I drove, I warped, I wefted, I wavered

It is the year of our Lord 1350.  Only the few who possess literacy know that fact.  To most, it is irrelevant.  Recurrence of the Black Death is the most important news item passed from inn to hovel, to convent and monastery.  

She sleeps in her habit, as do all the nuns.  Blankets are thin, worn and not oft-replaced.  This irony passes through her thoughts as she awakens quickly in the grey pre-dawn.  Her primary task is healer.  She collects herbs and roots, bark, raw ingredients that go to the nostrums that will make the sisters' illnesses and pains easier to bear.  Her second task during the long dark evenings is to help the weavers keep up with cloth-making.

 She resents every moment away from her parchments.  A passing merchant sold a battered but legible copy of Galen's treatise on plague to the nuns.  She hopes to find wisdom that will help her decrease the fearsome death toll from the disease.  The making of cloth is important to the convent; winter is coming.  But the text needs to be translated, and ingredients gathered, before winter withers and covers the meadows and forest floors.  That, plus she does not like the tedium of the warp and weft.

There will never be enough time in the day, she muses.  God's work is never done.  She resolves to sleep less so that more can be done.

Her span is short.  It matters not whether she was taken by plague, by wolves in the forest while gathering plants, or by an abscessed tooth.  Her energy was returned to the origins, and remade. Some belief systems call it reincarnation.  How we identify the process matters not.  She returned to a vastly altered civilization in the 20th century.

There is no memory in the energy stream.  There are only shadowy forces and urges that drive us forward.  She became a healer.  She made cloth by knitting.  And she could not understand why any sensible, sane person would delve into warp and weft.  

That is why it took me into my middle age to take a weaving class.  The Midwest Fiber Festival demonstrated possibility.  Lynn enabled.

Webs, August 7.  Beginning rigid heddle weaving.  I had fun.  

Warping was less dreadful than I had feared.

Virgin Scarf, 8/7/2011
Yarn:  Madelinetosh merino, DK, 225 yds x 2            with leftover 
Colorway:  Cousteau
Loom:  Schacht 15" rigid heddle Flip
Dent:  10
Measurements:  7" x 66" direct warp, approx 6.5" x 60" scarf 
Sett:  10

I have to knot one end, overstitch two errors, and call it done.  

I am told I am not allowed to whine about selvedges.  

Forward from here:  Lynn has lent me her Schacht rigid heddle loom.  I purchased enough Mission Falls cotton (Mission Falls!  Wah!) to make four dishcloths.  Mr. Etherknitter is all hot to trot.  He wants me to buy a floor loom so he can play with textures.

The brakes are currently firm to the floor.  

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Kathy]

That's AWESOME!!! I'm taking a 1/2 day weaving class at SOAR. Lino would be interested in the loom too -- he digs the mechanics of it.

[Lynn]

I think I'll need to schedule a playdate with Mr. Etherknitter sometime soon. Maybe to go look at used floor looms in Vermont or New Hampshire somewhere. You could sit in the back seat and knit.

[Lynn]

Oh, and did you tell him I have an 8-harness table loom he could borrow, if he wants to play with textures?

[Anne]

You cann't complain about selvages YET. Give it a few more projects. THEN you may.

Mr. E... he is such a smart dude. Obviously you need something to keep you occupied.

PS - Have you read The Dress Lodger? (I went to college with the author.)

[Kelly]

Learning to weave was on my list of things to learn this year. The year is half over, i better get to it! Your scarf looks lovely, the blue reminds me of denim jeans and indigo dye.

[Carole]

Awesome introduction to your apparent downfall.

[Paula]

Class August 7. Today August 10. You can't beat weaving for making a speedy scarf. But speed isn't everything, so I'm glad it was fun. Fun + speedy = again!

[Martha]

I am shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, that the dishtowels are blue. A beautiful shade of blue, by the way ;)

[Rosemary]

My fingers are firmly in my ears, I am looking away, and I am singing "La la la la la" to avoid the siren call of the loom.

[Manise]

Great post! The comments have me rolling on the floor. An 8 harness table loom? You are so screwed. The blue fabric is beautiful. :-)

[Ruth]

Loved my first weaving class. Would have fallen down the rabbit hole a long time ago, if Life hadn't intervened (in the form of a complex little human).

Blue, huh? Who'd have thought it?

[gayle]

If Mr E is also trying to enable, those brakes are going to burn out very soon...
Good luck with the new hobby. 8)

[Lorette]

Beautiful blue! I'm pretty sure I'll head down the crazy weaving road at some point.

Who would have thought that you were a nun in a former life??

[margene]

Mr E would make a fine weaver.
You weave a very fine story and, if your brakes fail, you will be a very fine weaver.

[kmkat]

Weaving: just another excuse to play creatively with fiber. Yay!

[technikat]

Mmmm! Weaving! That's something that's on my list to learn. I'm resisting though, because I don't need the expense or the extra equipment and yarn to add more clutter to my life. But it sure looks like fun!

If you don't end up loving it, it's great that Mr. etherknitter want to weave.

[Judy]

I fell. Baby wolf and an older harrisville.. Good luck.

[Caroline M]

Look at that - I'm away on holiday a week and come back to find you a weaver. Tell Mr E you can get floor looms that fold up small enough to fit into the average home.

I came home to 61 blogs lined up on the blog reader and I daren't log on to Ravelry.

[Charlene]

Gorgeous! And your selvages look pretty good to me. So SOAR will be all about generating handspun for weaving?

[Sharon]

I fell down that rabbit hole. But sanity returned, and I sold off my looms and continue with my passion for knitting. Either way...you can't go wrong. Enjoy. :)

[Melissa G]

Does Mr E too feel an energy pull?

[Chris]

Oh, now please. How am I supposed to resist if you're going to post such lovely weaving here???

[Kim]

You didn't tell them WHICH loom Mr. E would like for you to have....

A tip for nice selvages....end feed shuttles. They make a world of difference. :-)

[Angie]

Lovely post! Enjoy your weaving--it is a marvelous way to use up stash and justify acquisitions.