The old pro weaves. chpt 1

Chapter one: my first and last loom. I bought this loom in Denmark from a nice fellow who made them in his spare time. It's not the biggest loom I've ever owned or the most complicated, or even the sweetest-working loom, but it's small, portable, and does all I need. I sold all the others when I blew out my shoulders. Enlarge the photo and take note of the names of the parts. The breast beam is the part of the loom that is closest to your breast. I just didn't have space for the words up above. The counterbalance beam is a roller that lifts one harness as the other harness is pulled down when you tromp the treadle.
The harnesses hold the heddles. Each heddle will hold one thread of your warp. How many threads? Well, first, decide how wide you want your work to be. (Say 10 inches) then decide how close you want your warp threads to be (say 10 threads to the inch - a good sett for worsted weight yarn) So you will need 100 threads plus 10 % for draw-in or 110 threads. Make sure you have at least 55 heddles on each harness. (If you are weaving with fine thread, you can work with over a thousand heddles on occasion)

The beater will be used when you start weaving For now, let it rest against the breast beam.








You will start by making a dummy warp. Your loom can be used as your warping board. Using waste yarn, make a figure 8 over and over across the breast beam.



Count each figure 8 as four ends. When you have enough ends (Plus a few for a fudge factor) slip the ends of the 8 off the breast beam and tie an overhand knot in the middle.





Fasten the dummy warp to the back beam. (You should have a lot of loops of string on the back beam. Slip-knot the dummy warp onto one of these.)



Cut the ends of the 8. You now have a giant long tassle hanging on the back beam.







Draw a thread through the first heddle on the right on the back harness.

(This is a very simple loom. You won't have any fancy draw to worry about here.)




Draw the next thread through the first heddle on the right on the front harness. Alternating front and back harness, continue drawing threads through the heddles.





Every ten threads, I tie a slip knot to prevent the warp from accidentally being pulled out. Also, every knot is ten threads, so it makes counting easy. And, for my own fudge factor, I skip a set of heddles before I start drawing in more threads. That way. if I make a mistake, I have repair heddles handy. For a two harness loom, this isn't that big a deal. For a twelve harness loom with a complicated draw, it's a Godsend. Get into the habit. It will save hours of re-draw headaches.

Tomorrow - tie on your warp.