After a very frustrating week of trying to rub my belly and pat my head in multiple syncopated rhythms, I have succeeded in changing my weaving “style” to work with the CompuDobby IV. I can now weave at full speed and treadle slowly enough that the CD IV doesn’t miss a beat. We’ll see in time whether it is more reliable than the CD III.
Which means I have stopped weaving miles and miles of 2/2 twill (boring, but easy to spot errors) and have moved on to something more interesting. This is draft #8317 from Handweaving.net:
(The color balance is off, unfortunately, and I couldn’t figure out how to correct it. In real life, it’s a beautiful cream/white color – so pretty that it seems a shame to dye it, though I intend to use it for dye experiments anyway!)
So far I’ve woven 15″ or so of the plaited twill pattern. I plan to weave about 60″ – enough for a full set of samples for the Complex Weavers Fine Threads Study Group, plus some additional to experiment with – and then play around with dyeing both the plaited pattern and the 2/2 twill that I wove while getting to know the new CompuDobby. The latter is too flawed to use in anything but samples, but I imagine I will also churn out lots and lots of awful-looking samples in the process of finding what works, so I think that will work out perfectly.
And the official photo session for Kodachrome is this afternoon! I can’t wait to see the results. My good friend and world-class nature photographer Joe Decker (aka Rockslide Photography), who also photographed my wedding dress, will be shooting Kodachrome as well as two shawls – the doubleweave shawl I made for the Complex Weavers Fashion Show and the goose-eye color gradient shawl I made quite awhile ago. Which means I need to come up with names for them, and create their “official” entries into the Finished-Works section of my website. I may muck around with the display template for that page as well – I think it needs revamping.
Stay tuned for stunning photos later today! Joe is a positively amazing photographer – do check out his site. (If I may be allowed to brag on his behalf, his work has been collected by the Smithsonian, among other places – yes, it’s that good.) I trust he’ll do justice to Kodachrome – and more.
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hi tien,
how does your rhythm vary from the 3? i love plaited twill -my eye sees movement in the design. like the little pinwheel – really nice.
Thank you for the link to Joe Decker. Amazing work!
I get the impression that you never sleep. Or, do you program your computer to update your blog at just before 8 am MDT (7 am PDT?) It does give me inspiration and a good read over my morning coffee that I much appreciate.