Pivot

 

It's no secret I haven't been feeling 'well' the past while and that's always a 'dangerous' time when I'm planning a new warp.

I'm 'low' on yarns (of a certain kind) and I wanted to use some of the dribs and drabs up.  So I pulled some tubes and tried to put together a warp of mostly grey, then various shades of pale blues and blue/grey.  I did this in the evening, when I wasn't looking so much at the yarn but at the colours.  I found 32 tubes to beam the warp sectionally, was happy enough with the selection of hues/values of the yarns which I thought would work well together and the natural while weft.

And then didn't think about it again until I was beaming the warp.  I was getting little warning bells telling me something was 'off' but I was focused on getting the warp started, and remembering to only wind 50 turns instead of my usual 60.  I was also in some pain (when am I not, these days) so I wasn't really paying attention to the yarns themselves.  Until I had several sections wound.

And then I twigged.  Some of the tubes were not 2/16 size, but...2/8.  Sigh.  I could not start over - I had only just enough yarn to do the warp I had planned, and had cut down the length just to be sure I would have enough yarn.  To strip several inches off the loom and start over - *and* find more of the 2/16 in the same value/hue would be...difficult. 

I sat down and stared at the yarns in the section and realized at least 7 of the tubes were 2/8, not just one or two.  That many was going to affect the weave, meaning that 32 epi was going to be too many - probably - and the twill wasn't liable to beat in close to 32 ppi.

Finally I threw my hands up and said fugetaboutit.  I had one wild card to throw onto the table - reduce the number of ties in the tie up, which should come close to giving the twill line a decent chance at being close to 'ideal'.  And if not?  Well, it's for tea towels, does it really matter that much?

I had wanted to weave nice round circles (roses) but that wasn't likely to happen, so when in doubt, and you haven't been 'perfect', continue on and be as consistent as you can.

Trying to get a photo of the cloth on the loom is challenging, but this is just a 'teaser'.  The ppi is less than I wanted, and I wound up shortening the liftplan so that I wouldn't have really *long* towels.  Beyond that, I'm weaving as consistently as I can.

In dance class a pivot is called a pirouette.  If you make a mistake, repeat it with confidence and a flourish - just keep on dancing...

Anyway, now I have to wait until the web is wet finished to see if they are going to turn out 'ok'.  Or not.  They should have an 'interesting' texture?