Start by tying the free end of the warp to the near beam with a "slippery half hitch" knot, toward the left of the beam. Wrap the yarn twice around the beam (instead of once as the illustration shows) before tying the knot.

(After warping, if the tension is uneven, you may need to adjust this end of the warp by taking up slack and retying it.)

The rigid frame shown here is a sturdy cardboard box, upended. Black crochet cord anchors the pencils used as beams. Brown, medium worsted, two-ply yarn forms the warp.

Draw the shuttle to the far beam and pass the warp over it, then feed the shuttle under the far beam and bring it back to the near beam, feeding out the warp as you go. Pass the warp under the near beam, just to the right of the slip knot, then up and over it. One loop is completed.

Repeat the previous step, each time passing the warp over the far beam then under the near beam. The strands going from near to far lie on top of the beams. The strands coming back from far to near lie beneath them.

(NOTE: The above directions will result in a warp easy for a right-handed person to work. A left-handed person will find it easier to work with if everything is reversed: The strands going from near to far lie under the beams, and coming back, lie on top of the beams.)

Here is a view of the far beam, seen from the left. The red arrow shows the route the shuttle took laying down this strand.

Make sure each loop of yarn lies cleanly upon the beam and does not cross another loop. Here, the red arrow shows one strand improperly crossing another.

Try to keep the tension even as you go.

Continue until you have 20 to 30 loops (for a small project).

End at the near beam by tying the yarn to the beam (towards the right) in another slippery half hitch.

The space between the upper strands and the lower strands is called the shed. In this illustration, I slid my hand into the shed.