This thing happens to me all the time, where I own a tool, and another person owns the same tool – only their version of the tool seems to do a lot more things than mine does. Take my laptop – Ken has the same one, the exact same one, only his does all this really great stuff and mine doesn’t. His practically makes dinner and folds the laundry, and mine – well. I have trouble believing they’re the same computer at all. I feel like maybe his came with elves in it. Magical dancing clever elves that make his computer so much more useful than mine.
The same thing has been happening with my loom. I’ve got that little Cricket rigid heddle, and pretty much it makes plain scarves. Meanwhile, Syne’s rigid heddle makes spa wash cloths, and Dorothy’s rigid heddle made a crazy table runner, and I can’t even talk about what FarmNana pulls off. I kept thinking that they must have better looms. Looms with some of those bad-ass elves in them. Then I saw this book – The Weaver’s Idea Book: Creative Cloth on a Rigid Heddle Loom
It does. It’s still a scarf though. Don’t want to get all crazy.
Kind of like knitting. You spend the first 6 months learning to knot and purl and how not to make mistakes and suddenly someone says “hey, let’s learn to do Yarnovers!” (Am I first!!)
So excited to post that I mispelled “knit” – but you all know what I mean.
it’s amazing what instructions can do… 😉
Wow! I’m impressed!! And maybe there is hope for MY loom after all. I think it is missing those elves, too.
Thanks! I was gifted a lovely RH loom for Christmas and played with it yesterday for the very first time, already dreaming of the crazy things I want to weave. Your post is timely. 🙂
[fingers in ears] La La La — I can’t hear you!!! (still working on creating time for that spinning thing you got me into).
Heh heh. Yeah that happens to me too…I always wonder why your needles are making awesome things like sweaters and socks, and mine only makes dishcloths.
Very important to request the elf support package whenever purchasing any kind of tool.
You always impress us! Not to mention amaze, awe, inspire, and just plain gob-smack.
The only weaving I’ve ever done was with knitted loops on a potholder loom. This is waaaaay beyond that and perfectly lovely. You go!!!
I knew my loom was missing something! Now I know–it was the elves…
Ken’s computer versus your computer – those elves are actually in Ken’s head (also called experience and know-how).
Look it’s sort of like Ravelry. When I was learning to knit 40 plus years ago, one knitted sweaters, so that was what I knitted. Some years ago when I was introduced to Ravelry – I had heard about it through your blog, but I didn’t really ‘get it’ until knitting group got me involved. I found out that tons of knitters did what to me were unusual projects, like socks (not that I am blaming anybody whose blog I am looking at, or why I spent until nearly 11.00 am in bed this morning turning a heel and knitting a heel flap, while waiting for the teenagers to get out of bed on a holiday morning – get the addiction?), lace, arigurumi-type figures – well the knitting world just blossomed! It just opened-up a different world.
Go for more fibrecraft.
i definately have that loom on my wish list…and my computer doesn’t do anything either!
and the essential difference between a table runner and a scarf is? I admit, Dorothy’s is pretty spectacular. No, I don’t weave; I am trying to resist my drop spindle in some hopes of finishing a few wips. Happy New Year!
Friday’s Mom – “knot and purl” pretty much describes my attempts at knitting, though I haven’t actually gotten as far as purl yet. Put a crochet hook in my hand, and I dazzle those who behold (though they often ask, “What are you knitting?”). Put knitting needles in my hand, and I’m a kindergartner making a clay ashtray. What can I say . . . I’ll keep trying.
oh mercy. Is 2013 the year I give in and take up weaving?
Gosh darn it! I want a cricket loom now.
As a weaver of 35 years I can’t tell you how impressed I am
Be careful it won’t be long until you lust for a floor loom, it happened to me in a year after starting with the rigid heddle loom
And if you think you have inventory now-just wait!!!!
Cricket looms are dangerous little beasties without the elves. Got one two weeks ago, and I think I’m on scarf #9 as I work through the stash. And I wasn’t going to buy more yarn either, but I keep seeing must-do projects on Ravelry that use yarn that I don’t have. And now you post this lovely variation. Eeeeek!
I got a loom @ month ago, still wrapping.
For some reason I always miss the end thread.
I don’t think its the end thread just kind of found its self there.
Maybe the elves moved to my house???
Beautiful scarf! And dangerously inspiring. How can I get myself one of those looms down here? And where on earth can I get myself a big supply of threads with which to warp and weave?
*Wanders off plotting and scheming…
You go girl! 😀
I had a tour at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) and they have an entire room of looms, (of which they were making rag rugs) and now I can’t get them out of my head! (and they may be influencing my post-secondary education ideas)
I decree that looms are addicting!!
I got an Ashford 24 inch Rigid Heddle for Christmas and just purchased the same book. Great book but now I need another heddle to do the really cool patterns.
Go Steph! I’m still working on getting a drop spindle so a loom isn’t in my future right now. I can’t help but notice how FarmNana seems to have directions though….
Got the spot lace pattern last night. Had some wine. Now going to decide what yarn to use. I have that book too and, just for your information; elves wrote it…I have it on good authority!!
bjr
KMK @ 5:30- i crocheted for over 30 years before i started knitting. i knit continental style, and it feels familiar like crocheting, but you get to do all the cool knitting stuff with it!
Wowzers! Perhaps someday when I retire (and get the loom out of the closet where it seems to have taken up permanent residence) I’ll learn to do cool stuff like that too. For now, knitting, spinning and plain old weaving is enough!
I received a 15″ Cricket loom for Christmas, absolutely love it!
Just wondering if you’re using yarn you spun yourself, or would that be overachieving? Wait, you’re already overachieving on most fronts! Very beautiful and impressive, at least from the perspective of a knitter whose only other fibrey skill is drop spindle spinning. The blue-grey and cream is elegantly understated.
Ah. Danish Medallion and then on to Brook’s Bouquet. The good old days. (Which for me were the 60’s and 70’s). Then I became a quilter and now I am knitting again. Maybe I can set up the looms again. That would be nice.
After a while we become the elves. Doing weaving and knitting patterns in quilts and quilting patterns in weaving and knitting. Enjoy, Have fun.
This is how I feel when I look at your knitted projects. Only you’re the elf.
Looks like the elves have moved in!
(P.S. Your scarf is lovely!)
I am Amelia Bedelia when it comes to weaving. I understand nothing of the terminology, so reading about throwing things, picking things and leaving things open is giving me some interesting mental pictures. Some day I hope to be a weaver, and a spinner too. I just need someone to teach me. For now I will stay with knitting, and just enjoy seeing what can be made on the loom (beautiful stuff.)
You should be impressed! That will be a lovely scarf.
Umm. . .how wide is that thing?
I can see it as a table runner, or maybe something similar yet smaller, like a dresser scarf (Midwest term for a cover for the top of a double or triple dresser in one’s bedroom). Even in a shorter length to help make the cat’s favorite windowsill just a little more comfy. Or even as a bell pull. (How is Joe at imitating Lurch?)
After all, it doesn’t have to be a scarf for someone’s neck unless that’s what you want it to be!
I keep telling myself that I have enough crafty things going on right now…and that I don’t need to learn anything new at the moment…then you go & post something like this. I was already in love with the scarves you posted a while back…made with the yarn you had spun…which I haven’t learned to do yet, either. Oh, crap. 😉
i love you.
Funny. I have the loom AND the book, but stll my scarves havent et your elves. I’ll keep looking for them, though.
I’ve never done any weaving, but your scarf looks beautiful! Loved your Twitter comment about Sam Gamgee. He really is the ultimate best friend–honorable, loyal, faithful, and an all-around good guy. He is a great role model. My son’s middle name is Samwise! 🙂 He’s a literary figure to look up to.
I am so impressed with loom stuff. It seems quite mathy and one has to think ahead, plan, measure, set up etc., The cloth is beautiful.
Ooh, now I want a loom! Like I need another hobby…
Well lookee that!!! It just takes time & some instructions. Been there, done that. We just need 7 more days a week to DO all the STUFF we want to do, that’s all.
Stop it! You’re killing me with this “weaving is so great, I can make this great stuff and solve my peg problems and you can too, come on you know you want to…” I have nowhere to put a loom, nor any money, nor any time. So stop it right now. Or at the very least you could show some sort of mangled unattractive thing.
I’ll just ask my financial planner to put my stock in heddle looms. Now that the Harlot endorses it I could get financially more stable.
I will just get my financial planner to invest me in heddle loom stock.
Well, my loom is still in scarf land even though I own that book. Like one of the knitting design books I have, I feel like I need to go through it methodically and I haven’t found the time to devote to that.
Even if you only sometimes impress yourself, I think your BLOG is most often impressed with you. Kudos!
DH got me a RH for Christmas and that exact book just came in the mail yesterday. Can’t wait to play with it!
Hahaha – I know that feeling! The scarf is simply stunning.
Reminds me of when my daughter was in middle school and was learning clarinet. An older friend who played clarinet visited and picked up daughter’s clarinet and played 3 whole octaves. My daughter was stunned–she couldn’t believe that all those notes were possible on the same instrument that she struggled with. That really inspired her to keep working at it!
Your links and images really make me want to get my hands on a loom and learn the basics. I understand that people can knock out a scarf that would take a couple of weeks to knit in a couple of hours. Sounds like a plan!
I’ve often felt the same way about plain old knitting needles and crochet hooks in the hands of my friends… 🙂
Wow…I feel that way about my sewing machine. I have all these decorative stitches I barely use, and I just use the same basic one (fake serger stitch) over and over. However, during my Christmas sewing I did manage to use the blindhem stitch (which I barely use), ditto the fake top stitch. I felt so proud. Like I’d use another percent of my massive brain.
Oh that’s cool! Have fun!
I could use some elves, my loom only makes plain weave!
Squee! I have a new Schacht Flip AND that book. Time to weave!
I finally wove a scarf on my Cricket with handspun. I feel like a magician or something—who knew you could start with raw wool and up with fabric? I enjoyed every step of the process, and if my Cricket never weaves anything else, I will be so happy.
When I was studying weaving at uni, my classmate’s boyfriend wrote a song entitled “I lost my lady to leno”, and he was right; warp and weft manipulation are so much fun!
On the loom above I see that the warp threads are noticeably thinner than the weft threads. If you are weaving something where the warp and weft threads both show, they need to be of equal thickness and you need to tamp them down more closely. Here you have spaces where you have left the warp threads showing with no support. When that comes off the loom, the weft will start to move around if the fabric is handled and the whole will lose its design and freshness. Or, maybe you are just doodling…
OOOOOOOO… Pretty.
Always intrigued by your little Cricket loom. Is that a 10 or 15 inch loom? I want to give it a try-are there any certain guidelines when purchasing one of these looms? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Happy New Year! Rebecca
Yay! I just bought that book myself for Christmas and have been reading the introduction, looking over the patterns, while deciding where I want to start. Now I’m all excited – more! Thanks for the pictures and I hope a lot more pictures follow.
Got an Ashford RH Knitter’s Loom this Fall, made ALL my Christmas presents with it, now missing the wonderful wraps and scarves I made, scrambling to make more, for me this time.
Like you, I discovered the Weaver’a Idea book… the pickup patterns are so terrific, as you’ve discovered!