Getting warped again

As promised, here are photos of the sectional beaming process. I've posted this once before, I think, but this time the warp is finer and has more threads, probably as many as I even want to handle at once. The thread count is only 24 per inch, which is moderate for fine weaving, but sufficient for table linens and casual garments. To view the entire process of getting the warp onto the warp beam of the loom, start with this link, and click the "newer" button to view all seven photos more or less in sequence.

Next is the job of threading each of the 354 individual threads through a heddle eye. The heddles are the white vertical "cords" in frames at the center of the loom. Once that is done, they will be organized into four groups each of which can be lifted separately to create a pattern in the finished cloth as it is woven. This is an overshot design, so two shuttles are used in weaving. One has the same thread as the warp, and the other has a contrasting color. Very complex geometric designs are possible in this way.

This weaving I am doing is part of a group project, a "friendship coverlet." Ten of us have each chosen two designs and will weave ten blocks of each design. We will then swap the finished blocks, so that each of us ends up with twenty different blocks to assemble into a coverlet or bedspread. My designs are called "Chariot Wheel" and "Catalpa Blossom" and I (or more likely argos) will have photos of them as they develop.

Day six

Busy day. The warp was on the beam to begin with, as you see here. During the course of the day, I threaded 240 of the warp threads and double checked them. I have 114 to go, and should finish early tomorrow. Then they all have to be pulled through the reed and tied to the cloth beam before weaving can really begin. I expect to be weaving by tomorrow evening, though.

I think I mentioned last week the fact that our stove pipe was getting pretty badly deteriorated. Gary mentioned it to one of his Civil War recreator friends who happens to portray a 19th century tinsmith, and ended up with an appointment to have the pipe examined and probably replaced. Don brought his partner Corin with him and we had a nice day of it, including lunch. Gary went with them to several hardware stores in search of the right parts, and now we have a complete new pipe from the stove to the chimney. Because this is much more airtight, the draft to the fire improved and the stove is working much more efficiently. It's 72F in the dining room as I write this, as opposed to 65F or so the same time last night.

Don has also worked as an organ pipe maker, which interested me. And he knows enough about weaving to ask reasonable questions about the loom I'm preparing right now. Corin is a cooking enthusiast, so we had lots to talk about.

Today was my dog Simon's 15th birthday. I've had him since he was 3 months old. He still perks up at mealtimes, but mostly sleeps the rest of the time. His hearing and eyesight are very poor, but his sense of smell is fine. He wags, likes petting, and still enjoys life mostly, but is very slow and has trouble getting up after sleeping too long in one spot. I'm fairly sure he won't make it through another whole year, and that makes me kinda sad. He was diagnosed with an untreatable cancer two years ago, but so far has kept on plugging along.

Photos of the next steps in loom preparation tomorrow. Right now I feel sleep approaching rapidly.