This knot You Need to Learn. It will save time and frustration.
Introduction:
There is a wonderful knot to tie the weights to the threads. It’s easy to undo, which is necessary every time you need to let down the weights for more thread. This is the same knot I tie for weighting supplementary warps, described in my second book, Warping Your Loom & Tying On New Warps, on page 156. Here it is again along with the steps to tie it. The steps sound more complicated than they are, but if you learn it well, you’ll save yourself a lot of time and aggravation in your future weaving life because the knot comes undone quickly.
Step 1
Hold the selvedge supply taut by gripping the warp with the finger of the left hand. In this manner, the warp will be taut throughout the procedure.
Step 2
With the right hand, pull a big loop of warp through the loop of the weight using your finger and thumb. The left hand continues holding the warp taut, but now just uses the 2 fingers shown in the illustration.
Step 3
With your left hand, adjust your thumb and first two fingers to pinch the warp to the loop of the weight—the right hand still holds the loop of warp.
Step 4
With the right hand, take the loop in front of the left hand’s pinch and then behind the selvedge threads.
Step 5
Readjust your left thumb and index finger so that they will be able to receive some thread (Step 6). (You are letting go of the weight now, but the fingers of the left hand still hold the threads taut.)
Step 6
Open the pinch in the left hand slightly and accept a small amount from the big loop in the right hand.
Step 7
Pull on the small loop and enlarge it somewhat. Be sure to hold the loop in the right hand, and do not let it be pulled through by the left hand.
Step 8
With both hands pull down (towards the floor) and cinch the knot tight.
Step 9
To undo the knot, simply pull on the loop that was held in the right hand, drop the weight down, and retie.
Thanks, this is a very good illustration and explanation of this knot.
I am glad that I found your book “Warping the Loom and Tying on …” . It took me a while to find it to a price I could afford and it is in very good condition. I like that you recommend warping from the back with a raddle which is how I learned to warp 30 years ago. I now am relearning on a 60 inch Glimakra horizontal Countermarch floor loom. A reall challenge for me as I have always woven on jack looms. I am taking it very slow, reading first then will be deliberating every step. I have one question, I live on a farm in eastern Washington, 70 miles south of Spokane and no-one in my area weaves on a Counter march within an hours drive so I could look at a warped loom. My apron/cloth rods are made of very heavy 1 by 2 inch wood that reach from side to side (59″), almost touching the frame on each side. They seem too heavy to tie anything to but a 8/5 to 8/2 linen carpet warp. When using lighter warp such as a 5/2 cotton should I replace this heavy rod with a much lighter wooden dowel of the correct length corresponding to the width of my warp plus an extra four inches on each side; and this would also reduce my loom waste? I hope you can answer this question. Thank you very much,
Monika