Tag: threading

Not Afraid of Eight Shafts

Karen

The big loom is getting dressed. Block twill on eight shafts. New yarn for a new project brings excitement. And intimidation. With 12/6 cotton rug warp and string yarn weft, this is going to be a bath mat. Hopefully.

String yarn in terra cotta for woven mats with Texas style.
String yarn in this midi size comes in many colors. I chose terra cotta to give the planned mats a Texas flavor.
Rug warp ready for dressing the loom.
Three bouts of 12/6 cotton rug warp are ready for dressing the loom.

It’s been a couple years since I’ve done an eight-shaft block twill, and this one has some interesting twists. I’m not afraid to try it, though, because I am following a draft from The Big Book of Weaving, by Laila Lundell. I may make mistakes in the process, but my fears about trying this project evaporate as I refer to Laila’s instructions.

Eight shafts in "resting" position while beaming the warp.
Lower shaft bars are lifted up and placed on the upper shaft bars to move them out of the way for beaming the warp. The large safety pins prevent shaft bars from slipping out of place.
Threading heddles on eight shafts.
Threading heddles on eight shafts, one threading bundle of 48 ends at a time. There are two warp ends per heddle.

There are bigger fears than weaving woes. We face them every day in our families and in our communities, and in our private musings. Fear is a tyrant that holds us with threats and demands. Fear is the language of the pessimist within. Prayer opens us up to freedom from fear. We need clear instructions that give us confidence to face whatever comes. When we pray to the Lord regarding the things we are fearful about, he hears and answers. And he frees us from our fears.

May you rise above your fears.

Happy loom dressing,
Karen

Two Looms at Once

Karen

I am happily dressing my two looms at the same time. First, wind one warp, and then the other. Beam a warp on the big loom (Glimåkra Standard); and then, on the baby loom (Glimåkra Ideal). Thread the big loom; thread the baby loom. Back and forth. Soon, two looms will be ready!

Threading the loom for an eight-shaft double binding rag rug.
Four shaft pairs are added to the four already on the loom. You can tell the shafts that have been used the most by the golden tone of the wood. 12/6 cotton is doubled in the heddles. Pumpkin and cinnamon colors combine to make a rich red warp.

Both looms are being dressed for rag rugs. Rag rug heaven! The big loom is threaded for double binding, using eight shafts. The baby loom has four-shaft rosepath threading. I am eager to get everything tied up so I can weave!

Glimakra Ideal is threaded for rosepath rag rugs.
Glimakra Ideal has rosepath, threaded on four shafts, for a series of rag rugs.

There’s an order to things in the universe, like there’s an order to dressing the looms. It matters how we live. It makes sense to live according to the way the Grand Weaver set things up. God knows who we are and what we need. And he provides the threads, like integrity, and other virtues, that are spun by his own hand. The individual pattern comes to life when the threads he has woven in our inner being become our outward expression. And we know the Weaver enjoys the work of his hands.

May threads of virtue be woven in your cloth.

Happy weaving,
Karen

Straight Draw Thinking

Karen

I can let my mind wander for this part. I am threading 664 warp ends in a straight draw, one warp end at a time (1-2-3-4). This is repetitive and easy. Relaxing. Of course, I have safeguards to prevent mind-wandering errors. First, I count the ends into threading groups before I start threading. Second, I double-check each threaded group of heddles, one warp end at a time.

Color mixing in warp of woven baby wrap.
Two shades of blue are mixed with two shades of purple for transition between the blue and purple wide stripes in the warp.

In quiet moments like this, my mind drifts over recent events, and ponders plans for the near and distant future. I think about friends and family–dear ones going through struggles. I remember things I’m thankful for, and who I’m thankful to. I often wish threading could go on a little longer. I like to linger there.

Threading cotton warp for woven baby wrap.
Groups of 32 warp ends are tied into slip knots at the back beam. Each group is threaded and then checked for accuracy before tying the threaded ends into a slip knot.
Threading brightly-colored warp for handwoven baby wrap.
Sitting in my “playhouse” in the loom, threading from right to left, I slow down near the end so I can linger a while longer.

The wondrous thing is that I can turn all these thoughts into prayers. The Lord hears us when we pray. The Lord hears the sound of your voice. In our quiet moments we have the sweet assurance that when we call upon the Lord, he bends down and listens. Instead of wishful thinking or fruitless worrying, prayer turns thoughts into faith.

May you linger in quiet moments.

All the best,
Karen

Quiet Friday: Warping Back to Front with Confidence

Karen

“Put on many short warps.” This was the best piece of advice I received as a new weaver! Repeated practice of the back-to-front warping steps accelerated my confidence at the loom. If I can get it on the loom, surely I can weave it, right? When you are comfortable dressing the loom, you start feeling like a “real” handweaver. And before you know it, you are planning, designing, and weaving. And having the time of your life!

Tips for Preparing the Warp for Beaming

  • Wind the warp with two (or more) threads, separated by your fingers to keep them from twisting. This virtually eliminates tangles during the warping process.
  • Wind multiple bouts, when needed. The rule of thumb I use is to stay under 200 ends or 10 inches. Smaller bouts equalize the tension across the width of the warp.
  • Tie tight choke ties about every yard or meter along the warp before chaining it. This keeps the warp ends from shifting.
  • Keep the warp under constant, even tension. Threads can get into trouble if you let them relax.

Warping Back to Front

1 Lay warp chains across the breast beam, and through the beater, with the lease cross of each warp chain on the other side of the beater.

Warp chains ready for warping the loom back to front.

2 Raise the shafts out of the way, and place support sticks over the beater and the back beam to hold the lease sticks and the pre-sley reed. Thread the lease sticks through the cross of each chain. Lease sticks in the picture are being tied together.

Tying lease sticks during warping process. B2F warping explained.

3 Use tape measure and reed hook to mark the starting dent for pre-sleying the reed.

Pre-sleying the reed in back to front warping.

4 Divide warp into sections corresponding to the cords on the back tie-on bar. Insert the tie-on bar through the loops that form at the end of the warp.

Insert tie-on bar while warping back to front.

5 Install the warping trapeze at the front of the loom, or use another method to extend the warp and weight it. Texsolv cord is connected to the end of each warp chain to extend the length. (This is a 3.5 meter warp–not long enough to go over the trapeze cross bar.) Weights are suspended from the texsolv cords with S-hooks.

Adjusting the warp on the warping trapeze.

6 Transfer the lease sticks from in front of the reed to behind the reed. This is a gutsy way of transferring lease sticks. (Please don’t try this method unless you read about it first in Becky Ashenden’s book, noted below.)

Transferring lease sticks like this takes guts!

7 Straighten out each warp end from the reed to the back tie-on bar.

Winding on a new warp. Back to front warping pics.

8 Place the reed in the beater. Center the reed in the beater.

Placing the reed in the beater.

9 Remove choke ties between the beater and the trapeze cross bar, but do not remove choke ties from the very end of the warp. Starting at the reed, separate each warp bout in the middle.

Warping trapeze in use for warping Glimakra Standard.

10 After sliding lease sticks toward the reed, wind the warp onto the beam. Place a warping slat on each flat side of the warp beam for one revolution. (Octagonal beam uses eight sticks.) Advance weight at the front of the loom as needed. After two additional revolutions of the beam, add warping slats for one revolution again. Continue this pattern as beaming progresses.

Warping slats during beaming. Beaming tutorial.

11 Tie beater back to allow a little more warp to be wound on.

Finishing up beaming the warp.

12 Tie lease sticks to the back beam. Do not forget this step!

Tie the lease sticks to the back beam before cutting the ends.

If you missed step 12, do it now, or you will be yelling for help as you try to hold the cut ends with one hand while trying to keep the lease sticks from slipping out with your other hand. I speak from experience.

13 Loop the end of the warp chain around your hand, and then remove the remaining choke ties. Cut the loop.

Cutting ends after beaming the warp.

14 Remove a group of warp threads from the reed and tie in a loose slipknot. Continue across the warp. Remove the reed.

New warp of 16/2 cotton for monksbelt on weft rep.

15 Use the threading draft to count the warp ends into threading groups, tying each grouping with a slipknot.

Grouping warp ends before threading.

16 Adjust the loom for threading. For this Glimåkra Standard loom, I move the countermarch assembly to the back of the loom, put the bench in the “playhouse,” and lower the shafts for threading.

Bench "in" the loom for threading. Glimakra Standard.

For more thorough instructions about warping your loom, please consult these excellent resources:

  • Dress Your Loom The Vävstuga Way, A Bench-Side Photo Guide, by Becky Ashenden
  • Learning to Warp Your Loom, by Joanne Hall
  • The Big Book of Weaving, by Laila Lundell

May you find yourself beaming, inside and out.

Resurrection blessings,
Karen

Thread, Thread Again

Karen

I enjoy threading the loom, but who wants to thread the same thing four times? The first time, I thought the selvedge threading confused me, leaving me with extra ends. I took it all out and started over. It still didn’t come out right. I counted all the threads at the lease sticks. 404. And counted again to make sure. There must be a threading error, right? I started over again, vowing to be more careful this time…

Threading the loom for rag rugs.
Threading 404 warp ends goes quickly when there are two threads per heddle… Unless you make a mistake and have to start over two or three times.
Threading Glimakra Standard for a rag rug, two ends per heddle.
Rag rug warp, threading two ends per heddle.

I depend on my planning sheet. That sheet of paper has all the pertinent details. Besides the draft, it has the sett, width in reed, number of warp ends… Oops! I found the mistake. I miscalculated the number of warp ends. But I threaded the loom three times before I traced the problem back to this calculation error! I was working from a faulty planning sheet. Fortunately, I can adjust the selvedge threading to accommodate the extra threads, and thread the loom successfully. Finally!

Selvedge threading for rag rug on Glimakra Standard loom.
Two ends go through each heddle, except at the selvedges, where there are three ends per heddle, four times each side, plus two more times each side to make up for the miscalculation of warp ends.

Human promises can fail, like my faulty planning sheet. The Lord’s promises never fail. A weaving draft and project sheet are proven true as the loom is dressed and fabric is woven on the loom. The Lord’s promises are proven true as we live our lives by his directions. We can depend on that.

May you need to thread only once.

Truly yours,
Karen