I’ve finally fallen into the rhythm of this heddle. The opening of the sheds is pretty much on automatic, unless someone talks to me or the dog starts bringing me his toys. The width is still all over the place. I’m guessing right about the time I finish the warp, I’ll have things figured out & be ready to start for real. I wish these kits came with two warps. It would be nice to go immediately from the first on to the second.
What am I learning along the way?
Changing the shed before beating and tensioning is not optional! It’s the difference between pretty edges and even picks and not.
Separating the shed with my hand prevents me from making a gazillion little mistakes. I’m aces at picking up one thread from the bottom shed when picking up the floats. The pattern is on the backside and hidden by the floats, so I don’t even notice the mistake until later.
When weaving with wool in high humidity, be prepared to take some time to back out mistakes and to lift and press the float warp into place. I figured out the lifting part, but it took me a while to figure out how to press the floats down so the warp balances on both sides. Basically, when I spread the shed with the float on the back, I need to make sure it opens all the way. I may need to make a little wall poster saying “Don’t forget the back!
A possibly clever thought?
I’ve just drawn a ruler on my clip. I was already using the letters in the logo as a guide, but I suspect the ruler marks will help me keep on track. I get caught up in looking at the spacing of the warp threads and thinking- oh, maybe it would look better a bit looser- or a bit tighter- and then I have serpentine edges!
Spindles In the Wild 