It worked! I quit tying the new warp to the old, and winding on the
warp (13.5 yards this time) went like a breeze.
The warp was in 2 sections, and I weighted each separately with a 2.5
pound weight-lifting-type-weight (don't know if they have a specific
name of their own :) A 3/4" dowel formed the trapeze, hanging from
chains. Another dowel was the spanking rod.
I ran the warp over the back beam, through lease sticks, through the
raddle attached to the back of the castle, then over the castle to the
trapeze, and down with the weights on the other side.
All I had to do was turn, insert stick, turn, insert stick, and
occasionally spank--not very often, either. My comb was never touched
:) Not once was there a tangle.
The whole process of beaming the warp took just 2 hours, compared to
about 10 last time. Threading and sleying took maybe another 2 hours,
so using the trapeze and threading afresh took much less than half the
time as tying knots and beaming the warp already threaded.
Still not happy with the selvages. They're perfect during the patterned
areas, but as soon as I start the plain weave hems, they start to smile,
and I to frown.
I've also noticed an area in the center of the warp that's just a touch
soft, which might be due to the edges of the two warp sections beaming
under different tension. Or it might be I just didn't tie on and
tension the warp evenly enough at the beginning--I often find that
rather challenging.
I now have 4 of the last 13 towels woven, plus 26 of the 48 hemmed.
Pretty soon I'll be FREE!!!!!
Holly
really wanting to weave some wool after all this cotton :)
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