Friday, February 27, 2015

Warp Speed

For Valentine’s Day, S1 totally surprised me with a 15” Schacht Cricket loom! We put it together that day and warped it the next day. For my first project, I used the yarn that came in the box with the loom: 2 balls of Nature Spun Worsted (100% wool).

The instructions that come with the loom are okay, but not awesome. I supplemented with YouTube videos… also helpful, but not awesome. But still, I got it warped up and started weaving: 20150215_142343WHAT FUN! I could not believe how fast it went. I pretty much immediately wanted to know more, and I recalled that Caitlin watched this Craftsy class before buying her Cricket: Rigid Heddle Weaving with Angela Tong. Craftsy was having a Valentine’s weekend sale so I got the class for half off – bonus! Almost as soon as I started watching it, I wish I had done so before warping, because Angela is so much more clear and the “view” is perfect on those videos. IMG_5587I finished my first scarf when I ran out of the green weft yarn. It has lots of things wrong with it – the edges are wonky, I didn’t beat at the same rate throughout so some parts look more purple than others, and the width of the scarf changes. But I made a scarf! Just as with my first skein of handspun, I will save this so I can look back on it and chuckle later.

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Immediately I began thinking about my next project. The loom came with an 8-dent heddle, which is perfect for worsted yarn. So I knew I needed a strong (plied) worsted yarn for the warp. I pulled out the “share bag” of Cascade 200 Superwash leftovers (from Jess’s blanket and Caitlin’s blanket and my blanket) and handed it to S1. Her job was to choose a warp color that I had enough of (I could weigh the yarn to see if I had enough to make a 55” scarf, which is what she wanted) and choose a sock yarn from my stash to use as weft. The idea was to choose a fingering yarn that I would never make socks from. She chose a great one, this Fleece Artist Sock which is hand-dyed but unfortunately on 100% superwash merino. It is one of my oldest stash yarns and I’ve been avoiding it for years (at least for socks) because I predict it won’t wear well. IMG_5594And look! I made a scarf! I warped the loom and wove this all in an evening! It went at WARP SPEED! I did it so fast I never even took a picture of it on the loom. IMG_5597It is soft and drapey (thank you superwash merino) and the edges are nice and straight. Angela Tong’s course is excellent and I recommend watching it BEFORE you warp your first loom.

Then I bought Rigid Heddle Weaving: Beyond the Basics (while the half price sale was still on) and am partway through watching that. Watch out because there will be more weaving to come.IMG_5599My biggest problem right now is resisting the urge to buy different yarn to weave with. I want to use stash yarn, at least for a while. But I also want to make kitchen towels, which requires cotton, and I have no cotton in stash. I don’t care to knit with it.  So we’ll see how long that holds out.

3 comments:

  1. Warped and woven in an evening is warp speed and both scarves are really lovely. I've always thought that kitchen towels would be one of the best reasons to own a loom, so I hope you give in and buy some cotton to weave with in the near future!

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  2. Yay!!! Isn't it addicting? Can't wait to see these scarves in person. It's amazing how quickly I got better at weaving...just takes a couple scarves. We'll probably have to take the cotton buying plunge together...

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  3. You've gotten so good at this so quickly! Can't way to see what you come up with. And I love that yarn you wouldn't want to knit with can be the perfect thing for a different craft altogether.

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