Am I Blue?

 

how it started...

how it's going...

Yesterday I had personal maintenance, but managed to get going in the morning and weave the first towel on the mostly blue warp.

The photo doesn't do it justice, and of course the view is of the 'back' side of the cloth.  I set it up to weave by raising 7 shafts per shed instead of 9.

Overall I'm pleased with how it is turning out.  It looks like there is enough of the darker blue flake to produce 7 towels, so I'll cut off and re-tie at that point, then finish the warp with white.

The white shrinks more than the blue, in part because it hasn't been dyed (I think) so those towels are turning out a bit narrower than the ones with the dyed weft.  So I've been using white 2/8 cotton for the hem weft when I use the white flake.  The hems 'flare' a bit because of plain weave and twill differentials, but not enough that I can't make it work.

And that's really the point.  While I always work towards perfection, I never lose sight of the fact that the cloth must perform the function it was intended for.  If I hit 'perfect' that's great.  But ultimately, my primary goal is to make it functional.  And I will settle for 'close'.

After several days of rain, today dawned sunny.  Unfortunately that didn't last long and the clouds have moved in again, with a promise of more rain this afternoon.  If I was virtuous, I'd go get dressed and go for a walk now, but mornings are not meant for rushing, so I probably won't.  

My goal for today is to weave two towels, maybe do some more fibre prep.  I haven't touched that for several days (for reasons).  But I'm very close to finishing the braid I'm blending into the grey and I'm looking forward to the next combo.  Probably with a dark blue base and one of the other dyed braids in my stash.

But I also have a very long book to read and I'm quite enjoying learning more about life (and war) in Outremer in the 1100s.  The more things change, the more they stay the same, when it comes to human beings.  But I also know that the author, Sharon Kay Penman, did good research, so I'm pretty sure what she is writing about happened - she has just fleshed it out by imagining the interactions between the characters.  And for me, that makes history a lot more interesting than a dry recitation of dates and campaign movements.  But during the time I have been picking my way through the nearly 700 pages, I have been receiving more of my library requests, and I really do want to read them, too!  So I am going to have to give myself permission to just sit and read for a while.