Meditation at the loom

The loom is warped! yayyy! Here are some thoughts I had while working today.

I sit at the back of the loom, picking up colored thread from the heddle bar and bringing it through to tie on the strings of the back warp, one by one. I have made mistakes and skipped a total of four strings in the front, so I had to start over. That was yesterday's work. If you warp a loom in strife, this is what happens.

The room is quiet. There is a ladies group meeting a couple of rooms over, and I hear their Christmas music playing. I concentrate on the strings in front of me. It is like a harp, but the strings make no sound if you pluck them. I feel the presence of the countless thousands of women through the ages past who did just what I am doing--tying heddles--on looms just like this one. I must not hurry. I must be calm. I must concentrate on the threads.

Hurrying makes your work go slower. You cannot be calm when you rush. You cannot concentrate on the threads. I pick up the blue thread on the stick at the front and bring it through and tie it. I do not look at the threads I have finished, I do not look at the all the ones left to do. I look at the next one, move it over four threads and bring it through and tie it.

Outside, there is strife and hurry and other things to worry about. At the loom, it is quiet and peaceful. I quiet my mind and reach for another thread.

Weaving is more than throwing the shuttle through the warp. Weaving is also setting up the warp. It is lashing the header to the beam. It is separating the front and the back threads. It is making and tying the loom weights to the warp, and knitting the spacer cords. Weaving is also tying the heddles to make the second shed. Weaving is mostly preparation--what most people see as weaving is the result of much preparation. I reach for another thread.