Fiddling

 

spool rack set up - this is one half of the rack

I had no intention to do two posts today, yet, here I am...

When I did the class on sectional beaming for Sweet Georgia I recommended that people put the yarn on the spool rack using the bottom row of pegs first and then work upwards.  I still advise this - although the circumstances have changed for me  and I am now leaving the bottom row empty.

This year has done...things...to this body which has meant I needed to change what I was doing to take the stress off my joints/muscles.  

I *used* to be able to squat down and pop right up again, no problem-o.  Last autumn that began to change for me.  I can still squat down.  It's the getting up that is the challenge.

This year I finally realized this situation was not going to change any time soon and I began to set up the spool rack leaving the bottom row of 'spikes' empty so that I could work with the yarns at a more comfortable position.  Since right now I'm doing 32 or 36 (mostly) epi, this puts the yarns in a place that I can just bend slightly to work with the bottom row, and the yarns are still mostly lower on the rack.

Why?  Because if the spools/tubes are kept lower, if there is any kind of issue with the yarns (e.g. one breaks, or a couple entangle) the jerk of the yarns doing a doh-see-doh will not tend to tip the rack over.

This is the Leclerc studio bobbin rack and it will hold 50 tubes or spools.  Doug added another rail and when pulling off the side of the yarn package, there is room for 60 packages.  This rack has served *almost* all of my warps and if I wanted/needed to beam more than 60 ends, I got creative to make that happen.

Bottom line?  If something - a piece of equipment or a process - isn't working for you?  Change.  It will take time for the new approach to become routine, but eventually it will just be part of what you do, when you do that thing.

Last note - I don't thread the colours in an order.  Since I'm beaming sectionally and I don't use a cross but just pull the number of ends off the masking tape that holds the section in some kind of 'order', I just pull however many ends I need and disregard the colour.  When the two colours are very close in value and pretty close in hue, this works well.  I would not necessarily do this for high contrast hue/value - although I might if I felt that would fit the design I'm going to be weaving.

(Sample, sample, sample!)

As mentioned in the post earlier today, I will be 'testing' the draft for the magazine article, seeing if the yarns behave the way I need them to.  If it doesn't, (and I suspect it might not - for one of the yarns, at least) I will go ahead with the project for the magazine.  

One of the advantages of being 'retired' and weaving for my own satisfaction, is that I can take my time when working on an article and do lots of samples so that I know what I'm going to accomplish.  And there are *no* other deadlines or demands on me!  

I could get to enjoy this approach to weaving...