Trying to warp the loom we inherited from my dad for the first time was kind of a slog. It’s such a painful time consuming task I was worried I must be doing it wrong, but when I looked it up online, no, other experienced weavers will complain quite heartily about the miseries of warping a loom.
I then came up with my plot to create a sort of starter warp with threads with loops at the end pulled through the heddles and beater. I tried it, noticed it was all messed up, and then took a break from the loom.
Now that it’s cold and I need something to do while staying in sick and watching Free Solo for the 10th time, I made another attempt at this idea.
The starter warp went on perfectly. Half way through I remembered how miserable warping the loom is and the real finger crossing began. Weaving is so much fun, though the first step is not. There’s a reason this task was mechanized…
Anyway… I tied on the actual warp threads and…. it worked perfectly! The threads easily went through the beater and heddles, nothing got tangled, and the warp went on nice and tight.
So this is half the experiment. Now to weave, and then the final test—to see whether the threads will pull back through the other way as easily when I reach the end of the warp. I’m feeling pretty hopeful that it’s gonna work.
It’s nice to feel a sense of success, of labour and ingenuity being rewarded. I’ve been feeling pretty grim lately so it’s nice to get that boost, and to get to look forward to something, to some new and hopeful possibility—even if it’s just seeing if I can make some pretty and soft cloth from all the yarn Julya gave me from her stash. 🧶 ❤️
