Youth
Alas! how few look back upon their youth,
Who glean not from the past the unwelcome truth
That Time, of stealthy step and pinion grey,
Brings no new joy like that he takes away!
ANNE S. BUSHBY, “A Letter from Home”
Bummer!
But I am hoping to glean some middle-aged joy from working with my weaving youth. I am dressing looms using stash yarns (determined to ONLY use what I have even if the colorways are compromises.) We are going to weave placemats in rep weave (a first for me too!), napkins in plain weave random stripes and napkin rings on the inkle loom. By the way, it turns out to be way harder to wind narrow random stripes than it is to wind a planned stripe pattern. Perhaps, this is why one is often instructed to wind broad stripes, beam and then select colors at random as you thread the heddles. How do you avoid tension problems then? Must investigate further . . . I am almost finished threading the red/orange napkin warp – just the black/purple napkins to wind/dress and the inkle to set up.
