Lady Di is working!!

After a long and extremely tedious week of troubleshooting (during which I muttered the words “would look nice as kindling” more than once), I have finally got my new 16-shaft compudobby loom up and running.  I wound up removing one beam across the bottom front and adjusting the eight back shafts to be 1/2″ lower, and that seems to have solved the Mystery of the Skipping Sheds.  I wove about 12″ on her this evening in a couple of different patterns and my final sample is now finishing up in the dryer.  Hopefully tomorrow I should be able to weave my shawl.

I am considering my next project(s).  I have one more painted warp (rayon chenille) which I could put on, but I think I am more likely to start weaving linen placemats/napkins as Xmas presents to my family.  I’ve already ordered some linen yarn from Webs and it should be here by Friday.  I plan to weave a set of six “sample” placemats for me and B., using the different designs I’ve been eyeing, and then weave a set of napkins to get the “bugs” worked out of the weaving.  This will be a relatively simple project, basically to get used to Lady Di.

Then I will embark upon a more systematic study of what you can do with a sixteen-shaft loom.  I’m going to work through Bonnie Inouye’s “Exploring Multishaft Design” again, this time with sixteen shafts and a peg plan to play with – with Bonnie’s help this time.  She does tutoring for a fee!  What a fantastic opportunity.  I want to understand everything about weaving design.  It should only take me about ninety years to do it.  🙂