I was looking at the new project on my loom and, believe it or not, I thought it looked pretty good.

This is the second attempt at this pattern. I had started with this:

Can’t tell the difference?

Just a short year ago, I wouldn’t have been able to decipher the difference. Nor would I have attempted to weave something with two different kinds of thread. Here the blue is a rayon. The white is a silk/wool blend.

Thinking about that prompted me to look back at some of my weaving and how it has progressed.

Take a little journey into my fiber arts archive and watch how my story grew.

It was on March 8, 2014, that I “dressed” my first loom. I had found a weaving teacher with a studio in the area. She had group classes and beginners were encouraged to attend. So I did.

It became a very strange looking scarf. But it was a beginning. It now serves as a dresser runner!

I was hooked.

I loved the people I met, the instructor, the colors, and the sense of satisfaction when a project was completed.

I have made some “interesting” items. Take for instance the “baby” blanket that could cover Los Angeles.

I loved the colors and the pattern so much that I forgot that the warp was long enough for TWO blankets. I just kept weaving. Thank the universe that the person who wanted it thought it was perfect!

I got my own loom and began making scarves. (Here is the story of the loom. http://musingmueller.blogspot.com/2014/05/it-all-matters.html .) None of my early scarves turned out to be very good but I just kept working at it. Besides, it was fun.

The journey of the first loom continued when I gave it to a woman who wanted to learn to weave.  My second loom was hand made by a local gentleman and had a real personality. I swear it could talk to me!

And I kept making things.

I gave most of those things away to friends and family. The only thing I ever kept were dishtowels that are still in good working order and used to this day!

I started to read weaving books and blogs. I studied (and still study) weaving structures and patterns. I began, slowly, to understand the nature of thread. I learned about silk and wool and bamboo and rayon and cotton. I learned about organics and non-organics. I learned a bit of science. Particularly chemistry and physics when we dyed our own yarn.

And I learned patience.

Lots of patience.

I kept getting a little better with each project. With each project I learned a bit more.

I learned to do several projects in one type of thread so I could learn the properties of that particular type. Is it sticky, does it pill, does it slide, does it twist to the left or the right, is it rough, how does it shrink.

I started to design. The more I put down on paper (or on my computer program) the more I wanted a larger loom.

I loved my hand-made loom. We had gotten close. Or at least I understood it’s quirks. But it was time to grow.

BOOM!

I dyed my hair pink, gave up my dining area and brought in a 60″ (that is side to side), 8 shaft  loom. I could now make more than 250 combinations of thread placements.

Thanks to my teacher and friend, Patricia Martin, we put that sucker together in one day.

Look what I can do now!

I never dreamed I could create anything. I never dreamed that I would be part of an ancient art. But here I am. It will take me the rest of my life to get anywhere near the expertise of my teacher or some of the other weavers I have met along the way. I may never be able to get there. But that is not the point.

This is something that I do because I like doing it. I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. I can just weave.

I am FLABBERGASTED by all of it.

(P.S. The difference in the two blue and white patterns is the size of the white squares. It may look tiny but when it is done the blue and white squares “should” be the same size.)