Responses

Firstly, some points from your Thing 1:

But.  Butbutbut.  Everything went wrong with weaving this off, except none of the selvedge threads broke.  Lots and lots of warp ends broke (and I didn’t mend a single one).  They broke for a couple of reasons, I think: There are three warp yarns – the shiny, bright red, thick cotton yarn, which gave me no trouble at all; a 12/2 70% cotton/30% flax mill end; and a NM 14/1 (skinny!) 70% silk/30% polyester mill end.  I held the latter two ends together throughout, but both of those yarns broke, I think because they twisted around each other and/or one of a pair changed places with one of a neighboring pair, so I had trouble winding on when threads twisted and caught on the heddles.  Also: tension.  In the last yard, first one side and then the other developed a smile; I don’t really know why.  I finally resorted to a temple by the end.  Also: an angle in the beater, of about half an inch from one side of the warp to the other.  Again, I don’t know why; I’ll get out my measuring tapes and tools and see what I can do.  Finally, when I washed and dried the fabric, it developed a good bit of seersuckering, which mostly went away when I pressed it, but I fear it will come back when I go to construct a garment.  I didn’t get seersuckering with the sample, but this warp had more of the bright shiny yarn in it.  I think I’ll have to fuse some lightweight interfacing to the fabric, under a lining.

I’m nearly certain that your tension/smile/beater angle problems are all related.  If you recall, Sarah and I both gave our looms an Almighty Tightening and that addressed tension issues all ’round.  Looms are like living things – they shift and the fasteners move.  I’ve added “check all fasteners and make sure they are tight” to my warping process since it affects the finished piece so very much.  Key offenders are the bolts under the castle and at the base of the feet.  As for the broken warp threads – did you hold them together when winding and then separate in the warp or simply wind/weave them as a pair?  And yes – I suspect that you ‘will get some amount of searsuckering in the finished garment, but that could well be what really makes the jacket.  Regardless, I’m sorry that it was such a bear – but I hope that your jacket will at least offset the suffering.

Ok.  On to Thing 2:

• The first line of thought is easy:  I weave because I want to and I can, and I’m mostly adult enough to grit my teeth through the difficult or boring parts.

• The second question, what do I want to weave:  Now, that’s harder, because really, I don’t need much. 

• The third question, how are we doing with this blog? 

• Why am I not more creative?

You also make mention of your Puritanical upbringing (sometimes I think the Puritans were German …) and how you feel that this hampers your creativity – both in terms of production as well as in permission to just “do things”.  Also, given that you’re trying to shed possessions, there’s another barrier to getting to FOs.

This got me to wondering – how many of your clothes are handmade/handwoven?  If the answer is “many/lots”, then that’s harder to solve.  If the answer is “few/none”, well, how about you work on trading out the non-handmade/handwoven items, piece for piece, with clothing you make?  Arguably, same for household items – blankets, towels, rugs, pillows, etc.  I’ve heard many say (not me, at least not out loud) how they admire Rita Buchanan and her House of Textiles.  I’m willing to bet she didn’t start that way, but ended up there over a lifetime.  As for not piling up stuff – when the blanket is done, the store-bought goes to Goodwill or gifted elsewhere.  Same for dishtowels, clothes, etc.  One off the loom/sewing machine, one out of the house.  It’s how I’m working, FWIW, and that gives me a pretty healthy to-do list in both quantity and variety.

I started nudging you on your “not creative” comment yesterday, and my basic observation is that for your handwovens, I’ve not seen a bunch beyond yardage.  I recall the bag you did (lunch tote?) and I know you crank out a bunch of scarves for the sale each year, but how about moving beyond loom-shaped stuff?  Put “Make the Jacket” on your list for next quarter – and add “embelish” to it.  Maybe add “handbag to coordinate with the jacket, embellished” so that you end the next round with an ensemble.  But – don’t let yourself stop until the yardage becomes something.  Making the kimono, subsequent jacket and shirt taught me so much – and really helped me to be more deliberate in my weaving.  Perhaps that’d work for you, as well.  Do something with that interesting honeycomb you were working with last month – it looked cool, so why not explore it a bit further and really see how the fabric will perform?  For me, *that* is the truly creative part.  And, at risk of putting words in Sara’s mouth, it’s the difference between inspiration and perspiration.  Take the inspiration of what hits you on the loom, but don’t stop until it is something.  Maybe that’s why I’m so stuck on these M’s and O’s.  It really *is* interesting, but I don’t want to let it go until I’ve tried the thing that I want to try.

And as for the question of how we’re doing with the blog, well, it *is* a bit challenging.  I know that I wanted/still want a lot more back-and-forth on things, and that the blog would help us to be more productive.  I think this is a challenge faced by weavers everywhere – looms (mostly) aren’t portable and that makes real-time feedback and discussion harder.  And, without a sample in your hand, it’s hard for you to give pointed criticism.  We’re also both somewhat off doing our own thing – as is Sarah – and while that’s totally good, it doesn’t necessarily make it easy to work together on things.  Mentally, I think I’m in a better position to be more true to the original guidelines (post more frequently, with pictures, work against the list) so I don’t want to give up at all!  I’m also happy to have more contributors.  But, I’m also not ready to throw in the towel and go back to Rav.  I’ve been there less, and reduced my time online in general, and it’s helped me to be more focused and productive out in the Real World.

So, that’s my first bit of rambling on all this.  And my Q2 projects are still in limbo.  But I think it’s time to dig out the linen.  :-)