Still Winding

Who knew that beam winding was such hard work? By the end of the day I was completely exhausted, more than if I had been weaving. It's taking me about 30 minutes per section for a variety of reasons:
- There should be a screen above the cones so the threads don't whip around each other and tangle in the eight feet up to the reed.
- A real tension box would make it easier to aim the threads into the sections
- It would go faster if I had plenty of yarn and could grab another cone when a thread runs out instead of having to wind cardboard cylinders from that point forward for every missing thread.

It's time to drink some coffee and steel myself for a long day of threading. At least I chose a sensible pattern: a simple pointed draft with a repeat that matches the number of threads per section. This will make it easier to catch mistakes.

(Sorry for the flash photos today. It's pouring rain and very dark outside. Natural light makes such a difference!)

[The colors look great!]

[Almost done! Just 5 sections left]

[Not much yarn left]

[Cone replacements]

There's a simple way to handle it when a cone runs out of thread. I grab another cone that has plenty left and wind cardboard tubes with replacement thread. These go onto a cone rack, feeding smoothly into the mix.

The problem with this is that it's time consuming. The more cones I lose, the more time I spend winding little tubes. In the future, I'll make sure I have plenty of thread before I start winding.