Thanks, Cathie. You are so right. But mostly I am learning what changes I need to make to the loom! I adapted it from what it was, and some of the changes I made are not working very well. It originally had a muslin skirt on the front which I removed and used nylon straps to hold the dowel for tying the warp ends to. I find the thickness of the straps to be a problem when the weaving is rolled, so I will be fitting the loom with a new muslin skirt after this first project is finished! The warp beam was a large sectional beam, and I removed the pieces with the pegs, leaving a simple roller which is 8-sided I think. I also used nylon straps there, and I think I will also change that to a muslin skirt. I hope all this makes sense, because I am not fluent in weaving language yet. Weavers-ese?
A joy to weave After much struggling to warp the loom!! Wow, did this take forever to weave. I felt like as soon as one problem was resolved another cropped up. From having to retension the warp, to threading errors, to sleighing error after error after error. IN the end it was well worth it getting it all right.
What I learned:
- this structure is a slow weave take your time. it's going to be slow there is no point rushing it!
- Warp tension is key.
- Make sure you have a firm header.
- Lofty yarns are your friend.
- Keep calm and carry on!