Smooth sailing

Some days everything runs smoothly. Warp threads have no knots and behave well, slipping by each other smoothly. Bobbins wind easily and the shuttle glides from side to side with ease. My body moves smoothly and without any complaining. Not only can I sit and weave, it’s rewarding to do so. When I take a break to walk the dog or eat lunch, I’m eager to return to the loom.

Other days everything goes to pot. The shuttle slips out of my hand and drops on the floor. Warp threads break. Weft threads have knots in them that require much stopping and starting. My arms, legs, back and/or butt hurts. I have to walk away from the loom due to frustration or pain.

Today was the former. Everything went smoothly. The weaving was a joy. As a result I got half of EB’s first wrap, which will be 4.8 meters when it’s finished, woven! I know better than to expect the rest of this warp to go as smoothly and easily. Tomorrow may be very different. I can only hope to achieve some of today’s grace.

I’m really liking this warp with only 4 colors. Each of them gets to spend plenty of time showing it’s beauty. They all play nicely together, and with the weft.

On to a technical issue. I mentioned that one of EB’s wraps will be woven with 10/2 mercerized cotton. I started with that one. As always, at the beginning of a new warp I weave a couple motifs with scrap yarn to make sure that I don’t have threading errors or other warp issues. I did that with some 8/2 cotton left on a bobbin. Then I started weaving with the 10/2. I didn’t know how much more the 10/2 would pack in, but you can see the difference in measurement in this image.

The first 2 hearts, woven with 8/2, are almost exactly 1″. With the 10/2 it takes almost 2-1/2 hearts to make 1″. I ordered more weft yarn than I thought I’d need to be sure I don’t run out.