I don’t do anything in half measures, so when I decided to try warping the loom all by myself, I chose to use my 12 dent heddle and a lace weight yarn, for a 17” wide scarf. 260 threads later I realized what a commitment warping up a 12 dent heddle could be… and I promptly ordered a double heddle kit and another 12 dent reed. Go big or go home, right?
The results were a bit wonky to say the least, I had a lot of tension problems with the warp, that got pretty bad around the last 12 inches. This morning I learned that pushing a strip of cardboard, or a pick up stick under the warp threads on the apron rod fixes this, something to try next time!
Onto the yarn! I am using a skein of Tanis Fiber Arts pink label (1000 yards) for both warp and weft. I wanted to see just how far I could push that one skein, so I warped up for a 16 inch wide, 6 foot long wrap. The colour of the yarn is one of Tanis’ newest creations, ‘Aurora’. It’s almost as hard to photograph as the real thing – the yarn is so varied and subtle that I feel like I didn’t do it justice here. Even the warp was stunning.
After warping I had 52g left (520 yards). I was worried that it wouldn’t be enough, but I needn’t have; I took the wrap off the loom when it was 57 inches long, and there was still 9g of yarn left in the ball (I didn’t go the full length because of aforementioned warp problems). I think I can confidently say this scarf could have been at least 8 inches longer.
It’s just right for draping around your neck though, and the generous width makes it a great choice for covering up your back on a chilly night!
