Taking a Break While Direct Warping

I was warping my latest project on my rigid heddle loom and it just made the most sense to use a direct warping method.  I needed to hold the thread double, and unless you have two cones on the color you are using, this means extra work on a warping board.  With the direct warping method, I could simply pull my loop through each hole and each slot and, presto, double threads!  Bonus: No need to move any threads around, everything is done as soon as that last loop is pulled through!  

My only hesitation when using the direct warping method is that I have three children aged five and under.  It is dangerous, for many reasons, to leave warp strewn across a space when there are little people running around.  It is almost a guarantee that I will not finish warping my loom before something happens and I need to stop.  I had a "aha" moment, however, with this latest project.  You can warp in small bundles with a direct warping method, too!  

Perhaps this is something that you already knew, but since it has taken three years for this bolt of lightening to strike me, I thought I'd share.  In a nutshell:  Warp what you can.  When you come to a point where you need to stop, pull your threads off the warping peg and use the same hand crochet chaining you would use for storing indirect warp threads to create a braid.  Drape this braid on your front beam.  No more warp threads dangling precariously around the living room!  Haha!  

Here it is in more detail:

1. Use your warping peg at the appropriate distance from your loom to measure out your warp threads.  Work threading your loom for however long you can.  When you are ready to stop, tie off your thread on the back apron rod.

2.  Pull the loop from your peg.  (Scary, right?) Holding all the threads firmly together (take your fingers out of the loop after you take it off the peg and hold all the threads as if it were one rope). Wrap the group of threads around your hand and create a cross.  This will be the start of your chain. 

3.  Begin to chain your threads by pulling a small section through the crossed loop you created after taking the threads off the peg.  If you look at the cross you made for your first loop, you will need to pull the section of warp thread through the back of your loop toward the front.  This way your loop will hold.  If you pull your section through on the same side as the top layer of your crossed threads, it will all come undone.  Continue to chain your threads.  The more chains you make, the better it holds.

4.  Rest your complete chain on your front beam.  Now all of your warp threads are safe and tidy.  When you are ready to warp again, tie on to the back apron beam as though you were starting from scratch and simply warp as you would if you had never taken a break.  You will have a section of warp that is chained on your front beam and warp threads running to the peg.  Don't worry about the tension of the chain.  As long as you measure and place your peg in the same location every time you go to warp, this will all work out when you wind your threads on the back beam.

5.  When you need to stop again, or perhaps when you are finished warping, simply repeat the chaining process.  For my project, I ended up with two chains.  You may have more.  The chains will pull free as you roll your warp threads tightly on your back beam.  Essentially, you would treat the chains just as you would with the indirect warping method at this point.  In my case, I needed all my threads doubled, so I threaded every hole and slot as I went.  If you need to move threads, you would simply do this after you had wound onto your back beam.  

6.  Once your threads are all where they need to be (holes and slots all threaded according to your pattern) tie on to your front beam just as you would have had you not taken any breaks in warping your loom.