Into Every Life.......

Total Woven To Date: 20"
Woven Yesterday: 6"

..............Some Rain Must Fall. Or so they say.

Yesterday I was weaving, but not without difficulty. I thought I was focusing. I wasn't I knew I wasn't because I was forgetting to check the shafts. Oh yes, I was forgetting to check the shafts alright. Take a look.


Those three white arrows show three mistakes. The top one is really easy to see. Ironically, however, I had not noticed this error in the woven cloth. I first saw it in the photo. In the photo that mistake jumped out at me, much more so than the other two errors. In that top error I wove only half the number of shots with the yellow and blue than I needed to. Not really treadling errors; I had just jumped too quickly to the next block.

The second two arrows point to clear mistreadlings. At first it might look like I left out a blue shot entirely. The two yellow wefts at each arrow look like they follow one upon the other in the same shed. They only look that way. There is a blue shot in between. But it is on the wrong treadle. Consequently the blue weft shot does not separate the two yellow weft shots.

I should have realized that forgetting to check the shafts meant that I wasn't totally on board with the weaving. I should have used those memory lapses to jog me into looking more carefully at the fabric itself that I was weaving. Had I indeed treadled a wrong shaft when I wasn't paying attention?

I was also frequently on the verge of making errors. Sometimes I picked up the wrong shuttle. Sometimes I almost didn't weave all 8 shots. Yes, there were times when I caught myself. Clearly however, there was one time..........

Given the lucidity of hindsight, I now realize that I should have stopped weaving for the day. I also might have stopped to think how I might get my focus back. However, I doubt that I would have been successful.

I was weaving in the late afternoon. Late afternoon is not usually a good time for focussed activity, for me anyway. Making this time of day even less good was the fact that I had just spent two hours outside planting shrubs. I was tired. I should have known better. I should have woven first and then gone outside and planted. But I have all these shrubs I purchased and they really really need to get planted. I was afraid I would be too tired after weaving to go out and plant. I should have thought about the reverse issue!

I decided not to unweave. I am not weaving the fabric for show. And I was pretty sure I could avoid the problem areas when I cut out the fabric

Then I went to bed.

I lay there. I lay there. I couldn't sleep. I realized that I had decided to unweave. I wanted to get up immediately and at least begin the process. This is how I am with unweaving. I feel this over-riding need at least to get it started so that there is no danger of changing my mind. But I didn't get up and start because the loom is in the room right next to our bedroom. Looms are noisy creatures. Finally, finally I did get to sleep.

Today I have started the unweaving. All five inches of it. Yes, the three errors happened at the beginning of yesterday's session. Ah well.

But I have learned a lesson the hard way. Now if I can only remember that lesson when I need it in the future! Trying to glue this experience into my memory was, in fact, probably the most important reason for my decision to reweave. Surely I will not forget this?