Warp Speed: Patterns

I had a wonderful weaving session this evening, my first really long one since I set up in the basement. The table height is good; the lighting is perfect. And I can leave the loom up all the time, which beats storing it under a table on the first floor and then rearranging the living room to get anything done.

I also really got into a rhythm with my loom and the pattern, noticing patterns within the pattern. I'm weaving Mama's scarf in indigo and plum Jaegerspun wool/silk blend, with the indigo as the warp and the plum as the weft. The color combo is wonderful. And the pattern, which Mama chose, is striking: contrasting horizontal bands of chevrons (sort of). For you weavers out there, the pattern is:

4
3
2
1
2, 3, 4
1, 3, 4
1, 2, 4
1, 2, 3

And I realized as I wove that the levers made a pattern as I changed shafts. In the first half of the pattern, that number lever is thrown and appears alone down below. In the second half of the pattern, the "missing" number lever is the only one not thrown and appears alone up top. So it goes down 4-3-2-1, up 1-2-3-4, sort of (and of course, that's ignoring shafts 5-16!). Okay, it makes sense to me, but maybe you have to see it to understand. I'm very visual so memorizing numerical patterns just by the number wasn't working for me. But this does, so now I don't have to keep consulting my draft (though, I'm keeping a running register of the pattern, too, on long, thin paper like an adding machine strip, just like our teacher recommended).

Otherwise, I've worked out a great Fibonnaci pattern for Mama, particularly because she said that a Fibonnaci sequence was the focal point of one of the first computer codes she had to write. So, I'm combining art and science, with a little bit of mysticism, which is the perfect description of Mama. The scarf will look like this:

1" plainweave
3" XXIX (so called because that is the label of the horizontal stripe pattern in my class notebook)
1" plainweave
5" XXIX
1" plainweave
8" XXIX
1" plainweave
13" XXIX
1" plainweave
8" XXIX
1" plainweave
5" XXIX
1" plainweave
3" XXIX
1" plainweave

Which makes about a 53"-long scarf plus tassles.

That leaves me about, oh, 46" left to weave. At about 4" an hour. Well, let's just say I have a lot of work to do before Sunday in 10-ish days! But it's wonderful, beautiful, relaxing, mesmerizing work . . . and if all goes right, I'll have her (not much of a surprise) Christmas present done early!