Stash Reduction

It seems ages ago I beamed this warp in an effort to use up some of my stash of cottons but I'm finally heading down the home stretch.

The bottom bit has a dark red cottolin weft which is now all used up (yay!) and the last couple of yards of this warp will be woven off with a fine cotton slub that's a lighter value than I'd prefer on this warp, but it's what I have on hand. And since the whole point is to use up stash....

One of the reasons it's taken so long to finish this warp are my on-going health issues.

I do finally have a date for the test, but a shortage of medical radio isotopes means delays for everyone waiting, not just me. :( So I have to draw on my rather thin supply of patience until July 14. And then wait a week for the results and then wait for a booking for the procedure if such is required. Which I'm pretty sure will be, even though I once again do not have obvious symptoms.......obvious to the medical community apparently as the specialist assured me that he didn't think that there was anything much wrong with me. :( OTOH he ordered the high tech test, gave me medication and told me to cancel my trip to Complex Weavers/Convergence until we get this all sorted out.

(and yes, I'm whining - if I didn't vent, I'd explode!)

The universe is determined that I am going to learn the lesson of patience one way or another. :}

In the meantime I've been put on beta-blockers which prevent the heart rate from increasing. While they are doing their job admirably and I'm feeling much better as a result it also means that my aerobic pace of weaving has had to be slowed, too.

Weaving on the Fanny I can slow my weaving rhythm down without too much difficulty but the AVL really likes to go at a particular pace - trying to go more slowly just means greater physical effort on my part. My AVL has a four box fly shuttle which means it's very heavy. If I have to physically pull and push it rather than rely on its own weight to swing it back and forth it is much harder work.

So in order to slow myself down I have been winding one single bobbin of weft at a time, weaving that off, then winding another single bobbin of weft. Even so I can only keep it up for about 20 minutes before I run out of steam.

Mentally I've found it difficult to justify firing up the loom in order to do so little, so for several days I just wove on the Fanny, ignoring the AVL.

My strategy for the next warp is to finally do the planned Diversified Plain Weave scarf production run which means that I will have to weave more slowly anyway because it is a two shuttle weave. I had been sort of postponing doing it because it is slower to weave. And because it is slower to weave, now appears to be the perfect time to get that warp onto the loom. Besides, I'm running out of time if I want to have these scarves ready for fall sales....

Currently reading Changes by Jim Butcher