Tying One On.....a new warp, that is ;)

After warping my floor loom with 254 threads, I decided I would tie on my next warp. Now I know that to some people, 254 ends is nothing, but when you have 3 kids under 10 running around, 254 might as well be 1000. 

When I got to the end of the 1st warp, I secured the rear apron bar with some scrap thread so it wouldn't pull out all my threading. I chose to cut the warp in front of the reed so I didn't have to re-sley the reed. My loom came with a 5 dent reed so I have been sleying 3 ends per dent to get 15 epi. 

As you can see, the old warp was green and white. The new warp is yellow and white. I divided the old warp into sections then tied the ends in front of the reed to secure them. Then I began knotting. 

In this picture you can see the new warp and it's cross at the left. You can also see how I isolated the 3 threads coming through each dent. This made it easier to see which thread got knotted next and also eliminated any tangles. 

To tie on a new thread, you make a small slip knot in the new warp thread. 

Then you place the old warp thread through the slip knot. 

Pull on both ends of the new warp thread. You may hear and feel a small pop which means that the knot is secure. To check, pull on the old thread and the new thread at the same time. If your knot was successful, the ends will stay tied. If your ends come apart, make a new slip knot and try again. 

Here is the knotting in progress. Since the tails were not too long, I didn't trim the knots. Actually I did trim some in the beginning, but got lazy and didn't want to trim the rest. You should really trim all the knots, especially with finer more "sticky" yarn. 

After tying all the knots, I pulled the knotted threads through the heddles. It was easier than I thought it would be, probably due in part to the fact that I used a slippery 3/2 pearl cotton. 

Finally, I tied the ends to the front apron bar and I was ready to weave. 

After weaving a header with scrap yarn, I found a small threading error. 

I followed the threads back to the heddles and found I had skipped one. I measured out a long length of the warp yarn. I attached one end to the weaving with a pin. I sleyed the other end through the reed and through the empty heddle. I attached a weight to the end of the new warp thread and let it hang off the back of the loom. After weaving a few picks, the new thread was secure and I removed the pin. 

Happy Weaving!