I am putting my first warp onto my new to me Leclerc Colonial. I was quite stumped when spreading the warp in the raddle because of the cords that bisect the middle. What I ended up doing when I got to the middle of the warp and couldn't go further was unclipping one cord at a time from the jacks and then bring it over to the other side of the warp. Needless to say this was not ideal. Is there any other way around this? Thanks so much.

If I am making tea towels, I usually just make 2 warp chains and put one on each side of the cords before putting in my lease sticks. For a smaller warp, I tie my cross once I have made half my warp, then finish making my warp and tie my cross again for the second half. This makes it easy to split the warp. If I have forgotten, I spread the warp on my lease sticks and then retie my cross in two parts so I can easily split it. I’m not sure how other people address this. The Colonial is a great loom to weave on. I clamp my raddle to my shafts.

I think the shafts would drop. I clamp my raddle to the shafts, so I wouldn’t want that. I also don’t like to mess with my loom more than I need to. Planning ahead a bit with the warp is definitely the easiest way around for me.