I am planning a scarf with 3 different twill patterns across the 8" of scarf width using 8/2 tencel sett at 24 epi.  

Here's the question.  Can I leave the treadles tied up and just undo the center ties from the countermarche and move the countermarche to the back of the loom to thread it?  I will be using the same configuration for my treadles and would prefer to leave them be and not have to start all over every time.  What's the trick to this?

Claudia, still learning how to work on my Glimakra Standard

Comments

Sara von Tresckow

You can move the shafts to the back, but why not bring the lease sticks forward to just behind the shafts and tie them so that you just reach and pick the next threads that you need?

You can remove the beater, breast and knee beams so that you are able to stand or sit in front of the shafts and thread very easily. The only time that I move the shafts to the back for threading is on the drawloom because of its extreme depth.

claudia (not verified)

That sounds very doable (is that a real word?) and I will try it next.

About the drawloom.  I saw a picture recently and it looked like a Glimakra Standard with a different structure on top where I now have the countermarche jacks.  Is that correct?  Then, it's the same depth as the Glimakra Standard, right?

Claudia

Joanne Hall

Hi Claudia,  I just got back from teaching in Minnesota and Wisconsin and I missed a question you had about threading.  You can put the shafts at the back by just taking the center pin out of the top lamms and the long cords out of the lower lamms.  I put a mark on the cord hole where I take out the pin, so that I can tie up again using the same hole.  We do that when we set up looms at conferences to make the set up faster.  One advantage of doing this in a deep loom, is that you move the shafts rather than the lease sticks.  Then the threads in the lease sticks are disturbed less.  This is important if you have wound three or four threads at a time.  You need to thread the order found in the cross and hopefully not disturb the threads any more than is necessary.  This will avoid twists in the warp.  Joanne

 

Joanne Hall

Hi Claudia,  The workshop I taught in Wisconsin last weekend was warping and weaving on drawlooms.  We did some half heddle stick weaving, which is done without a drawloom, but is a pick up technique that makes pick up easier.  It is a way to learn about drawloom weaving.  We did not make the loom deeper as it is not necessary for this weave.  But when you put a drawloom on a loom, you do need the extension.  We set up one drawloom in Wisconsin on a Glimakra Standard loom.  And yes, the drawloom is a frame put on top of the loom and the countermarch.  The additional depth is not as necessary for weaving opphamta, which is a weave that produces floats, looking something like overshot, but even then some extra depth is needed, especially if you want more than 10 pattern shafts.  For damask you need about 18 inches of extra depth for 10 pattern shafts and about two feet for 20 shafts.    Joanne

claudia (not verified)

Thanks Joanne.  I did figure out about removing the long cords and the ones at the bottom of the shafts.  I wasn't bright enough to figure out to mark the cords so I could put them back in the same spot.  Live and learn.

I am truly enjoying the loom and am so happy I bought it.  I can sit and weave without discomfort for 30-40 minutes and then have to remember to get up and stretch.  It's such a difference from before.  It's nice to have found the right loom.

I am fascinated with the drawloom and hope to visit Cheryl's soon.  I missed the group meeting at her home.

Claudia