Half-Warped

Second warp attempt.

     I decided a few days ago to stop walking by and smiling at that loom I bought, and start learning what to do with it.  I'm not keen on dusting, and if I'm going to fit dusting a loom into my days of endless nothing to do (that's a joke), I might as well get cracking with the project.  Thank goodness for books, because without them, I'd still be walking past it with that goofy look on my face, instead of sitting at it looking goofy.
     I never knew how much time was involved in getting that sucker ready for the fun part, which for me is putting the yarn, called the weft, on it.  This is how I remember which is which - the warp is the yarn that runs north and south when I'm looking at the loom, and the weft is what runs east and west.  The warp holds the weft part on, which is what I really want to do most.
     The first dilemma I had to solve was what to use around here to wrap the warp strings on to get the correct yardage.  I found that if I turned a particular chair upside down and used all four of the legs, I had just what I needed.  Little did I notice that the legs flared out at the ends, so when I finished wrapping the warp strings around it even the Hulk wouldn't be able to get it off without damaging the warp...and the chair...and at that point if that chair wasn't an antique I'd have made firewood out of it to get that weft off.  But, being as I like my dining room set, I unwound it all into a ball and started looking for another unsuspecting piece of furniture.
     After noticing just about every single chair and table leg we own has fancy legs or flared legs, I found one that worked.  Yes!  I needed three legs to get the correct amount of warp, so I set to the task and got it done.  After I tied it off, cut it, and took it to the loom so I could consult my book on what to do with all the strings, I realized the weft looked awful short.  Then it dawned on me.  I needed two yard lengths of weft pieces, not one, which is what I was holding.  Basically...back to the drawing board.
     I looked upstairs, I looked downstairs, I looked in the basement.  I measured everything I could measure to see if it would work for me to measure out 60 two yard lengths of warp.  I even tried putting two chairs together and using the backs, but the darn stuff kept slipping off.  I think the furniture started hiding on me at that point.  Finally, I did the only thing left I could do...head out to the garage...and there I found it...something I could finally use.  Thank goodness I kept this old outdoor chair through another summer, because I had been questioning my keeping it around any longer.  Using three of it's legs I was able to wrap around and around what I needed (in the proper 2 yard length) so I could tie it up, cut it off, and then consult the book on what to do next with it. 
     When Hon got home he asked me why that outdoor chair is sitting in the dining room turned upside down.  I relayed the trials and tribulations of getting the warp cut to the lengths I needed without losing my sanity.  I also told him of all the stuff indoors and out that I measured, that's the only thing that came out right.  I think he's now afraid that chair will be spending the rest of its days there, because he looked up how to make a warping board and said he's going to make me one.  That, by the way, is the easier way of measuring warp, and the weaving tool that will help me keep my sanity.
     So, there you have it, folks.  My warp has been measured and cut, and my sanity is still intact.  Now on to the actual warping of the loom so I can get to the weft of it...  Smiling & Waving, Sharon 

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