Attention to Detail

Preparing to submit excellent samples is a Lot of Work.

Here's round #3 on the twill sampler. On the road to finishing it, I discovered one threading error, four mistakes in treadling, which I ripped back and redid (I learned that I have to watch the pattern with an eagle eye, and not be dsitracted by listening to an audio book), and then, after completing the weaving and rereading the directions, noticed that the language asks you to make a "blanket" for this sample.

Does "blanket" mean that I should be weaving the sampler from more blankety materials, like wool? I imagine that a twill sampler in heathered, Harrisville yarns would be beautiful. Or is "blanket" just a generic term, meaning bigger than the typical sample of a minimum of 7 by 10 inches?

Having a degree in English, combined with the precision that this process calls for is a dangerous mix. (I've parsed the contrast between the singular "color" called for to separate vertical columns in the sampler, versus the plural "colors" specified in the weft directions. Intentional - meaning that I need to use one main color for warp plus one divider color, and then several colors for weft? Or typo, meant not at all to mean anything significant? What can one say but "ergghhhh."  Or "ergghhhhs."

I'll be saying this for the next two years - weaving is this wierd fusion of creativity and attention to detail. You have to suspend reliance on product and outcome and place yourself into process and serendipity. At the same time, you have to count carefully, be incredibly anal retentive in the many steps of setting up the loom - especially threading correctly, into the right heddles, no threads crossed, everything at even tension.

I'm guessing that I'll either learn patience and attention to detail, or keep finding myself where I was at 5 am this morning - wide awake, thinking about threading the loom, changing the plan for the warp, considering that I should have wound a single-color warp for this sample instead of stripes. Remember the Pushmi-Pullyu from the Doctor Doolittle books? That's how I feel.