And now we sley!

So, I have my yarn twisted off the warping board and I’m ready to sley the reed. The reed is a long, metal frame with slots spaced evenly from end to end. For this project, I chose an 8 dent reed – meaning there are 8 slots spaced every inch. Because I’ll be using neckties for the weft, I want to be sure I give them enough space to breath, if you will. Otherwise, when the yarns are spaced closer together, you see less ties and more black yarn. (It’s not an exact science – it’s all just a series of artistic choices, right?)

You’ll notice a duo of wood sticks tied together through the yarn – those are lease sticks that keep the cross I carefully developed on the warping board. The lease sticks help me keep everything in sequential order. There’s hardly anything worse than taking all the time to wind the yarn in order only to lose it later! It can be a nightmare, for sure!

For this project, each yarn gets it’s own slot. Because I have generous slot space (say “slot space” 3x fast!), it’s not too tricky feeding each yarn through. But, in some cases a sley hook comes in handy when the space is a tighter fit. The sley hook is a flat, metal piece in the shape of an “S” – I’ll find a picture for you next time! Once everyone’s in the reed, it all moves over to the loom! Soon…

When the Reed meets the Yarn

Lease Sticks

Halfway There!

Sleying the Reed - Check!