On the eleventh day of Christmas.....

I was a tad over ambitious when I wound a warp for my mother-in-law's Christmas present on December 10th. I took my little table loom to the center on December 13 to thread the Rosepath pattern and that night I beamed it on at home. Now this wasn't just a little scarf ambitious - this was a set of 8 place-mats ambitious!

Rosepath pattern on a striped warp

When winding it on I decided to use v-blinds to separate the warp on the beam. Many of my weaving buddies do this routinely so I thought I would try it. I started weaving - I got through most of the first mat - I really liked how the pattern and the stripes were turning out (I got the idea from the header on Rocky Top Weaver's Blog). Then my tension went completely wonky on both the right and left edges. Some of my pieces of v-blind were just a hair too short and threads were slipping off both sides. I tried doing some minor adjustment and realized that I needed to re-wind.

I noticed the problem somewhere around the 16th. I knew at that point that the tension was not going to get fixed in time and the mats would not be woven by Christmas. I took a picture of the first mat on the loom and sent it inside a card with my mother-in-law's other present. (I am guessing that I am not the first person in weaving land to send a photo of a project on a loom with the promise of a present soon)

My loom with a kraft paper tail

The Tuesday after Christmas I carried my little loom back to the center and cried "help" to Carol. She said finish weaving the last inch on the first mat. Then pull all of the warp through and re-wind it on using - yes - good old fashioned kraft paper. It went on like a dream. I cut the first mat off and re-tied the warp and have been weaving rapidly ever since(and watching lots of football).

Why did I try the v-blinds? Well - everyone else was doing it. And because I have been using slick white butcher paper instead of kraft paper for several of my most recent projects and the warp would slip on it. I found the slippage annoying - although I don't think it was really causing a problem. But now I have a new supply of kraft paper - the perfect width of my little Shacht table loom and I am happy!

Today is the 11th day of Christmas. I have 2/3rds of the last mat to finish. I will cut them off tonight and they should be ready to be in the mail by the 12th day of Christmas or maybe .... the 13th day of Christmas.

Be well,
Ann