It's always a challenge for someone my age to learn a new craft. I've been weaving some and it's a humbling experience. So many small factors can lead to disaster.
Case in point. I've made quite a few dishcloths and noticed this tendency towards leaning at the end of the weave, but it was slight enough that when the finished piece was removed from the loom, tied off, and washed, no problems. When you get into something longer, though, like a scarf, it becomes a problem.
I did a black warp with a black and sparkly gold weft that ended up a disaster because of this. I thought I had the warp on a bit unevenly and started this rainbow gradient scarf being careful to have everything evenly tensioned and in the middle of the loom, not more threads on one side than the other. It started off fine, but when I got closer to the end, I had this.
That's a mess. I asked around on Facebook and Ravelry, got some good advice, and spent part of the weekend unweaving a big portion of the piece so I could start over, concentrating on correcting my technique. The basic problem was I was pulling the weft yarn too flat across the bottom, and also leaning the heddle a little every time I brought it down to beat. After a long piece, it built up to a pronounced lean. It's way better now.
I hope when I take it off the loom, there's not a huge obvious place where I restarted it. I hope washing it will even things out. I love this yarn and the idea of the piece and I'd hate to waste it. But if it ends up wasted, it will have been a valuable learning experience. Lesson learned. You don't actually know how to weave yet, slow down and take your time, pay attention to what you're doing, and get it right.
I took the cutest cat picture this weekend. What do you think?
I swear that cat is so damn photogenic.
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