Tying on a Dummy Warp
My weaving guru, Joyce Robards, calls it "tying one on" -- the process of tying a new warp onto the end of an old warp that's already on your loom. This way, you avoid the trouble of spreading the warp across the raddle and threading -- especially threading, because in some cases, a pattern can have very complicated threading, leaving you lots of room for error. Who needs that? This was the first time I've ever used a dummy warp, mainly because I was worried about this: Looks pretty bad, doesn't it? You're seeing the front of the loom. You start by putting lease sticks into your new warp. Then, you tie knots, one by one, attaching the new warp ends to the dummy warp ends. It all works out, honest! You beam the warp just as you always do, pulling tight to create tension as you wind it onto the warp beam. Slowly you work the knots through the heddles, taking care not to bend the heddles or break the warp threads. It's a good idea to comb the warp as
