The cloth I weave, thread by thread, represents years of experience and a bit of my soul. There is something so primal about taking yarn and turning it into cloth that is useful, beautiful, or both. I begin by assessing the physical qualities of the yarn itself to decide how closely to sett it in the loom and what kind of weave structure will make the best cloth. Am I looking for a crisp table linen, a shawl or scarf that drapes perfectly, or a soft snuggly heirloom baby blanket? About a third of my time goes to planning the project. The warp yarn ends are measured, anywhere from 200 to 900 ends, depending on the project, and the loom is “dressed”. No, I do not have an elf to put each end through a heddle and then the reed. The weaving- throwing the shuttle- takes another third of the time. My excitement grows as I see the cloth begin to form. Will it be perfect or will I have to correct a threading error? Finally, when the warp is completely woven, I remove it from the loom. Finishing the cloth takes another third of the time. I submerge the cloth in warm soapy water, hang it to dry, and run it through my Ironrite ironing machine. For things like kitchen clothes I stabilize each end with machine stitching, then hand sew the hems. Scarves, throws and shawls often have twisted fringes to be made.