I received my loom and assembled it on a Thursday in January. I had a mid-morning appointment on Friday, and the rest of the day off. I didn’t want to begin weaving before I had to leave, so I decided to try to prepare a warp. I used some heavier cotton than was pre-warped on the loom, a cream color that I had thrifted. Generally speaking, unless you are weaving something very light, you want to warp with a darker color. My thinking was that I wanted something I didn’t care about to practice the process of warping, using one color and a short length. Meet the chair warp, and my Christmas tree that was up until mid-January. I didn’t even measure, I just put the chairs as far apart as I was able without moving furniture. I think this was about 7′.

Looking at the SAORI book, it shows the use of a warping board. I didn’t purchase one; my husband made one for me later. In a broad overview, a warping board is a frame of wood with pegs on the uprights, and you zigzag the warp across and down to the length desired. The SAORI warping board is a meter across, so it’s a way to measure the length of the warp too. At the beginning, before the first full zigzag, you pass over and under a couple of pegs. In the next pass, you start by going under, then over. This keeps the warps in the order you want to install them on the loom. Below is using the chair leg to create just one cross.

You tie the cross to keep the threads in order, and in a few other places to keep the bundle of warps together.

I cut the yarn on the wooden chair leg, and chained the warp to keep it neat.

When I got to the cross, I cut the warp loop on the metal chair, and then braided each half of the warp after the cross, tying the ends. This is one 1 4/10 ounce skein of cotton crepe “fashionable dress yarn” by Unger from Holland. (Holland! How old is this yarn? And 4/10 oz?) I think I counted 38 warps, so I get to practice threading 38×2 times. I think I’ll try for accuracy this time, to see if I can.