Tradition/Habit

 

This is a warp, all wound, tied off and dropped into a bin ready to be beamed.

Notice anything?

It's not chained.

It is just dropped into a bin with the cross on the top.

I used to chain my warps.  That was, after all, how I'd been taught to do it.  But I never really liked what happened to the warp chain.  Yes, it was shorter.  Yes, it was 'neater'.  But did it really need to be?  

A few times, I inadvertently pulled the end of the chain through the loop entirely and, not noticing, started beaming it.  then had to undo the chain from the other end and pull the chained loops out in order to continue the process.

I also didn't like the way the threads behaved, especially on wider warp chains.  It took extra time to do it but didn't seem to convey much in the way of benefit.

So one day I grabbed a box and simply took the chain off the board and dropped it into the box.

And discovered that the warp behaved just fine and really didn't *need* to be chained.  So I stopped.

I also stopped tying gathering (I don't tie 'choke' ties except at the choke point) ties every yard.  On a 10 meter long warp I tie the cross - all four 'arms' of the X - a choke tie about 18" or so from the cross, the counting string close to the other end of the chain, and maybe two gathering ties along the length of the warp.

So why are we taught to 'choke' tie every yard?  Why are we taught to chain the warp?

Well, there are times when that is a good idea.  A yarn with twist energy in it, for example, might need to be secured more frequently.  But I still wouldn't 'chain' it, I would do as Peggy Ostercamp advises and wind it onto something - a stick, for example (she refers to it as the 'kite stick' method).

We learn how to weave, usually from someone (be it in person or from a book) and we follow their directions.  We follow those directions until they become 'habit' and then teach them to new weavers.  And soon it becomes 'tradition'.

Over the years I began to question things I took for granted as a newer weaver.  Did I really need to do this?  Or that?  Sometimes I tried doing something different, just to see.  (The good old, FAFO approach.)

Sometimes I discovered I didn't need to do the thing.  Sometimes I discovered that there were circumstances when I *did* need to do the thing.

Eventually I would refer to myself as a weaving heretic, because I take yarn off the end of a tube (just always take it off the same way - counter clockwise in my case, but just be consistent).  I don't chain my warps.  I don't 'choke' tie my warps.  I certainly do not wind chains of only 1" increments.  

I don't only ever wind one strand at a time if I can wind 2.  (Or sometimes 3, or 4 - and no I don't pick the cross, just thread from the group.)

I DO work ergnomically when I can.  I pay attention to my body and the signals it sends.  

As I began teaching more frequently, I ran into different looms, different processes, different hints and tips.  And different yarns, which sometimes needed different processes in order to co-operate.

And I started reminding people that 'change one thing, and everything can change'.

So learn.  Learn as much as you can from as many different people as you can.  Choose methods and techniques based on the requirements of the case at hand.

Ask yourself why you are doing something if you are not finding it helpful.  Is that approach tradition rooted in a specific circumstance?  Or is it just habit because you 'always do it that way'.

Be open to new information.  Be willing to fumble learning a new process, especially if it looks like it might be useful to know how to do it proficiently.

Learning something new is never a waste of time - or materials.  So, sample.  Sample new-to-you yarns.  Especially before committing to a large project.  Better to 'lose' a skein of yarn than the entire project.

Study other people's textiles.  Join a study group, see what others are doing.  Analyze them to see what approach they took.  Are the results pleasing to you?  If not, why not?  What would you do differently?

Becoming a weaver can be a lifelong journey of learning.  

The life so short, the craft so long to learn.

Books available here  and also here