Slow weaving.....

No, I am not joining the slow weaving revolution........if it's still around, saw it mentioned in the past couple of years. I love weaving, enjoy the bejeezees out of it but slow weaving is not for me. I need to weave at a good pace to develop a rhythm.......then it becomes relaxing and zen like.

But today was all about slow weaving. First I wove the last scarf out of handspun on the loom, then I wound a warp of some of my novelty handspun full of all kinds of fibers, glitz, locks, ribbons and more - I had plied it with a rayon sewing thread. Got it wound on the back beam, heddles threaded, reed sleyed and was ready to get to weaving. Well, in the first five inches 6 threads broke and I really hadn't even gotten up to my normal weaving speed.  So.........I moved to slow motion, very deliberate, easy weaving and so far in the 60" woven this afternoon I've only broken one more thread. Normally I don't have a problem weaving with handspun but in hindsight I can see that I really didn't spin the novelty ply tight enough and the rayon embroidery thread ply just wasn't strong enough to handle the abrasion of the reed on it's own. So, tomorrow I'll be back to slow weaving until I finish weaving the shawl. I'm really loving the look so I hope it's just as beautiful once it's washed which is part of the finishing process.