Necessary

There are things in life that aren't much fun but are necessary.

There are things in life that aren't very comfortable but must be done anyway.

So I have a love/hate relationship with threading the loom.  So to speak.

I find it physically uncomfortable, but also exciting because getting the loom set up with a new warp holds the anticipation of finding out if what I have visualized will actually come out the way I want.

With burgeoning cataracts starting to interfere with my sight (so far not too bad, but beginning to notice little things) having good light has become even more important than before.

This is my 'usual' set up for the Megado.  The Megado is a different loom than the AVL, and it's a bit more challenging to get light where I need it.

I don't put lights under the castle of the loom but rather try to get light to shine into the heddles so I can see both heddle eye and thread.

My eyesight has slowly gotten worse over the years and I just can't really see clearly enough anything finer than a 2/16 cotton.  Unfortunately I still have a box of 2/20 mercerized cotton that I used to use, but dark colours, fine thread meant I was having too much trouble seeing, so I stopped using it.

I'm thinking of maybe using it as weft on something a bit thicker - like the 2/16 cotton.  The contrast of shiny/matt can be quite effective.

However I'm so low on 2/16 cotton now, I would probably have to buy more yarn.  So...maybe not.

Some people try to put on the longest warp they can, others like to just do enough warp for a single item.  I tend to put on longish warps, but that's mainly a holdover from being a production weaver trying to sell my textiles.  Or because I really want to use up yarn - and I have so much yarn to use.  Not to mention the set up time for the loom is the biggest investment of time and effort there is and I'd much rather be weaving than setting up the loom.

But I don't mind setting up the loom.

Because no warp, no weaving going on...