open warp

taut strands—

nicely crossed—¹

neatly spaced—²

ready for weft—

and fairly thrumming with possibility.

who could ask for more?

well, some notion of what we’re going to weave would be nice.³

but alas, as with many a spur-of the moment romance—

—the irresistible bliss of beginning caught me up and i let the out-of-focus future take care of itself.

luckily, the weft we’ll be weaving weave with was clear.⁴

clear enough, at any rate, to begin a border.

but it seems the loom has something else in mind for the body of the work—

—and woo though I will—

—its content remains elusive.⁵

guess i’ll just have to give myself over to admiring the strands (which is not hard at all), and practice some patience (which sometimes is).⁶

so while we wait—

—a walk—

—and some perspective from a pileated woodpecker.⁷

1. this is the first fixed (vs continuous or fringeless/four selvedge) tapestry warp i’ve wound in a long time. also the first linen one in ages.

and, though i know you can’t read it, i want to point out that the out-of-focus framed tapestry on the wall behind the warp cross has the word linen embroidered at the bottom. it is a beloved work, woven and stitched by my talented friend Cheryl Silverblatt, and it has served as inspiration and elemental support all through my decade(ish)-long, bast-centric, cellulosic love affair.

2. twining both spaces the warp and provides a base to weave against (instead of removable ‘waste’ weft); those double half hitches (one of which clearly needed a little adjusting) keep the weft in place between cutting off and finishing. i’ll put another row of the half hitches at the top before cutting off.

3. when i say we, i mean me and the loom. beryl isn’t that into it—other than she likes it when i stay in one place

4. i’m using three mill spun yarns, none labeled as to size. two are linen: a 3 ply i used for the warp, and a singles that is one of the wefts—cones that came to me a couple of years ago when my friend Vicki was (once again), helped with the division of a weaver’s estate/stash. the third (the finest and the second strand in the weft bundle), is some hemp singles i found at the Brown Sheep Company when driving through Mitchell, Nebraska a couple of years ago.

my bobbin-winder, as you can see, is a tabletop charkha. a cardboard tube stuck onto the spindle shaft serves as both connector and bobbin-holder. it’s not ideal—one hand has to both hold the bobbin in place and guide the yarn so it winds smoothly while the other hand turns the crank, and it is best for small bobbins—but it is still quite effective. i imagine you could do the same thing with a conventional bobbin winder. if you don’t have the right size tube or straw for the connector, you could make one out of rolled paper.

5. after a longish spell in which my concertina and i could not seem to get it together to play, we are now making tentative forays back into trying tunes we used to know. beryl, alas, does not share my delight about this reunion— and neither, apparently, does the warp; though it was worth a try. maybe i was just playing the wrong tunes and need to learn one of these?

6. trusting ideas to show up is a life long practice, is it not?

7. for maybe it’s not patience i need, but to practice some persistent pecking