Never need to warp again....

Last night as Mr S was out with his model railway buddies I watch Norman Kennedy's 'From Wool to Waulking' DVD from Interweave.

What a revelation!  I had been put off by the reference to waulking (the Gaelic for fulling) the cloth on which subject I have nearly been bored to tears by the articles in Yarnmaker.  But the waulking comes right at the end, the rest is focused on the real stuff - choosing your fleece, preparation, spinning and weaving and it was at the weaving the eureka moment occurred.

Warping a loom is, to my mind, the most time consuming and tedious processes, very necessary but back breaking stuff.  Also the process for which the old weavers didn't get paid for directly.  Here I can only speak for the Wiltshire weavers, particularly those in working in the mills in Bradford-on-Avon.  The account books show that the men were not paid for the actual warping, which on complicated warps could take a whole day sometimes more!

Enough of the history lesson!  Bearing in mind that this shortcut only works if you are weaving a similar warp and width - instead of removing the whole piece from the loom, Norman cut the warp in front of the woven cloth and before the warp enter heddle.  These threads he tied off ready for the next warp to be attached and pulled through! Pure Genius......................