As the yarn turns…

Hello! It’s time to wind the yarn onto the loom! Here goes…

We’ll start with all the essentials – loom, yarn, mug of hot tea… Everyone’s idea of “essentials” is different!

I’ve found that it is more comfortable to thread the heddles with the rear of the loom collapsed and the back beam removed. Once the heddles are all set, the loom can be stretched out and the beam placed back on!

Then, the rod comes over the beam and the yarns are tied to it! Now, the winding can commence!

So, the ultimate goal of the “winding on” process is to end up with all the yarns evenly rolled onto the back, avoiding twists, tangles and breaks! Keeping the lease sticks in the project helps with that. But, the key steps are to give each group of yarn a tug at the front, before moving to the back and slowing winding them on, using something to keep everything the same height. I like using yard sticks, since I have a 36″ wide loom. (The math just makes me happy!)

In the early years, I used some long scrap pieces from Lowe’s to fill in the back between the layers of yarn. Trick is, they weren’t sanded down, or a consistent width! And when faced with the sanding prospect, I opted to go find yardsticks instead. Isn’t it odd how certain tasks seem WAY to daunting – like sanding a few sticks? Yet, I’m happy to spend hours dressing a loom… Hmmm….

This part of the “dressing the loom” process is definitely my least favorite. Probably because it’s the last step before the weaving begins! Typically, I’m thinking, “All right, already! Let’s weave!” (Ah, sweet impatience…)

The ends are moving towards the lease sticks, meaning it’s time to start knotting! All that excitement and more will be coming your way shortly! Talk to you soon…