New Beginnings

On this day, one that is incredibly joyful for me and millions of others, I thought it appropriate that I would finish winding on a new warp. This is significant for several reasons...

First, it's the first new warp I've put on my David loom in quite a while. It's a sign that the new way I began the first week of the year will continue. Second, beaming a warp is by its very nature a polarizing event....all the threads are lined up, nice and neat, shoulder to shoulder, so to speak, for a common goal.


This is a snapshot of the main mechanism of the warping wheel. You can see that the thing holding the reed is a little cattywampus - actually, the supporting bracket broke. It's been glued together with gorrilla glue. I'm going to contact AVL and see if I can get a replacement bracket. Second, you can see that this is one of the early warping wheels - it's got pegs on the arms rather than spools.

The picture above shows the winding on of the last section of this warp. My process of winding on is way too fiddly - I hover over it, to make sure no threads stray into adjacent sections. I really need to rig up something with guides to put on the back beam. I've got some little metal things that fit over the U wires, but unfortunately, on this loom, they stick out too far and hit the back beam, so I can't use them. I should try to find some bicycle tubing to try.

And here's the new warp. The little blue spots are pieces of painters tape.

This is not a long warp - only 6 yards. I'm planning to do some experimentation. It's 8/2 cotton at 20 epi. I'm planning to try doing towels with a band in taqueté with the body of the towel in plain summer and winter. I'm not sure if the band will be too heavy - I'll keep you posted.