BACK TO THREADING

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I am back, at last, to threading the loom.  I am not making rapid progress.  At first I blamed that on my back—on my not being willing to sit at the loom for long periods.  But my back is recovering nicely.  And what I now know absolutely, is that threading the first block goes smashingly well, but on the second block I nearly always make errors. And more errors.  And more errors.

Each block has roughly 50 ends.  And each block has its own peculiar threading.  The problem is that I get so used to the first threading that my mind cannot seem to get used to a new threading. And once I start to make errors, I cannot seem to stop myself from making more.

Today, the threading went so badly that, instead of making individual errors here and there, I totally misread the second threading group and had to pull out all 50 ends and start over again.

Let me illustrate the problem a bit.  Here is the theading pattern for the second block:

6 8 6 7 2 4 2 3

When I thread, work from right to left, so that is how I read the threading.  And here is what I actually threaded:

8 6 7 6 4 2 3 2

I even took a break before I start the second group of ends.  And, actually, I made not a single error.  It was simply the wrong threading.  You have no idea, then, how hard it was for me to wrap my head around the correct threading.  But I knew I  had to do it before I quit.  And do it I did.

These threadings, by the way, are not really as difficult as they might appear. I you were to think of shafts 5 to 8 as if they too were numbered 1 to 4, you will quickly see that the pair of threadings are identical.

THREADING IN THE AFTERNOON

I could always come back to the loom later in the day and do some more threading, but morning is my best time—the time when I am least likely to make mistakes. Yup, that is right. 

This afternoon I had some extra time, so, why not?  I threaded the group of heddles.  I checked them.  A mistake in the second group.  Had to start over.  And in pulling out the threads I accidentally pulled out the threads from the second group.

Threaded again.  Went to check.  An error in the first group. 

Threaded again.  GOT IT RIGHT.  It took me only 45 minutes………..

Related Post:   Threading Error Revisited

“Back to Threading”  was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on May 4, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina