Struggling with the loom

I had intended to go straight from beaming the warp to threading the loom, but things sort of got in the way.  First I realized that I had too few heddles to thread the loom – which was sort of OK, since I had bought 700 extra Texsolv heddles for Lady Di.  But they came packed in groups of 100 each, so to spread them out over the shafts where I’d need them, I had to mount the entire group, count out the ones I needed, carefully reinstate the ties in the leftover ones, unmount the leftovers, and move on to the next frame.  Do-able, but tedious and time-consuming.  Frustrating when what you really need is speed.

While in the process of doing that, I (re)discovered that some of the heddle bars were too rough in texture to allow the heddles to slide easily, and I had to sand THOSE down with 600-grit sandpaper before I could continue.  More time lost.  More gritting of teeth.

Anyway, after I finished spending three hours at THAT, I got to start threading the loom.  I’m using the compudobby to help me thread without mistakes, “treadling the threading” – slow, but not nearly as error-prone as threading without the computer-assist.  Since this is a moderately complex pattern, I’m electing the slow-but-sure route.

I’m now 285 threads into the threading (out of 1040), so a bit over 1/4 done.  It’s slow going and physically difficult working in a cramped space (my muscles are all stiff from being in the same position for hours on end), but I’m making progress.  I expect I’ll finish threading and sleying tomorrow afternoon – after winding pirns in the morning, when B. is sleeping.  I’m really hoping to start weaving tomorrow afternoon.  I’ll take a pic if and when I do.

It’s now seeming increasingly unlikely that I’ll get to take this piece to Maryland with me, but I plan to plow on anyway.  I hate wasting time, and there’s an outside chance I might get it done anyway.

Back to work!