A link to a video on warping the warp weighted loom

I've been studying the warp weighted loom over the last year, with an eye toward trying it myself. I picked up Marta Hoffman's book "The Warp Weighted Loom", and read through it, which gave me most of what I needed. My husband was in the middle of building me one when he got in an accident and got laid up for a few months. Now that he's almost back on his feet, he figures he can finish it up sometime soon.

Also, earlier this month I went to a friend's place in Las Vegas, because he said he had something that might be a loom in the rafters of his garage. Lo and behold, it was most of a warp weighted loom. It is missing the cross piece on the bottom, and the side pieces for holding the heddle rod, but it showed me how to make the loom weights, and gave me a long shuttle for a warp sword.



And today, somebody posted a link to a series of videos that show how to warp this type of loom. http://www.howtohistory.com/2011/01/the-warp-weighted-loom/ The vocals aren't in English, so I can't understand a word she is saying. But I don't need to. The visuals are clear enough that, coupled with the information I've gleaned from the books, I should be able to muddle my way through.

So, sometime in my future, a warp weighted loom project awaits. Not quite yet--I'm getting ready to weave on my floor loom today. But soon!

Estrella project planning: so many ideas, so little time!

This is a crazy time of year for me. Estrella War (http://estrellawar.org/) is in about a month, and I all of a sudden go into PLANNING OVERLOAD.

So lets see...I want to:

-Weave 8 yards of fabric from my hand spun yarn, and write the documentation for the project.

-Sew 3 complete outfits for my husband, consisting of 3 pants, 3 shirts, and 1 doublet.

-Sew an over and under tunic for myself, to round out a week's worth of costumes for myself. Or maybe two each.

-Sew 3 dog coats.

-Do food prep: sekanjabin, dried fruit, fruit leather, oat cakes, kid chow, beef jerky, frozen stew, a few other frozen meals.

-Spin up some white yarn for the dye pot demonstrations.

-Crank out a few more pairs of wool socks.

And in the meantime, I need to keep adding things to my Etsy shop. I've got a batch of hand spun yarn and a passport holder to take pictures of and list. And I just sold 2 more sets of juggling balls, so I should make up another batch of those. And for good measure, I was shopping with my daughter today and found the yarn that I use for the triloom shawls on sale. I couldn't resist, so now I have a few more shawls in the line up waiting for my time.



That will be a purple/blue one, a teal/cream, and an orange/red/yellow one. I suspect those will get pushed back until after Estrella, unless someone speaks up about wanting one of them sooner.

Oh, and on top of all that, I really want to play with a new toy! Last week I popped up to Las Vegas, to see what a friend had lurking in the rafters of his garage. It turned out to be most of a Viking warp weighted loom.



It is missing the side arms to hold the heddle bar, and the cross piece at the bottom needs to be screwed back into place. But I should be able to make the pieces I need, so I can experiment with this style of weaving too. Again though, this project will probably get pushed back until after Estrella. Because I'm going to be up to my eyeballs in other projects until then.

So many ideas, not nearly enough time! Stay tuned for progress pictures.