Beaming the Water Warp

Yesterday, I managed to wind and beam 10 sections of water warp. Here's the warp on the sectional beam:



I only had one @#$*^$%#^ moment during beaming. I usually put the two selvedge sections on first, then fill in the sections between. (This is because once upon a time, I ran out of color A, the one I wanted to use for both selvedges, and had to use color B instead on the second selvedge. Ooops - a design feature!) This time, I miscounted the sections between the two selvedge sections and had to unbeam, move, and rebeam the right selvedge section. As it turned out, it was very easy to tie the section back onto the warping wheel, approximate the placement of ends in the comb, wind the section back from beam to wheel, tie it to the correct apron cord (thank heavens for lark's-head knots) and wind it back onto the beam.

I'm getting better at judging how much yarn to wind off into skeins to dye for a given project. Here's what was left on the cones after the last section of warp was wound:



Enough to account for knots/breaks in the warp, with only small amounts left over. I know of 2 knots that had to be tied while I was winding from skein to cone. Silk rarely breaks during this process, but sometimes a tangle meets sufficient resistance to snap at a weak point. I have to admit this is usually a case of operator error - if I'm not careful to wind the skein under even tension in the first place, and it develops loose loops, it's more likely to tangle.

I use my AVL pirn winder to wind cones. DH the woodworker made adapters so most standard sizes of cone will fit onto the pirn winder.



I've suggested to AVL a couple of years ago that they might want to offer these adapters as a standard product, but haven't heard anything about it since. If you think it would be a useful product, let AVL know, otherwise I think it's awfully low on their priority list.

Today, after a morning of cleaning chores and errands, I'll begin threading the warp.