Breathing Space

Much as I enjoy having a Proper Summer, endless sunshine does make the studio insufferably hot – our buildings are not planned with this kind of weather in mind! So I have been working surrounded by strategically placed fans and still overheating as I weave. Today, however, the sunny sky was enhanced by fluffy clouds and a stiff breeze, which has made life a bit more comfortable.

Having finished a load of things with deadlines, I also have a bit of breathing space in my schedule. There are still too many things to do, but none of them are due tomorrow – or, if they are, I have forgotten, which amounts to much the same thing. So I decided to try a new trick with the new warp and tie it on to the old one. I’ve not needed to do this before (well, strictly speaking I don’t need to do it now, but it seemed like a good opportunity to experiment) and I seriously doubted whether I would be comfortable sitting at the back of the Megado (it is much too low for me to be able to manage it standing).

I beamed the warp yesterday: it is not that long, about 10 m, but the lambswool is chunky and makes for a very well-upholstered warp beam. And that doesn’t leave much space for a person’s knees. I needed to sit high enough for my neck and shoulders to be relaxed, yet low enough for my legs not to be squashed and push my back into an awkward position… I think I found the balance: at any rate, I survived and it didn’t take me too long. My knots weren’t brilliant, but they were improving by the end of the process.

warps tied

I don’t keep the lease sticks in while weaving, so reinserted them behind the heddles at the end of the old warp. The 4CDW threading doesn’t produce a plain weave shed, but it is close enough. In fact, I rather like the chequered effect of the alternating blocks. And keeping track was absurdly easy since pink always tied onto yellow and purple onto green. I should make matching warps more often!

The lambswool is extremely sticky stuff and by the time I had coaxed everything through the heddles and the reed it was a bit of a mess, so I decided against attempting to weave a header. I was going to cut off the first piece of cloth anyway so I’ll just lash the new warp on as usual. I was really impatient to see the back of the cloth properly after all my trouble with those floats.

new warp through

Looks OK so far! And I like the juxtaposition of colours, even in the mess on the floor. Now I’m wishing the warp was twice as long.

yarn scraps

Breathing Space” was posted by Cally on 30 July 2014 at http://callybooker.co.uk

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2 Responses

  1. Shani phethean-Hubble
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    Beautiful colour ways – I am impressed that you have been able to focus on anything with the weather the way it is 😉

  2. Lisa
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    Love the “from chaos into order” aspect of tying on, as well as the opportunity to explore other colorways without rethreading. And your design looks highly worthy of multiple colorways! Looking forward to seeing.