​When looking at project drafts/projects we don’t always want to do it exactly as written. Maybe we want to substitute a different weight warp, or add a feature, or try out a new selvedge scheme. Weaving is not like coloring — it is permissible, and often desirable to “color” outside the lines!
I had two projects in mind, which needed some changes.

The first was a project from Handwoven Design Collection 18 – A Lap Towel for Spinning. Here is their description:
“This towel is really a sort of lap rug for spinners. It’s designed to keep fuzz off your good slacks — or jeans! Wear it light side up when spinning dark fiber and dark side up when spinning light fiber, and it will also help you see what you’re doing. The little pockets are handy for oil cans, threading hooks, extra drive bands — whatever you’d like to have with you while you spin. A 1/3 broken twill makes this towel very fast and easy to weave“
I wanted to make a few changes. I kept the color schemes of dark and light (white warp, darker weft) but mixed it up a little with weft other than white for the pockets. I did not change the weave structure at all or the weight of the yarns to use.

• The directions called for a floating selvedge — I have stopped loving this method and look for other ways to get a nice edge, SO I decided to add plain weave borders — 5 extra threads on each side. More about this later
• The directions only called for a single pocket — which would show up on the dark side, I felt that each side of the lap towel should have its own pocket, so I adjusted the length of the warp to accommodate an additional pocket.
• The directions did not do anything about the fact that the pocket was sort of a shallow, wide pouch — that would hang open and spill out your tools — I decided to put a decorative machine stitch down the middle and create 2 segments.

The Plain Weave Selvedge — plain weave and 1/3 broken twill do not play happily together.

• I had to use 2 extra shafts for the plain weave borders.  It DID finally work out, but had to be tweaked a bit.  I had to adjust the shaft cords to get the correct height, since there were so few heddles on the shaft, and I had to put some weights on the shafts as well.  But in the end I was able to get good sheds.
• The twill was too thick for the much thinner plain weave. The selvedge looked GREAT, but it wanted to fold, because of the thicker twill.  Ah well — after the first towel I removed the extra shafts, re-did the tie-up and cut off all but 2 edge threads on each side, these became floating selvedges.  Rats
• After the next towel, I decided that the double thread was too much and changed to a traditional floating selvedge — using Asford’s floating selvedge system with LOTS of weights to keep it taut.
• 1/3 Twill makes funky edges no matter what you do, so when I finished the towels I used some of the weft to do a hand stitched blanket stitch for the full length of each side.  I was very pleased with the result.

Double Pockets — this idea worked out great.  Now, no matter which side you are using, there is a pocket at the edge for your tools.  
The weave is weft faced and does make a “lap rug”.  It is thick and stays in place.  All in all — a good project with good results.

You can buy one at the Dakota Designs Shop. 

HOWEVER, I really wanted to use 16/2 cotton instead of 8/2. This was an easy step outside the lines. There were a few adjustments to make.

• 16/2 is approximately half the weight of 8/2 cotton. So instead of 20 epi, I would do 40 epi and the same would apply to the picks per inch. This makes it possible to determine the # of threads. 912 threads! Well, I’ve done a thousand threads before — there are time saving devices.
• I decided to send to Vavstuga for an 80/10 metric reed. All my finer reeds are metric and the larger ones are Imperial — it just worked out that way. I would use 2 ends per dent — this gave me the 40 epi that I needed.
• The directions are meant to go with a kit of pre-wound warp — so I had to make my own decisions as to how long to make the warp. I decided to go with 7 yards this will give me 7 + towels — each would be a few inches shy of 36 — due to the block structure 1.5″ for block #1 and .5″ for block #2 (these alternate throughout the towel) with 1″ on each end for hem. — it worked out to around 34″ per towel.

I don’t know about you, but even holding two threads at a time, that’s 456 ends — lots of turns on the ole warping mill — with color changes! JoAnne has this neat trick. Wind both bouts at once, in one long warp. NOTE: this only works when you have a symmetrical warp order — or if the warp is all the same color/type.

• Wind the warp TWICE as long with a cross at each end.
• Put a guide string on (now for a 14 yard warp) and TIE ON the doubled warp yarn in the center of the guide string — Start winding.
• All of the color changes occur at the center point.
• When you have made 114 FULL turns (remember the warp is doubled) you will actually have two bouts that are connected (we’ll cut them apart) each with 456 ends (114 turns *2 passes/turn * 2 threads = 456)
• Use Warp ties as usual, placing one VERY tightly on each side of the center mark. Get a helper and remove the warp. Have your helper hold the 2 crosses — on in each hand, while you find the center and CUT it.

The instructions have the warp color order — just double each color section and remember to ONLY go the the halfway point (remember you’re doing 2 bouts at the same time)
I did this with the 16/2 cotton and it worked so beautifully!

You know how it is, right?  You have a grand plan,  for a weaving project, you spend time doing calculations, making adjustments, choosing the materials and the colors.  In your vision it is all perfect and everything works out like magic.
AND sometimes it really does!  The first time I made these log cabin towels (using the colors in the book of Black, unbleached, turquoise and burgundy) I had a warping disaster, chucked the entire mess and started over — Now THAT was a really bad day. This month when I tried it again, using my new Glimakra Standard loom, and all my own color choices, it worked like a dream, there wasn’t a single glitch — not one.

I learned many things at Vavstuga for the 3 times I have been there.  One of the most important things I learned is that mistakes happen, find them, fix them and move on to happy weaving.  In each of these classes there were

• Winding errors — the curtains where 5 vertical stripes of 3 threads were missing (I really wanted those stripes)
• Threading errors — which is why I check and double check my threading — but still will get a crossed thread here and there
• Sleying errors — either skipped dents or dents with too many and then too few threads
• Edge issues while weaving — due to poor tension when beaming
• and the dreaded Broken Thread!

I wanted to make some bread towels — gifts for Christmas, a few for me and a few for the shop.  I have admired these towels for a while on Ravelry and finally obtained Design Collection 16 — which has the draft and weaving instructions.  

There were a few winding issues.  I like to hold 2 threads, but the warp stripes were 2, or 3 — hmmm.  Those threads were held as singles, with lots of ties on the weaver’s cross side.  I double knotted them in paranoid frenzy.  In my zeal to make sure I had the right number of threads for each stripe, that I had KNOTTED them well when changing, I MISSED that there was ALWAYS a section of 3 unbleached threads when changing colors.  I was following the warp order chart carefully, which I had recopied to be larger so I could see it, had a missing section of white around the central stripe of brown. ​

RATS!  I discovered this error after beaming, and before threading,  so I had to use the hanging film cans stuffed with quarters solution.  I used more quarters than I thought I should to give the right amount of tension — which, I have to say worked out very well.  I wound all three missing threads onto the cans, and aside from untangling them periodically, it was pretty hassle-free
Threading seemed to be going well and was easier than expected.  I found a “pattern” that I could follow. HOWEVER,  I misread the threading instructions and started in on the textured part too soon — 18 threads too soon.  The lace section of the towel is surrounded by a plain weave border.  I discovered this AFTER I had completed the entire center section — so — ripped it all out and started again.  This gave me time to REMEMBER how I should hold the threads while threading.  I had forgotten my training!  Becky has us hold a larger group of threads wrapped through the fingers of the left hand (with tension) so that it is easier to pick out the thread you want. You also use your left thumb and forefinger to help stuff the thread in the heddle. I was dickering around with putting 2 threads between each finger  and working that way — very slow and inefficient.  Rethreading was a good opportunity to recall my Vavstuga training.
Sleying was quick — I forgot to double check that I had not missed any dents, because I was kinda on a tight schedule to get the loom dressed and towels woven — never a good excuse.  Checking saves time, because fixing TAKES time!  Yep, you guessed it, there were a few sleying errors.  There was a missed dent on the right side of the work, which I caught while tying on.  BUT there was a more subtle error on the left side — 3 in one dent, 2 in one dent and 1 in one dent.  It’s supposed to be 2 in every dent.  I did not catch this until I was weaving and noticed an area that looked like there was a missing thread. 
Once I figured out what was going on:  

• I use the temple to spread a tad more, finished that towel
• wove about an inch of scrap
• cut the towel off
• used warp sticks to make 2 sheds and tied the warp sticks to the cloth bar. 
• pulled the 3 threads and redistributed them to their rightful place 

ALL of that took more time than a double check while sleying.
At this point most of my troubles were over.  I was happily weaving away, trying to get my beat just right to make square towels when near the end of the 6th towel, I noticed a little snake in the warp above the fell line.  Hmm … that looks like a broken warp thread — RIGHT in the middle of the weaving.  It took a quick internet search to refresh my memory, but I put in the temporary warp thread, tied it at the back beam with the rest of the broken thread and moved on — this was the EASIEST and FASTEST fix so far!
I realize now that most of my troubles were preventable (of course!) but there were even clues that I ignored once the error had been made.  
The winding error was the easiest to detect while winding — the stripe sequence seemed different before the center section than after — STOP AND LOOK for the reason — because there is one!
The threading error was simple too — I was bundling in groups of 20 — count and see how it matches up with the threading diagram.
Of course the Sleying error was also simple — check check check.
BUT errors are not necessarily bad — I once heard a saying “we fail forward to success”  You can learn from errors and they make you better when you do.

Becky came in the night before and did a little sample on all but the Rep Rug.  I walked around and took pics of all the samples.

She gave a quick lesson on bobbin winding — watch those angles on the linen pirns — too steep an angle from the end to the middle and the thread just starts to fall over — not good. She demonstrated using the shuttle, Throw, Tug, Droop, Squish, Smack — to tell you the truth (honest confession here), I’m only going to double beat on projects that REALLY need it — like the placemats, rug and Rosepath — all the rest – one beat’ll just have to do!

I started on the Goose eye placemats — on the prototype loom.  A temple is a MUST and had to be moved after about 8 picks  — which is better than having broken edge threads.  The warp is tow linen and it really made my sinuses miserable.  I won’t be using Tow anymore.
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We were all weaving like weaver’s possessed.  I was hoping to be done by 4:00 pm but went to 5:30.  Looks like this’ll be a pattern (haha).  They are full sized projects — so we have to work hard!
If the body holds up and I finish each day — I’ll be pretty pleased.  At that point I’ll know that I’m one of the Masters of the UNIVERSE!

We were a tad behind by the end of day 3.  Becky had hoped that some of the sleying would be done, but the threading is a big job and several of the projects were either wide, or had a lot of threads.  
No worries — it all works out in the end.  How will it? I dunno, it’s magic.
It was a total work day, only one class,  no breaks.  go Go GO!!

We are back on “schedule” and ready to weave tomorrow.  1 Project per day per person.  Cool.  I’m starting on Becky’s Prototype loom — a Goose Eye Twill Placemats (4) — or one could do 4 towels.  
Here is the blow-by-blow for today

• All of the looms were threaded and needed to be sleyed into the reed — Over night the looms were all set up with reeds in place for individual or partner based sleying.
• Once done the looms had to have all the harnesses and reed moved from the back of the loom to the front and the reed placed in the beater.
• Once in the beater the warp needed to be tied onto the cloth bar.
• Next we started crawling around on the floor, tying up the lamms and putting in the treadle cords.
• Lastly the treadles need to be attached to the treadle cords.
• Sheds had to be checked, crossed threads had to be — uncrossed!

It was VERY quiet in the barn, lots of concentrating and working going on.  Once we got onto the floor though we sorta let our hair down and chattered away like a bunch of magpies!
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We really earned our dinner tonight.  Becky fixed her traditional Swedish dinner and
we all had a lovely time.  Thanks Becky!

​We had a very lovely day threading our project looms and working on Pattern drafting (Goose Eye) and Material design — Coloring blocks!  I love to color.

So an easy day for me — which is good cause I seem to have a little chest congestion going on and I’m kinda tired today.  

I love threading, for me it is satisfying and relaxing.  I just have to be sure of the pattern and then I just do it by groups and check as I go.  On a few of the looms we worked in pairs, one person handing the warp thread to the other person who was threading.  Now THAT is nice and it really goes much faster, and — huge BONUS you have someone to chat with!
“Many hands make light work”

Lunch was a yummy carrot, raisin, walnut salad, bread, crackers, condiments, pickled herring, olives, cheese, ham, and a veggie plate. It was really good! 
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I’m staying at the Water Street dorm tonight and someone is bringing me back my dinner.  I just need to rest and decompress a bit, so I can get my immune system to cooperate.  I don’t want to be under the weather while at  my dream camp! No SIR!

So … I’m sitting here drinking wine, thinking — holy shit — is this only the second day??? I’m in BIG trouble.  Yep — pretty damn exhausted.  Beaming is VERY physical.
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We came in this morning and some weaving elves had been busily finishing off the winding from day one.  It was really impressive seeing ALL of these mills full of long warps.  

Here are the stages (including yesterday’s)

• Wind the warp on the warping mills.  This might be done in one bout or in two bouts, creating either one FAT warp chain or 2 skinnier warp chains. — already did that on Monday.
• Pre-sley the warp into a reed to prepare it for winding onto the back beam.
• Load the pre-sleyed warp onto the tie on bar
• Move the lease sticks from the front side of the reed to the back side of the reed.
• Set up the Trapeze – or pass the warp (over, down and through) to the back of the loom for holding by a partner)
• WIND that warp — which is no small thing with 30 meter warps!

So it was a pretty busy day.  We also had 2 classes, one in materials — lots of samples of woven items and figuring which yarns were used — and a design class — based on the Rep Rug we’ll be weaving.

The weather was REALLY nice today, so we weren’t collapsing from heat exhaustion — which is a good thing.  
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Oh — did I mention that we had a FABULOUS lunch — thanks so much Kim and an “OMG this is a great dinner” — topped off by chocolate mousse — thanks again Kim — You’re the best!

​Remember, I told you that you HAVE to prepare for Weaving Boot camp — it is like any extreme sport, you have to train for it.

I’m tired today! Not DEAD mind you, but pretty dang tired! Am I going to knit or spin tonight? I just don’t know, maybe, maybe not. I am sipping on wine as we speak.

Day one:  We have 10 weavers and 10 projects to do in 15 days.  YEE-HA.  Three of the projects were in a partial state of readiness.  The Daldräll curtain was beamed and ready for pre-sleying.  The 8-Shaft Blanket (THIS is the one I’ll be making more of — remember that comment about making everyone — i.e. family a blanket??) was beamed and ready for threading, and the Finnish Opphämta is ready to be tied on.  All the other projects (including a Shaft Draw loom project, which currently has no example, and is just an empty waiting loom) need to be started from scratch — the first step being, you guessed it, winding the warp.  There are a LOT of warping mills in the barn right now.

The morning was spent starting on the blanket threading and winding, winding, winding.  Shelburne Falls is having a little heat wave, so the temperature and the humidity started building.  At first, I’m thinking “hey this isn’t so bad, it’s warm but not oppressive” well that started to change around 12:30ish, the air got so thick you thought you were breathing water. The thunderstorm is building, I can feel it.   It is 4:56 now  and it really looks dark out there — the skies are about to open. I can hear some rumbling — Oh GOD – – let the northern air in!
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Yeah — it’s raining now, wrath of God rain … thinking about the Ark rain.  BUT the air is getting cooler – YAY

After a great deal of anticipation, THE DAY finally arrived.  Now all I had to do was manage a 10 hour drive — piece of cake.
Got the car packed up and ready to go.  Clothes, books, electronics, food, spinning supplies, toiletries, pillows, blankie — everything I needed (?) for a 3 week stay at weaving school. We averted a near disaster.  Once the car was packed, (no I did NOT need a car top carrier) I went up to take a shower and get dressed.  Then it was just a matter of hugs and kisses for Lou and zooming off.  As we were walking down the basement stairs I noticed the WINE and the COFFEE fixin’s at the bottom of the stairs — we ALMOST forgot them!  HORRORS!

I had every intention of leaving EARLY, but spend most of the night after 2 am awake, so I had to sleep past sunrise — which is really unusual for me.  After walking the dogs, doing my Tai Chi, making coffee and having Lou’s most excellent Buckwheat pancakes, we checked the LIST (how did we miss the coffee and wine???) & loaded up the car WITH the wine.  After giving Lou lots of hugs and kisses I was pulling out of the driveway!  BTW — Lou didn’t sleep at all — guess it was the coffee at dinner, the prospect of being without his split apart for 3 weeks, and some MILD concern about my drive.  Though I am independent and fiesty, I haven’t taken  …. well … ANY long trips by myself! (how in the world did that happen???)  And … I kept asking him “do you think I can DO this drive???”  Of course, he said, “sure, no problem”  SO he might have harbored a few doubts — I know I would.
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The plan was to stick to the freeway and avoid the google maps suggestion of driving all over the place, on Fred’s Road or Bob’s road.  I took 90 East until it ran into 91 North — easy peasy.  

I’m happy to report that, uncharacteristically for Sierra and travel, all went smoothly.  Whew!
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I listened to music in the morning, then started in on an audio book — Dune, my all time favorite Science Fiction story — of ALL TIME.  Worked great!  I stopped for RR breaks and gas and just kept driving – enjoying the scenery and the story.  Unfortunately, because of the late start, I totally missed the welcome dinner at the farm.  I went straight to the Water Street studio, grabbed a bottle of wine, the wine key and a glass, and had a lovely time.

How does one prepare for an intensive 3 week weaving immersion program at Vavstuga? Like any intense physical experience — you TRAIN for it!  By weaving?  — well maybe.  I have taken a different tack.

Staying in one position, often with a less than optimal posture can cause various maladies.  Neck ache, upper back (shoulder blade) strain, Shoulder joints can get “pinched”, wrists ache, lower back pain.  About the only structure that holds up well are LEGS.

For the last year — since the Basics and Linen classes at Vavstuga, I have been in training!  I walk in the morning (dogs), then do 30 minutes of Tai Chi and Shoulder exercises (from my physical therapist) and a few core exercises (Lower back and abdomen).  Later in the day I do either 30 minutes of one of two different yoga routines (one for bone density and one for muscle strength) at home, or I go to a 75 minute yoga class.  I now have lots more strong, dense, muscly muscles.  I am stronger and in better shape than I have been my entire adult life!  I am now ready for Weaving Boot Camp!

Have I been weaving?  Yes — once back from Basics class, I dressed my loom with an AMBITIOUS checked table cloth in 4 colors and started weaving — using the full length of my loom (120 cm) — so that was cool and the tablecloth’s turned out great.  I also wove a few old standby’s – towels.  I also wove a few  blankets (using double wide weaving) with Tuna wool (wow, what a nice, warm, cozy, soft blanket that made!) – and I am in the process of weaving 3 different types of towels as gifts for friends and family.  

I am also spinning a LOT — I want to make EVERYONE a handspun, handwoven blanket, so I’m currently spinning projects what would make good warp.

What else am I doing to “get ready”?  Well …. it’s all about THE LIST (I have been working on this since I signed up for the Mini Immersion class — I think I was actually the FIRST to sign up).  Yes folks — a list of supplies.  What should I bring?  There will be some down time in the evenings (that is … if I don’t crash and crawl into bed at 8:00 pm every night — like last time — BUT I have been training, after all, right??)  I need a List because I obsess, I hate to forget anything (obsess) and I really don’t like shopping (Lou does all the shopping).  

THE LIST has all the normal boring stuff on it (Clothes, toiletries, meds, notebook, electronics … yada yada yada) and things like a Knitting project, a spindle project (I’m spinning lace yarn for the opening of my Etsy shop), my Hansen MiniSpinner with its supply bag (Zuca), yoga mat and blocks, music, COFFEE supplies, some food … AFTER ALL I am going away for 3 weeks … I should feel comfortable and at home, yes?
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I am less than a week away from VAVSTUGA and I’m starting to feel — weird, happy, excited, anxious.  I have cleaned up my music room and prepared it as the staging area for the physical manifestation of THE LIST (Pics to follow)  Lou says “Yer gonna need a bigger car” — maybe I should go out and get a car top carrier?  What was I thinking when I bought the Honda Fit?? I shoulda bought the Pilot, or maybe the Ridgeline – Rats!

Basics Class at Vavstuga Weaving School

In order to take most of the classes, you have to take the Basics class, but don’t poo-poo it! I have been weaving for over 15 years (off and on) and my mind was exploding with all the great information I gleaned from this totally awesome class! There were many “aha” moments, and many more “why didn’t I think of that??” moments as well. Becky Ashenden is a great teacher -- very organized and focused, but she is also just a Hoot and TOO MUCH FUN!

We had students who had Swedish Looms, Jack Looms and even a Rigid Heddle loom! EVERYONE learned skills that they could take home and apply to their chosen weaving tool.

We wove a small wool blanket, a Cottolin/Cotton square table cloth, a Cottolin/Linen towel with a hanger band (made on the band loom) and a Linen Block Weave Sample (nice for the center of a table) on all 8 shafts.
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Each of the looms was in a different state of readiness for weaving. Two looms – with cottolin/linen towels were ready to go. Two Looms – Cotton/Cottolin Table cloths needed to be threaded and tied on and have the Tie up done. The two looms with linen warp and weft were ready to be threaded, tied on, tied up as well – these were reserved for dressing the loom with a buddy! I think I’ll have my friend Shelly come and buddy warp with me from now on – it’s pretty fun.   The two looms that would become the lap blanket had to be dressed from scratch, wind the warp (using a warping mill), beam it (using the trapeze method), thread it (with a buddy) Tie it on and do the Tie up (heddles/lamms/treadles). By the time you were done – you KNEW how to dress a Swedish loom!

The rest of the week was spent weaving, half of the second day through the morning of the fifth day. Most of us were finished on Thursday evening and spent the morning in our fringe twisting party on the porch.
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EACH day there were also morning and afternoon classes on reading and creating pattern drafts, planning projects and analyzing weave structures from woven cloth. The days were structured and JAM packed with information. Lunch was also included in the class fee and they were wonderful! Kim is a super cook and meal planner.

We also had a traditional Swedish diner at Becky’s childhood home – the Farm house. It was a very special evening. The food was wonderful and we all had a lovely time chatting around the large dining table. Of course, everywhere you go, whether it is the water street studio or the farmhouses, there are fabulous woven household items; rugs, placemats, tablecloths, curtains, blankets, napkins, hand towels. Just hanging around either studio is inspirational. I am looking at my home AND my RV with an eye to adding hand woven items! After dinner we had a tour of the MANY looms in the house, all dressed with projects. Most of the looms at the farm house are draw looms, individual draw or shaft draw, and Becky treated us to a showing of her many finished projects – mostly done on draw looms. A life spent weaving is full of beauty.

The week SPED by -- I couldn’t believe how fast all this fun ended!
I was SO inspired by my experience that when I got home (2 weeks down time before heading off again) I dressed my loom with a project called the Country Kitchen Checked Cloth – a 40.5” (width in reed) 58” table cloth made from Cottolin (Bleached, Unbleached, Brown & Red). It has 976 ends and took me 4 days to dress the loom. I warped for 2 table cloths – and they are going to be fabulous.


ALL the pictures: