Weaving in Beauty

Candace's Puppy Chew!

Candace is one of our continuing weaving students and had set up her third weaving, hoping to work on it during the holiday break of 2022.  She wanted to challenge herself, so she selected an ambitious Eyedazzler pattern.  It would demand that she pay attention to the weft position on each and every row.  

Candace was off to a great start.  She had gotten into a rhythm with the pattern, and it looked like this would be a great skill-building challenge.  It would be just tough enough to be interesting but interesting enough to keep her attention.  Perfect, right?  Hold on.   

Enter the Puppy 

Candace had a Husky puppy.  It was cute, it was friendly, it was curious, and it chewed 17 warps.  To add insult to injury, somebody stole the puppy the day after he chewed the warp.  He hasn't been seen since.  Candace had 17 broken warps and no puppy.  She sent me a picture.  Of the warps, not the puppy, since I couldn't do anything about the puppy.  The picture is at the top of the post.  I told her that we could fix the warps.   

We Can Fix It!  

The repair warps are now in place, and Candace could resume weaving.

Candace and I met at Weaving in Beauty on a quiet Saturday in early January 2023.  Over the course of about 90 minutes, we carefully installed repair warps, threading them into the existing weaving.  We secured them with t-pins so that Candace could adjust the tension as the weaving proceeded.  

Candace had to weave carefully and get the tension evened out as she began weaving again, but soon the rug began to recover and take shape.  Her meticulous attention to the pattern was also a factor in making the repair successful.  

Candace Did Fix It! 

Here's the finished piece! Persistence pays.

Over the course of the next few weeks, Candace carefully worked on the rug.  It looked better and better as she proceeded, and she finished it a couple of weeks ago.  Her sisters helped her thread the repair warps into the finished piece, and after trimming those, it is very difficult to see where the damage occurred.  Candace plans to make a clutch-style bag from it and was last seen heading down the street to find a silver concho to use as a fastener.