Diversified Plain Weave, To Be or Not to Be

The black and natural tote bag I wove last month inspired an idea for using multiple colors in the same weave structure. I ordered several colors of rayon chenille from Cotton Clouds, and when the box of yarn arrived, I swear, it looked good enough to eat! These colors make my mouth water!

The biggest challenge in planning the warp was deciding how to arrange so many colors in a random, but balanced order. To get an idea how they would look on the loom, I wrapped two or three plastic embroidery floss bobbins with each color and experimented with various arrangements. Here you see some of the bobbins and a partial drawdown I'm using for threading and treadling.

As soon as I began winding the warp on the back beam I noticed a tension differential between the chenille and the 20/2 cotton I'm using for the tie-down ends. In haste (rarely good for making decisions!), I pulled everything toward the front of the loom, and in no time had created a giant, tangled, gnarled mess. Aaagh!

To make a long story short, I've spent hours (won't tell you how many days!) untangling and retensioning. It would have been faster and easier to throw the whole mess in the trash and start from scratch, but... I don't have enough yarn, and I was determined to make it work. I did end up cutting out the fine warp --all 500 ends--since I had enough to redo that. And, finally, order has been restored. Whew!

Well, almost whew. I'm just about finished threading, so by this time tomorrow will have a better idea whether or not I've actually solved my problem. Keeping my fingers crossed!