I was working on the forth and final panel of the Mountain Cucumber Coverlet ... At the 4th of 7 blocks, I ran out of warp. At the beginning of this project, I'd warped up 14-1/2 yards thinking that would be more than enough for 4 105-inch panels, along with loom waste with extra room for testing, and learning the pattern. Turns out, I was about 1-1/2 yards short of what I needed for the 4 complete panels. [Let that be a lesson: Whatever you calculate the warp to be for a coverlet, add another 2 yards to the final calculation!]
My calculations were a bit off. I calculated a 12-inch block on the worksheet, and what I wove consistently turned out to be a 15-inch block, but I never went back and re-did the numbers, or I would have known sooner that I'd come up short. Sigh! To be fair, I did switch to a smaller tabby yarn that was half the size of the warp threads, and much less than the pattern threads.
I weighed the options:
* Weave as far as I could on panel 4. It will make a nice runner, or something ... And it is! I hung it in the Loom Room where I can see those lovely intertwining vines (aka worms)-- See the photo at the top of this post.
* Be happy with a 3 panel coverlet. This might work, but things will shrink again when I wet-finish it, and then it will still be too narrow for my full-size bed.
* Cut the short panel off, but leave enough warp to act as a "dummy" warp to tie on and pull through a new warp to finish the job properly.
I am opting for the last option. So I'll be running a new 5-yard warp this week to finish the job. Technically, I shouldn't need quite that much, but I don't want to be caught short again ... The photo above shows 204 ends of a 5-yard warp of 10/2 American Maid Cotton. I was able to run it much less time than the longer warp for the whole project. Let me say it again: This warping mill is such a joy to use: It was a complete game changer. I don't think I'd still be weaving if I had to use a traditional warping board -- Too many frustrations, and too many body aches and pains with that old method.
1 panel is about 108 inches, plus 1 yard for loom waste plus some for the take-up (the ups-and-downs of weaving).
Kari Fell - Tying onto a Previous Warp
I recently saw Kathryn at Blazing Shuttles demonstrate how to tie on a dummy warp. The last time I did it with the official weaver's knot, painstakingly tied one-by-one, most of them pulled part when I pulled them through the heddles. But Kathryn says you can use any knot -- so I'm going to use the easiest and sturdiest one I know: overhand -- and it will still be small enough to pull through the heddles without falling apart.
This option let's me continue the sheer joy of weaving this pattern every week through the holidays, and if the dummy warp works like it should, I won't have to re-thread the reed or heddles again. It'll be just like starting over ... ;-)
1 comment:
Had to chuckle at your comment about the weaver's knot. In my handmade book club, we get shown more than once what to do if you miscalculate how much thread you needed to sew the signatures together: tie on a new length using a weaver's knot. Well, a lot of us have no end to frustration in figuring out this knot, no matter how many times shown in videos or diagrams. I myself have them slip just like you say. So I brought out my binder where I keep copies of bookbinding stuff I've gotten from library books and magazines and sure enough, I had a page showing how to do several different knots. At the end of the of the instruction for the weaver's knot, it says, "If you have problems, use the square knot instead." Bingo - that I can do!
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