Warping the Loom Front to Back : Day 2

I did it!  I did it!  With a minimum of swearing and frustration.  It's done!
This is a 10-yard warp which will be set up for weaving rugs. 

This is the first time I've ever been able to successfully warp a loom by myself.  I'd taken a live class 10 years ago after I first acquired a tiny little table loom.  Back then, I had a teacher who lead me through every step of the way.  I bought books which are nice references once you know what you're doing, but not so helpful if you can't remember what comes next.   Since then, usually I've enlisted the help of my friend Lynda to get me through the dreaded warping process.    She's had a very busy 6 months and  is traveling this week again.  Time for me to dig in and try it on my own -- after 10 years of training.

The online videos are a complete game-changer!  Thank you Tom Knisely at Interweave and Janet Dawson at Craftsy!  The classes make it so easy to watch a section (or re-watch it) and then go do that part of the process on my own schedule.  Tom K. is so calm and encouraging -- It's like listening to Bob Ross giving painting lessons.   

The warping mill is also a vast improvement over the too-big and unwieldy warping board that came with my loom.   Glad that's gone onto a new home -- someone who will properly appreciate it as I never could.  Equipment makes a huge difference -- whether it's figure skating or weaving!

If you recall, yesterday, I got the reed threaded, according to Tom Knisely's instructions.  One step at a time ...  Save the heddles for another day.

View from the backside of the loom.
Someone on one of the 4-shaft loom or rug weaving Facebook groups suggested color coding the heddles on each shaft, which can make a huge difference in preventing threading errors.  In other words, all the heddles on
     Shaft 1 are clear (not colored);
     Shaft 2 are Blue;
     Shaft 3 are Green;
     Shaft 4 heddles are Red.

I used Sharpie Markers.  If I ever want to remove the colors just above the heddle eyes, it's easy enough to do with a little rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball.  I colored only as many heddles as I needed for the standard set-up for rugs, which will make it easier next time.  There are more heddles on each shaft than I'm using currently, and more can be added or removed in future.

As I was threading the heddles, I knew I had to have 1 of each color for each set of 4 that I was doing.
This worked very well! No threading errors -- that I can tell so far.

 Let the threading commence!

This was another thing I don't recall doing solo in the past.  Lynda was usually there and one of us would hold the next thread for the other to pull through with a heddle hook.

Tom K. made it look so easy on his video.  Although he seemed to have heddles with nice big eyes, I think I have the flat steel ones, with a smaller eye, making the heddle hook indispensible.

I got half-way through this set on Sunday -- with a fan at my back to keep me cool on this 90-degree F day.   No aching back.  No aching neck.  No headaches.   I was really surprised.  

Finished threading the heddles this morning.

These are all tied off in bundles of 16 or 4 sets of heddles.

 The next task was tying onto the back beam.  Alright : That's easy enough to do by myself.

The next task was winding on the warp.  I had some concerns because of the way Tom K. recommended running warp threads in color blocks, rather than exactly as written in your pattern. Hence this is the view from the front side of the loom, with those crossed strings, I was worried there would be some tangles that would not be recoverable.  But Tom K. said it would be ok, and I decided to trust him.

The simple act of snapping the warp chain did wonders to straighten out the errant strings.

And pulling down on the warp periodically helped to even out the tension as it wound on.  

Tom K. was right!  Everything wound on just fine.  The reed and heddles managed to comb out any tangles, and even out the tension.  It all worked so remarkably well, I think I've found my preferred way to warp a loom front to back!

I also had some concerns about not using a home-made tension device -- basically 4 wooden dowels on the back side to even tension before the wound onto the back beam.  Or the issue of not having any regular tention pulling on the warp as it wound on.  But again, I think having it run through the reed and heddles did a lot of that work for me. 

 Another shot of the warp on the back side - 10 yards -- the longest warp I've ever dealt with.

 The next step was tying onto the front apron rod.  This has always been one of the most frustrating parts of the process, as it's always been difficult to get the tension right.  Also this is when threading errors show up ...  But all went remarkably well, even for this step of the process.

Again, it helps to watch the video, take notes, and then go and do the next task.  The online videos are a true game changer for me!

 

And here it is ready to run through the first picks of waste material to even out the threads.  

But I'll leave that for another day.  The battery in the old drill needs to be charged, so I can't wind the bobbins until that gets charged up.

Whew!  I can't believe I did it!  I finally warped the loom all by myself! 

And it went well!

Now what to weave up first?  I have some wool weft balls from Pendleton Woolen Mill, but I think that might have to wait for a cooler day!  I think it may be time to sit and read a novel and sip an ice cold home brewed kombucha to celebrate this success!

Hurray!

"Sing a Sleying Song Tonight!"

Feels good to have a new project on the floor loom.  Did the slaying (pulling the ends through the reed) this morning.  Only 156 ends, so it didn't take long.  ;-)

In the Christmas season, "slaying" (not sleighing) takes on special meaning for someone who weaves.  I'm sure someone has done a weaver's version of Jingle Bells.

This was a kit from the Yarn Barn of Kansas.  I worked up the warp Saturday morning -- It didn't take long with only 156 ends at 3.5 yards.  My friend Lynda came in the afternoon to help warp the loom.  It didn't take long to thread the heddles either, with so many fewer ends.

 So much order from previous chaos.  I love this part of warping the loom - not so much the threading--unless my friend Lynda comes over to help.    Then it's a social thing.

This part also makes me thing of stringed instruments -- harps or pianos -- Like I should be able to play music on this "instrument."

 The yarn is a bulky core spun alpaca from The Yarn Barn of Kansas.  Very soft.  Looks almost like roving, but it does hold itself together.  Oatmeal, Heather Gray, and Cream colors.

It's so thick, I was worried we might not be able to use my standard steel heddles, but I think they'll work just fine. 

 I loaded up one of my ski shuttles in preparation for weaving. 

The loom is set up as a double weave (again) just like my last project (the color gamp), so I don't even need to change my beads to help me keep track of the "lines," or the the shuttle takes through the shed and what treadles I need to work at any given place in the pattern.  

Here's the pattern from the kit purchased through The Yarn Barn of Kansas.

I expect this to weave up very quickly.  Soon I'll have a lovely warm winter blanket to snuggle down with!

Order from Chaos : Warping the Color Gamp - So Far

Order from Chaos -- in pretty rainbow colors! 

My friend Lynda came over today to help with the warping.  We were able to thread half the heddles in record time -- just a little over an hour.  It goes a lot faster with good company, and 4 hands.

I used pipe cleaners to hold the cross while I threaded the heddles.  The pipe cleaners hold the streams of yarn well enough, yet it's easy enough to get the top set of yarns free.  

Here, you see it mounted on my heddle jig which is clamped to the breast beam.

 Tieing onto the apron.

Detail of the Weaver's Knot used to tie onto the apron.

 This one is just a reminder to showing proper path to wind on a warp.  The apron goes up-and-over the back beam, then under and around the warping reel.  Makes a backwards S from this angle.

 Using Lease Sticks to maintain order.

 The Chaos Side - needing to be combed and tamed.

 Ahhhhh ....

The progress is slow, but satisfying.

As we were working on this, we found that the Shetland wool was sticking to itself.  Lynda kept asking me if this was a kit designed for beginners.  Not exactly.

I had planned to set it up as a double weave, with 4 strings through a 6-dent reed.  We determined that plan would have been problematic when it came time to weave--especially in such close quarters.  There's a possibility it would felt itself in the process ob rubbing back and forth to get the sheds open.

On to Plan C : I will be ordering a new Stainless Steel 12-dent Reed from The Woolery this week.  That will give the yarns more breathing room.  It's crowded enough here with the double weave set-up.  

We won't be able to finish warping until a later time.  

Stay tuned ...

The Kessenich Floor Loom is here!

 

It's here!  The Kessenich Floor Loom is here!  Sitting pretty in our guest room ...  Even unrolled the nice woven rugs for its feet. 

I have a mind to clear out everything else possible as THIS BEAUTY is the guest of honor.  That might mean getting a smaller bed for the space, and using this room less for storage.

  

Last weekend, Lynda and I finished warping the loom.   Here the warp strings are running through the heddles of 4 shafts in a very standard set-up.  A set of 4 strings, running through the first set of heddles in all 4 shafts.  We did that all the way across the loom ...   We warped from front to back, as this is what Lynda knows and seems to work well on this particular loom.



Warp tied on in bundles all across the warp beam apron at the back of the loom.

 Warp is secured to the breast beam (bottom of pic) so we don't pull it through while we're winding the warp, and loose all our good work.  The reed makes such lovely order of what looked like a tangled mess while where were working through the process.  Amazingly, all those tangles fell right out as we worked.  

 

Ta-dah!  All warped.  

We wound on about 8 yards.  Since I need the practice, I didn't want to put on too much.  This is set up for weaving rugs with a "looser" reed.  Since the supposed rags will be course, I didn't need such a fine reed as you'd need for weaving lace or towels.   

We tried a few "test" runs, and it works beautifully -- as Lynda said it would.  Only 2 threading errors, and they were pretty easy to fix.  
From the bottom :
Set 1) The initial runs just to space the strings out evenly for weaving.
Set 2) Common weave
Set 3) 1-3 Twill
Set 4) Common Weave
Set 5) 2-2 Twill

The common weave and the 2-2 Twill will be good for making rugs.

We changed the tie-ups for the treadles so they would make more sense for me, then she showed me 2 versions of Twill that I should be able to weave, along with a simple common weave (which I'm used to on my little loom).    Who-hooh!   

 

Folded and ready for transport, even with the warp intact.   Secured with a few bungees.

After we folded it up, it JUST FIT in CL's car (for future reference : 43 inches wide x 52 inches tall x 17 deep, folded)  Whew!   There was even room on top for the warping board.

It spent the night in CL's car.  We got back after dark, and didn't want to try and move it without good light.  Too many moving parts. And heavy.

I'm so excited! Now -- what to make first? 

Flirting with a Kessenich Loom

I've decided I'm finally in the market for a bona fide floor loom.  The real thing.  My friend Lynda just happens to have a sturdy little 4-harness Kessenich floor loom that she's willing to let me trial to see if I like it, can live with it / work with it / have room for it / ENJOY working on it.  It looks similar to the one in the photo above.  It was made right here in Wisconsin, though I think the company has since relocated to Michigan.  

I remember living in Madison at Summit Coop, and the house around the corner, down the hill (It wasn't called Summit for nothing!) always had an open house craft show around Thanksgiving.  That was the only time neighbors could come in and see her magnificent loom -- given a room all to itself.  Since then, I've been fascinated with the prospect of weaving, and yes, giving an entire room of the house over to ART and Creativity.

About 10 years ago, someone gave me a little table loom that I've taken lessons on, and learned to use.  I think I'm finally comfortable with it.  I've made peace with the warping process, and LOVE LOVE LOVE the back-and-forth motion of weaving.  The meditation of weaving.  I don't even care so much what I make on it.  I'm looking at this as an investment in my health in terms of stress relief. 

On Saturday, Lynda and I started the process of warping it.  It went quicker with the two of us working together at it, but still took all afternoon to warp just 1/2 of it.  In the photo, I'm passing the warp threads to Lynda who is pulling them through the reed and the heddles.   I can't imagine doing this alone --  I may have to engage Lynda as my personal engineer every time I need assistance with the warping.  It will be a good excuse to have her come over for dinner.

We still have to finish the job of warping it, but that will have to wait a few more weeks ...  I am itching to get started!

Some of the specifics before I forget :
We used a sturdy burgundy warp suitable for weaving rugs.
I decided I wanted the warp to be 8 yards (That way, it's short enough for a trial period, and if I keep it, I'll get practice warping it again in the near future--which I will need to get comfortable doing.).   About 1 yard will be "loom waste"  not actually part of any woven item. 

I wanted to start out weaving the widest possible width we could do on this loom, so we calculated for about 28 inches on this 30-inch loom.  Actual cloth may be narrower.

Lynda did the math, and I think calculated that the warp strings was 8 somethings-per-inch, which means we used a reed with a wider gauge.  I think we put one on with a 6-gauge.

On the warping board, we set up for 8 yards back and forth --  112 times, which is only 1/2 of what we need.  The warping board couldn't hold much more than that.  We'll have to do the other half on another day ...

She said she tends to warp this loom front to back, so that's what we started to do ...  securing "the cross" and then one-by-one feeding the warp strings through the reed with a sley hook.  We started in the middle of the reed, and worked left with the following pattern : 1-1-2, meaning, 1-slot 1 string; 1 slot-1 string; 1 slot 2 strings, on other words, fitting 4 strings into 3 slots all across the reed.   We continued all the way across to the left with this pattern. 

Then through the heddles with a heddle hook, we worked in sets of 4 strings.  We took 1 heddle from each harness consecutively, and fed the strings through one at a time.  
Set 1 :
The 1st string went through the first heddle of the 1st harness;
The 2nd string went through the first heddle of the 2nd harness;
The 3rd string went through the first heddle of the 3rd harness;
The 4th string went through the first heddle of the 4th harness. 
Repeat. 

It went pretty fast with the two of us working together.  I suspect it will be harder and slower if I try it alone ...   I was surprised my back wasn't hurting more when we finished that half of the warping process.  I think it helped that she had a stool at just the right height for working on this loom.

Lynda assures me that we'll be able to move it once it's warped.  Now I need to find a suitable place for it at home.  Possibilities?
     *  On the porch -- by the time it gets here, we will only have a few weeks left of fall.
      * No room in the living room (although my husband says we can get rid of the couch).  Ha!
      * Upstairs in the guest room?  May be difficult getting it up there (this loom has an oak frame), but that may be the most practical place for it--if I really want to use it this winter.
      * I guess another possibility is to leave it at Lynda's house and I just go there to use it on weekends.

It will also need a space with good lighting -- esp. for warping.

Lynda thinks I will soon outgrow this 4-harness loom, and will want additional harnesses (ie 8 harnesses).  I keep saying that it will take a while for my little brain to wrap (warp) itself around the idea of 4 harnesses and treadles, and it may be years before I need or want 8 harnesses.  This particular loom is not expandable to 8 harnesses (though you can get ones that are expandable). 

Excited about new possibilities!