It was only when I started to write this post that I realized I had taken a nearly identical picture for the blog only a few weeks ago!
I cut the Diversified Plain Weave afghans off the loom this morning and started beaming a shawl warp. The warp is made by dressing two scarf warps at once. These warps were not intended to be used together – I just grabbed two with similar colourways. As it happens one has brighter colours in it – magenta and a bright green and blue – the other is a more subdued dark blue/red.
I couldn’t – or wouldn’t – beam these warps together if it weren’t for the warping valet. The long drop from the ceiling to the floor makes taming the tangles a relatively simple process. The warps are made by winding one strand of bamboo and one of Tencel at the same time and then sent to Teresa* to be dyed.
The warps are 11 meters long (a meter is approx. 38.something inches) and I don’t make Teresa straighten them out completely. She straightens them out as much as she can but doesn’t obsess over it. A tangle or two doesn’t bother me unduly as with the warping valet it all comes out quickly enough that it’s fairly painless.
In the photo, the warp on the right has been straightened out, the one on the left still needs to be done. The enlargement will likely show this more clearly.
After both warps have been straightened, I’ll shove the lease sticks up as high as they will easily go, and then start winding on until the lease sticks are once again just above the tension box rail at the back of the loom.
You can just make out the reed in which I’ve rough sleyed the two warps and which I use to help roll the warp onto the sectional beam. The sectional beam holds the threads in place and since I’m beaming under tension, no warp packing is required. The AVL tension box has a reed that swivels to keep the bout inside the section – the reed works in exactly the same way to keep the entire warp inside the sections I’m using (18″ wide). My sectional beam has 1 inch sections.
The water jugs are attached to the warp chains by wrapping a loop of 4/8 cotton around the chain via a Lark’s Head loop, an S hook is attached to the loop and then the jug is hung from the S hook.
I know I could streamline the process a little bit more, but this seems to be working well enough so probably won’t.
Detailed photos on my website – http://laurafry.com
Click on Education, then Warping Valet.
Karena came and rough sleyed the next chenille warp, then spent the morning winding more chenille scarf warps. I’ve got lots of work to do, but I also need to pack for the trip to Missouri.
* Teresa Ruch has been selected to teach at Convergence next year. I’m not sure which topic, but the HGA site will no doubt have details. Or perhaps Teresa will post the topic in the comments here?