Winding Warp

I wanted to get a photo of the warp as it is shaping up -- also to keep some notes for myself.
It looks so pretty and orderly all lined up here.  Sigh!

I signed up for the Floor Loom Weaving Class at Craftsy.  $20 for many hours of instruction with Janet Dawson.   This has been wonderful, as I can go at my own pace, and look back at lessons as I need to --  I'm not doing the official class projects, but instead working up a Shetland Wool Color Gamp.  My loom is not wide enough to do it properly, so I'll be doing it in DoubleWeave Double Width (not part of the class btw).  That's why you see the colors matched up in the warp.  One color (ie black) will be the warp for the top cloth, and the other (ie blue) will be the warp for the bottom cloth -- if that makes sense.  They will sort out and separate on the loom.  Once I get this all strung up and properly warped on the loom, it will make more sense.

This is the pattern I followed.  The video recommends running a guide string so you can easily follow the path you chose among all the pegs.  My board is laid out a little different from what Janet uses in the videos, and I wound up with a 2nd cross at the corner.    I guess I could have made A the unnamed peg in the corner.  No harm done, though.  I was able to push off/pull out the 2nd cross when I pulled the warp off.

The photo show how the cross is tied and secured, so I don't loose it between now and when I actually start warping the loom--which might be a few more weeks.

 To keep the color pairs in order, my husband whipped up this little spool rack.  I have since numbered them, and marked which ones will be set for the top cloth and lower cloth, and which heddles I need to use when I get to the warping step. 

Here's the 2nd half of the warp.  I had to back up a bit and pull the purples, greens and burgundies that were on the first part into this set.  I thought it was a better idea to divide them evenly rather than keep a lopsided warp--which would make it harder to find the center when I got to the warping step at the loom.

Backing up a bit was a good idea anyway, because ...

Lessons Learned :
1) Don't use too much tension while warping.  This wool is strong, but it will break under enough tension.    I had the burgundy and avocado colors with the first batch, only because I was hoping to fit the whole darn warp on the board at once -- just to see the rainbow colors all lined up, and orderly.  But the board wasn't quite big enough to fit all the ends on it at once.  By the time I got to the burgundy and avocado, the tension towards the end was so tight that the anchor peg at the bottom was actually bending inward to relieve some of the tension.  So it was a good thing I had to re-do that color set.
2) A Double Cross doesn't cause any problems.  It's kind of fun to do, and you can push it off the end once you pull the secured warp off the board.
3)  I need to find a more solid place to hang the warping board while I'm working on it.  Right now, it stands on an old treadle sewing machine, but it's not secured, and it can move on me at all the wrong times.
4) I need to go back and secure all the pegs with some wood glue. You don't want any pegs falling out while you're warping!

Here is the amended path I took for the 2nd half of the warp, to avoid the 2nd cross in the corner between pegs A+B.  Much more open.

 Close-up of the chained color gamp warps.