Spring Warp

Pidge perches.
Wound a new warp the other day in soft yellow, cream and white with a few threads of celery green. I'm hoping to nab inspiration from the stretch of spring days ahead. This was the first time I've tied a new warp onto the leftover threads of the old warp. I tie each old warp thread (using a weaver's knot) to a new one (168 threads, I think) and wind it on slowly.



Here's the best part- in doing so, I'm simultaneously threading the pattern in the heddles and threading the reed while winding the warp onto the back beam. This saves me maybe 3 or 4 hours. In the picture above: I am standing at the front of the loom. The new warp is 11 yards long, but made more manageable by tying it into a crochet chain (braid looking thing). The old warp you may recognize in color- blues, greens and periwinkles from the last warp. Lease sticks (2 parallel pieces of wood mid-picture) are suspended from the loom with string and hold the "cross". Each thread stays in order and lines up neatly. The reed at the top of the photo is like a big metal comb or ladder. It swings back and forth, creating the woven fabric one weft thread at a time.