One thing confuses me: Why was it never suggested to do the tie-up FIRST? It would be so much easier to see and access the shafts if the warp wasn’t in the way. Is there a reason why the tie-up has to be the last step?
You can tie-up your treadles whenever you want, before you start dressing your loom or at the end. That is up to each weaver. The more you tie-up the treadles, the faster you get…which is a good thing. If I am tying up 14 treadles I don’t do it all in one sitting..that would be hard on any loom but it will always be more tedious on any counter-marche loom because you have twice the number of tie-ups to do….breaking the job into parts is a good idea. Tie-up 4 treadles, get up, have a stretch or a cuppa and then do another 4 etc. I have always looked at the tie-up this way…….it only has to be done once for a warp and maybe only once in awhile if you are on a roll with a specific weave structure. The benefits of the parallel counter-march in regards to ease of weaving on the body (which is where we spend most of the time at our instruments) far outweigh the tie-up, especially if you put on long warps. Weaving 12 shaft patterns on a Spring is a dreamy experience because the lift is so easy.
