After her retirement following many years of teaching and performing music, my partner BA spent quite some time exploring, wondering when her next passion might reveal itself. Eventually, she found weaving. She’d done a little in her youth and enjoyed it, but her energies were largely expended in other ways, and finally with time, space and opportunity, weaving returned and this time it blossomed.
Over the past several years, weaving has insinuated itself into our household in general and BA’s life in in particular. Like many crafts developed over centuries and practiced worldwide, it has a vernacular all its own. Looms, shuttles, bobbins, heddles, castles, reeds and temples. And that’s just some of the equipment. Then there are the types of weaves: plain, double, block, twills, undulating and otherwise, repp, etc. Its really quite interesting.
As BA has studied and learned and grown remarkably in her skill as a weaver, I’ve learned a bit through osmosis. A room in our house is given over to weaving. Two of her four looms are generally on the floor at a time, there are shelves containing a magical array of colored yarns, arranged by material, color and size, hanks of hand dyed variegated yarns, and all manner of little wooden and metal gadgets that assist in the process as well as many lights so she can see what she’s doing.
Its a fiddly business, this weaving. A scarf that will be seven or eight inches wide when finished may contain 120 parallel strands of yarn “the warp”, which must be threaded in a very precise order through reeds and heddles, then attached to the appropriate shaft so that the desired pattern will emerge as the fabric is woven by passing the weft yarns through in just the right order, under just the right tension so that an even and consistent fabric is created. One thread in the wrong place can mess up and entire pattern. Checking and rechecking plans, then each step of the way is a big part of the process.
I love the colors, the textures, the patterns that emerge on a loom, and am amazed at what can arise from such seemingly simple components. And the longer I am exposed to weaving, the more I come to appreciate all that goes into a producing a handwoven work. It is indeed an art, as well as a craft. Scarves, jackets, bags, utilitarian or sculptural, I see things very differently since weaving came to my house.
And here’s a real undulating twill, photos of a shawl woven by BA for a friend to use at her daughter’s wedding:
<a href=”https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/undulate/”>Undulate</a>
Curious Steph 
Very nice and rather M.C.Escher-like! 🙂 My wife used to make quilts based on Escher tesselations.
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Cool on the quilts. I enjoy Escher and the play of geometries and perceptions
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Wow, I LOVE learning about unexpected elements of fellow-bloggers’ lives, and this is a perfect example of it. And great that it came from the daily prompt! That’s a stunning scarf, I love that shade of blue- what a beautiful gift, and a fascinating skill to be able to observe up close… Thank you for sharing, G : )
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Thanks! glad you enjoyed it–I agree that the surprises are part of the fun.
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I read your post with interest. I have been considering my post retirement options, as it looms nearer, and, I have taken up weaving again after having dabbled in it in my youth. It is definitely a whole new language to work with, but I am loving it! My skill level is no where near your partners, However, I have been learning Saori Weaving…no adherence to plan or pattern necessary!
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Glad you’re weaving and enjoying it. Lots of work, and Saori sounds interesting. And like so many things, skill grows with time: BA began at a basic level and has blossomed.
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How lovely! I love learning new things and reading up on what skills people are working on. That scarf is beautiful.
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Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it
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Either I live with you in an alternate universe, or I am BA and don’t know it! This is incredible! She has 4 looms!!!! Lucky woman! I have just the one at home. Of course there are probably a dozen in Patricia’s studio! My erstwhile office is now stacked floor to ceiling with plastic totes full of yarn. BA’s story sounds a lot like mine. I wrote about it in Talkin’ to Myself version 1. I think there is a link on the WordPress version at the bottom of my home page. Wow! BA is really good at this!
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there are certainly some parallels in there. Pretty fun! I’m impressed by your weaving. its a consuming passion. And then the ever growing stash!
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