Fill-in notes — the Loom method

Produce study notes that a learner both reads (passive intake) and fills (active recall). The source is the answer key; the notes are the scaffold. Lead with a spine (one organizing idea) so a chapter becomes a single story, not a transcript.

Pipeline

1. Read the source; find the spine. Skim the chapter/PDF, then name the ONE organizing idea and reorganize around it — a dictionary, an engine list, a single theorem the rest orbits. Do not transcribe section by section if a better shape exists. (Concentration → "8 engines"; Nonlinear Algebra → the algebra↔geometry dictionary.)
2. Scaffold. Copy template/ (it brings loom.cls + a starter main.tex). Put the master spine on the front page (a cheat-table / map, partly blank), then \input one file per section under sections/.
3. Draft each section in the Loom grammar (see the table below).
4. Engineer the gaps (~70% read / 30% fill). Read reference/method.md. Blank the high-value thinking moves, never so much that reading breaks.
5. Compile + verify. latexmk -xelatex main (or xelatex twice). Fix the known reference/pitfalls.md traps. Rasterize a page (ghostscript) and read it back to check the look before declaring done.

The Loom grammar — what goes where

beat	device	role
one-line thesis	strand env	the big idea, read-only
when to use it	\trigger{…}	a cue line
sub-heading	\block{…}	quiet section lead
quick-reference	tabularx w/ L column	the cheat-sheet / dictionary
definition	definition env (madder knot)	state it, blank a key clause with \fillin
result	theorem/lemma/prop/cor (indigo knot)	state in full (read)
proof	proof + \TODO{step}	skeleton; the learner fills the step
worked instance	example (weld knot)	setup given
do-it-yourself	yourturn env + \workspace[n]	the active zone; the example, restaged
grok meter	\warmth{0..5}	self-assessment per section
margin recall	\recall{question}	a parked active-recall prompt
open thread	\loose{…}	an exercise to pull next time
cross-ref thread	\warp{key} / \pick{key}	declare and reuse a recurring object

Full command reference: reference/loom-commands.md.

Honest scoping

• The notes restate results from the source. For personal study this is fine; before making notes that closely track a copyrighted book public, attribute clearly and consider an original example instead (see the repo README's note).
• Keep the source's numbering in the knot title (e.g. Theorem 4.1 (… Thm. 2.16)); the bold auto-numbers are local to the notes.

See also

• ../template/main.tex — blank starter (a live cheat-sheet of every device).
• ../examples/nonlinear-algebra/ — full fill-in treatment (\fillin, yourturn).
• ../examples/concentration-of-measure/ — proof-skeleton style (\TODO).
• ../examples/demo/ — every visual feature on two pages.