Now the warp ends are tied onto the front apron rod.

The warp has been wound on the back beam. I use heavy paper (in rolls) to separate each layer of thread as it winds, so that the layers stay even and individual threads don't sink through deeper layers. There's satisfaction (to me at least) in arriving at the point of having organized so much beautiful yarn so precisely.

Treadles are next - I have eight, and each can be tied up with any combination of the eight harnesses. For this project, having threaded 'straight draw', I am treadling plain weave but using all eight harnesses.

Spinning bobbins from a skein of cotton held on an umbrella swift. The bobbin winder is held in place with a C-clamp. None of the equipment used so far is powered. I love the elegance of simple machines that people invented thousands of years ago to do a necessary task, that haven't been improved upon in essence - only in details.

Ready to weave!

The first few throws ... at this point any errors in the warp become obvious. I check for crossed threads in front of the reed, behind the reed, and between the heddles. In this case I had two threads crossed between two of the heddles. I had to slip the threads out of the tie-ons, pull them back out of the heddles and re-thread them, pull them forward through the reed, and re-tie them in front. Then it's on to better things.

My weft in this project is a slubby natural cotton yarn ... I've never woven with such a variable width thread before. I'm interested to see how it works out.

The final setup ... heaven! I've put some placemats that I wove several years ago on the bench to soften the impact of sitting there, leaning forward to throw the shuttle. I have a nice Shetland wool color gamp blanket that was one of my first weaving projects and it's usually my bench cushion, but have still to locate it after moving.

One last pic of the pattern and photo beside the developing fabric. It's looking good. Fabrics on the loom tend to look like they have a lot of holes. Once they're taken off, they tighten up. But the real change comes with washing ... the fibers pull together, lock together really, and 'full' (if they're wool) or otherwise fluff and bind. The fabric then becomes much more solid, more what you expect to see.

This throw will end up around 33" by 75", I think. A nice lap throw for cool evenings that isn't too heavy. It could certainly be a shawl, as well. I'm mostly having fun with the different types of yarn and thinking already about other ways I could use slubby yarn in future projects. :)

I'll post a pic when it's done. Future projects include a summer-and-winter blanket and some lovely wool blankets with interesting colorways.

just. .. .. wow.

I love threads like this (I sincerely apologize for the unavoidable pun). Your WIP (work in progress) pictures help me understand what's going on in the *making* of stuff. I *love* learning stuff this way. It goes without saying that the product is lovely, I eagerly anticipate more pictures along the way as well as ones of the finished product, before and after washing.

Textiles are among the most ancient of technologies. Seeing it happen as it's happened for generations upon generations is humbling. Watching how our ancestors made things that have lasted until today. Whoa. orthodoc, well done. Please continue sharing your obvious pleasure with us.

And thanks. :notworthy

Bravo! Fascinating.

I'm really pleased to see this group of posts, and I look forward to seeing more. I've never seen such detailed descriptions of weaving.

So obviously the initial setup of the weaving is very time consuming. For a project like this throw/shawl, what percentage of the total project would you estimate the setup to be? Seems like once you get it all set up, the actual weaving would be pretty straight forward and quick. Is the setup 25% of the time for the total project? 50%?

Those place mats on the bench look fantastic, by the way!

So glad to see you happy at your crafting, Ortho!

Thank you! I wanted to share because I find it fascinating as well, and I love the elegance of the loom. The woman who taught me to weave told me about people she had visited in Thailand who wove gorgeous silk fabric on stick and string looms. When the rains flooded their village, they would dismantle the looms, take them to higher ground, and carry on. It's remarkable that we can literally lash wood together, add string, and produce beauty.

To answer your question, glatt, setting up can take 50% of the project time, if you have to completely reset your loom (as I had to for this project). If you have to add or remove heddles from some of the frames, change the reed, and start with a fresh warp, it's very time-consuming. However, I don't weave to a deadline, so I don't mind. Many people settle on a type of fabric they like to weave and keep the reed, threading, and treadle tie-up the same from project to project. Then you can simply tie your new warp on to the old one (still a bit of time, but much less overall), pull it through the reed and heddles, and beam it onto your back warp beam in a fraction of the time. I did that when I made a series of blankets in the same pattern, with different colorways. If you like to try new things, you just factor in the time to set up the loom. When you're handling beautiful yarns it's a pleasure anyway.

... mind blown.
When you talked about setting up a room earlier, I was thinking a few bundles of thread, yarn whatever and some needles ... Wow, was I wrong.
Outstanding work. I'd love to have a ... something.