Mistakes are for Learning

I think I mentioned in the last blog post that I was having some Technical Difficulties with the scarf I'm attempting. I'm not too fretful about that, since I am learning so much about What Not To Do in weaving, and know that all future items will be that much better. Right? Work with me on this one.

So, I shall share what I've learned so far so that any of you proto-weavers out there can learn from my mistakes.

1. Have Good Lighting
2. Check the warp for mistakes by treadling against a lightly tied warp BEFORE you tie that last knot
3. Don't use a squishy thing as your warp separator on the back beam

A bit more on the first, Have Good Lighting. Now, I'm sure that getting a warp tied on will get easier in time, but for those first dozen or so, you're going to stretch and strain and wonder "wait, which reed slot was I just in?" So, make sure you have good lighting. As was pointed out to me, good lighting does NOT mean a spotlight on your work space. A spotlight succeeds in creating great contrast of light and shadow, and if you're working with a black warp (for instance) then that is hugely problematic. What you're looking for is good ambient light, preferably "up lighting" as a friend of mine, mrspie, described, as well as some task lighting. The good ambient light helps knock back those shadows that just a straight task light will make difficult. And about that light bulb... While incandescents are going out of popularity due to energy concerns, florescents are only just starting to catch up on the light quality that incandescents have for a room. I hate the flicker of florescent lights, but it's not as bad as it used to be. So, all I can say here is do your best to get a more full-spectrum florescent, and good luck!

OK, now on to the second item, testing for errors. I tied on the warp, front to back, and made all the knots nice and tight, and then started weaving in the front band. I quickly found out this shiny pretty warp was not quite right. Dang it! I ended up having to undo both the first quarter and the last quarter to fix threading errors. Undoing those knots was a pain, and of course then I had to undo the rest of the knots once things were fixed because the tension had become very uneven. So, NEXT time I'm going to be doing a test before all those little knots are tightened down. You have been warned.

And third, about that squooshy thing. Here's what I'm talking about:


That squooshy thing is the thin foam padding one uses under futon cushions to theoretically keep the cushion from sliding. I can safely say that it is as effective as a warp separator as it is an anti-cushion slider, which is, not at all. If you're not a weaver, you may be asking "well, um, why would you want to separate your warp anyway?" Some weavers don't, and it works fine for them. In my self-taughtness, the books I've read suggest that having something between the layers of warp that get wrapped on that back been is a Good Thing (tm) because otherwise the tension gets a bit wonky as some threads sort of sink in to the previous layers. Why did I use a squooshy thing if the purpose was to have an even tension? I was having a stupid moment. I am paying for it now. Let my purpose in life be as a warning to others.

Since we're on the topic of errors, let me show you what a gradual change in tension does to the fabric. You saw yesterday's picture of the first part of the scarf. Things seemed pretty even, no? Well, over time, it starts to look like this:

See that weird dip above the top block? And if you look closely, you see the whole thing is starting to get a bit wavey. Some of this will, literally, come out in the wash when the fabric is fulled. But some of it won't, and the scarf will be just that wee bit defective along those lines. C'est la vie! Like I said, I'm not too worried about it because I am certain the next scarf will be better based on what I've learned with this one.

Tune in in a day or two when I show pictures of my latest spinning!