I am having a real problem with crossed threads in beaming the warp. I keep an even tension on my warp board, tie off the cross and numerous other area on the warp threads. I dress back to front through the rattle at the front beam ( i don't have room to put the rattle on the back beam).I am a new weaver and the first project wasn't a problem and the second and third weren't either because the warp threads were all the same color. But now I am trying to follow a pattern in the warp so I made sure when I tied on the back beam the pattern was correct but as I wound on and got down to the cross, everything is all messed up. Some threads are at least  inches off from where they are in the cross and where they are on the back beam. Does that make sense? When I go to thread the heddles I don't know how I will fix it. 

The other problem I have had is that when I put the lease sticks in the cross, I don't have an equal number of threads coming off the back as I do off the front stick. Yet I had a nice hole to put the sticks through so I didn't miss thread the lease sticks and I double check to make sure the cross is correct as I count the threads on the warping board. It seems that my threads are moving around from the warp board to the loom. Any help in what I am doing wrong? 

Comments

Sun, 02/02/2014 - 11:08

ReedGuy

Did you tie the cross, and also the separate layers , one tie on either side of the cross, then a tie on the turn dowel where the tie-rod goes through?

Sun, 02/02/2014 - 13:49

Jane Greer

yes, at the cross, at the dowel before the cross, a choke at every yard and at the ending dowel. 

Mon, 02/03/2014 - 09:07

ReedGuy

But none on ether side of the cross?

What I think that is going on with the number of ends at the sticks is you have color changes for stripes and you are breaking and tying on yarn colors quite often. If you just knot the ends, and not make a loop as shown below, this will result. This is why I loop because I was always confused, as to perceived dropped ends (even though they were not), and about drove me nuts. :)

In the first loop for instance, if your winding in pairs, looping will keep the pair, where as an end knot puts one thread up and one down when you insert the tie rod and subsequent lease stick. Also, when doing a short warp for instance, the yarn ends will slip. You can pull one of the pairs and pull it right of the tie rod. The pairs that are looped don't slip, the rest that are a continuous (multiple passes through the cross before tying on anew) do slip however. They do not slip when beaming as long as the choke ties are only cut as you wind a little before cutting each tie. Be careful at the heddles and reed not to pull much or make sure you keep the ends as even as you can. Because the shortest ends when tied to the cloth rod will determine the most waste for that warp.

Sun, 02/02/2014 - 14:17

Jane Greer

i do tie all sides of the cross. When I change colors I make a big loop so that when I go to warp I don't drop it but it is a pain. If I am reading this right you are saying to actually make a slip knot and loop it so it is like the rest? Maybe I should just tie the new color onto the previous at the last dowel so that there is no break in the sequence?

Sun, 02/02/2014 - 14:20

Jane Greer

Sometimes I think it must be the way I am removing the warp from the board. I am mainly self taught other than a video class from Craftsy and a lot of books so I wonder if that could be a problem as well?

Sun, 02/02/2014 - 14:57

ReedGuy

Tie back on where you broke off or that will throw the numbers through the cross off to.

When I just knotted the ends of the warp (and no loop) I found it to be confusing because here you have a group split in two and not kept together when slipping over the tie rod. The numbers through the cross is not that critical, although a lot easier to diagnose broken end placement for repairs. The critical part is not having warp ends of the color you want an inch or more on either side of one another when threading the heddles. Three threads either way isn't a problem. Too many ends crossed over makes uneven thread tension because of the twisting about one another. A lot of times groups 'flipped' because your twisting at the turn dowels. Unless your board is on a lazy susan, and can spin, this is harder to avoid. On a vertical mill, which rotates, my palm is up on the far turn dowl and down by the lease dowel and I always go over the top of the turn dowels. This ensures the ends are not twisted. They can cross over along the path of the measuring, but they do on twist and the color sequence will be presice at the cross.

Sun, 02/02/2014 - 14:50

debmcclintock

In your trouble shooting consider the fact that you might have "flipped" a warp chain when you put it on your lease sticks early in the warping process. It wouldn't matter when the warp is all the same color BUT in a color sequence you can doubt your sanity when threading and colors don't fall in the correct sequence.. (Ask me how I know). I usually use a dark tie when I tie my cross consistently in the same place so I can tell one warp chain side from ether other
Sun, 02/02/2014 - 16:09

laurafry

If you are having unequal numbers of threads on each half of the cross, I suspect it is a problem with warp winding.  If the cross has been made correctly, there should be exactly one half of the threads going over and the other half going under the lease sticks.

If you are changing colours at the cross end of the warp, I suggest you start and end your colours at the opposite end...

You might find the video clip(s) I have on You Tube helpful.  My user name is lauraannfry1

I have over 20 video clips showing various processes of weaving....

cheers,

Laura

Sun, 02/02/2014 - 23:36

Jane Greer

Lots of excellent ideas and I can't wait till my next warp to try them all out. Laura, love your warping valet, wish I could utilize that idea but I think my husband would kill me....lol. The videos you made were GREAT!!!

Thanks again everyone, you guys are great!!!

Mon, 02/03/2014 - 06:06

Catweaver

I do like your graphics, ReedGuy - I find it so much clearer to understand a well labelled image than reading about it in words. Perhaps you could just do a quick guide to the whole of the weaving process? Just in your spare time, of course!

Mon, 02/03/2014 - 09:22

ReedGuy

Have a view of Laura's video's, and also Kerstin's blog and they can answer any questions. I do have some video to. But no narration, the odd label here and there. I can answer anything in the video.

Warping and weaving setup video

Mon, 02/03/2014 - 12:47

Jane Greer

in watching all the videos and listening to the comments, one thing that I wasn't doing was putting a cross at the raddle end of my warp. I think that will make a big difference. I wonder if I am using too much tension in winding my warp as well? Can you have too much tension? 

 

Mon, 02/03/2014 - 15:25

laurafry

Yes. You can have too much tension while winding the warp on the board. You only need enough tension so that the threads don't sag. Much more important the tension be consistent. Cheers Laura