Weaving: starting out on a floor loom

When I learned to weave on a rigid heddle loom last summer, I was hooked.  I knew that sometime soon I'd learn to also weave on a floor loom.  Well that dream was fulfilled when I found a semester-long weaving course.  I'm about six weeks into the course and enjoying every minute.

First we learned how to wind a warp using a warping board.  The first project we're working on is a three yard sampler using 5/2 cotton.

I was assigned my very own floor loom for the entire semester, a four-harness Dorset loom.  What a beauty.

The next step was actually putting the warp on the loom.

I'll admit, putting the warp onto the loom and threading each individual strand through the heddles and sleying the reed was a bit on the tedious side, but I could see how some may consider it meditative.

On the sampler, we're weaving with light and dark colors of yarn, various weights and textures and trying the combinations on different weave structures.

I'm having great fun and it's also giving my brain a workout figuring out the many patterns and which treadles to press.  

Oh, hey, I've also got a surprise.  But I'll leave that for next time...