Ironweed isn’t a flower I usually think about this time of year, with all the spring ephemerals grabbing my attention, but completing the necklace took me back to that season. I began with good intentions, but something made me set that project aside and it was several months before I picked it back up again. Then there was another delay.
I attended a local fiber arts group that meets monthly at our library, taking the necklace with me. It was my first meeting and I found the show-and-tell format friendly and informative. The members spoke about their current projects while crocheting, knitting, weaving, etc. I learned a lot from them as they shared with me what they knew about needle weaving and pin weaving. I’d hoped that taking the necklace to work on would get me re-inspired to finish it—which it did. But I became so interested in the conversation that I wasn’t paying enough attention to my work.
Symmetrical designs should be woven by alternating between the opposite sides to ensure that both sides are evenly spaced and sized. Of course I hadn’t done that and it didn’t help that it had been months since I’d last worked on it. I was trying to figure out how I’d done the first side while listening to the other artists and absorbing lots of information.
Weaving right along, by the end of the afternoon I’d accomplished quite a bit. Later that evening however, I noticed that I’d missed adding in a bead and two of the corners didn’t really match. Kind of a problem with a symmetrical design. Much as I hated to do it, in the the long run it was best just to take out all of the weaving I’d worked on that day.
But it wasn’t really a loss. I learned (and re-learned) several things in the process:
- Don’t mix socializing with work that requires lots of concentration—don't attempt color changes for example.
- Do follow the recommendation about weaving alternately to preserve the symmetry of the design.
No comments:
Post a Comment