Dancing with threads

One of the best things about learning a craft is there are so many aspects to master.  When I took up weaving I found fascination for a lifetime.

In the early days, the challenge was merely to measure the warp and get it onto the loom, threaded, sleyed, and tied without crossing threads or skipping dents. Then I had to learn to wind a good bobbin and pirn.  There were the arts of throwing the shot and treadling the pattern to acquire.  It is difficult to maintain a steady beat over a number of sessions, but it must be done.  Working with multiple shuttles introduced a whole new skill of thread management.

I had not realized that one loom would lead to another, and another, and another.  Each one requires different skills and techniques and brings different satisfactions.  Working with  a wide range of fibres has led me to appreciate the specific characteristics of each.  I am learning which to use for different projects.

Of course, there are many weave structures beyond the one up, one down I learned in elementary school.  Some are repetitive so weaving becomes a type of meditation.  Others are complicated and require full attention.  Some require close setts, others wide ones.  Wefts can be as coarse as rag strips and upholstery selvedges for rugs, or as fine as spun silk, so matching the technique to the materials is also a learning experience.  Looms can malfunction, warp threads can break, threading and treadling sequences can introduce errors into the fabric, all of which must be repaired or integrated into the whole.

As I have desired more control of outcomes, I have been led to adjacent paths such as spinning and dyeing.  There are also a plethora of finishing techniques from hemstitching to fringe twisting to waulking.  The more of these I use, the more I can predict the results of my efforts. 

Now I know enough to daydream.  What if...