Starting Again

   I got my 14 yds of warp on the beam and threaded. I have about 3 yds woven. A beautiful reddish-brown chenille looks surprisingly nice on this warp. I used the Compudobby to change the lift plan to get some variety.  I wove about 16" of blue chenille which might be tunic side panels. I tried out the flyshuttle and I don't like how it is working. Looms like things to be level and balanced. The bubblelevel is your friend. So the beater was a bit off  but something else is wrong. Flying shutttles are supposed to fly but they don't. Handthrowing is faster for me so I am not sure it a matter of practice or my pirns aren't filled correctly, or ... or.
   Anyway for now whether the flyshuttle works a or not is the least of my problems. My "experiment" to put a raddle cross of five ends at each end the warp and forget the threading cross was a mistake. I thought I could save some time. Hah! I followed the color order but I have way too many twists. Moving a lease stick back every 20" of warp and moving the twists back behind the lease stick is more than silly so ... we are taping the 2" sections of warp and picking the threading order from how it is on the beam.  I won't make that mistake again but I am sure to make plenty more!

Yoga and Weaving Ebook

  I am in the process of designing this Ebook that is part of the requirements to complete my yoga teacher training at Yoga Oceanside. We were asked to complete 5 hours of "karmic yoga". It was up to the student as to what would satisfy this requirement. Most students choose to teach five hours worth of free classes. I decided that I would like to combine my knowledge of yoga with my knowledge of weaving ergonomics and then donate any proceeds from an Ebook to a weaving organization of my choice. I have a few worthy organizations sidebarred on my blog that I think would be deserving of some monetary support. My idea is to have a collection of yoga poses (āsanas) that are beneficial to weavers to help reduce repetitive stress injuries.  But āsanas are a very small part of a yoga practice and I have a lot more in the book. I am not sure when I can publish it. I am close as most of it is written.

Going Again

    Two possible commissions for weaving projects are in the works so soon both looms will be busy. While I am waiting to get going on those projects I decided to make up a longer warp and try making my tunic design again. I still want to design the side panels so that they are woven separately and with a useable selvedge on each side. I also want to weave the belt separately. It would be easy to sew two lengths together, top-stitched, which would leave the tab area to be closed.  This is my new tunic warp, 14 yards:

The End of Ambivalence

I am done with this project. Right now I am wearing it because I need to see how it works. I made a belt which I think it needed. What did I learn? Most of my sewing techniques worked with this material. Considering that I did not use any interfacing or a lining or any other way of adding structure to this garment I like what I have done. I could see it done differently by making the center section more narrow and either dropping sections of warp to weave the panels or weaving them separately. Rather than cut the cloth to make two side panels I could weave two with nice selvedges. That would eliminate any bulk on the side seams.  Most "loom-shaped" garments aren't sucessful unless they happen to fit your body. My goal is not to make "loom-shaped" garments but rather to exploit the loom's potential for design. This cloth is not heavy but it has a substantial quality like a heavy velvet. So the trick is to match the weight and drape of the cloth to the design.