Sudden Pivot

 

"Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em" Kenny Rogers sang.

Well, yesterday I folded.

I'd put a rayon chenille warp on the Fanny intending to begin weaving down that portion of my stash but the warp was 1300 yards/pound, not my 'usual' 1450 and...change one thing...

It was awful.  Literally awful.

Oh, I could have nursed a scarf or even two out of it, but at the cost of an enormous amount of time and what little energy I have.

I fussed and fumed over a couple of days while I also dealt with the blue/grey warp and running out of reasonable options for weft on *that* warp.  Again, I could have dug and found something that would 'do', but there was mounting pressure to get some rayon chenille scarves done.  I'm very low on inventory and I have All That Yarn that needs to be used up, every bit as much as the fine linen.

What to do?  What to do?

I also dislike fringe twisting rayon chenille, so as I let my thoughts roil in the back of my mind, the pieces of the puzzle began to rotate, change places and suddenly it all became very clear, just as I was finishing the last of the cotton slub on the towel warp.

Instead of weaving the rayon chenille on the Fanny, I would beam a warp of 2/16 bamboo rayon on the Megado and use the rayon chenille as weft.  Instead of fringes, I would use the bamboo to weave hems.  I wouldn't be stressing my feet so much, nor my hands, and I could actually weave some scarves and maybe have them ready for the big craft fair the weekend of Nov. 5.

When I finished the last of the cotton slub, I cut that warp off the loom recycling about 9 ounces of warp, set up and beamed a 24 or so yard long warp on the Megado, and today I threaded, sleyed and tied that on.

The white yarn is the 2/16 cotton I was supposed to be beaming next, but...it was time to fold and get a new hand.

The 8 dent reed was in the Fanny, so I also cut that warp off and about a pound of rayon chenille went into the recycling bin.  What got woven will go into the rag bag, or maybe even the garbage.  Yes, it's that awful!

So when people ask me when you stop making mistakes, I laugh and say 'never'.  

Perhaps in the new year I'll go through the 1450 rayon chenille and weave some warps of that.  To be determined.  In the meantime, this is a quick way to accomplish more scarves with the least stress to me - physically and mentally.  It's all good.