Adventures in Weaving: The Big Leagues

So after my first attempts at weaving on a rigid heddle loom, I was hooked. I was then on the hunt for a loom of my own. So I was looking one day on an online classified website, when I came across "handcrafted 4 shaft loom $50," I was sold. So this is my new loom handcrafted by a Mr. Pancake!

 I was itching to try out my new toy, so off my Mum and I went to the yarn store. I was still a few supplies short though, so I went in search of the last items. My Mum will be the lucky recipient of my first project (a scarf) because she so generously bought me the loom. She chose a seafoamy green cotton and natural cotonlin.

I was also looking for a few other things, a sleying hook and a warping board. I found a sleying hook there, but unfortunately warping boards seem a little pricey for what they are.
A warping board is a wooden frame with wooden dowels around the edge, they are used to measure and keep organized your warp (the lengthwise thread). So the plan is to make one, but that left me with nothing to warp my project on. So I used the direct warping method, this means dressing my loom took AGES!!
But here is the process. First, I tied the warp to the back apron rod and then brought it through the heddle, then wrapped it around a dowel (a conveniently placed plate rack) and just went back and forth, working in my pattern. (this was a 3 hour process for a beginner)

 Next job was to sley the warp into the front reed on the beater. (so many threatening words in weaving)

Then to tie the warp onto the front apron string. It all looked so tidy and organized at this point!

 
The next step in the process is the actual weaving, which I am not done, but here is a sneak peak of the progress.