Almost Ready to Weave

One of the best things I learned in my beginning weaving class with Deborah Jarchow was to relax and enjoy the warping process. And that's a good thing; warping can take days - the actual weaving takes hours.

Last night I finished winding 339 threads onto my warping mill. Since this pattern alternates a light thread with a dark thread, I held one strand of each in my hand while winding. It made the process a little faster. This is the cotton flake I bought at the Torrance weaving show. Isn't it pretty? I had to get Dick's help to pull the warp off the mill; I'd gotten it just a wee little bit too tight and couldn't get it off by myself. Yet another thing to remember for next time.

As I took it off, I 'crocheted' the tied threads into a warp chain to prevent them from tangling. That many ends makes a satisfyingly fat little chain. Dick made me a 'third hand' to hold the weaving cross so I can use both my hands to warp. A big rubber band - purple, of course! - holds it in place on the front beam. Several TV shows later, I had half the 25" width threaded through the reed. At 15 threads per inch, it takes time and patience. I loosely knot each 1" group so they don't pull back through the reed. Just the thought of having to do this all over again makes me shudder. After dinner and more mindless TV - all 339 threads are through the reed. Hooray! Next up - threading all those ends through the heddles. In the right pattern and the right color sequence. Think a margarita would make it go faster?