Warped

While there are lots of things that this title could refer to -- my husband's sense of humor, the state of the nation -- I was really referring to my rigid heddle loom.






























I started warping late this afternoon while Baby M took her nap. I continued this evening after dinner while DH played video games and the dogs napped at our feet. I'll finish sometime tomorrow, either before or after Auntie & Uncle P's visit with Baby E in tow. We're scheduled to head to a local Native American Pow Wow tomorrow afternoon, so if I can get the house tidied up early I may finish this first step in warping before the P clan arrives; otherwise, I'll do it in the evening to the sound of grunting PS2 boxers and canned ringside pep talks.

I'm warping my loom with Euroflax (the variegated orange/red/black) and doubled mercerized cotton (the solid black). My goal is to make 2 fringed placemats. The pattern and mix of yarns is the result of my buying 2 skeins of Euroflax as an experiment, thus not having enough to weave placemats solely out of that yarn. I happened to have the cotton in my stash, and I figured it would do to "pad" my linen. I came up with the color pattern myself, and the weave will be plain ol' tabby (the only kind I know).

At least my lower arms are feeling better -- hardly any pain at all, and certainly not what I was feeling these past couple of days, when I pretty much felt a pulling in the tendons up to my elbows all the time. It's good I'll be weaving these next few days to really change my hand/arm motions and hopefully stop any repetitive-motion injury from developing.

The "knitter's finger" feels infinitely better -- all the more reason for me to keep cooling it with the knitting for a bit longer. Besides, I haven't woven anything in quite awhile and I'm looking to experiment. I still have a stash of bamboo yarn in a gorgeous orange/yellow/cream colorway that I want to make up into a shawl once I feel confident enough about getting a decent selvedge.

By the way, this is how I warp a loom:




















Direct warping -- what a godsend! Check out the Ashford Book of Rigid Heddle Weaving for easy-to-follow directions.