When it's not about spinning...

it's about weaving!

Last night I decided that my fiber fix for the evening was going to be making some progress on the long-ish rectangular object that's currently on my loom. There are two main reasons for this project: first, to learn how to read a draft, and second, to get some practice in on consistency. The finished object will probably go up in my craft room as a nice little cover for a beat-up chest of drawers I have up there.

I made quite a bit of progress last night, and this morning it was all about photos! Photos of the selvages so folks can advise me on how to improve, photos of the pattern 'cause I think it's awesome, and photos of the whole set up, including one of my helpers.

First, we start with a picture of the pattern. This is a "rose path" pattern from the rather famous "A Handweaver's Pattern Book" by Marguerite Porter Davison. One thing I learned after dressing the loom (aka - tying that puppy up) is that the drafts in that book are for a different kind of loom than what I have. Long story short, I dressed it upside-down. You're looking at the bottom of the pattern. Oops. :-)

Now for details on the selvages. I'm getting more consistent, tho' it is consistent per side - the left side is always more even than the right side. Haven't figured that out yet.

See, it's kind of loopy on the right side...

Now, some loopiness is to be expected given the kind of pattern I'm doing - I understand twill-based patterns are generally a little rough around the edges. Some folks recommend trying "floating selvages" to help even that out. I'm not doing that on this object, mostly because I hadn't heard about it until last night. Next project, perhaps.

I'm really curious as to what the top-face of this thing is going to look like - since I dressed the loom upside-down, I have to do some contortions to see what it actually is going to look like. Here's a picture of the upside - it has potential!

Now, last but not least, here is my weaving set up at this point. There is a lambskin over the wooden bench, a gas fireplace, a great big window you can't see in this photo, and of course, one of my ever present helpers. It's a nice place to weave.

For the rest of the day, I expect to start some more dyeing experiments, and perhaps finish up this weaving project so I can dress the loom for another project tomorrow. I wonder if I'm good enough for that wrap I have in mind... :-)