I need a new definition of epic

I really love to plan projects. I like to stretch the planning out over weeks or even months before buying yarn or casting on. I enjoy the process of thinking through the possibilities, and I really like to have the time to do so. Especially because planning takes thought. And thought takes brain cells. Right now, my brain cells are busy elsewhere. (Can we please work on a way to think with something else? How about a little toe? That has lots of cells, and it's not doing much, far as I can tell. A whole foot would be a real boost...)

Anyway. I was thrilled last week to have finally gotten the latest weaving project on the loom. It's a 6-7 yard project, which seemed like it should take a really long time. A month, maybe. It's using up a sweater's worth of yarn, so it should take a sweater's worth of time, right? Long enough to let me get through the craziness of the next few weeks and into a place where I can think about things that do not involve writing and revising.

You do know where this is going, don't you? My "epic" weaving project, that should take forever and a day? Well. Not so much. Remember how I said weaving eats up yarn? I felt pretty secure in my pile of skeins, but it turns out that I shouldn't have.

Turns out that one skein is about two hours of weaving. Think about that. A 100-g, 220 yard skein takes about two hours to use up. It also produces about a yard of fabric (35 inches, to be exact).


At this rate, it could be finished in a matter of hours. (That, of course, assumes that I have hours to spend, but let's not think about that.)

Clearly, I need a new definition of epic when it comes to weaving. I think it involves very skinny thread.

Of course, it's hard to begrudge a project that feels like it's going somewhere (my thesis should take some lessons...). And I do rather like how it looks, though I was surprised at how much the warp colors get muted by the grey.


It's a little less dramatic close up.


And it does have great texture.


And I think I need to start planning the next project...