Finding Weaving

Kind of like finding Nemo, but not quite. In between helping with household chores and child care, and going along to gym class and back and forth to school, there's been a small garden project (2 tomatoes, 2 cucumbers, 2 basil), a major puzzle project, clothesline that keeps breaking and is on the weekend list for replacement, vehicle repairs. You know, life, in all it's wonderful complications, and, though I've said this before, in a constant state of busy with two little boys in the mix.

Finding weaving in all this just kind of happens here and there. This time it happened with a book I checked out for the boys on silkworms. I think it is called "The Story of the Silkworm" but wouldn't swear to it. It has great photos, and yesterday Calvin told me they have two silkworm cocoons in their classroom, along with several butterfly cocoons and are watching them hatch out, which is very cool.

The photo in the book of a woman weaving silk, though, caught my attention.





Do you see how she has her warp secured? Not wrapped around the back beam at all, it's been brought up over a high cross beam at the back, and tied onto a high cross beam in the front. And would you look at the length of it in that bag? Jimminy Christmas! And I have to be so careful winding on a few yards to be sure my tension is even. And I'll keep being so careful - I know what happens when I'm not.

But still, her mastery of tension leaves me humbled. I think each time she advances the warp, she has to untie, advance, re-tension, re-tie. And I bet she does it in a jiffy, while thinking what she's going to make for supper.

I'm such a novice.

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