Meeting Fellow RV Bloggers Cheri and Dean - Warping up a Sectional Loom

We spent a delightful evening with fellow RV bloggers Cheri and Dean of Travels With Bentley blog.  They came for a few nights at High Cliff State Park on their way to Door County, and then on to the U.P. of Michigan.... after that they are heading east to New York.  They have been reading my blog for quite some time.  I was so glad she reached out to us and we got to meet up face to face!

They are not quite fulltimers, 

but they travel in a big rig fifth wheel

and have a home in Kansas. 

After Steve came home from work, showered, ate supper, then we hopped back in the car and drove right back to High Cliff to visit with Cheri and Dean. We brought out our lawn chairs to sit in around the campfire.  PS... my chair is now done too!  Please see last week's blog about fixing our chairs:

Reweaving a Woven Macrame Lawn Chair

We sat around a campfire and enjoyed the evening... filled with stories of travels, camping, families and fun.  The evening went so fast, and before we knew it, the clock said it was almost midnight by the time we said our goodbyes and headed home!!!  

Safe travels to Cheri and Dean.  

See ya down the road somewhere! 

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One of my Newcomb Studio Looms has been "naked" for a while and needed to get warped up.  That means getting 360 threads... can you imagine handling 360 individual cotton threads, each 150 feet long, all wound on evenly and neatly, no criss crosses, no snarls, and perfect tension????  

With the right tools and preparation and practice, it CAN be done!   

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT FOR A COMMERCIAL..... 

I have a self-produced and self-marketed DVD of how to do the entire process, complete with hints and tricks learned over the years.  If interested in buying it, it can be ordered from: 

www.kareninthewoods.com  

or 

 my Etsy Store

  KarenInTheWoods Etsy Store 

or 

my Ebay link of

 DVD or VHS - How to Warp a Sectional Loom for Weaving

First Step--- is to gather all the materials.  I have 24 tubes of rug warp (cotton string) to wind on.  Each tube is 800 yards.  I have a rack to slide all the tubes on so they can unwind freely without tangling. I have a tension box that lets all 24 threads slide under even tension through little slits in metal combs and onto the loom in each section. I have scissors and blue painter's tape. 

And most of all, I have PATIENCE! 

This is not a job to be rushed. 

The back of my loom has a special beam with little pegs on it. It guides my 24 threads into each section. It's one yard around, so I am cranking 50 turns, thus 150 feet for each section (approximately because as the threads build up, they gain circumference and take up more space)

I tie each bout of 24 threads with a slip knot onto the back straps of this loom. They are straps with ends similar to the buckles on overalls and work very well. If they can keep up Farmer Jones' pants, they can hold my rug warp threads! LOL

I line up the rack as close as I can get perpendicular to the loom, I am a bit limited on space. Right now I have three rug looms and two table looms in my Loom Room.  Gets a little cramped.  Now I am ready to wind up the warp.

It is very important to keep accurate count.  If one section is lacking even one or two revolutions too short, you end up wasting all the strings in all the other sections at the end of the weaving space. So keeping count is imperative. No interruptions, No tv, No telephone calls, No husbands asking questions.....   

My friend Rosie Dupuy of http://www.applewoodhandwovens.com/  gave me this nifty digital counter.  Each time I turn a full revolution of the back beam, I tap the button of this device that is strapped on my finger.  Neato! 

Look now neat and even those 24 threads are going on!  

This makes a weaver's heart go BOING! 

I wound on the first section and put double pieces of tape to hold the ends in place.  Now moving onto the next section, I double check each part of the process.  As I turn I do five turns and double check everything again. Then I can weave the next 45 turns knowing it's evenly filling each space without any "snowdrifts" to either side.  That would cause uneven tension, thus uneven rugs!

The clear plastic tubing is formed in "arches" that can be moved from peg to peg across the beam as I work.  It helps to guide the threads into the proper space without them jumping a peg and getting inbedded in the next section.  That is a mess you DON'T want to deal with!

See how the threads unwind from the tubes, go through the box with a tension peg, and then down onto the back beam?  This is called "Warping a Loom" or "Dressing a Loom".   I have the excess straps clipped down out of the way with temporary plastic clips while I wind the upcoming section.

And ... HERE IT IS!  

ALL DONE! 

 Be Still My Weaver's Heart! 

Pitter Pat Pitter Pat for an evenly wound warp! 

The project tomorrow is to thread all these sections through to the front of the loom.  The painters tape holds them all in order so I can thread them up a section at a time without messing them up.
The threads need to ride though various heddles (wires) on each of the four harnesses to make patterns. From there, they go through the beater and reed to be tied on the front beam.

Being thrifty with my time, I saved the remaining threading warp threads from last time and tied them off in knots hanging off the back of the loom.  See the old warp threads in various tones of blues?

Tomorrow I will tie 

each and every new white thread 

in a little knot to

 each and every old blue thread.

Yup... all 360 threads! 

Once they are all tied, I will gently pull them through the heddles and the reed up to the front of the loom.  Then Steve will help me slide the loom back into place.  I can tie on the front beam and start weaving!  I have two more rug orders to get done this week. Glad I am inside and cool in the air conditioning to get these done.   

In Conclusion:

150 feet is 50 yards---

 which is enough for about 30 rugs

30" wide and 60" long, approximately

Oh.... I forgot to mention.  

Meet my "Helpers" 

My Loom Room Doggies! 

RE-weaving a favorite lawn chair

About 12 years ago, (or best guess on the date when I look back in photos for reference) --- I wove up these matching lawn chairs for our anniversary present to each other.  

We bought NEW frames, and we cut off the new webbing.  We chose these frames as they are taller, wider and have nice wooden armrests that would hold up more than a few years.  These chairs have traveled all over the country with us, and we always fold them up and put them away each night.  We don't let them get wet if we can help it, but they do dry out fast because of the polypropylene cord used in making them.

I designed the pattern myself on graph paper, and wove them to match the shutters on our log home.

Sadly... last year... my chair broke at the hinge.  12 years is a long time for a chair to last, but I wanted to reweave it onto a new frame, so I saved it in the garage.  Unfortunately, we can no longer find that particular chair for sale anymore.  I know my friend Cella has one, but she won't part with it.  Short of breaking into her house late at night and stealing it, I had to come up with something else.

So last year we bought these Coleman chairs.  They are nice.  They have a folding table on one side.  They are okay.  But they are not the same in comfort as the woven lawn chairs.   Sigh.

Yesterday, after seeing Steve's chair also waiting in the garage for it's partner to be fixed, I took my chair into the house and decided it COULD be fixed with a bit of effort between me and Steveio.

Sooooo ......

I didn't know if Steveio would have to remove the entire three sides of seat frame, 

or if he could just replace the one side.  Just in case, I preserved the entire woven seat portion.

The blue yarn is just temporary to hold the woven pattern into place 

while the frame is being worked on

Once I had the pattern preserved, 

then Steveio took the chair out to the garage and worked some magic! 

Next, it's my turn-----

Doing these chairs takes a lot of *OOMPH* and needs a lot of strength in the hands 

to pull each of the cord loops through each of the previous loops.  

I think I have *retired* from my chair-weaving days, 

so please don't email me to ask me to do one for you, okay?

I think we will still keep the Coleman chairs with the side tables in the motorhome for "company" ... 

Also we have our two Ultimate Relaxing Recliners for resting and relaxing in.   These type of lounge chairs are not good for around the campfire as the sparks could hit around the ankles and burn holes in the chairs.  But they sure are nice for resting in!   Or sipping wine?

Back to the woven chairs...

Between my sister and I, we have woven many many of these lawn chairs... 

here are pics of just a few of them over the years and some of Steve's folks' chairs too

These chairs are made by a technique that uses macrame cord (the braided is better to use than the twisted)  and two big heavy metal size K crochet hooks.  By using graph paper to plan out a pattern, one can make almost any design.  They are very comfortable and warmer to sit on around the campfire at night, compared to the plastic strap or webbing types of chairs.   We use the heaviest frames we can find.  Usually the round metal pipe type frames last longer than the lighter weight square tube aluminum type frames. 

If you would like to learn about how to make these type of lawn chairs, 

here is a website link with more information:

http://www.kingskountry.com/how-to-make-a-macrame-lawn-chair.html

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