I just wound the warp for the color and weave gamp. All was going well until I was up to 5 threads. I got how to space the threads out in my hand and control them with my thumb and forefinger. I was using a spool holder that's like a piece of wood with metal dowels in it. It's circular. My problem was that the threads were tangling before they got to my fingers. I couldn't even get a quarter turn on my warping reel without having to stop and de-tangle. I ended up cutting the threads and re-tying... a couple of times. I'm thinking that the yarn spools were too close together? Being a mutant female, I'm not into shoes, so I am bereft of shoe boxes and cannot try that technique. Any thoughts, suggestions?? Thanks, Robin

I have this problem, too, Robin. It’s awkward, and I’ve not found a way to eliminate the problem. I’ve even rigged up a horizontal method with a long rod in a box to no avail. There must be a trick to it.

I wish there were some suggestions here, because I have trouble with tangled threads and was hoping to get some pointers

I prefer to make 2 warps as Jane explains further on in one of the episodes. You can then place the 2nd warp in its lease sticks on top of the first and pick your colours from the 1st or 2nd warp when threading. Easy peasy.

I saw a vid where a weaver was using a reed laid over the bottom pegs of her warping board to keep yarns from tangling. I’ve also seen yarns go through eye hooks on a board—I’m guessing that a lot of different things might work. That the key is to make sure, somehow, that the yarns stay separate until they’re in your hand.

I have watched the videos several times trying to make out how to hold the multiple threads for warping, but I can't seem to get it. When I reverse direction back up, the navy and the white seem to reverse their location. Will this correct itself on the lease sticks, or will my warp be out of order?

I am having the same challenge. When I have multiple threads in my hand, wind from the bottom to the top of my warping board, i make the cross but then as I turn to come back down the board my threads are crossed. I keep trying again and again but each time the threads cross. I am trying to start simple until I get this sorted out but no luck just yet. Any help is greatly appreciated!

I have had the same problem and I e mailed Jane, but no reply was ever given. I can do up to 4 threads pretty well,, but after that! yikes.

I'm glad I found this thread - I've been pretty intimidated by the instructions on this warp, so I did a bouclé towel kit first and thought i might skip ahead to the Parrot before trying the this one... I know it would be more time consuming, but do you think that warping one string at a time would be fine? .... just longer? I was contemplating that perhaps part of the "learning objective" of this one was to learn to warp multiple threads. However, even warping with just two threads, I found that they got tangled at the spool as well. So I'm following to see any insights!!

I was having trouble with the threads tangling at the spool as well till I tried a method similar to the “reed on the warping board” idea above. Mind you, it’s not pretty, but it’s almost free. I start with a cardboard box that’s about 18” by 30” roughly. Any flaps have been cut off. I set it on end with the open side toward me (as if it’s a bookcase) and it’s 30” tall. I have one long dowel poked through each side near the bottom- that’s where I string my cotton cones, separated by a short piece of empty paper towel roll so they don’t bump against each other. I’ve poked holes in the top of the box to thread each yarn through, then it gets wound on the board. Having the yarns stay separate till they’re almost at the board seems to be the key. If the box is deep enough, you can add a second dowel and have quite a few cones of yarn ready to go for projects that require a lot of warp colors.

What do we do when there are more threads than there are cones? One of the blocks is DDDD/LLLL. I only have 3 cones of each color. I need a fourth to draw from. I thought about winding a spool of thread to wind from, is that a practical solution?

Anne, that’s exactly what I did.

Yay!

Well, I'm still having trouble with visualizing how this is going to go. Reviewing the video, Jane drew the DDDDLLLL warp with 4 threads over each lease stick. 2 D and 2L grouped on each stick. Does this mean I'm warping 4 threads at a time (2 D and 2 L) and not 8?

Also, am I right that you cut off the grouped threads and tie them to the single divider thread? Then release them all when you cut off the ends after winding onto the loom, to begin threading?

One more clarification for us in the back of the room (some of you will get that reference) - there are 48 threads in group 1, and you are working with 2 colors (D, L). So you will have 24 groups of 2 threads, correct?

Thanks for listening. I'm really ready to warp, but terror is gripping me.

I had the same issues- my warp threads were TANGLED!! I spent a bit of time detangling things and finally was able to dress my loom and weave. It was worth the effort.
Whew!!!!
Also, only had one spool of black and white in my stash- so I wound some balls of yarn to use for creating warp with multiple ends of one color.
Hoping to try again after watching videos one more time- this time hoping for NO tangles.