Same Threading As Overshot

Day 80: When I put this initial warp on Daisy, I was planning to make two identical towels in a Finnish Twill, using a darker blue for the weft (inset, top right). I liked the way it turned out, but as I was doing the hemstitching on the nether end, my mind was working on possible variations. For the next towel, I alternated with bands of plain weave in blue changing to white for a twill section (inset, top left). When I finished that towel, I saw that I had quite a bit of warp left, and a thought was growing in the back of my mind. What if I wove it as an overshot, repeating each pattern throw twice? What's the worst that can happen? I'd have to pick it back, and that's easy enough to do. After weaving about a third of a repeat, I knew I was going to like it. What you see here is the same treadling as the narrow white band, except that each pattern throw is repeated, with tabby between...the "extended version," if you will. As experiments go, this one was a smashing success.

Two Shuttle Adventure

Day 77: A couple of days ago, I told Ed, "It feels like I've known Daisy all my life, and we've just got back together again." I think this is due in part to the fact that she's smaller...a "me-sized" loom...not just in width but in height. And although she seems dainty in ways, she's strong and reliable when it comes down to it. I am comfortable with her in the manner shared by old friends, and I found myself weaving on her without a thought of this being our introduction to one another. I finished up the first towel yesterday, 30 inches of a fairly simple twill pattern, and as I put in the last throws and finished the hemstitching, it seemed to me that we...or rather, I was ready for a new challenge. To that end, I decided to work with two boat shuttles to get the hang of changing colours before leaping into an overshot project. This means carrying the idle colour up the selvedge, a process which has always required much arm-waving and shoulder stress when working with stick shuttles. I wasn't sure how much of a learning curve there might be when using boat shuttles instead, but as it worked out, it's a lot easier, as well as being kinder to a rebuilt shoulder. Overshot should be the proverbial "piece of cake."