Intelligence dawns

I finished weaving up the sample warp today, and sat down to prep for the next cycle.  And then it dawned on me that, instead of doing a Big Floofy Dress, I was now doing an A-line dress.  This requires a LOT less fabric.  Figure a max of 8 panels at about 54″ length per panel, you get a total of 12 yards total (plus an extra yard or so for the short sleeves).  I’m pretty sure I can do that in a single warp, and I’m starting to wind that today.

I’ve adopted a new method for winding onto the warping wheel using multiple ends.  I had just been running the threads through a reed at the front of the loom (to keep them separated when winding on), then onto the warping wheel.  Now I am running the threads through the reed, then through a tension box (to even out the tension as they wind onto the wheel), then through a paddle mounted at the front of the tension box so I can create a thread-by-thread cross.  I’m not sure whether all this is really necessary, but I did it on the sample warp and it seems to have resulted in remarkably smooth weaving.  Once this yardage is complete I may experiment some more to see which of these is really necessary.

The advantage of the paddle, of course, is that it allows you to manage more ends.  I’ll probably wind this warp off eight cones simultaneously.  That should make it quick and easy.

Other projects on deck: article for WeaveZine, website revamp, making fruitcake, bicycle ride, and – oh yes! – researching a company I’m interviewing at on Monday.  They look like a perfect match for my interests, and it looks like my experience might be a good fit for them, so I’m quite hopeful that things will work out.  Of course, that means I’ll have to work even harder on the weaving, while my unemployment lasts!