Towels!

I had a treading error which you see in the yellow block, third from the top, should you look closely. It discouraged me from continuing with this pattern, so I changed the tie-up to twill and was going to use that in the next towel. The tie-up change doesn't matter because the error is still there. It only doesn't appear in tabby.
I'm going to have to change the tie-up back and Gilmore tie-ups are a complete workout. I took another tip from Rae. She uses a milk carton when she's working in the lower regions of her loom. I couldn't believe how much easier that was than on my knees.
I've switched to tabby for the second towel. I'm a fan of stripes and thought this would be a fun alternative, but it accentuates the unplanned dark stripes together in the center. This could have been avoided had I used weaving software. I've downloaded the freeware from Pikes Peak Weaving Guild, which LuAnn recommended, but I didn't know how to get started. I asked Amanda about a weave structure on her blog and what software she had used. She said she uses the same stuff. Amanda took pity on my and posted a tutorial on her blog which you can access here. Thanks Amanda!!!!!


This is the draft I was using for my towels. It's from my friend Beryl and she says it's called called halvdräll or “Poor Man’s damask”. It's really easy to weave but I made a major threading error and don't have enough warp to cut it off and correct it. I'll change back to the block tie-up for the last two towels and squint when I look at the error.

I'm thinking about buying the 11" end- feed Bluster Bay shuttle from Yarn Barn. It's really expensive and each pirn is $5.50. I'd sure appreciate any feedback anyone has to give me.
Yesterday was my last art class. I reached a point where I was asking so many questions, that we agreed to finish the session with Erik doing it as a demo. This is the first time in all the art classes I've thrashed through that I've had a thoughtful demonstration of colors, layers of colors and glazes. I had already painted the basic building. I was missing the rest.
This was also my first time to use a gallery frame so part of the image is on the side. I'm glad Erik did the tree shadow. I was happy that my perspective was good but the details like that and the signs were vexing me. I'm planning on a plein air class with him starting in April. I think I need to take a step back and work on quick sketches for the next month. I'm going to miss our Fridays - I had no clue that the art classes would lead to a genuine friendship. It hit like a ton of bricks when I left. I was very sad and went for a therapeutic swim.

My elbow pain has returned with my spinning - I'm having a terrible time unlearning the pinching technique. I relax and then I find I'm pinching. Drawing doesn't hurt anything but my pride. I'm sure there's going to be a happy middle.