Practice makes perfect

I'm jumping right in with lesson 3 from Learning to Weave by Deborah Chandler. This is the first weaving I've done on this loom and the first I've done on my own.  I'm a little disappointed with my learning curve (it's not quite as good as I'd hoped) but I learned many things.  I started off with a plain weave that had such miserable selvages that I didn't even take a picture. Ick. But then I got the hang of it a bit and quit thinking so much!

 

Here is my experimentation with twill and beating strength. I don't recall having to consciously think about how hard I beat the weft in my weaving class...but I'm finding I sure need to watch this. I have a tendency to do everything tight - my knitting gauge leans toward tight too. 

Next I just played around, using broken twill, and misc stuff. See the right hand side warp?  The last 3 or so warp yarns really started standing out to form a ridge, and I have no idea why. But my selvages improved and I began being more comfortable.

Here's the final project. I used fringe tied with overhand knots on one end and used hem stitching on the other. Both new experiences for me, but they went well. 

Near the end of the project, I was noticing the red warp was much looser across the whole project than the white warp. I'm assuming this was because of stretch within the yarn. I wasn't sure of any way to fix it, so I cut the experience short and cut the losses.

I'm excited to keep learning and improving my skills!!  I've already read up to lesson 6, where I'll be weaving some more. A lot more evidently. Good thing I have a healthy knitting stash!!