No, Bella hasn't learned anything new. My pants are always that covered in dog hair, and Mr. Man frequently sits in my lap. No, my friends, I have crossed over to the back to front warpers! I hated not being able to do it correctly, and thought about it while I was getting a chicken ready to go in the oven : chopping lemon zest, garlic, kosher salt and freshly ground pepper all together to rub in under the skin. I pulled out the old back issue of Handwoven that is just about warping, folded it open to the back-to-front page and read the instructions aloud to Bella. She cocked her head like a Border Collie, but I persisted. If I got in a tangle this time, maybe she could bail me out.
Here we go! See the magazine perched on top of the tool tray? A large mug of black tea is out of the picture, but there to give me focus after a hard day at preserving. Raddle? Check! Lease sticks? Check! Heddles slid out of the way? Yep!
And off I went. The Artisat--Jenny--is shallow enough for me to get good tension while I'm winding by myself, unlike the Colonial, Jennifer. I wound, and wound, and wound. It's a 9 yard warp of cotton flake, a little sticky, but fairly well behaved.
Hmmmm... the photo didn't rotate. But there is the end, waiting to be threaded. Now, after all my disparaging comments about you back-to-fronters out there, I must sincerely apologize. This was very trouble and tangle free! I actually enjoyed it! The real test will come at the Center when I wind the linen warp on this way. Tomorrow morning, while all of you are still sound asleep, I'll get up and start threading the heddles. Winding on is my least favorite part of dressing the loom, and it's already done! Woooohoooo! And then all of you afghan challengers need to give me your thread!
Chicken's done!
Happy Warping!
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