Last week I finished three more of the overshot table mats. I made two of them a little longer, so despite the fact that I had put on extra warp, I ran short on the third one and could only do three repeats of the pattern instead of five. However, it works great in the center of our dining table, and I love the colors, so I am happy with it.
Blue/green colorway (the short one):
Blue/Green colorway using the 8-5-3-2 treadling sequence
And here is the Purple series:
Purple color sequence, treadling 1 to 12 and then back to 1
I also did one in greys and browns, using the 8-5-3-2 treadling, but unexpectedly sold it to someone at the guild meeting in Omak last Saturday. I had just finished hemming them that morning, and hadn’t taken pictures yet. But she said she would send me a digital picture, so hopefully that will happen.
So now I am moving on to rag rugs on the big loom (a 48″, 4-harness Macomber), and will keep doing scarves and other fun things on the little loom (a 20-inch, 8-harness “Baby Mac” from Macomber that I bought used last spring for a workshop loom).
I hadn’t put rug warp on the big loom since I bought it 2 years ago, and started this whole weaving adventure. The woman I bought the loom from had woven rugs on it exclusively, and she came over and helped me set it up the first time. It turned out she put on enough to weave about 35 rugs, so that is all I did for the first 8 months!
The loom has a sectional warp beam, so you wind on 2-inch sections at a time from spools on a rack, through a tensioning device that is mounted on the back beam.
I was a little daunted by doing this by myself, but it actually went OK with no major snafus. Fortunately I had taken pictures of some key steps from last time, and I have a good booklet (“Sectional Warping Made Easy” by Russell Groff). It took me about 5 hours to beam the warp, and another 5-6 to thread the heddles, sley the reed and tie on to the apron for the first rug. I am going to make them 28″ wide this time (they were 26″ last time) and put on somewhere in excess of 50 yards, so that should make a lot of rugs! Good thing, because I have a lot of material that I bought from Sheila with the loom, and from Pendleton mills over the last 2 years.
I have woven 4 rugs so far this week, but won’t take pictures until they are really done (hemmed and washed.)
Other than that – it’s spring in the Methow! We have had rain on and off, which is bringing the grasses and wildflowers on the hillsides out even better. There should be some beautiful spring hikes coming up…
Twisp of Fate 
Katie, I think these are even more pretty than the first ones, the colors are spectacular! The rug warp looks interesting too!
That loom set-up certainly does look intimidating. I haven’t warped my loom or woven anything since I took my weaving class. I wish I didn’t find warping such a drag. It takes away all my weaving enthusiasm.
Oh Jessica, I think that is such a common feeling with new weavers. I know it is the hardest part for me still. Is there any way you can get someone (more experienced) to do it with you a time or two, so you feel more confident? I would offer if I wasn’t so far away now! Or maybe take the “warp review” class at Weaving Works. I find Deborah Chandler’s “Learning to Weave” book to be pretty helpful, too.