Tag: boat shuttle

You Need a Boat Shuttle for This

Karen

A boat shuttle is clearly the best way to send weft thread across a 45-inch (114 cm) warp. The pleasing rhythm of weaving is possible because of this very simple tool. Even so, the shuttle is merely a vehicle for the thread. Music is another kind of vehicle.

Alpaca/Tencel throw on the loom. Plain weave, with lace weave squares.
Plain weave, with evenly-spaced lace weave squares. The alpaca/Tencel yarn is soft, yet very easy to work with.

I doubt there is a more effective vehicle for carrying a message than music. Surely you have noticed how ideas spread across the culture via songs, and how easily we retain words that are attached to a tune. Boat shuttles were invented because handweavers needed a way to send weft thread across a distance. Maybe music was invented because we needed a way to send messages that matter.

I would like to send a message across time and space. I’ll wrap the words around a quill, and insert it in the boat shuttle. And then, momentarily holding the shuttle just so, I’ll release the song with a flick of my wrist, sending the message to the one who means the most to me. A joyful pronouncement of my creator’s goodness and love, set to musical expression. Brings a smile from heaven, don’t you think? And as that shuttle continues, in the rhythm of the weaving, the thread of the simple song ends up leaving a pattern in the cloth.

May you have a reason to sing.

Making melody,
Karen

Weaving Windows of Time

Karen

The 8/2 cotton threads are doubled, and form an outline around the delicate 20/2 cotton threads, creating this Swedish lace. I see the 8/2 outline as a window frame around panes of glass. A repeating geometric pattern like this is a visual impression of the cycles that form our backdrop for life. The sun rises and sets; seasons follow their sequence; years come and go. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Handwoven Swedish lace using double bobbin shuttle
By using a double bobbin shuttle, the thicker outline threads are placed in the shed together without twisting.

Life hands us constant changes, but one thing we can always expect is a new day. We have been given a lifetime of tomorrows. Even when we are not able to see the sun because of clouds, the sun still rises.

In that consistency of tomorrow, no matter what the present day offers, there is a knowing that runs deep in every soul. In moments of solitude we feel it: The creator loves me. No matter what. New every morning.

May your soul be refreshed today and tomorrow, and the day after that, and so on…

Lovingly,
Karen

Perfectly Imperfect

Karen

Five new tubes of quality Egyptian cotton thread. They look perfect! And one very old boat shuttle (possibly from the 1800’s). Quite worn and used, it has noticeable flaws and imperfections. This shuttle is very simple, but it fits perfectly in my hands, and easily glides across the warp, carrying weft thread across. The shuttle’s worth is measured by what it becomes in my hands as a weaver.

antique boat shuttle
Antique boat shuttle found on eBay, with new fitted spindle added. Cotton thread will be woven to make curtains.

If I am noticed by people, that makes me important, right? And if I’m never noticed — what then? Does that mean I am less important? I hope we can base our personal value on something besides popularity and opinions; if not, we’re left trying to prove our worth.

It is marvelous that there is a grand weaver who knows us personally. The one who stretched out the skies like a piece of cloth and sprinkled it with stars as if they were glass beads, knows each of us by name. He knows all the flaws, yet he delights to pick up that worn, imperfect shuttle and use it to create something spectacular. My worth is defined in his hands.

May you hear your name pleasantly spoken.

Imperfect, but happy,
Karen