Saturday, November 04, 2017

Ah-ha! (I hope)

As I mentioned previously, I'm participating in a weave-along over on Liz Gipson's site, Yarnworker. We are weaving Twill Be Done from Handwoven Home.  Some of the terminology and skills were intimidating to me when I read the description, but the opportunity to learn grabbed me.  The first bits were simple--things I already knew.  Then I began to feel rather stupid.  It was time to learn to read a draft for a floor loom and create a drawdown chart.  I knew what the first thing was, in that I had not really understood how to do it and only felt more confused each time I tried.  The second thing could have been anything, but I hoped to learn.  When it came to reading the drafts, it all seemed counterintuitive, upside down, and backwards.  Now might be the time to confess my rather poor sense of direction.  I think there is a connection.   

Finally, after several viewings of the video lessons and reading of the passages, I think I had a breakthrough.  Once I understood that the drawdown is like a charted representation of what the weaving pattern will look like--kind of like a colorwork chart, I was on my way.  Then I had to get out of my head and try to just follow along step-by-step without understanding what I was doing.  About halfway through the first twill pattern, I could follow what I was to do, and then coloring in the next was a breeze.  
I like the relaxed format of this weave-along and feel like I can keep up with each week without too much pressure.  We'll see what happens--next week looks to be a doozy.  
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