Warping the New Loom

I was in the mood to warp...so I decided to put a test warp on the big Shannock loom I got earlier this year. I have never used the loom before and am looking forward to seeing how it works.

I have a tapestry class this weekend so I can use the test warp to practice any new techniques once the class is over. I also want to figure out a good sett on this loom for my yarn. Once I figure that out I'll need to make some heddle bars with the right epi. The loom came with some at 10 epi so I am trying them out first.

You can see the heddle bars in the picture. They are handmade by putting a heddle bar into a holder, wrapping the string around the bar and attaching the string with a glue gun. Once dry, you take it out of the holder and voila - - heddle bars. Brilliant!

I have the loom warped but am not sure how to keep the weaving from slipping down as I beat it. The warp wraps around a bottom cylinder and it needs to have at least one full turn of warp around the cylinder prior to tightening the warp. To start weaving, I packed in some thick yarn, did some twining, wove a bit then added some soumack. The weaving still shifts downward. Perhaps I need to use that closed 1-2 soumack or simply put some pieces of cardboard in the bottom before I tighten up the warp.

PS. I was able to slip in some fun knitting yesterday...I knitted a right triangle and an equilateral triangle a la the instructions from the 'short row' tutorials I signed up for from Artyarns. Apparently I will get an email with some new technique every week or so. I was using some variegated chenille from my weaving stash which seemed to work well. I prefer the triangles to be a bit subtle vs. having each in bold colors or stripes. I may try a wider triangle next.