To Rethread or Not to Rethread

Today was Ben's last day at work for the year. I had thought the school closed early this year, requiring everybody to take 2.5 days of leave next week to have two whole weeks off, (which I thought wasn't a bad idea,) but it turns out Ben took however many days of business left. He doesn't remember when the place closes; you could say the two of us have been in holiday mode since his two-week leave in November.

Today I finished the dark peach piece I showed you yesterday. There was something funny going on at the back of the loom so I unwound and rewound the warp and measured it; it turns out I can get two more. I've been contemplating resleying because 15 EPI is so so so sparse, but if I'm going to resley, I wondered if I should rethread as well. Unable to decide, I stared at the warp from different angles for 40 minutes before deciding I couldn't decide, though I did select two weft candidates. Before the end of the year I hope to weave these two and the last of the was-ruana warp at the very least, and fringe and wash everything. 

So why do I keep weaving on the four-shaft when I'm not crazy about weaving even the stash reduction projects on four shafts? For one, I have to be very careful about putting cashmere warps on the big loom as that loom is hard on these delicate yarns. For another, I know that even with the simpler designs, my combination of yarns yield wonderful texture and hand; in fact, sometimes the hand is nicer when woven in simpler twills, for example, than in the fussy ones I like. I'm also trying to correct my erratic beating and it's easy on a foot loom where I can go back in treadling instantly. On my big loom, I have to get off the bench or scoot over to the right, stop and reverse the treadling on the computer, scoot back to the middle, unpick, re-scoot, stop and re-reverse the treadling in the forward direction, re-scoot-back, then weave forward. But most urgently, try as I may I haven't been able to make a draft I like for the Christmassy warp. Yeah, that last one has really got "my knickers in a twist!" (Mama, knickers are underpants.)

I did make one this morning that I do like; I think I will weave this sometime.

And a picture of Terri and me towards the bottom about a month ago.