Here is a question that I have been wanting to ask:  When you are using the warping board and pulling yarn off a cone, what do you do when you come to a knot?  Do you leave it if it will pass through the heddle and reed, or do you unwind back to peg one and tie off, cut the knot out and start to wind again from peg one?  

Comments

Mon, 09/23/2013 - 02:11

laurafry

Both.  Sometimes I leave the knot in, knowing that I will deal with it on the loom.  Sometimes I back track to the beginning peg, cut it out and re-tie.  Kind of depends on how long the warp is....

Sorry.  :)

cheers,

Laura

Mon, 09/23/2013 - 02:28

Jan Bogue

As in cut it out then, tie a weaver's knot and attach it to the woven material on the front beam?  Mark it some way and keep an eye on it so it does not pull a heddle loose?  Thanks for your help. :)

Mon, 09/23/2013 - 04:50

laurafry

When removing a knot from the warp, I start the repair thread so that the new and old thread are weaving together for an inch or so, cut the thread with the knit out, weave until the original thread is long enough to bring back into the cloth, weave the two ends as one then cut out the repair thread. Kerstin Froberg was the one who introduced this to me. It works very well, and no needle weaving the ends in later. ;) Cheers Laura
Mon, 09/23/2013 - 05:40

planttapestry (not verified)

Laura,

Only an inch or two? 

seems like not enough. 

Does it depend on the weave, the thicknes of the yarn, or the structure? etc.?

Mon, 09/23/2013 - 05:43

planttapestry (not verified)

Jan, 

I'm not the expert, therefore I back out until the knot is at the starting peg and then restart.

Mon, 09/23/2013 - 07:06

kerstinfroberg

(or taking out a knot) - two ways I do it (but I prefer the first) are described on my website, here.

The "inch or two" is not enough to take out the pin, but for the resulting fabric it is often quite enoguh (compare to how long you make the overlaps for the weft). This is what it will look like when done:

I am sure there have been discussions about this earlier, but I couldn't find any.

Mon, 09/23/2013 - 13:52

SallyE (not verified)

I do what Laura described, but with a few differences.  If I find the knot while winding the warp, I usually cut it back to the first peg, unless it's close enough to either the first or last peg for me to be certain it will be part of the "loom waste."   In that case I just leave it alone.

But sometimes, especially if I'm winding on from two cones, I miss a knot and don't find it until latter.   In that case, I get a contrasting color of sewing thread and tie it on to the thread just ahead of the knot, so I can be sure to see it as it appears while weaving.   When it does get close to the fell (10 inches away or so) I start weaving in a repair thread by attaching it to the cloth with a pin, passing it through the heddle with the knotted thread, and hanging it off the back beam with a little weight.   After I've woven the repair thread in past the knot a fair distance, I just cut the repair thread off and proceed. 

Then, after the warp is off the loom, I cut the tails off of the repair thread, and using the contrasting color marker to find it, I cut off the knot.

This technique also works if a thread breaks while weaving and you have to insert a new piece to each end, creating two knots in that thread.   In this case, I do the same thing but just make the repair thread long enough to overlap both knots and the piece inbetween the knots.  That whole piece can be removed after the warp is off the loom, and the colored marker threads make it easy to see and easy to grab to pull out.

 

Mon, 09/23/2013 - 13:55

Jan Bogue

I will keep studying the various ways to mend a warp yarn.  

Mon, 09/23/2013 - 14:52

Jan Bogue

I figured out the problem: I am Norwegian, a guy, and a Ham Radio operator with the call sign KD6EMW, so the explanations are coming across in some code.  I will figure it out. :)

Mon, 09/23/2013 - 15:05

Jan Bogue

I did have to think about it, but this I understand. :)