If you’ve ever thought “hmm that hand woven X is kind of expensive” it’s because someone spent EIGHT MILLION YEARS warping the loom to make that X. At about 2/3 if the way through the task I find myself thinking “you know I could just buy a scarf at the Bay.” But the weaving part is really fun and rewarding so… one perseveres.
That being said, this time I put the warp in the loom which is a really backbreaking task (I know it doesn’t look like it but I assure you, it is) and I found myself not being able to face the idea that I did all that for one shawl’s worth of warp. Plus the good chunk of yarn that’d be wasted.
So, I devised a plan. I made colour coded warp started threads with a loop at each end, and am now binding them to the loom and to the yarn strands I originally warped the loom with, one by one, and am now pulling these back through the heddles and the beater. One that’s all done then I’ll wind on and weave until I arrive back at these warp starter strings, and then I’ll pull those back through the beater. When I want to weave again all I should need to do is tie the strings to the warp starters. That is, no counting out heddles on different sheds, no pulling each thread through the heddle, and no pulling the the thread through the beater. Just tie on, wind, and weave!
I hope this works as well as I imagine it will. Cross your fingers for me!