Marni, If you're trying to make a pattern in tablet weaving, you certainly CAN do it with warp pick up... but with the tablet-driven options available to you, picking up threads with a stick isn't the option I would choose. If you want to do warp pick up, I'd say it's probably going to be easier to just thread up a loom with heddles and work that way. To get the same structures to work with tablet weaving, you'll need to use two holes per tablet to create a two-shed plain weave, and it's essentially the same as heddles that way. With an inkle loom, threading with heddles will involve a lot less cutting and tying than the same setup with tablets.
The other issue that would push me to choose a different, tablet-driven technique, is stability. The picked warps create patterns by use of surface floats, and they are easy to snag if the band is used roughly. If you control surface floats by reducing the threads lifted up, you'll get either less design complexity, or longer back floats, which need to be bound in by stitching. With something like double-face, you will get a much sturdier band. If you're concerned about twist build-up, there are several ways to go about reducing it. You can make a pattern that neutralizes its own twist; if your double-face patterns mirror themselves, or if they are identical with a set number of spaces between repeats, you will work the twist in and out as you go. I've done a lot of strapwork with patterns that neutralize their own twist, like this: http://wormspit.com/blog/?p=811 Also, brocade builds up no twist if you use a background weave that is twist-neutral. I know that a lot of people prefer weaving brocade over all-forward turning, but I like 2F2B, and it makes a perfectly untwisty warp. You have a HUGE range of design options with brocade. http://www.weavezine.com/content/tablet-woven-brocade If you are doing something where built up uneven twist is inevitable, like double-face lettering, I've found that multiple shorter warps are easier (for me) than setting up a fancy situation where I can adjust twist for each tablet. Using the fast warping technique, it takes something like 15 minutes to warp up, so I figure that the difference between that and the 2 or 3 hours it takes to tie all the separate knots, would allow me to re-warp eight to twelve times - which if I need multiple yards, is a lot easier than chasing the twist down a long warp and adjusting every yard or so anyway. The only time that won't work at all, is if you need a single, uninterrupted length with no seams. Most applications have natural piecing, like for garment trims, or pieces cut apart to make a bag, so there are natural places to break the warp. Michael
