Thursday, September 07, 2006

Finally Finished

For Christmas 2005 I wove my sister Marcy a table runner which I wasn't all that happy with due to a few small mistakes, and I thought the size could be a bit better. I know this is knit picking and that most people wouldn't notice, but I wanted to do a second one, a better one, for her. So I bought more 2/8 Orlec for the warp, measured it, but it, and tied it on to the "loom waste" that I'd left on the loom. This way I could cut back on waste of the yarn, and instead of having to thread each "end" (each tread) through the reed and the heddles I had to tie a little knot on each tread to attach the new to the old which were still in place on the loom. I also added some ends to make the new table runner wider than the old one. So now there were 405 ends (17 inches wide in the reed at 3 ends per inch). For some of you this "technical stuff" will be boring and not make sence, but to those that weave it could be of interest, so please bear with me.

I started to weave this in December 2005 and ran into many problems. I finally worked everything out and was on the right track with everything. I must admit that I learned a LOT with this weaving project, and feel I am a better weaver for it. I think it was in January when I stopped working on this project. I forget why I stopped, but know it was never meant to be for a long time. I had/have many items I want to weave and had to finish the table runner first. This August I finally got back to work on it, haha.

To give myself incentive to finish the project, I entered it into the Salmon Arm Fair. Then I had to get "in gear" and get back to weaving it in order to meet the deadline. It worked, and I finished it with a few days to spare :o) I am much happier with this one than I was with the first table runner I wove for Marcy and gave to her for Christmas. I don't expect it to win at the fair as it is competing against Louise and others that have been weaving for many years. I am just a beginner weaver, though doing fairly well considering how few things I've woven to date. I am proud of my weaving, don't take me wrong on that, and I am a realist, knowing that I have much to learn yet. Now, to upload this and some pictures of the table runner that I took before sending it off to the fair. It was just sitting on a chair. When it comes home, before I give it to Marcy (or maybe at Marcy's) I will put it on a table and take some pictures of it to add to the blog too.

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