Tuesday, April 26, 2011

CONFUSED?

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I realized that those of you may be coming to my blog for the first time might be a bit confused by my last post.  Here is a brief explanation.

I spent months (actually, perilously close to a year) designing a silk warp for a shawl, dyeing the yarns, and getting the warp on the loom. The warp on the loom of yesterday’s post, is the warp in the waste basket.  Why did it end up there?

The original intent had not been a shawl at all.  Rather it had been a piece I intended to submit to a competition.  The deadline passed, so it became a shawl.  It had all become way too much for me.  I had to rethread at least 3 times because the complexity of the threading gave way too easily to errors.  The treadling, not yet finally decided, was also going to be extremely complex.  Moreover, many treadling decisions would be made as I actually wove.  Also I was using many colors, entailing multiple shuttles at a time.  I had over-reached myself and the joy was gone.

Add to this the fact that voice lessons, innocently started over a year-and-a-half ago, started taking over my life.
It took months, however, for me to come to grips with the fact that the warp, unwoven, had to come off the loom.  The prospect of weaving a simple prayer shawl made its removable possible.

Confused?” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on April 26, 2011. ©2011 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

9 comments:

Susan said...

You know, I completely understand. I'm intrigued by complex patterning and seem to keep looking for the next and better one. Then I realized that I had (or was) neatly backing myself into a corner! I made my next project as simple as I could get it and turned to plain weave with emphasis on colour. Still not sure which direction I'm heading but I'm taking it one project at a time.

Sometimes scissors are the great liberator!

Susan

Anonymous said...

Good for you. Sometimes cutting the "dog" off the loom is absolutely the best way to go.
Stephanie S.

Peg in South Carolina said...

Thank you for your comment Changepath. An interesting moniker you have chosen.............

Jessica said...

I'm glad you were able to cut the warp off and move on. Sometimes giving myself permission to stop doing something is challenging. Here's to a happy next weaving project (and lots of good singing too!).

Jessica

Peg in South Carolina said...

Thanks, Jessica. It took awhile, but I finally managed to do it.

Granny J said...

I also understand. The first time I dressed a loom I was nearly paralized thinking I would make a mistake...I finally looked at the whole thing and said, "It's just string!" I say that a lot now for many different things...makes life much more enjoyable. Thanks for sharing!

Peg in South Carolina said...

You are welcome, Granny J

Dorothy said...

Brave move Peg! Sometimes it's just time to move on. I hope the simple prayer shawl weaves up well.

Peg in South Carolina said...

Thanks, Dorothy.