This is my first project using silk.  It is 20/2 muga.  All is fine up to the point where I am tying on to the cloth beam.  I can't seem to get the tension even across the bouts of warp.  I think it is all good, then recheck and it seems like it is slipping through the square knots.  I am using two 1/4 inch groups to tie together.  Do I need to make a surgeons knot for the first knot on all the groups and then come back and finish with an overhand knot? 

Comments

Tue, 03/11/2014 - 21:20

laurafry

Sometimes slippery yarn just won't hold and lashing on is the better choice. Cheers Laura
Tue, 03/11/2014 - 22:11

SallyE (not verified)

Slippery yarn, as beautiful as it is, is a PIA.    One thing that I've done is, after tying on, I further secure the groups by putting a small rubber band around them, or I wrap them with a piece of masking tape.   Of course the tape option is problematic if you had plans to use those ends as fringe later on, but it does keep them from slipping and loosening.

 

Wed, 03/12/2014 - 11:25

Michael White

Bring your 1/2" group over the cloth bar divide the group in half and bring each half up on each side of the group. Start making a sq knot BUT TAKE 2 TURNS NOT 1 and stop. Do the whole warp. Now go back and retighten all the knots and now finish making your sq knot by making a other tie. tieing off the groups. By taking 2 turns on the first knot loop this adds fricton to hold the yarn from slipping.

 

Michael

Wed, 03/12/2014 - 13:07

SallyE (not verified)

I tie on like Michael described. A trick I learned from Daryl Lancaster,in an excellent Weavolution class, is to start tying on in the middle of the warp.   Tie on 1 to 3 sections, then advance the ratchet 2 clicks.   Then tie on 1 or 2 sections at each side and advance another 2 clicks.   Keep doing this until you reach the edges.   If you do this, you don't have to go back and tighten up the knots. 

Wed, 03/12/2014 - 15:45

Michael White

I guess this would work with a ratch brake but what about a friction brake. What I do is go back and tighten the whole warp in one setting.

Michael

 

Wed, 03/12/2014 - 16:11

Guiding Myth (not verified)

Once I discovered "lashing on", as Laura Fry described above, that became my method to attaching the warp to the cloth beam.I dislike tieing knots and the extra waste with knots.  Also I weave with a lot of slippery threads.  

Lashing on:  Tie overhand knots in approximately 1" bouts across the warp.  Take a strong slippery cord cord - I use nylon "Seine twine" I buy at the hardware store (it is reuseable).  I tie one end of the seine twine to the breast beam bar then thread it through the middle of the 1'st inch of knotted warp threads from the bottom to the top. Then I wrap it around the breast beam bar from top to bottom...and so forth, tieing the seine twine to the bar at the end.  Laura Fry has a better explanation on her web site or blog.

Some people don't like this method because they claim they have to unthread the cord when correcting threading errors.  I rarely re-thread when I find errors - unless there are a lot of them.  I find I can just cut the mis-threaded warp ends off close to the knott and tie extra yarn to lengthen the thread and weight it over the breast beam for the first several inches of weaving.  After that the weight isn't necessary.  If weaving rugs you probably would want to re-thread the cord.

Do what works best for you.

Stephanie S

Wed, 03/12/2014 - 17:07

tien (not verified)

On Peggy Osterkamp's suggestion, I moved from overhand knots to slip knots when lashing on. Works great - easy to untie if you need to, and if you tie the slip knot in the right direction, holds firmly.

Wed, 03/12/2014 - 17:48

pammersw

I think I might try lashing on, with my next warp. Especially with slipknots, it sounds faster!

Thu, 03/13/2014 - 16:56

SallyE (not verified)

Michael - sorry, I wasn't clear.   You tighten the CLOTH beam two notches as you work from the center of the warp.   I was skeptical when Daryl first described it, but now it's the way I work because it works so well. 

As for lashing, personally, I don't like doing that unless each group of threads has it's own piece of texsolv.  I don't find it any easier to get the tension even throughout the warp.   But there are many ways to do this and what ever works for you is the "right" way!

 

Thu, 03/13/2014 - 16:32

weaver1126

I pretty much use lashing for every warp.  I love it.  One of the tricks is to tighten it all up and then adjust it by tugging on the slippery cord until everything is close to the same tension.  Tighten it good, then walk away for about 8 hours and it will even itself out.  Love it.

Thu, 03/13/2014 - 16:32

weaver1126

I pretty much use lashing for every warp.  I love it.  One of the tricks is to tighten it all up and then adjust it by tugging on the slippery cord until everything is close to the same tension.  Tighten it good, then walk away for about 8 hours and it will even itself out.  Love it.

Thu, 03/13/2014 - 19:21

laurafry

You don't have to wait.  Simply release the tension on your warp then re-tighten in.  It's quite amazing how it all just evens out!

cheers,

Laura

Thu, 03/13/2014 - 23:38

pammersw

This is good info, because getting tension even on each group of warps has been one of my bugaboos! I am definitely going to try lashing on - I think we have the perfect slippery cord on hand, even.

Fri, 03/14/2014 - 05:19

laurafry

I use masons line. It comes in all sorts of bright colours now. ;) Cheers Laura
Fri, 03/14/2014 - 09:20

pammersw

I think that is the stuff we have,, lol!