This Christmas brought me a new crafty toy: a loom! And with this, I think I have now completed my set of toys (she says...). Either way, I have officially run out of space and time to learn new crafts (she says, again...).
I had been toying with the idea of getting a loom since I did the weaving course last year, not one of the fancy ones I tried out during the course (which cost a fortune and are really fiddly to set up), but a little rigid heddle loom. Although it may technically be limited to stripes and checks, I think that is probably enough for me (and they do have the potential of more complicated patterns with a bit of improvisation apparently).
The (not-so) amusing thing is that setting up my little loom has been the worst part of the process so far, so I am very very glad that I did not even consider a proper floor room! Its pretty time-consuming, a little painful on my back and ideally done with a partner for ease and speed. Moreover, if you mess up the set-up in some way (for example, uneven tension), that can screw up the whole project, at least for an inexperienced weaver like me - that's what happened with my first project.
The picture below is quite forgiving, but there are many places where the two threads are not woven together, and the edges (the selvedges) are not that great. It also isn't quite long enough for my tastes. Not bad for a first attempt though.
So after a few weeks of procrastinating the second attempt, I finally set it up yesterday, with help this time to avoid any major mistakes.
And even though the set-up is a bit of a bore, once you get going, you get into a rhythm and voila! only a few hours later you have a beautiful scarf to show for it.
This second attempt was far more successful. I am very happy with the colour and the yarn is really nice. I used a plain wool yarn for the warp (the yarn that is threaded through the loom) and, for the weft (the yarn woven horizontally as you go along) the baby alpaca yarn I bought in Peru 2 years ago but had never quite figured out the best use for it. Which seems rather fitting given that I was first exposed to weaving in the weaver's colony in Peru.
I had been toying with the idea of getting a loom since I did the weaving course last year, not one of the fancy ones I tried out during the course (which cost a fortune and are really fiddly to set up), but a little rigid heddle loom. Although it may technically be limited to stripes and checks, I think that is probably enough for me (and they do have the potential of more complicated patterns with a bit of improvisation apparently).
The (not-so) amusing thing is that setting up my little loom has been the worst part of the process so far, so I am very very glad that I did not even consider a proper floor room! Its pretty time-consuming, a little painful on my back and ideally done with a partner for ease and speed. Moreover, if you mess up the set-up in some way (for example, uneven tension), that can screw up the whole project, at least for an inexperienced weaver like me - that's what happened with my first project.
The picture below is quite forgiving, but there are many places where the two threads are not woven together, and the edges (the selvedges) are not that great. It also isn't quite long enough for my tastes. Not bad for a first attempt though.
So after a few weeks of procrastinating the second attempt, I finally set it up yesterday, with help this time to avoid any major mistakes.
And even though the set-up is a bit of a bore, once you get going, you get into a rhythm and voila! only a few hours later you have a beautiful scarf to show for it.
This second attempt was far more successful. I am very happy with the colour and the yarn is really nice. I used a plain wool yarn for the warp (the yarn that is threaded through the loom) and, for the weft (the yarn woven horizontally as you go along) the baby alpaca yarn I bought in Peru 2 years ago but had never quite figured out the best use for it. Which seems rather fitting given that I was first exposed to weaving in the weaver's colony in Peru.
