By the end of the Echo and Jin workshop I had small but ambitious list of things I wanted to try, helped along by the arrival of a birthday and this present:
I wanted to:
- Make an Echo draft using my own design line
- Have another attempt at doubleweave
- Be a bit more deliberate in colour selections
- Make a thing
- Try moire/non-parallel threading
Launching into the first challenge, I made a design line based on a twirled moustache using the instructions given to us in class. The result was disappointing. No matter what combination of colours I used the design was indistinct and unexciting. I repeated the process a few times, rechecked the instructions, then one evening I had another look at the Heddlecraft article on Echo and had an ‘aha!’ moment. The instructions there reminded me that Denise had said not to skip a shaft. Though I’ve seen echo design lines that do, I figured if two sources say don’t then I would stick to the rule for my first designs.
My warp colour choices were perhaps a little lacking in contrast, too. I also had a hunch that part of the problem was one of scale. Back to Fiberworks, I restarted with a bigger moustache line with no shaft skips. This time the magic happened.
Next I made a doubleweave draft with the same tie-up and threading Denise used in her class example. Then I came up with six more twill-based tie-ups and treadings. My plan is to try the doubleweave, rethread the reed for twill weave a few of the designs, then pick one to weave a scarf out of.