Rug Warp

I'm still here!  I am still weaving!  It's just been very, very slow over the summer.  Now that the kids are in school again, I'm trying to get some more weaving time in.  It takes a LONG time to get everything figured out.  This time I tried out Farmor's Warping mill, now that I found the right size dowel from the hardware store, that the mill had been missing.  It's a pretty short warp, but since I'm still learning, I think it's okay to do more, shorter projects...I'm a hands on learner.  Anyway, WOW!  Was this thing a dream to warp on!  My other warping board would make my arm and body so tired, zig-zagging back and forth, this was a piece of cake!

 Warp chained and ready for loom.

 This is sleying the reed...basically, getting the warp evenly spaced across the width of the reed, to get it the correct width to wind on the loom.

 Every weaver needs a trusty helper, right?  There's mine....sound asleep and snoring.  I guess this is still the boring part of weaving.

 Getting the warp attached to the back beam and waiting for my other weaver helper, the Hubs, to get home and help me wind on.

 I love this -- isn't that pretty?!

 And I finally ordered new Texsolv heddles.  The other ones were fine, but since they were rope, some seemed to be different lengths and it just came across a little uneven.  So, I now have 100 heddles on each of the four shafts.  I'm about half way there threading the heddles...a little over 130 left to go.  I love this part - sitting inside the loom, listening to the rain, some music and my faithful hound snoring away.  

Next is to finish this, get the warp through the reed and I'll be weaving!  Well, after I figure out how to prepare the rag strips that is...THEN I'll be weaving!  Almost there!