Ouch, a warp thread tried to go thru the dent with a knot in it! and boiiing - it snapped...

Quick, quick - warp doctor to the rescue!! No need to panic! I know all about those knots getting stuck in the reed and breaking the warp thread. I'm sure there are several good and easy ways to cope with this. Here's what I do. I do just what you've done, but instead of a weaver's knot, I tie a simple slip knot or a "bow" at the front end. I make the new warp thread ony about 2 yards long, so that the other end hangs over the back beam about 2 ft.
Then I go to the back of the loom and find the end of the broken warp. I tie the end of the new warp to the old one about a foot below the back beam, using a "bow" so I can undo it easily later. Don't worry about tension. *Do not cut* the extra length of the old broken warp!
I return to the front of the loom, untie the first "bow", stick a straight pin horizontally into the woven coth about 1/2 inch from the fell edge and wrap the loose end of the new warp thread around the ends of the pin in a figure 8 twice. Before I do that, I make sure that this thread is at the same tension as the rest of the warps.
After I've done that, I weave on, until that bow knot in the back gets close to the heddles. By that time the old broken warp has advanced enough to reach the woven fell of the cloth. I untie the knot, pull the new warp forward and re-thread the old warp thread through the heddle and reed. I attach it with a pin as above. I cut the unused end of the new warp thread short.
After the piece is woven, I take out the holding pins, weave in and trim the hanging threads.

OR: you could skip all the above and suspend an appropriate little weight to the warp thread at the back. You could use a film can, put some coins in, roll up the long warp thread into a butterfly and stick it in, closing the lid to hold it. However, I prefer the procedure I described above to having to cope with a dangling warp thread at the back of the loom for the next 5 yards, especially if I'll get more broken warps.

Hope this all makes sense! Good luck
Marina

Marina gave this tip to a question posted in our Forum.

Drive Band Replacement

I was having trouble with the drive band jumping off my antique Canadian Production Wheel when I have the wheel really humming. I took a tip from my modern wheel and went to the fabric store and bought some thin elastic cording (like bungy cord but much thinner). I then replaced the twine drive-band with this cording. I didn't put too much tension on the band--just enough to hold it on and then a little more (not very scientific). Overlap the ends and hand sew them together, wrapping the thread round and round the overlap to prevent fraying. The wheel now spins like a charm--no more frustrating spinning sessions. The band no longer jumps off and the tension on the wheel does not seem to be affected by the change! I thought others might benefit from this little tip.
Jessie in CT

Tip Submitted to our Forum by: Jessie

The flicker is the most underused piece of spinning equipment. It looks like a dog brush. You could even use a dog brush, if you don't have a flicker. Put something thick on your left thigh (canvas, leather, a book). Grasp a few locks of fleece by the cut end and put your left hand on your left thigh with the fiber pointing towards your right thigh. Don't brush the fiber. FLICK it. Hold the flicker in your right hand and tap tap tap at the ends of the fiber until they fly apart. Then use your left hand to hold the opened up fiber and flick the cut ends of the fiber. You can then spin it. I would flick a bunch and put it in a basket, and then spin it.

Unlike carding, flicking does not create any noils. Unlike combing, flicking does not leave you with left over short bits. All the fiber is fluffed up and opened out.

Tip Submitted to our Forum by: Berna

Hi, I thought I'd share a tip about batts...if you tear them lengthwise, in a 'z'...pulling down lengthwise, tear a roving-size strip, don't tear it off completely, leave it attached, then tear off a second strip from the bottom up, leave attached and tear down the next one...that's what I mean by 'z' formation. The result should be one continuous roving from the entire batt formed by tearing 'up' one time, and 'down' the next. Hope this makes sense.

Tip Submitted to our Forum by: Spinnerlucy

Since there are a lot of new weavers who read the postings looking for advice here is a thought from the for what its worth dept. Please remember to save a piece of every yarn you can lay your hands on that you know the size of. This will prove to be a big help,especially if you succumb to mill ends or find yourself the recipient of bags of someone elses stash. ( this does happen ask other weavers!!). I had saved sample cards from companies that were years old, and the last project I did called for something in the 12/1-16/1 linen sizes. I whipped out my sample cards and checked the size then dug through my stash of unlabeled linen and lo and behold there was just what I needed. Without those samples I would be guessing, and until you are very familiar with yarns those sizes may not mean much. Also you will find projects that you like and want to adapt to what yarn you have. It is really nice to know what the weaver originally used without trying to magnify a picture in a magazine!!! I would like to reorganize mine and keep them in plastic pockets like you keep business cards in but so far I'm not that organized Oh Well!!
Hope this helps
Cheryl

Tip Submitted to our Forum by: Cheryl

Here's a tip I learned from someone. You know those little Velcro stick-on circles? Put one on the side of your spinning wheel, near the orifice, so when you stop spinning you can anchor your yarn on the Velcro circle! Thought I'd pass it on as I love it!

Tip Submitted to our Forum by: Jessie in CT

If you want to keep the locks separate when washing you might want to try this method. Take some nylon netting. It should be about 5-8 inches wider than the locks are long. Lay the locks on top of the netting next to one another. The netting should be about 18 inches long. Now begin rolling the netting with the locks from one end to the other and when that is done, secure the ends with rubber bands.

This way you can soak the wool and rinse it without disturbing the locks. After you rinse, unroll the locks to allow them to dry.

Tip Submitted to our Forum by: Nancy

Here's a hint. Take a blunt tapestry needle and thread about a foot of 10/2 or finer perle cotton through the eye and tie a knot. Clip the ends. What you now have is a loop of thread that is going through the eye of the needle and won't come out. To use it, position the knot in the eye of the needle. Weave the needle in and out of the area where you want to weave your sticky out end back in. Then pull the needle through so that the perle cotton is woven through the area, but don't pull it all the way. Put the sticky out end of the chenille through the perle cotton loop and pull the needle so the perle cotton loop pulls the chenille through the fabric. I've used this technique on everything from rugs to linen handtowels. It's a lot easier than trying to thread the needle with the end you are trying to weave back in. This may work with your twisted fringe ends that came loose, too. It's worth a try.

Tip Submitted to our Forum by: Berna.