On Focus and Knowing When to Take a Break

As I dress the loom, I know that I must be in the present.  I have no time for distracted thinking. If I am tired, anxious or ill, I will make mistakes.  It doesn't matter how skilled I am because the lack of focus will override expertise. 

These two pictures are a great example.  In order to produce the zig-zag path effect I want, I need to alternate my colors both in the warp and weft.  When I was threading the reed on the left, I got tired and later discovered that I repeated the same color about 3/4 the way through.  When I discovered the mistake, I became frustrated, so I quit early--an excellent decision.

Yesterday I faced the mistake again with a focus and calmness.  Rethreading the reed never went so smoothly.  If I had left things as they were, the result would have been to break the pattern unsatisfactorily. Imagine, if you can, those green and yellow zig-zag paths in the picture on the right reversing themselves part of the way across the blanket.  (This picture is a computer generated "weaving" showing what will happen when I actually weave the yarn.)  The whole effect would have been unsatisfactory. 

I must be patient and deliberate.  I must not hurry.  I must focus. 

Alternating warp colors for a baby blanket

This is a draw-down generated on the computer