First Day Musings --- Under Tension

If you look carefully, you can see there are three

different patterns in the towels. I haven't cut them

apart yet, so they are difficult to photgraph.

Everyone was gone last night, so I sat down to the living room loom and finished weaving the towels. They are wonderful and I am very pleased with them. As I cut them off the loom, they sprang to life. Under tension, you see, things on the loom look very different. The texture is different --- tighter and more stretched out, less detail. And the shape even changes --- things "relax" when the tension is released, allowing the project to transform into the shape it is meant to be. These are fascinating things, really, because everything on a loom starts out square or rectangle. It is the nature of it. And, all things are "put on" the same -- with warps and then wefts. Yet, each project emerges differently. It makes me think of knitting where one uses only two stitches, a knit or purl, and yet the options seem numberless.

And, so it is with life.

We are all born with essentially the same things .. eyes, ears, hands, brain... desires, dreams, hopes... Yet, it is what we do with them, especially under tension, that determines what we become.

I reflected on this as I dropped off to sleep the other night. Then, I dreamt of the option of going back into my life and changing Just One Thing. Instantly, I was whisked back to when I was 28 in my little dear house in Florida. I loved that house. My life seemed perfect. It was just me and the Airman. I had a good job and was getting by. But, I made a decision that changed my path forever.

As I stood there in my back doorway, looking over the garden and all my fruit trees (I even had an avacado tree --- heaven!), I realized that there was no place to put my goats or chickens. This made me unhappy and I realized that I didn't want to change that moment or any other. Each had lead me to where I am Right Now. And, Right Now, I am satisfied. I woke up content and somewhat astonished by the realization.

Aren't there times we want to go back and change Just One Thing so our lives would be perfect (or so we want to believe)? Yet, if we did, we would not enjoy the many things we love now. It is rather like my weaving project. I had one warp on the loom, but had the option of making five different patterned towels based on just how I raised the harnesses. Each is unique, but each started with the same stuff. It was what I chose that made the difference.

Only 463 To Go

I loved the last towel I wove so much that I decided to make some more. The pattern is from Handwoven, March / April 2002, and features five towels that can be woven from the same warp. This means that I can "dress" (thread) the loom one time and get five different patterns from the dressing. This is very good as it takes a bit to get the loom ready. In fact, I already have three hours into these new towels and the loom isn't even dressed for weaving.

The pattern, for a 20" towel, takes 488 ends (threads). These are each six feet long. After they are each measured on a warping board or wheel (we have wheels -- me and Evelyn), they are carefully taken to the loom, put in a the little "cross holder" that Deniece made us, and then plucked off and tied to the warp still on the loom from the last towels.

If I were starting from scratch, I would have to thread the reed (the bit in the front that you see the threads tied against) and then again, following the pattern, through the heddles (you can't see these in this picture; I'll try to get another one when I have the loom dressed so you can see it). Then, the threads are tied to the back beam and carefully wound around the beam until it is nearly all taken up. Next, the threads are tied to the front beam, tension checked, a header woven to separate the threads, and then, off you go!

While this seems very tedious, once the loom is dressed, it is possible to weave forever, if you like the pattern, from the one dressing. As much as I love these towels, it is possible that I will see if it is true.

The fiber I am using is a French linen, a little thicker than a good quilting thread. Before you think I am extravagent, I purchased the leftover fiber from a guild member when she finished a project. I have just enough for the warp (the bit I am doing now). The weft, which is what I will weave with, is different in colour, being a more creamy beige. However, I think the two will blend nicely. We'll see. If I don't like it, I can always use another fiber for the next towel.

As I sit working on loom Roanoke / Evelyn, I think about our great-grandmas and their spinning and weaving for their families. Do you know that in just one day of spinning just the yarn for enough material for a dress a woman would walk more than 20 miles using a walking wheel (that great big wheel -- think "Little House on the Prairie")? Then, after all that walking, she would have to dress a loom with more than 25 miles of thread before she could even begin to weave the fabric that she would process into garments. Makes shopping seem so, well, easy, doesn't it?

What are you working on these days? Are you keeping your "hands to work and hearts to God"?

Evelyn's story

My friend Evelyn is weaving the most beautiful baby blanket for her soon-to-be grandbaby. She wanted a story to go with the pictures of her weaving process.

Here is the story I wrote for her. I will post a picture of the blanket soon.

Evelyn's Woven Rainbow

Once, there was a Grandmama who had already fallen in love with a wee little person she hadn't even met yet!

So, she decided that since the leprechauns always left gold at the foot a rainbow that she would weave a rainbow for her soon-to-be grandbaby in hopes that a pot of gold might be left.

She plotted and planned and finally decided the best way to capture the rainbow -- she would weave it!

Grandmama measured and looked at her loom, Barbara. Then, she measured and looked at her fiber. She knew that this new rainbow would have to be very special for her to fool the leprechauns into leaving her a pot of gold for her grandbaby.

Finally, she decided. The rainbow would be different from all the other sky rainbows. It would be soft blues, gentle pinks, mint greens, twilight lavendars and sunshine yellows. Surely, she thought, the leprechauns would be fooled into leaving her gold!

Carefully, she wound off the warp. She counted each wrap carefully because she knew it had to be perfect! If it weren't, the leprechauns might discover her trick!

Next, she began to thread Barbara the loom, carefully arranging the colors so that they would lay next to each other, just as the sky rainbow.

In and through she threaded. As she worked, she hummed a little song to herself. She was so pleased as the colors were threaded onto her special loom. The work went quickly as Barbara was as excited as Grandmama to see the rainbow stretched between her harnesses and beams!

Almost by magic, Barbara the loom was dressed and ready for Grandmama to begin to weave.
Taking a deep breath, Grandmama selected the first color for her weft. It was a lovely pink!

"This is perfect!" she thought to herself. With shaking hands, Grandmama wound her shuttle and sat down the weaving bench.

"Okay, Barbara, let's make something lovely!" she whispered.

Grandmama threw the shuttle. It skimmed the warp and shot out the left side. Grandmama caught it and then beat the first thread of her magic blanket.

Quickly, she began to work. Back and forth went the shuttle.

Thump, thump, thump went the beater bar. Grandmama began to hum her special song again. She imagined the pot of gold and the beautiful baby she already loved wrapped tightly in the rainbow blanket.

As if by magic, a second rainbow, this time from side-to-side appeared. Grandmama was certain that the leprechauns would be so delighted with her blanket that they would leave a pot of gold.
Soft blues, gentle pinks, mint greens, twilight lavendars and sunshine yellows filled the warp. Grandmama paused to admire her work!

"Whew!" she whistled. "This is the most beautiful thing I have ever woven! Surely there are fairies working their magic, too!"

She laughed as she thought about the fairies helping her fool the leprechauns! And she laughed again when she thought of the pot of gold she would have for her grandbaby.

Back and forth she wove. Barbara's heddles seemed to sing Grandmama advanced the warp and wove. Before she knew it, Grandmama was to the end of her warp and it was time to take the blanket off Barbara.

Eagerly she advanced the warp so that she could cut the blanket from the loom. Her scissors shook as she clipped. She could not wait to see her rainbow!

She carefully stitched the ends and tied love knots for the fringe on either end. Each love knot was a kiss for her soon-to-be grandbaby.

"Perfect!" she declared as she smoothed the blanket with her hands. "This has to be the most perfect blanket ever made!"

She kissed the edge of the blanket so that the first time her grandbaby was wrapped in it, she would feel Grandmama's love. Then, she wrapped it all in white tissue paper, placed it in a strong box with a sprig of lavendar and addressed it to her granddaughter. She couldn't wait for the baby to see her rainbow! And, she couldn't wait to see if the leprechauns would leave their pot of gold.

Days came and went. Finally the call came that Grandmama had waited so patiently for. Her grandbaby was finally here!

Grandmama was so excited! But she had an important question.

"Did you use the blanket yet?" she asked.

"Grandmama," her granddaughter whispered. "You won't believe it; when I wrapped the baby in the blanket, she giggled as if she were being kissed."

Grandmama smiled. "And?"

"And, well, you won't laugh, will you?"

"No; I won't."

"A pot of gold wouldn't have made me happier. She is the most perfect baby in the world," her granddaughter chuckled.

Grandmama laughed. The leprechauns hadn't disappointed her! The pot of gold was not gold at all. It was a small baby wrapped in a rainbow all her own!


Do you think the grandbaby will like the story??