Making Progress

Yesterday I was able to clear the decks, get set up for and begin threading.

Threading can be a bit of a challenge, especially as threading progressions get more complex.

As a new weaver I worked out a system that worked for me, mostly. It was when I bought a computer (based on the operating system I needed to run Fiberworks weaving software) that things got ‘better’.

I was now able to print out my drafts with numbers instead of symbols in the draft. I found that helped enormously. Instead of holding a handful of symbols in memory, I had numbers that directly related to the shafts I wanted to use.

When weaving with more than four shafts, as I was doing (and still do) this made it easier to track the threading system I wanted to use.

But everyone processes information in their own way.

While I can use complicated threading drafts, I try to keep them fairly simple with progressions that are based on (although not exclusively) twill variations.

Block weaves have their own ‘order’ and learning the DNA of the weave structure, I find it fairly easy to follow the sequence.

There are times, like with the place mats, that I used only 8 shafts because the tabby b pick is all of the shafts bar 2. The Megado is a lot ‘lighter’ to treadle than the AVL was, but the habit is a bit ingrained now and since I was having a lot of physical issues with my legs, I opted to downsize the number of shafts I was using. In the end, I believe, it was a good decision.

I talk a lot about changing conditions can create the need to change what I am doing. For years I never took the changing conditions of my body into account. Now I have to do so. If my body doesn’t ‘work’, I can’t weave.

The road to ‘recovery’ – whatever that is going to look like – is filled with pot holes and detours. But I made it through the summer and now I’m hoping to build on the progress that we are working towards.

I still have yarn (too much yarn!) in my stash. Plus I *want* to keep weaving.

Tomorrow I have another hour in the dentist’s chair so I’m hoping to do as much threading as I can today. Because I have massage on Thursday and between the two, I may not feel able to weave for a couple of days.

Plus there is sn*w in the forecast and with age it appears that my body has turned into a weather barometer. And the information is not given in a bar chart, but pain levels. (whoopeeeeee – not)