I also started my tartan weaving project. I decided to stick with the Bruce tartan since I knew it so well. The project is a little ambitious for a first-time weaver, but I think it will be worth it in the end, helping me understand tartans on a whole new level.

The classes are four hours long. I spent the first week planning my project, using a warping frame to measure all the yarn I would need, and putting the yarn–174 ends–through the reeds. At the end of my first session, this is how my project looked, a bit tangled:

While I dressed the loom the following week, it was even worse:

Each of those 174 ends now had to be threaded through the heddles, in order: 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4. When I finished that we checked my threading and my “sheds” to find any tangled or misplaced threads. Then we tied the ends and adjusted the tension of the threads on the back bar and started rolling the threads onto the back bar. With every turn of the ratchet, I had to straighten the threads, removing all the tangles. When I was done, it looked like this: