This is the first shawl in a series of three. This is also my first official project for my Master Weaver requirements that I am starting to complete. It is for the requirement of something woven in a point twill. I derived the design from assigning shaft numbers to each letter of the phrase "La Il La Ha Il Allah", which is a Sufi chant of praise and love, which loosely translates as "God is All there is". I filled in shafts in order to complete the twill order and rearranged slightly to end up with a complex repetition of diamond shapes.
This shawl is woven 'tromp as writ", with a standard twill tie up. The next shawl I think I will weave a similar treadling, bu try a new tie up, although I haven't yet decided which one.
Each Master's project must be woven without errors, and although this is very very close, there are a few places where my beat was not perfect, and so I will have to shoot for a greater level of perfection on the next one!
I also had a lot of trouble with the selvedges becoming crammed together and becoming more slack than the rest of the warp.....arrrgh. This problem often plagues me -- any suggestions?
All in all, this shawl feels magical, as if it should be worn on a full moon night while travelling to a dinner party in the deep forest hosted by Elves. It is delicate, however, and it should not be worn near thorny bushes!!