Eight Bouts Is Enough

A zillion threads—2,064 ends, to be exact. I wound the warp in four bouts. And then, …a sinking feeling! I had wound each bout with exactly half the ends needed. This double weave throw, almost the full weaving width of the loom, needs 1,032 more ends.

Winding a colorful warp.
Winding one bout of the warp.
One warp bout of several.
One bout.
Warp bouts.
Two bouts.
Warp bouts for double weave throw.
Three bouts.
Four warp bouts for double weave throw.
Four bouts. Not enough.

I had counted ends as if there were only one layer. I did all four bouts that way. Yikes! Now I am winding four more identical bouts. I will put the lease sticks through all eight bouts. Somehow. Thoughtful study of the details on my planning sheet would have prevented this major error. But I knew what I was doing, and could remember the important things. Or, so I thought. And I was eager to get started…

Winding a cotton warp.
Winding more warp bouts.
Double weave warp with 2,064 threads!
Eight warp bouts. Ready to begin dressing the loom.

Walk. How we walk through life matters. To walk in a manner pleasing to God we need to know what he wants, and give that our full attention. If I run ahead, eager for the next experience, and neglect to consult the Grand Weaver’s project notes, I’m asking for trouble. The vibrant-colored warp will still get on the loom, but this is called learning the hard way.

May you learn most things the easy way.

Learning,
Karen

4 thoughts on “Eight Bouts Is Enough

  1. Oh, Karen! That is the hard way! Your perseverance is so admirable!

    I can definitely relate to this lesson in life and in weaving. It seems I frequently don’t pay enough attention to the Holy Spirit ‘s direction or pattern directions. One benefit of learning the hard way, though, is same mistakes are rarely made.

    I love all the colors I see. I am looking forward to seeing the work in progress.

    Have a blessed day, Karen.

    1. Hi Annie, Sometimes I wish I could go back a little in time and do it correctly from the start. With weaving, fortunately, if something can’t be undone it usually can be fixed. I don’t want all those threads to fail. I have too much invested in it—time and $.

      I think I can safely say I will never make this mistake again!

      Listening to the Holy Spirit’s directions is one of the most important lessons in life.

      Thanks so much for your input!
      Karen

  2. Your post is so timely! Something was wrong with my scarf project, it just didn’t look right. Eager to get going, I started weaving. It soon became apparent that the sett was wrong. Off it came & I re-sleyed. I read your post and thought I should read the draft & instructions again before I started weaving. It was an ‘aha’ moment, I was not treadling correctly either.

    Thank you for sharing your insights!

    1. Hi Barb, These mistakes can happen so easily when we are eager to get started. They are just as easily avoided if we slow down enough to review our own information. Hopefully, we are learning to not make the same mistake again! We can be an encouragement to each other!

      Happy weaving,
      Karen

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