40 days & 40 nights
Forty days and forty nights ago (see 11 May post) I was staring at a pile of wool, hoping and praying that some burst of inspiration would transform this formless and void pile into a miraculous creation for the Guild exhibition at the Knitting and Stitching Show in Dublin…
40 days have passed and I am now looking at a blank piece of paper…well, not exactly blank…it’s got little squares printed on it…graph paper, as it were.
40 nights have passed and I can now envision a design that will, with one threading of the loom, allow me flexibility in the treadlings to create an Irish landscape, albeit an abstract one. I settle on the tried-and-true-even-a-beginner-can-do-it Rosepath draft.
40 days have gone and I have located my coloured pencils, hoping that by taking them up in my hand I will be able to visualise the colour changes.
40 nights have gone and I find the series of treadlings that will give me an interpretation of the Dublin Mountains boasting their yellow gorse and multi-hued heather beneath a darkening sky.
40 days have elapsed and I roughly sketch my embryonic idea on paper…scrutinising and evaluating.
40 nights have elapsed and I now wind the warp to be put on the loom to begin the construction.
40 days and 40 nights have come and gone and I breathe a sigh of relief to have gotten over the first obstacle in the creative process…
You’ve accomplished a lot more than just little squares on the paper! I was a little worried that the loss of your Barista would cause you to slow down
Which Rosepath draft are you using? I’m looking forward to seeing it progress.
21 Jun 2006 at 5:18 pm
Oh, is there more than one? See how naive I am? Kidding actually…! I don’t know if each Rosepath draft has a separate name, but I’m using a 4-3-2-1-2-3-4-1 draft. Came out of a simple little book that I like a lot…Patterns for Weaving by Jocelyn Burt. Other than having to flip the threading orientation (she would number the above as 1-2-3-4-3-2-1-4), I like the simplicity of her patterns and I need to start simply so I don’t do my head in!
21 Jun 2006 at 6:49 pm