We're weaving now!

I did pretty well today - I'm up to about 15" on the piece so far, in only about an hour of "not paying full attention" weaving. Since I'm doing placemats, 17" is about the right length so I'll aim for that. Then I'm going to weave a 'spacer' of 5" (using one strand of carpet warp), just so my fumble-fingers have enough warp to manipulate without causing it all to come undone when I'm cutting them apart. So far, the stand is working ok, but I have to have my feet on it or I can't beat the weft nor put the shed in the down position.

I am just amazed that using black for weft makes the blue and red of the warp really stand out - I never would've expected that affect.


The details of how I am doing this - so I don't forget later:

I'm doing 2 'picks' (or shots) of worsted weight cotton per shed. I'm using two separate shuttles, and after each pick I beat the weft in - so I pass the shuttle through on the upshed, beat, pass the 2nd shuttle through still on the upshed, beat. (If I don't beat on each pick, I don't get as tight nor even thread.) Move the heddle to the downshed position, rinse, lather, repeat. I always use the same shuttle first, as that gives me almost a bit of a scallop along the edge, and the yarn crosses over the other shuttle's yarn. To keep things straight, I always lay the first shuttle closest to me on my lap, and the second shuttle lays closer to my knees. This also seems to help me not get everything all tangled up (as much).

Also, I'm putting a pin in the web every 4 inches, so I know how much is woven. I'm using a tape measure, but a ruler would work too. The available working area seems a bit short on this loom, so it doesn't take long before the warp needs to be advanced, and it would be easy to lose track of how much you've woven.


I need to look for my shorter shuttle(s) for the 20" loom, as waving those long Kromski shuttles about is kind of dangerous, and a warp this 'narrow' doesn't need such long shuttles. I did buy some slats at Lowe's, so I can make shorter shuttles after hubby runs them through the planer. A big advantage of having the Harp on a stand is that I can adjust the loom's placement to where I'm not as likely to whack hubby or a dog as they pass through the room. :-D

I ordered the Kromski stand yesterday, plus the 12-dent heddle (I figured I might as well - what's another $33?), and hopefully they will be here Friday.