Thanks for reporting back, John, and I look forward to seeing your pictures! I have some comments on some of your conclusions, though :)
<<I have learned my lesson about sizing warps before winding.>> We all pretty much learn that lesson the same way :) <<* Softly spun singles make lousy warps.>> NO! That's not a conclusion to learn :) Softly spun singles make great warps, perfect for warm, soft, low-wear items, IF they're spun with warp in mind. The joins have to be very good. The yarn as a whole needs to be smooth and not very hairy (a little mohair is OK). It should be sized before winding into a warp. It should pass the tug test. After that, the sky's the limit! I've used twist angles as low as 10 degrees for singles warp yarns, and had NO breaks. See <http://www.hjsstudio.com/coat.html> for an example. <<* I need to think about the use I want to put a yarn to rather than just thinking about the color.>> Very good conclusion, and one that will apply to all future projects, whatever technique used. Though, like most of us, you might still be snagged by beautiful color, but fiber can just provide color inspiration while it waits for the perfect project :) <<* White glue (Elmers) diluted with 2 parts water and applied with a paint brush lets you add sizing while on the loom.>> That's good to hear, thanks! <<* I need to invest in a temple, does anyone have any recommendations?>> My recommendation is don't bother :) Developing good shuttle management habits will take care of draw-in for the most part. That takes practice. IMO, a temple is unnecessary except perhaps for a very few weave structure/weft combinations in which there's tremendous take-up in the weft, like some sort of ribbed structure with a very springy weft yarn. Put on a simple cotton warp--dishtowels, for example, and weave away. If you find you've got draw-in that 'shrinks' the woven width of your warp by more than 1/2" or so total across 20", then sacrifice a section to practice different ways of managing the shuttle until you have less draw-in. Use a variety of treadlings and tieups--those with longer floats cause more draw-in than those with shorter floats (and then it can either be a sampler dishtowel, or samples to keep for future reference, rather than a sacrifice to throw away :) I used to manage weft unwinding from the bobbin by lightly resting my forefinger on the bobbin as I received the shuttle and picked it up to beat. It made tidy selvages, but caused too much draw-in (though, with practice, not as much as earlier in my weaving). I found that I could, with practice, make good selvages without resting my finger on the bobbin, and the result was much less draw-in and good selvages. No temple needed. Helps, also, to jack up the tension on the warp a little, if you've been weaving quite loosely. Many experts recommend the lightest tension on the warp that will provide a good shed, though I'm not sure why--wear and tear on the warp yarns is sometimes cited. I weave even handspun low-twist singles at fairly high tension, and it's not a problem. <<* If I'm going to try to weave the full width of my loom, I need to take the extra heddles off.>> Nope, just count how many extra there are, and space them evenly through your warp as you thread, left empty next to ones you used on the same shaft. Much easier on most looms. I just tried to put heddles onto a Schacht loom (gave up quickly--not my loom and I can use a different loom for the project that needed more heddles :) Don't make more hassles for yourself than you have to :) <<* Floating selvages are not worth the hassle, at least for this project.>> Floating selvages are only needed for certain weave structures where the weft wouldn't be caught by a warp very near the edge, *and* you can't plan a separate selvage threading. Reversing twills or twills where the weft passes over more than 2 ends at a time, structures with pattern wefts that don't go to the edge, ditto floats that aren't caught at the edge, etc. If your edges are plain weave, or it's a non-reversing twill or something similar, you don't need them. Sometimes all you need to do to avoid a floating selvage is snip off <gasp!> one warp end on one side. When you need them, they're great. Some suggestions to make them easier to use: Make sure they 'rest' at the right height; ideally, being just at the height of the 'nose' of your shuttle so it's easy to go over or under. A friend with a Schacht Baby Wolf says she has to raise her FS with a string to get them high enough to be useful. I haven't checked this myself, but it goes to show that the neutral position provided by not threading the FS through a heddle may not be the best position on a particular loom, for a particular shuttle. Make sure they're under good, hopefully pretty even, tension. I have FS on my rosepath project right now, with a small clamp on one and a couple oddments of hardware on the other--not elegant, but provides slightly more tension than I'm weaving with, so it's working well. I put a slip knot loop in the FS just above the floor, and slip some aspect of the weight through the loop. Yes, I have to get up and move the weights periodically, but usually not more often than I have to get up to wind bobbins or move warp sticks, so no big deal there. Manage the shuttle through the FS consistently. I like over as I enter the shed, as it's very easy while moving the shuttle into the shed to make sure the nose is over the FS, and under while coming out of the shed, also easy as my hand can lift the FS with no effort while waiting to catch the shuttle. It doesn't matter which direction the shuttle comes from, it's always over going in, under coming out. Some people like the other way, but to me it takes a little more action of the hands to do. While an FS will always slow down the weaving a little, it should be barely noticeable. Occasionally you may see that, in plain weave sections like hems, the FS on one side weaves together with its neighbor. You can fix this by entering and exiting the shed the same way--over going in, over coming out. I've been doing this on the rosepath warp, where the FS would show. I *think* though I haven't really analyzed it, that it's because I have an odd number of warp ends in the project. But in 20+ years of weaving, this is the first time I've noticed the problem, so it's not too big a deal to worry about :) If working with handspun singles, at least until you become confident of spinning your warp yarns, try plied selvages--especially the FS if you need them. I spin the selvage yarn singles to be less than half as thick, and with quite a bit more twist--say, about 20-25 degrees--then two-ply to a balanced yarn, making whatever yardage I need to have four ends at each selvage. They need more twist not so much because they're at the selvages as because plying takes twist out, and you need to compensate for that (low-twist singles that are balanced plied can sometimes be known as a pile of fluff <g>). I generally size with the rest of the warp, to be on the safe side. Plied yarns just at the selvages will be much more resistant to abrasion due to draw-in, and were used in the middle ages, apparently for the same reason! I look forward to seeing your pictures, John, and we should all be so lucky as to receive handspun, handwoven gifts like yours! :) Holly
