Yellow Wood Llamas, Inc.

With the summer heat, I took a break from farm chores yesterday and started to work on the project that has been sitting on my loom since late winter. I had warped the loom over the course of about two or three weeks, rendering the dining room table unusable in the process (what else are those tables good for anyway, except holiday dinners and crafts?) The loom then sat in the library, waiting for me to start the fun part. I think warping a loom is what turns off most beginning weavers, and is the main reason for all those “used only once” looms you find for sale on eBay.

As winter turned to spring this year, we were busy with more llama shows than usual, and I was also busy getting my llama fleece sent to the mills for processing. After last weekend’s fiberfair, I feel rejuvenated; surrounded by all those lovely yarns made from MY llamas, I just have to make something! I might be able to find a little time on one of those hot days that beg you to stay in the air conditioning.

I had warped the loom in a dark cinnamon llama yarn, with the intent of using grouped warp and weft threads to create an interesting pattern in a solid color piece. Now with all my new yarn in many colors, my plan has changed. I began to envision a project that had a different warp color, but there is NO WAY I will remove that warp and start over! That would be enough to deter me for several more months! Instead, I came up with colors that will compliment the existing warp.

I started weaving, and after several rows, decided I wanted a different color to start with. I removed those rows and changed colors, and finally got going the way I wanted. I seemed to be out of practice and struggling to get a nice even weave. At last the phone rang, and I had a chance to sit back on the couch and take a break. From this more comfortable position, I noticed it…A mistake in the warp!

I had SKIPPED putting the yarn through one of the holes in the heddle! Fortunately, because I had grouped warp thread on adjoining slots, I could rethread one of those to correct the mistake. But it meant removing all those rows of weaving I had already done! A mistake like that in the warp is fatal. I had to redo everything.

I was explaining my frustration to my husband, and we both came to the conclusion that Gene Roddenbury must have been a weaver. When he invented the term warp speed, he was being facetious; he meant, “really slow,” not fast. I’ll never watch Star Trek the same way again!