Using a Warping Frame to Warp Your Loom

This article walks through the process of using a warping frame to warp your loom. A warping frame allows you to make much longer warps than a warping peg (or pair of chairs) allows in most homes. It is also easier to prepare the warps neatly, without tangles, and at an even tension. Warping on a frame allows you to create a neat bundle of warps called a warp chain which can be safely stored for later use.

A 2 1/2 yard run of warp

A warping frame is an open wooden frame with pegs for running and measuring yarn. By running yarn around particular combinations of pegs, you arrive at different lengths. Yarn is run in long loops to make bundles of warps of the required length. The yarn is looped around the end pegs in such a way that the yarn will retain its order, can be removed, and can even be stored without tangling. Since warping frames are used to run literally miles of yarn for a single warping, it is critical that everything possible be done to reduce tangles, confusion, and miscounts.

A typical warping frame like the one shown here can run warps up to some 15 yards in length. Still longer warpings can be made on a warping tower, or with stakes driven into the ground outside, both of which use the same principles we show here.

Making or Finding a Warping Frame

The frame shown here is three feet to a side (outside width) and made out of poplar. We made this frame ourselves, and it is not very difficult to do, especially as it is easy to find hardwood boards precut to this length. It is slightly more convenient to have the size of the frame as three feet peg-to-peg, since it is easier to eyeball certain warping lengths and the frame can double as a knitty-noddy for skeining yarn or a poor-man's swift for balling or coning it. The spacing on the two sets of three end pegs on the one shown here are too close (~3 inches) for my preference. Having a bit more space between those last two pegs makes tying the warps off and working with the bundled warps a touch easier.

It is important that the frame be made of hardwood and sanded smooth enough (150+) that it will not catch fibers. Ours is finished with a homemade woodwax, consisting of beeswax, olive oil, and herbs. If you are making your own, get pegs of drier/more seasoned wood than the boards if possible so that the frame will shrink/dry around the pegs rather than the pegs shrinking and loosening up. Occasional light oiling can also reduce the tendency of the pegs to shrink and loosen.

Warping frames are usually available online from sites such as Ebay, often starting at $80 and going up. Most of them feature the ability to break down for transport or storage.

Getting Ready

Let sleeping dragons lie...

If you have any roaming, yarn-loving fur-balls, it may be a good idea to make sure they are asleep before starting. As shown here, my cat, Gegö, is passed out cold, so it is time to start.

Make sure you have everything you need to complete your warps. Your yarn should be in balls or cones and you should check your math to make sure you have enough of the right kinds. Although it is possible to unreel a warping off of the warping frame if you have screwed up (I've had to do it), it is not fun, especially if you tie the warps into bundles as you go as I recommend.

Balls of yarn can sit in mixing bowls or baskets underneath the frame so that they are held in place while they unwind. People sometimes build racks for cones that they put on the floor. Double pull balls or more than one cone/ball of each color can let you run more than one warp at a time, although I seldom do this myself.

Give some thought as to where to hang your frame. You will need to do a good deal of reaching and stretching to run your warps, so having it at a convenient height and free from nearby obstacles will make things much easier. With my joint problems, running a set of warps all in one go is quite difficult, so anything which makes it easier is worth doing.