A New Week, A New Warp

 

florets  - showing hem area and repeats of the motif

Well, not, quite - it depends on when you begin counting your week (is it Sunday?  Or Monday?)

I've just finished threading the next warp - the one inspired by the Snail's Trails and Cat's Paws motif so well known from being used as overshot - but which can also be woven in twill blocks.  There is some speculation that overshot was developed in order to create more 'ornate' and/or larger designs than can be easily done with 'only' four shafts.  Certainly there is evidence that the motif was already well known in the 16-1700s, given I found it in one of the two German weaver's pattern books translated by Patricia Hilts.  Which gave me the idea to convert some of the other smaller overshot designs into twill blocks.

After the injection Friday, with lots of warnings ringing in my ears about taking it 'easy', not 'pushing' myself, I did just that.  Since I was feeling 'off' it wasn't a hard decision to make.  But over the rest of Friday and into Saturday, the pain did begin to wear off.

It wasn't altogether gone, and may never go away entirely, given the peripheral neuropathy.  OTOH, I'm taking a medication to see if it will work for that.  We are running the experiment, in the absence of actual studies being done, but based on other conditions where it IS helpful, my pain doctor was willing to let me give it a try.

One of the light duties I did while 'resting' was fiddle around with the Snail's Trails threading and see if I could understand the weave structure better and get something closer to what I wanted.  It took a while, and it's nothing spectacular, but I was able to push, pull and prod it into something that I can weave and gained a greater understanding of how the weave structure works.

This is now in the queue for the warp after the one I just threaded.  Unless I decide the design is too 'static' (which it is) and I want to mess with it further.  Which may well happen.  Weaving drafts are not writ in stone and have Fiberworks, can edit.  OTOH, it's fine.  It's 'classic' with a 'rose' counter changing evenly and it feels very, I don't know, traditional?  And there is nothing wrong with a little tradition.

It is a rather warm autumn day - far warmer than 'normal' - but given Doug is trying to get the new screen door installed, having a nice warm day is a bonus since the back door has been standing open for a while.  We are trying to get a few maintenance things done before winter sets in, and in addition to Life continuing to lob curve balls at us, it's taken a bit longer than expected to get everything done.  So this milder weather, while concerning, is quite pleasant.

It is still early enough in the day I'm hoping to get the warp sleyed and tied on, then wind bobbins, and then, who knows, set up the laptop so I can begin weaving tomorrow.  One more day of 'rest' will not go amiss, I'm sure.  But I'm eager to see how the Snail's Trails and Cat's Paws weaves up in this weave structure, so I'm looking forward to beginning tomorrow.