I usually haven’t had much issue with winding the warp on with the Raddle. I have wound on 40/2 linen and it was like butter. however,, with the 16/2 linen it was twisting really bad. I used a warping mill with four ends in one hand and didn’t think I would have any issue. I put 4 end in each raddle section (18 epi) so it was 16, 20,….sequence.

The twist was so bad, I had my husband help me get the last 1.5 yards on (7.5yd warp in total). I am just making waffle weave washcloths (really cute) so I want to do this again. Any suggestion to avoid this twisting and hanging up in the raddle?

Thanks for the help.
Carol

Have you woven other yarns, 4 threads at a time, without any issue of twisting? 16/2 linen is stiffer than 40/2 linen and 16/2 cotton. Could you have inadvertently added a bit more twist to the yarn while you were warping?

Hi Sandra - Yes I have worked with 5 threads before. The yarn is also on the spools laying on the side so that I pull it straight off the spool and it doesn’t twist when warping on the warping mill ( I have a large floor mill). It just doesn’t make sense that I had this much trouble. I did weave it all and it looks good. Not sure at all why I had troubles dressing the loom. It is very stiff but washed up beautifully.

One more thought - would I possibly have less issue using just 2 strands and the twist? All of the threads seemed to twist around other sections, so I didn’t think the cross would hold it differently once I was cranking it on.

I am thinking about weaving linen sheets using 35/1 natural linen. It would be a wide and long warp and now I am afraid I might have a mess on my hands based on my experience. What do you guys think?

When I weave with linen, I wind my bobbins, spritz them with water and keep them in a plastic bag. I haven’t had a problem with winding our JST 40/2 into a warp. You should be fine but if it’s not behaving, give it a spritz of water - I don’t have any experience with 35/1.

I just finished getting a 16/2 linen warp on my Carolyn loom with zero problems. While using the warping reel, I held 2 ends together without even trying to keep them separated between fingers. No problems with the warp while plopping ends (4 per 1/4" section) in the raddle or with winding on or with sleying.