16 Shaft Test Sample

This is the test warp for my new AVL 16 shaft loom.  Sett at10 epi, the yarns are mohair/acrylic blends that I used for Elena's cloak fabric a few years ago.  I have 8 ends in each color stripe.  The draft is a plain weave/2-2 twill that I modified from something I saw on Handweaving.net. 

I am learning to treadle without mistakes.  It is a bit of a challenge.  The pattern is only 16 bars (which is so small compared to my friend's 90 bar pattern!), but I have occasionally discovered errors in the patterning.  I'm not 100% sure what is happening.  Part may be not depressing the left, "release" treadle completely.  Part may be other factors that are causing the shafts to catch strangely.  I caught the mistake twice and fixed it while weaving the 6-10" above.

Check out the fabric at the sides of the weaving.  I went to a Weaving Indiana meeting on Saturday and mentioned the purchase of my loom.  After the meeting I got to talking with one of my friends, who also has recently acquired a 16 shaft AVL production dobby loom (her's is 60" wide).  It was fun to swap stories and tips.  Putting the fabric strips on the sandpaper beam was Mary Alice's suggestion.  It is a wonderful way to save my arms from getting scratched!