The last 2 weeks

Where have I been the last 2 weeks? Working, getting sick and learning to weave on a 4 harness loom at The Purple Fleece in Stockton Springs, which is about 1/2 hour north on Route 1.







It all seemed so easy when Debbie was at my side at the Purple Fleece helping me, answering questions, making suggestions and catching mistakes.I got so confident I didn't bother to take pictures like I did when I learned to use the rigid heddle loom.  Wrong.

 I finished the 3 day class Monday evening and headed out to work Tuesday morning without a chance to do anything but think about I had learned, what I hadn't learned and most of all, what I learned and forgotten.  By Friday when we went to pick up the loom I had Bob's awful cold so I couldn't talk (no voice) and we just brought the loom home, put it in the extra room and I went to bed for 3 days.

 Yesterday I decided to warp the loom and tried to remember what I had learned.  The winding of the cotton went well enough but then when I moved it to the loom and started warping it I realized I knew nothing.

 Hours later I finally got the loom warped and was able to start weaving.  Aside for one or 2 major errors it doesn't look that bad for a first try.

I like doing twill the best (weaving on the diagonal) and will work to learn some of the hundreds of different patterns so I can actually make something useful.  I'm hoping to make some towels and/or place mats before too long so lets see what how it goes. Using a 4 harness loom gives me more options with patterns in the weave so it will be fun to experiment. In the picture above there are at least 5 different weaving patterns which are all created by lifting different harnesses in different sequences which is pretty amazing.

Finally, we have flowers.