After Woolly Week Summer Camp for Kids, I am enjoying a little downtime…with my new SAORI SX60 loom!
The loom arrived last week on the last day of camp (can you believe it?)! Moms, dads, grandmas and siblings had arrived for our "art show." The kids were superhyped to show their families their projects and introduce them to George. Everyone was enjoying the cookies and punch Tia Sari had made (there wasn't a crumb left!).
Suddenly, I looked up and saw a yellow Penske truck at the bottom of my driveway. What could that be? Then the driver unloaded a box onto a handtruck and pushed it all the way up the hill. I met him at the walk, and he apologized for being three hours late; his truck had broken down. But like a true Pony Express carrier, the delivery must go through! It took everything in me to stay focused and not rush to tear open the box.
Here she is. I'm calling her Kernel Sanders, after my online mentor at SAORI Santa Cruz. The dictionary defines kernel as: "5. the central or most important part of anything; essence; gist; core." And my SAORI loom is just that!
So in my downtime this week, I have been weaving my little heart out! Oh, it feels so right. And SAORI makes it so comfortable. No back pain like on my big loom. I can sit for hours and loose all track of time. When the Professor leaves for work, I put on Joni Mitchell and sing at the top of my lungs, rocking and weaving, and just enjoying the feel of the threads, the colors, the textures. Oh my!
My first scarf was woven with recycled sari silk. A sari silk scarf for Tia Sari!
The next scarf was woven during the hurricane; hence the moodiness and the colors reflecting the changes in sky and light.
But the last scarf on the pre-warp (did I mention that the SAORI loom comes already pre-warped? It took me one hour to set up and start weaving [!!!]), I really lost myself. I was having such a good time, and was not paying attention to how much warp remained. I have wanted to try a mobius scarf for quite some time. And my friend Jill (may I call you my friend?) at SAORI Santa Cruz posted a great tutorial on how to do so. But like I said, I was neither here nor there, but somewhere in between, when suddenly I realized I had run out of warp!
To do a mobius, you untie the cloth from the front beam (another incredible SAORI feature), fold the scarf putting a twist in, then use the warp ends as weft. I did not have any room to weave in the ends! But I was determined to make this work, and somehow managed to squeeze them in with a quarter inch to spare!
But I didn't consider that both the warp and the weft would be black cotton! So to give some interest, I tucked in treasures; bits of yarn and scraps that I had also included in the scarf.
When I went to remove the scarf from the loom, I had tensioned the scarf around the front beam, so I couldn't remove the scarf! I remembered reading about this, and went back to Jill's post:
"REMEMBER NOT TO WRAP THE SCARF AROUND THE BREAST BEAM BEFORE YOU TENSION! Otherwise you will have woven around the the beam and cannot get it off! Just fold the woven part in half and tuck in and turn the cloth beam till it catches."
I couldn't think. There was a lump in my throat, and a sinking feeling in my chest. I just had to walk away. It was late, and I decided to sleep on it.
In the morning, I cut (gulp) it off the front beam, ran to the sewing machine, and sewed it up. Then I used a needle to try to loosen the weft threads because I had had to cram them in such a little shed. I started to relax. I kept saying to myself, "It's going to be okay."
So here is what I'm calling my Mobi(b)us(t) scarf:
Not as bad of a bust as I thought it would be, but I think it will be a while before I attempt another mobius scarf!
And some good news: I sent my application to be an Authorized SAORI studio to Japan yesterday, complete with studio, portfolio, and teaching photos. Keep your fingers crossed that I will receive a positive response quickly!
Wishing you some positive downtime this holiday weekend!
Fleece,
Abu
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