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Weaving!
5 years ago
General
Yes, I am now the (relatively) proud owner of two cheap, wooden weaving looms. The first was a calculated estimate based on way too little experience, and I very quickly realized that frame looms (the cheapest form of loom I was able to find) are way too much work for someone who doesn't know enough of what he's doing to use comfortably and conveniently.
The second (which only cost me ten dollars more) actually had heddles (a sort of mesh-like structure that helps move every other strand of yarn up or down), which makes it way, way easier to toggle which half of the strands are up and which are down. It also has a built-in comb to help pack the added yarn down to make everything more even.
I have some pictures in various places, but I'm not convinced they fall into the category of things acceptable to post here. If you're interested, I can probably post pictures to my Twitter account and link to them here.
Anyway, the reason I'm trying weaving is to see how scarves made this way come out. I've crocheted several in a variety of styles, but they all have holes of varying sizes that don't keep out the strongest of Fall and Winter winds, plus the fact that they were all relatively thick for how wind-permeable they were. Even a minuscule 3mm hook (and appropriately slim yarn) still had lots of holes, plus it took way, way too long to complete.
The second loom I actually took the stuff they'd threaded the loom with when they packed it, replacing it with the same stuff I was going to weave with so it doesn't stand out if it peeks through.
It's actually incredibly straightforward to use, only needing about four or five quick steps each time I send the shuttle across. They include, sending the shuttle across, balancing the tensions of the newly-added weft, combing it down with the mounted comb, toggling the heddles to swap the threads around, and then sending the shuttle across and starting again.
The second (which only cost me ten dollars more) actually had heddles (a sort of mesh-like structure that helps move every other strand of yarn up or down), which makes it way, way easier to toggle which half of the strands are up and which are down. It also has a built-in comb to help pack the added yarn down to make everything more even.
I have some pictures in various places, but I'm not convinced they fall into the category of things acceptable to post here. If you're interested, I can probably post pictures to my Twitter account and link to them here.
Anyway, the reason I'm trying weaving is to see how scarves made this way come out. I've crocheted several in a variety of styles, but they all have holes of varying sizes that don't keep out the strongest of Fall and Winter winds, plus the fact that they were all relatively thick for how wind-permeable they were. Even a minuscule 3mm hook (and appropriately slim yarn) still had lots of holes, plus it took way, way too long to complete.
The second loom I actually took the stuff they'd threaded the loom with when they packed it, replacing it with the same stuff I was going to weave with so it doesn't stand out if it peeks through.
It's actually incredibly straightforward to use, only needing about four or five quick steps each time I send the shuttle across. They include, sending the shuttle across, balancing the tensions of the newly-added weft, combing it down with the mounted comb, toggling the heddles to swap the threads around, and then sending the shuttle across and starting again.
