S And Z

Day 281: I spent a large part of yesterday pacing a U-shaped path as I ran individual warp threads from the back beam to a post roughly 12 feet away, around it and up the other side to the cloth beam, then repeating my route in the opposite direction. This is the process known as "direct warping," i.e., dressing the loom strand by strand, as opposed to measuring threads on a warping board and then transferring the whole warp to the loom. It is a technique common to rigid-heddle weavers, but used less often when weaving on a floor loom because of the space required. After a period of trial and error, I decided that direct warping worked best for the Leksand loom even though the threads must follow that U-shaped path. By evening, I felt like I'd taken a 15-mile hike, back and forth, back and forth, and was almost too tired to finish tying on so I could begin weaving. However, I was anxious to get started, so after I'd had a rest and dinner, I finished the job. Here, I have used doubled warp threads for the light green S-and-Z pattern with single strands in the coloured border, both in 8/2 weight. The dark green background threads are slightly finer at 10/2. The photo doesn't do the vibrancy of the colours justice. The band is 1.5" wide.