Talk about Globalization--

"Zanshi" is a Japanese term for the concept of using up leftover yarns. This description from www.art-antiques.ch : "Zanshi textiles were woven from the threads left over on bobbins from other weavings; the most labor-intensive textiles were woven of thread-scraps both long and short that were collected and plied together by hand, yielding random and often startlingly beautiful fabrics." Italics mine, see below. I have seen in other places that the yarns were knotted, not plied.

"Khadi" is the term used in India for handspun, handwoven cloth.

My blend of these two concepts results in my using a number of partial spools for the warp and about 15 years worth of miscellaneous bits and pieces of handspun cotton and cotton/cellulosic blends.

I studied engineering, and it is natural for me to couch my weaving in structure and repetition--random just does not come naturally. I taught a mini-class on warping with a paddle to some weavers at our most recent guild retreat, and took a box of spools. We used 8 different colored threads and I brought one of the warps home and wove 36 samples using all combinations of the colors in pairs. I loved the results! I had been making warps like this for several years for a child's loom to let kids weave just about any color they wanted and get something pleasing, but I have never used it in my own work. So I decided to work on that basket of handspun I've collected over the years--a little this from demonstrating, a little that from leftover projects, a little more from small samples. These will give me weft stripes in random(!) widths and colors.

I used 24 spools, and wound 2 different warps with 12 threads in the paddle. I threaded with some semblance of repetition, but was not fussy about it. The warp is 20/2 cotton and is 32" wide by 5 yards on the loom.

Now, for the deeply philosophical part:

My handspun is mostly singles, so joining the bits and pieces together is fairly straightforward. In this project, I've been thinking about the use of knots in the Japanese zanshi weft, and my utter rejection of it for this project. Even when I have an S spun yarn following a Z spun, I overlap rather than knot. I've likened knots in this project as a failure of patience, expertise, or finesse, just as war is a failure of humanity. Unlike war, however, knots do have their place in the whole scheme of things.

I look at the ease of joining two yarns of different fiber content or color together and think of the great melting pot that is the world. Although it is not trivial to achieve and maintain harmony, most of us live in peaceful communities. If only we could all live peacefully together!

The cloth I am weaving is nothing short of gorgeous. This startling beauty coming from the interlacement of multiple colors and textures fills me with joy, and as I weave I dream of peace in the world.