Thursday 5 February 2015

First Weaving Project

Having watched lots (and lots) of videos on YouTube, borrowed a book from the library, read through various weaving group threads on Ravelry (some of the weavers there are scarily good - not just techniques, but in the way they can select colours to use as well) and read other articles and blog posts I'd found on the Internet, it was time to warp my loom for the first time.

The loom I've got has drilled holes on the back of it.  Now, when I was putting the loom together, I did use the instructions that came with it and, whilst it was very useful having life-sized pictures of the various screws, nuts and bolts that were required for the assembly (such a good idea, that - other manufacturers of self-assembly things please take note!), the actual written notes were a bit lacking in places and I think in some places were a direct translation from Polish (that's where the Kromski company is based).  I'd got the loom together, but had 'bits' left over.  There were about 15 pegs/dowels 5"-6" in length and no instructions as to what they were for.  Looking on the Internet, all became clear though - if you turn the loom over and put the pegs/dowels into the holes, the back of the loom can be used as a warping board!  So, that's what I started doing, choosing yarns from my DK acrylic stash because I didn't want to use more expensive yarns for a first project.

Oh my word - not my finest hour.  I must have wound the yarn too tightly because one of the pegs pinged out and then there was a puddle of yarn sitting there, laughing at me, which then had to be balled up.  The dog retreated to the safety of the sofa and gave me "please tell me it's not me you're cross with" looks (so a couple of treats were given, plus some ear-fondling and belly-rubs) and then I sat back, went back onto the Internet and had a re-think.  Using a warping board seemed like Quite a Lot of Work.  However, the loom also came with a warping peg, so I looked at how to warp using that and set to and it was much, much easier.  A couple of hours later, I had my loom warped.  Not quite evenly as I mis-calculated how much pink I had so had to substitute a slightly lighter shade, but it was Done!

By that time, the girls were back from school and dinner needed to be made, so no weaving was done until the next day.  Over the course of the next couple of weeks, I sat at the loom and away I went, weaving various colours backwards and forwards, adding in a new colour when the previous one ran out, so no real planning.  When I couldn't wind the warp onto the shed (the area where the weaving's done - hark at me learning weaving terminology already!), that was it.  I did a hem-stitch at each end to stop everything unravelling in, cut the fabric off the loom and then turned in a hem at each end and sewed it because I decided I didn't want a fringe.  After a quick cycle in the washing machine and a short time in the tumble dryer, there it was --- a blanket.


It's approx 65cm x 135cm, so is a good size for putting round shoulders or over legs when it's a bit chilly.

I can definitely tell which end I started with because I can see how I improved the more I wove.  There are quite a few 'floats' where the warp threads weren't aligned properly so the shuttle went over instead of under.  This is the beginning:


The floats are those nubbly bits where the 'stitch' is longer than it should be.

Here's the end of it:


Much better and more even.

The edges are a bit wonky as well, but I'm sure those will get better the more things I make.

Overall, I'm rather proud of this - it came out better than I thought it would.  Even hubby was impressed, which is saying something!

Last week I warped the loom up again with some cotton DK yarn that I'd bought and I'm now making some tea-towels (because those will be good practice for my edges).  I put enough warp on the loom to make two and I'm halfway up the second one already.

I've already warned DD1 that any friends to whom she wants to give a birthday/Christmas present will probably get a home-woven scarf!

2 comments:

  1. Fantastic!!!!! I think it is amazing! You should be very pleased! xx

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  2. Wowsers!! This is absolutely amazing, I'm so impressed. I'd love to see some photos of the loom in action. Good luck with your weaving!

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