Preparing a warp

Once you have established your design then comes the calculating. I have developed my own worksheet which allows me to figure out not only my yarn requirements for warp and weft but also includes information about the vendor from which the yarn was purchased down to cost per ounce. Yours can be a simple warp and weft calculation, remember to calculate your sett and how many dents in the reed for your chosen width!  There are many factors to consider including the take up (how much the yarn pulls up in length) draw in and shrinkage. There are many books and resources for how to figure out these amounts.

Once you have arrived at these figures you can begin to warp. It is always preferable to do a sample first, this will help you determine if your sett is good, if the pattern requires changing and many other factors. Better to make an error on a mini warp and sample than waste a lot of yarn!

When you have figured out the the details of your warp you can move to the warping board with your yarn. On my warping board the width across is 36″ or 1 yard. I measure out a guide string using a different color from my yarn and make it the length of my warp and tie that onto the board, using the same route/cross that will use for my warp. Then I know my warp is the correct length. Tie your yarn with a loop over the first peg at the top of the board.

Then go under the next peg and over the third peg – then the yarn will start to travel the board in a zig zag pattern until you reach your desired length. I like to go over and under the top pegs making two interlacements called a “cross”. The figure 8 cross at the top is called a “porrey cross” and consists of single interlacements. THis cross is used for threading heddles when dressing the loom. This will keep your yarn in order for all the following processes.

The second picture shows how, when you come back up to the top you will cross in the other direction; under and over. At the bottom of the board you should make one more cross, always better to have a cross in the top and the bottom of the warp! The second cross at the bottom of the warping board is the “portee cross” and can consist of groups of threads and be used for sectioning the warp in the raddle.

These pictures show how the warp builds up on the board. Notice at the bottom, the yarn also goes over and under. You have calculated for example that the warp is 5 yards long and consists of 280 threads. You will need to track how many travels of the board you have = how many ends of thread will you have.  A top to bottom zig zag is 1 end, come all the way back up zig zag is 2 ends. You can use a piece of string and count how many threads you have, this is called a counting thread or string.

Of course it all sounds terribly confusing unless you have seen it in action. But this is meant to be a refresher of what we have accomplished in class. HERE I am placing my fingers in the cross so I can count the threads.

HERE you can see the counting string. You loop it over and around to secure your counted batch of threads – called a bout – you can count in any number of bouts, use even numbers of 20, 50, 100, whatever suits the warp numbers the best. I like to mark where the middle of my warp is also using this thread. When you have the correct number of ends, mine is 280, you need to secure the warp before removing it from the board (trust me – better to use a lot of little pieces of string securing the warp than losing ALL that lovely yarn).

You want to mark and save the cross. I make a cross string that will be a loop going through the cross that is a little wider than my warp. If my warp is 20 ” wide I might make it 22-24″, I thread the yarn through the spaces in the cross and tie the end. This is where the lease sticks will go and is where you will “choose” threads when threading etc.

Now I am going to put a tie around each section of the cross, 2 in the top and 2 in the bottom. This will hold open the space for the lease sticks to go through.

Next we have to choke tie the rest of the length of the warp. I like to use an over and under or in and out method.

Now its time to stand back and admire your handy work!

Now for the scary part, we are going to remove the whole thing! Starting at the bottom, put your hand through the hole of the bottom chain and pull the end off – carefully!

With your hand through the hole, reach through and grab the warp and pull through the hole to make a chain. This sounds very confusing, again, once you see it done it makes sense!

Keep on chaining until the whole warp looks like – well – Rapunzels multi colored braid!