Weaving! Finally....

Lots of little things had been getting in the way of warping the loom. First, I'd said I would autocrat an SCA event called Fruits of Our Labours 2, (FOOL2). As well, I was trying to fit in making a 10th-11th C Anglo-Saxon outfit for my husband so he could be dragged along to a reenactment weekend. It was the first event of the Regia Angolorum Ontario group at the totally awesome longhouse and campsite. It was a totally relaxing and fantastic day and one of those spurs to more authenticity in re-creation archaeology activities. We weren't able to camp out that weekend due to some family commitments unfortunately.

Last week, between sewing and FOOL planning, I found time to start measuring off the warp on the warping board. It took 3 or 4 days - don't know exactly as I was just fitting it in here or there when I had time. The threading of the reed went really quickly, I'm presuming because a) I really enjoy dressing the loom and b) I'd done a good job of winding the warp on the warping board. Threading the heddles seems to involve some sort of time-space compression and expansion. From one side to the middle takes a fair bit of time - enjoyable time, but still. Once you get to the halfway mark, the heddles almost thread themselves, until the last 2 or 3 inches which seem to slow down and take 4 times longer than any other part. It took only 2 days and it was done. Then I started winding the warp on the back beam - I know, Front to back isn't supposed to be as good as Back to Front, however it works for me and I've never even seen a loom dressed the other way, since I taught myself to weave. The whole dressing of the loom went so smoothly that when it was done I was wondering why something hadn't gone awry.
I started weaving this afternoon and I sampled.. the sett looks good - it's a tabby so not much to go wrong with the pattern and it is pretty woven up. It isn't quite as red as my picture shows it, on my monitor at least. The fabric has a nice hand and I think my main concern with weaving this will be to keep the weft from packing too tightly.

This morning I made peach jam - mmmmmmm. It made the whole house smell delicious and it looks so pretty. I got to taste the little bit left in the pot for lunch and yep, it's a keeper! Peach jam is one of those comfort foods that I find to be a taste of summer. That is a good thing at the end of January, when the winds are blowing and the sun has forgotten to shine for the better part of a month and the high temperature is -17...