The Yarn-Thief!

Shelley is well and truly settled here with us now and she is an absolute delight, full of beans and always ready to play. We still haven't let her out yet as having been feral in suburbia for the first year of her life we want her to be fully comfortable in her new surroundings before she ventures out into the expanse of countryside where she lives now.

She definitely likes my yarn though, especially the really sheepy sort of yarn, and she can sniff it out as soon as something new appears.

A few weeks ago I finally took the plunge and bought a rigid heddle loom I'd wanted for ages as I've always wanted to experiment with weaving.  I searched and researched and decided on an Ashford 16" rigid heddle table loom from Weft Blown in Scotland who were very helpful and delivered my loom promptly. It came complete with a 7dpi reed, 2 shuttles, threading hook, warping peg and clamp and an instruction book. There was a handy video on the website which showed how to  warp the loom.

They recommended a light waxing for the wood to protect it so I did that a soon as I'd unpacked it and was raring to go the next day. The first step was to 'warp' the loom - the warp is the thread running from top to bottom and the weft is the thread that goes across. A peg was supplied attached to a clamp  so that you could wind the warp thread around it but our dining table was took thick to attach the clamp. Mike came to the rescue and attached the peg to a flat piece of wood which I then clamped to the table using his adjustable clamps. Phew! You can see it in action in the 2nd photo below.

I watched the video about 3 times before I plucked up the courage to make a start on the warping. It got easier as I found my rhythm.

I decided to just do a sample to get the feel of the movement, try different yarns etc and somebody was very interested in my bag full of yarny goodies!

Having set up the warp I decided to go for a short run inbetween the heavy rain showers and whilst I was out our little yarn thief went into action. She was only caught out when Mike was heading downstairs to get a drink. She'd ripped open the bag and started to take the balls upstairs one at a time!

He just managed to reach for the camera and caught her bringing another one up (it's a bit fuzzy but you get the gist)!

I gave her this really tangled bit to play with and she took it everywhere for a few days, bless her.

I'm coming to help you now mum!

"Don't worry mum, I'm, here!"

And so began my new adventure and I learnt such a lot just from playing! I spotted my warping mistake immediately - you'll see it clearer in the next photo..... 

Here's my warp error - see the 2 darker lines in the middle where I'd warped the thread twice in the same hole. However, it made me realise the possibilities of different thicknesses to highlight sections. I really enjoyed playing with the different weights of yarn and getting used to the feel of the shuttle.

The warp is 4ply sock yarn and the stripey part of the weft is the same but the pale blue is dk weight wool/silk and I love how the warp shows up against it.

This was a dk weight silk/wool with a sticky thick and thin dk/aran weight wool

The thick/thin yarn got really fuzzy going through the holes.

My first project is going to be a scarf for Mike and so we chose some Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply to experiment with as he liked the dark colours.

After I'd soaked and blocked it I wrote down what I'd used for each section.

I suggested we introduce some vertical stripes just and inch or so in from the edges to break it up a bit so that will be my next sample. I'm loving the possibilities of the loom already.

As I'm typing this, Shelley has settled in my paper recycling bag under my desk!

What I noticed when making my small samples was that it wasted an awful lot of yarn and so I went onto a forum and asked what other people do. Many suggested a small sample loom which cost about £40 and comes from Canada but, as you can imagine, the postage was prohibitive.

Then I went onto eBay and found this little weaving loom in excellent condition and with all the parts in place, including the original pattern book.  I paid £15 for it, plus postage, and it arrived packed beautifully.

It measures 21cm x 30cm so will be perfect for trying out stitches and patterns without wasting lots of yarn on the larger loom.

I'll end this post with a photo of my festive running outfit for Christmas Eve/Christmas Day/Boxing Day. It was so mild and sunny that I had to strip off a layer after 10 minutes!