Debugging the Warp

The warp is sleyed and lashed onto the apron rod.

 The smooth, slippery cord I use to lash onto the apron is wrapped around a tool from the knitting shop - I think it's sold to hold different colors of yarn for intarsia knitting? Anyway, since I'm lashing on a lot of bouts of warp, it's a long cord and the plastic "bobbin" keeps it under control.

After completing the lashing and adjusted the tension on the 1/2-inch warp bouts, I've woven a few inches in simple structures (plain weave and 1/4 satin) to debug any problems in the warp. Usually, the problems are related to tension - one thread in a group is looser than its neighbors, so it doesn't want to lift when it's supposed to (or it lifts when it isn't supposed to). The pins with big round heads mark threads whose tension I've had to tighten for that reason.

If you click the photo above to enlarge it, you can see the wooden handle of my sleying hook, with one thread on top of it. This one isn't a tension problem, but instead probably a bad hook or one of the other tiny parts that can cause the thread to fail to behave as expected. In the two inches of debugging weaving, it never lifted at all - it's just a loose thread dangling under the woven web. I've checked to see that there are no crossed threads or sleying errors, and nothing shows up in my examination of that area of the warp. Tomorrow, DH will help me replace the hook and we'll hope that fixes the problem.

Then I can begin weaving some new designs!