Working

I’ve spent the last two weeks making friends with the AVL.  And when I say “making friends”, I mean putting serious effort into getting to know what works, what doesn’t, where things go wonky and how this lovely loom and I can find a way to work together.  It’s made me think differently about warping (more planning leads to a swifter execution), about threading (it’s slower – texsolv doesn’t fly across the heddle bars with a little flick) and about finding a rhythm in the weaving (treadling each shed is a TWO PEDAL operation rather than one).  All of this is different from the other two looms, but the reward is that once it’s set up, it’s much more conducive to just weaving.  While I can’t completely turn off my brain, it certainly becomes a much lower-level activity.  Almost like spinning.

The other big difference is that there’s a different level of flexibility.  On the other looms, I can just start randomly trying things – treadling patterns in particular.  I can do spontaneous network twill curves (ala Bonnie Inouye) and reverse treadling orders whenever I want.  Pattern generation on a whim is easy.  With the AVL, I need to plan ahead – including reprogramming the loom – before I can make changes.  Less wear and tear on my back and knees, but definitely not as spontaneous.  There’s likely another way to do this but I’ve not yet discovered it.  Time will tell.

All that said, am I happy with this loom?  Yes.  Absolutely.  Having the constraints of planning is good for me – and being able to execute my ideas quickly is also good.  I also appreciate the obvious effort and thought that have gone into the design and manufacture of the loom.  The engineer in me is kept happy.  I do have a few bones to pick (why, oh WHY can’t I *SEE* what the dobby is picking when I’m seated at the loom?) but that’ll just lead to me making modifications at some point.  It’s a tool, so why not?

I also owe an answer to “what’s next”.  Given that the power is going out soon, I may defer answering that question until I can get a little more time with power.  This also may be an opportunity for me to sit down and get some quiet time to work out my thoughts on the subject.  There is much to do, you see, to turn the notion into a workable plan.  While I would normally do this as part of a run, my legs ache in that “marathon training” way and it takes concentration to not get lazy and trip.  So a quiet few hours spent planning wouldn’t go amiss.

All righty then.  There’s coffee to drink, a shower to take, and then some planning/writing to do.  Maybe I can work in a stop at IKEA and Office Depot, too.  :-)