After only a couple of hours of weaving, the knots suddenly appeared above the horizon above the back beam.
I kept going until the knots were advanced to just behind the heddles.
Now if this were a conventional warp, I wouldn't have been able to advance that far, because the rod at the end of the warp would have made a shed impossible. But since each individual warp was knotted to a single end of the dummy, I still got a good shed (this is the view behind the heddles):
In front of the loom, I was able to weave within two inches of the reed:
…and the total distance from the fell to the knots was an amazing four inches!
After the weaving is cut off, you can see how little waste there actually is. There's a bit more waste at the front end of the shawl, because when tying on to the cloth apron some of the ends were uneven; but I'll be able to rescue some of this when I untie the knots at this end. At the far end, I'll just snip off the knots. I'll have a comfortable four inches at each end for a twisted fringe.
To cut off, I advanced the warp so that the knots passed frontwards through the heddles (easy) and through the reed (not as easy); I cut off just behind the knots. Now the dummy warp is ready for the next handspun warp to be tied on.
I must confess: Last night I ordered an 8-dent reed so that the passing of the knots through the reed will be easier. I will have to resley the new reed with the dummy warp (which will take all of 10 minutes).