Thursday, November 12, 2009

HANDSPUN AND DUMMY WARPS

Posted by Peg in South Carolina 

In the past I have always used a dummy warp with my handspun.  My dummy warps consisted of about one-and-a-half yards of a similar sized cotton.  I warped and beamed this cotton onto the loom. Then I tied the handspun warp to it and continued beaming on.  But not this time.

Why not?

First, I had plenty of yarn, so I did not feel the urgent need to conserve it as carefully as I could. 

Second, when I have used a dummy warp, I found that I could weave on the handspun warp until the knots got to and even through the heddles.  Because I have an apron on the back beam (and on the front beam as well), I am thinking that maybe I can weave until the apron itself gets to the heddles.  In that case, there would be no real reason to use a dummy warp. 

Related Posts:   
Tying the Handspun to the Dummy Warp 
Handspun Shawl: The Dummy Warp

"Handspun and Dummy Warps” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on November 11, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

2 comments:

Dave Daniels said...

That's one of those things I learned early on. If the handspun is for weaving, I just spin more to allow for that.

Peg in South Carolina said...

I think that if this is successful, i.e., minimal waste, I may do that from now on. We shall see!