The Endless Warp

Several weeks ago, while blogging on summer activities, I mentioned and endless cotton warp I had been working on. The good news is that after almost 9 months of sporadic progress, the endless colored cotton warp is finally finished!

At times I pondered the wisdom of having put that long a warp on the loom. It was born of a momentary fit of enthusiasm and originally I meant only to do a shorter warp in color to experiment with Navajo Coal Mine technique on a regular multi heddle loom with a plain twill set up. Since I absolutely hate the warping process, I decided to make as long a warp as possible not taking into account, through ignorance, how long 10 yards actually was in weaving terms, nor how by using a multi colored warp, I was pretty much limiting my stich and design options to stripes and plaids.

For most of the summer and in particular for the last couple of weeks, I have been working on it pretty steadily. The last week, while Phil was at home, I finished the weaving, but had to go back and hem stitch all of the sections, since being new to weaving on this sort of a loom, I didn't know that you did it as you went using your existing weft. Another lesson learned.

Finally Monday, I completed the last hem stitch row and took it off the loom.With much trepidation I laid it out on the floor and was pleased to see that all in all, the individual sections while having problems with symmetry, (apparantly I can't measure or count very well, or if I do I don't write it down very well ), looked basically presentable.

the completed length which ended up being 9 3/4 yards as it came off the loom

I was relieved to see that the individual sections, although primarily asymmetrical on the ends, because of my apparent inability to measure, count or record that information efficiently or correctly, all look pretty decent. Several tartans and a color block piece came out very well, while the original experiment in Coal Mine technique, did not.

one tartan section with stripes match the warp pattern

While the original attempt to do a Coal Mine Technique on the loom with a multi color warp was less than successful and will probably be given a decent burial, another section, based on the general idea of color blocks and how they are affected by warp color, was more successful.

color blocks, almost a color and weave experiment without the weave variation.

All in all I ended up with 6 small bathmat size rugs and two smaller mats. If they survive the finishing process, I have at least a couple of Christmas/Solstice gifts.

Now all I have to do is wash the length in the hottest possible water possible, dry it as hot as possible and " iron the bejaysus out of it", according to the pithy directions in one of my books.

The washing and drying is on the agenda for tomorrow, and then cutting apart the sections while praying that the hem stitching holds, and then ironing the finished sections.

I feel under no obligation to get this particular loom rewarped within four days, as tradition dictates, because I have several other of my more usual Navajo looms warped and ready to go, but at the same time, I have to admit that I enjoyed having a long term project that moved a bit faster than a traditional Navajo style piece. I particularly like the fact that the hem stitching, although done after the fact, was quicker than the final two inches on a Navajo piece