Don't panic!

The picture from the other day was pretty scary with all those threads all tangled up like that.  It was a mess, but I was able to get it all sorted out in only a few hours.  Now it seems like tying all those knots might have saved some time and effort, but the only real thing it did provide was an assurance that the loom is already set up correctly.  Otherwise, it really did take a whole lot of time!  I'm still having trouble deciding whether I saved any by doing it this way or not... I'll tell you one thing is for sure, 1300 of something is an awful lot!!

Brian helped me out a lot when it came to untangling the 1300 threads.  We just kind of split the whole thing in half and I showed him a few things that I knew and he invented a few things, also!  It was fun to work together on this blanket.  I'm trying to talk him into weaving something on my other loom, but he's not showing too much enthusiasm for that!  While we were untangling and talking, I also decided that threading from back to front would be worth a try this summer.  I have never tried that method before and after working through all this mess, I am finally ready to try it.

Anyway, we found that raising the first 4-shafts made winding so easy.  We separated the two colors and could wind long segments at a time.  Also, getting the 1300 knots through the eyes of the heddles wasn't too bad either.  I just pulled a very small handful through at a time and worked with them very carefully.  We had no threads break during the winding of this warp!  Yay!!