Warping is completed...

...which is not surprising, since it is only 176 ends, including the selvedges.  But it felt so fun to finish it - the first project on Millicent!!

Tien mentioned to me that selvedges in tabby would not have the same take-up, and would result in ruffly selvedges.  Totally makes sense.  She suggested basket weave or twill, both of which have similiar take-up to the point twill I'm planning.  I've decided to go with basket weave for this project's selvedges.  I seemed to remember having looked at the piece of late-16th-century Italian velvet I have, the one that has good portions of both selvedges still attached, and recalling that the selvedges were in tabby, but I went and looked at it last night, and sure enough, the selvedges are in basket weave.  They are green, of course, with a couple of silver threads running through them, which I seem to recall having read somewhere as indicating the use of cochineal dye in the beautiful crimson silk pile on the velvet.  (I think that one silver warp thread in the selvedges meant kermes dye, and two silver warp threads in the selvedge indicated new-world cochineal dye.  I might have that backwards.)

Since the basket weave and the point twill have similiar take-up, I can beam them onto the same warp beam. 

I need to remember to get more disposable cable ties.  Just reminding myself here.

I'll use the nice 20-dent reed that Tien recently gifted me with (I was 'asked' by a conductor on the CalTrain to offboard the train I was on, the night I was bringing the reed back up here from Tien's.  I don't know what he thought it was, but he was mighty suspicious.  I tried to explain to him what it was for, but he wasn't interested in hearing it - he was just interested in getting me off the train.  He made me get off at Millbrae, which, I didn't tell him, was the station I was going to get off at anyway.  He told me he was 'cutting slack' for me by not writing a citation for carrying a  - a - a - a - a whatever it was.  Thanks, I guess).  Anyway, it's a nice reed, quite worth getting thrown off a train for.  Since this first project is 40 epi, I can sley two threads per dent.  I don't know the last time I sleyed so few threads in a dent - the 20 is now the finest reed I own...usually I end up sleying four or five or six threads per dent, but this new reed will help with that!

Am planning to beam the warp tonight when I get home from work.   There is a beautiful little raddle that came with the loom, a thousand times better than the clumsy handmade one I've been using for the past twelve years (it works, but it is uglyyyy and unwieldy and stuck with peeling duct tape).  I can beam the warp onto the sectional beam using the raddle, but this time I've decided that I'm going to wind on with the porrey cross being the last thing to go towards the beam, instead of the way I usually wind on, which is to put the porrey cross right by the warp beam onto the lease sticks, and then wind on.  Most of what I use the porrey cross for, while winding on, is to spread the warp properly as it winds on.  Since I'm winding on in 2" bouts, the warp doesn't really need to spread over the lease sticks since the sections limit the spread somewhat.  I *will* need the porrey cross when I am threading the heddles, however.

Tien brought up the already-painted heddles that she bought for her new loom (painting them in a selection of colors really helps when threading heddles over sixteen - or more - harnesses - Tien's AVL has 40 harnesses!!) for me to use.  I am going to put them on the harnesses, with the colors in order (for example: Harness 16, red/Harness 15 yellow/Harness 14 blue/Harness 13 white/Harness 12 red, Harness 11 yellow, etc.).  I helped thread a small portion of Tien's inaugural warp on her AVL (Emmy) and found the system to work very well indeed.  For me, when threading a pattern warp, when I really have to pay strict attention to which harness I'm threading on, distraction - even looking away from the heddles for a split second - causes a slight delay in the flow due to having to re-find where I was.  This slight lag adds up to hours, over a wide warp.  Using the colored heddle system really speeds it up since it is so much easier to identify the place where I've left off.

To thread the heddles I can now also use my vintage Robin & Russ brass double-ended heddle/reed hook (it is tapered and has a small hook for threading heddles and a larger hook on the other end for sleying the reed).  To sley the reed I have a choice of the aforementioned hook, or the 'walking sleying hook' that Tien gifted me with (she also gave me the R&R hook, too.).

Happily I found that other skein of the madder-dyed 30/2 silk, because the remainder of the other skein was all but used up for this little warp. 

Onward...