Photogenic Placemats

As I was weaving, I found the my post-it note I was using to keep my place in the pattern wasn't sticking too long. So I got an iPad mount for Rey so I could see where I was at all times. It clamps to the castle and holds the iPad really securely as well. I have an app I use for kniting called Goodreader that allows me to draw a line on a pattern, especially a lace or cabled pattern so I can keep track of where I am in the knitting pattern. I turned the image of the zig zags into a pdf and brought it into the app to do the same. I can also make notes on a pdf in this app, so I'm able to keep track of how many repeats of the pattern I've done so I can make sure the placemats are all the same length.

Post-its were falling off my pattern so I got an iPad mount for the loom to keep track of where I am in the pattern. It’s holding up to all the force of the beater, which is great!
(please excuse the mess, since we haven't had any guests due to COVID this bed has become a bit of a weaving catch all)


Most of the rest of the weaving of the placemats went rather smoothly once I'd internalized the repeats of the pattern. I didn't think I'd have an issue finishing the weaving by the end of this week...until Wednesday night and this happened: (you'll want your sound on for this)

Sad bobbin winder.


That's the sound of the engine of the bobbin winder dyig. I gave it another go on Thursday night and it sort of worked for a bit, but then made the same noise and stopped turning the bobbin. I only had one more placemat to go! So I got crafty (pun intended) and used my husband's drill to wind the last couple of bobbins. (sound option on all this one!)

Have drill, will wind bobbin


So I was back in business!

Except that the next time I advanced the warp the ends on the left didn't advance as much as the ends on the right. I'm not sure exactly what happend, but I got a shuttle and a c-clamp and stuck it under the apron beam on the right side to remove some slack which helped to get the apron beam to the same width.

Once I "fixed" that issue, I found a warp thread had broken. All of this literally happened in a half hour of weaving, by the way. Thankfully, I had thought this was going to happen at least once, I subscribe to Gist Yarn's e-newsletter and earlier this week they sent a link to a blog post about how to fix a broken warp thread. So I followed the steps to fix the broken warp thread (and promptly forgot where I was in the pattern and to move the line on the aforementioned pattern on my app, so I started the repeat all over again, creating a mess in the pattern of that last placemat). At least all of these issues are all in one placemat instead of throughout the whole fabric, I guess.

I've loved taking pictures of this project while it's on the loom. I even shared a few photos with my guild today and got some great feedback. Its been incredibly photogenic. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Divider between placemats 2 & 3.


3 placemats are done being woven.


How the weaving looks closer up. It’s so satisfying. When I do it, I find that it’s hard to actually stop weaving because I get into a rhythm and don’t know where to stop!


So I still have to weave in that broken warp end and see if there are any skipped threads that I have to figure out a way to fix. Then I'll wash it and hem them on my mom's sewing machine before I gift tehm in a couple of weeks.

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