Wedding Shawl Report

Saturday, as I was warping my loom for the wedding shawl, I was talking to myself, “This is not where I want to be. A week away from THE WEDDING and STILL weaving; no, not even weaving, warping the loom for the shawl!” Then I let the thought go…most everything is ready for arriving guests, wedding plans, bridal details, etc. This is time I actually have to weave. It’s not like I’m starting from scratch! I’ve done my sampling. I know what I have to do. Now I just need to do it. Once I went to my own personal AA (“attitude adjustment”) meeting, I began to relish the quiet before the “storm”. I measured, threaded, beamed, and tied on.

Tip-O-the-Week:
Measuring the warp, I wanted to use two spools of fine wool, but I didn’t have my spool rack handy. I definitely did not want to wind 108 ends with two spools jumping all over the floor. Then I spied my lazy Kate across the room and put the spools on it. Worked great.

I had planned to weave the shawl on my rigid heddle loom and had done my initial sampling on this loom. But realizing that time was of the essence, I knew I could weave faster on my Baby Wolf.

In anticipation, I had woven my final shawl sample on my Baby Wolf and was reminded that the weft packs in more on a floor loom than on a rigid heddle loom. My floor loom sample was quite a bit stiffer than my first sample on the rigid heddle loom. I also knew that beat differs over a wider width, in this case about 23”, than on a narrower 6” wide sample. Therefore, I put on a little extra warp length so that I could weave a few inches to test my beat. I wove about 6”, backing off on my beating a bit, and then I washed the sample. I was pleased with the hand of this piece. This was time well spent. Now I could weave with the confidence of knowing that the end result is what I hope it will be. At this point, I do not need any surprises!

Here are my warping and weaving tunes:
Bob Dylan’s 2006 Modern Times (especially cut 2, “Spirit on the Water”)
The Dixie Chick’s Taking the Long Road (2006)
Bonnie Raitt’s Souls Alike (2005) (personal favorite—“I will Not Be Broken”)