"Warping My Oxaback Lilla Floor Loom for the First Time....."

Tuesday morning was when I planned on beginning the process of measuring out the warp for my first weaving project. That got delayed due to the first 6" of snow that had to be cleaned up. When I got back in the house and was ready to begin, I realized then that I hadn't quite finished assembling the loom.....I'd forgotten to attach the Texsolv cord to the cloth and warp beams, which also meant that the rods to attach the warp at the back and to tie the warp onto in the front, were not on the loom either. So....after taking care of that, the loom was ready for warping.

I measured out my warp on my warping board, slid it onto the back rod (which is attached to the warp beam via Texsolv cords), and spread it out in one inch sections (6 epi-ends per inch) using my homemade raddle. I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but my cross that is shown in the photo, kept in place by the 2 lease sticks, was lost when I took my ties off. I had to go in and individually pick each warp thread to get it back. Weaving "occasionally" does take a toll on my remembering some of the correct "how to's", I guess. Mistakes create a quick reminder of what not to do again. ;)

I was pleased to find out that I could adapt my "Harrisville Tensioning Device" to my Oxaback loom, too. This will help create an even tension as the warp is wound onto the warp beam.

So.......on Wednesday morning, and after working outside much longer than Tuesday, cleaning up the snow that we received overnight, I was ready to wind the warp onto the loom. Unfortunately, once again, I had to backpedal and do some preparation before that could happen. My homemade raddle had been set up with the Harrisville loom in mind. It needed a slight change in height....it needed to be lower for this loom. It is made using a piece of 1"x3" wood, with small brads (nails) driven into the wood along the thin edge, so the height is the 3". I needed it to be lower, so I pulled all of the brads and moved them to the 3" side. Now it is only the height of the 1" side, which works quite well.

See why I love working in the front room? The morning light is wonderful!

A better view of the warp, spread out by the raddle and the tensioning device at work.

Warp wound onto the warp beam and ready to be threaded through the heddles.

The right half of the warp threaded through the heddles in a 1,2,3,4/1,2,3,4 shaft sequence.

I remembered after the first half of the warp was threaded, that it was suggested to use permanent parker on the Texsolv heddles to help differentiate each shaft. The first half will get their "touchup" after I finish weaving this piece and take it off the loom.

A view from the top of the loom with 1/2 of the warp threaded.

To be continued......