Spinning for Rigid Heddle – Weaving Variable Dent
April 29, 2026. Wendy and Amy shared what they learned using the variable dent heddle. We have all received our variable dent heddle pieces, we all have our hared yarn, and are ready to start warping.
March 25, 2026. We call it WILD WEAVING!! We are in the midst of our spring spinning and weaving project with the guild. Here are a few details about the project:
Everyone spins their own yarn from their own fiber. Protein fibers such as wool, alpaca, silk, angora or mohair are good choices. The amount of yarn to spin depended on how many folks joined the project, and how much you want to give each person.
We were instructed to spin 8 feet, 16 feet or 32 feet of yarn for each person. So, if 20 people joined, we would spin either 160 feet (about 54 yards), 320 feet (107 yards) or 640 feet (214 yards).
Before coming to the March meeting, we dividee our yarn up, so each participant received a segment. At the March guild meeting, we exchanged yarn, so each participant had yarn segments from everyone else. After the March meeting, you will weave the yarn into a warp faced scarf using a rigid heddle loom. Since the yarn will be different thicknesses, we will be using variable dent reeds that will be provided. Treadles has several rigid heddle looms to borrow if you do not have a loom.
22 members have signed up to participate in this project. There were many ways to prepare yarn segments before the meeting. We could:
1. make a ball of yarn for each person or
2. make a small loop of yarn (maybe wrapped around your hand so it looks like a donut) or
3. prepare your yarn any way we thought would work best for the yarn exchange.
Each segment of yarn is tagged with the spinner’s name or initials and the type of fiber the yarn is made of. At our March meeting, we set our yarn out on the tables and collected a segment from each of the other participants.