By Jane Patrick
I've been sampling for a garment for the TNNA fashion show which is coming up in June. I didn't have a lot of yarn for sampling and I had a lot of ideas I wanted to explore. So, to maximize the warp on my Cricket Loom, I tied onto the back with tie-up cords from our Schacht floor looms. I like these because they don't stretch and are pre-measured. After threading my reed I tied my warp groups in about 3/4" bundles. I looped the tie-up cords around the apron bar with the plastic connector at the bar. Finally, I attached the warp bundles to the tie-up cords with lark's head knots. Simple. Fast.
Why didn't I direct warp for this project—which is a super way to get the maximum length out of a warp? I chose to use a warping board for this sample because I wanted to alternate ends in the heddle and also thread some ends randomly. Measuring my warp first on the warping board gave me a little more freedom when I threaded. In this case, I thought it would also be the faster way.
To keep track of my experiments, I wrote everything down as I wove. As I always maintain, you think you'll remember, but you won't. Again, stopping momentarily as you're weaving is a time-saver in the end. Stay tuned for more installments on my TNNA fashion show garment.
You can use this warp extender trick on any rigid heddle or shaft loom.