I didn't write a book about it, as tempted as I was! But I concisely explained why I do what I do. If someone truly wants to understand, I will give them as much information as I think they need.
If they ask for more detail, I will give it, but I'm not going to try and write a monograph via Direct Messenger!
The thing is, people like what they like. People *don't* like to change life long habits - unless they can see a definite benefit for doing so. It's hard changing what you have been doing. First you have to 'unlearn' what you are doing, habitually, which means you have to stop and think, which means it takes longer to do the job. Plus the new process is awkward and you feel clumsy, like a beginner. And that is also an uncomfortable feeling - and not one that most adults like to feel.
And all of that seems counter productive, when all you want to do is get to the fun part - the shuttle throwing.
So I told the person that if they are happy doing what they are doing, they should continue to do that. But here is why I changed - and outlined the issues I was having, and how changing from front to back to back to front solved nearly all of the problems.
It is also why I tell my students 'change one thing and everything can change'. Not 'everything *will* change', but *can* change.
Because it depends.
The thing I sincerely believe is that even though someone is happy with what they are doing and the results they are achieving, it is always a good idea to know more than one way to do something. Like dressing the loom. They don't need to know all the ins and outs, necessarily, but they *ought* to know that changes can be made.
It is largely why I focus so much on the principles - ie, a thread under tension is a thread under control. The principle is the application of tension to keep a thread co-operative. If it is under tension it cannot tangle with neighbours. It cannot form pigtails and tie itself into knots (hopefully slip knots, but sometimes actual knots that need to be cut out). It will roll co-operatively onto the back beam, not snag and tangle because the loops at the back of the loom have been cut and the threads are now all different lengths. Oh, they might be just *slightly* 'off', but!
If the yarn is thicker, has some elasticity, it might be just fine. But what I found was that finer threads with some twist energy in them became a snarled tangled mess that required hours and hours of grooming to get the thing onto the beam. Frequently threads would break, and then I would have to deal with that.
So much easier to keep the warp continuous as it was dressed and treat it with a gentle (but firm!) hand and apply tension to keep it co-operative.
The warping valet became my 'extra' pair of hands, especially when beaming wider warps. It takes me minutes to dress the loom, not hours. Any slight inconsistencies can be dealt with efficiently. And I get to the fun part a whole lot quicker.
Link to You Tube where I beam a 10 yard long warp in less than 10 minutes...
But again - if someone is happy with the results they are getting doing it 'their' way, they should do it 'their' way.
It is not my job to make everyone do what I do. As a teacher, I feel it is my job to help people understand the craft so that they can do what they need to do in order to get the results they desire.
But if you don't know any other way to do something and you run into problems? Your choices are limited. So I say it again - learn as many ways to do things as you can. You may not apply those lessons right away, but if you run into problems doing it your preferred way? You will know of other ways to do the thing you want to do.
Be flexible. Learn as much as you can. Think things through. Be prepared to feel uncomfortable while you learn something new.
It's all part of the learning process.
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