Design process - step 2 - measuring the warp

Today I am grateful for paperwhites.  They are that little white flower that pops up in the middle of winter to tell you that spring is just around the corner.  In my yard they are flowering now.  They are fragrant and cute and remind everyone in the neighborhood that there is beauty even in winter.

Today I will continue my design process.  Step 2 is measuring out the warp.  Since I have varying amounts of the yarns I want to use, I start with the ones I have the least of.  I wind my warps 10 yards long.  That is the longest I can wind on my warp board and it also is a good length for 3 shawls.  Some yarns I only get 5 or 10 ends.  As I wind them I write down how many ends of each yarn I have.  When I get to the yarns I have a lot of I decide how much of each to use.  I want a good balance of color, texture and material.  It takes a little math to figure out how many ends of each yarn to wind.  My shawls are all 21" wide in the reed and sett at 8 ends per inch.  That means I need 168 ends altogether.  Sometimes I add one more at each side for stability.  It depends on the yarn.  I wind a separate chain for each color.  This takes a little longer than just winding one color for the warp, but I think it is worth it.  When all the yarn is wound I am ready to thread the loom which is Step 3.  Stay tuned tomorrow.