A Shuttle Question

Hi Bonnie

You posted to use your e-mail addy if we can't post on your blog. Should we do this everytime or just this time?

I have always wanted to ask why you seem to use a ski shuttle rather than a bobbin and boat shuttle?

I read your blog daily and have wanted to comment and thank you for all you share it is so invigorating and expansive to my own way of weaving.

Look forward to having class with you at NEWS Maureen

ANSWER:
This is a good question. I have always used a ski shuttle mainly because it was the shuttle I had when I started weaving on my own. It was a beautiful shuttle, hand carved oak. I won't go into the sad story of losing my beautiful shuttle, but after it was gone I continued to use a ski shuttle because I didn't have a bobbin winder. Now I could have gotten myself a bobbin winder, but I came to believe there were a couple of benefits to winding yarn by hand onto a shuttle. First of all, I get to touch the yarn in a way that makes me feel like a virtual spinner:) But the biggest benefit for me is winding the amount of yarn for 15-20 minutes of weaving. Then I have to stop, stand up, and wind some more.

When I first started weaving, I would pride myself on the number of hours I could continue weaving non-stop. I would wind all of my bobbins at once (when I was in school, they had lots of bobbin winders) and away I'd go. Now that I have been weaving for 47 years, I see that weaving lots and lots of short spurts is a better way for me and may well be the main reason I am still weaving after all this time.

I'd be interested to hear from anybody out there who has completed a woven mile and who has other tips and suggestions for the long run.