”, change yarns in the shuttle (I only have 2 going), begin leaving a tail, weave 8 picks, cut it off and then start the series all over again. My neck and shoulders are sore from only a few hours of this.

So why am I torturing myself? Well the plan originally was to use up a ton of old wool yarn in many colours to make a new blanket for my bed. In winter we need several layers to keep us warm since I open the window some no matter what the outdoor temperature is. Otherwise I feel stifled! And I love heavy bulky covers on my bed. I just feel so comfortably snuggled under them. And I like a big enough blanket to wrap completely around my mattress and tuck in well underneath. I have a very hard time sleeping in summer with just a sheet on top. Right now it’s still cool enough at night to need several layers especially when I open the window quite wide. However, we’re supposed to have a really warm spell starting tomorrow. Couldn’t tell right this minute though. It’s still dark and rainy so my garden is getting a good watering before the sun comes out and the temps rise.

The wool yarn was in several colour families. I dyed some of it to get the soft reds and oranges of Utah rocks and some black. There’s a few tans, yellows and greens but I pulled all the purple and blue out except for one ball of blue-violet. (Gotta have some “poison” to spark up the colours!) I may yet need to buy more yarn since I have lost any idea of how much I have and how much I’ve used already. If I do, I’ll probably just get black. That should simplify weaving the last part of the warp! Right now my focus is getting the darn thing off the loom asap. I have Secret Project #3 to work on.

I know — shut up and go weave some more!