Dusting off the Rigid Heddle Loom

I'm not very good at sticking with one thing. I always seem to have a dozen different projects going at one time so I can always be in the mood to do this or that. And right now that's weaving.

I purchased a rigid heddle loom at festival a few years ago and got a very quick crash course in how to thread the reed, but not how to actually tie the warp onto the loom. It was also warped up with linen which I have since learnt is not the best fibre for a beginner to work with. And so it has sat on a shelf ever since with the vague promise of "I really should learn how to do that properly". That day is today!

(well actually it was last week, but i'm telling you about it today)

What my neglected loom looked like when I got it down

I went down to Nowra with my mum and stopped in at Glenora Weaving & Wool in Gerringong on the way and picked up some lovely yarn. I didn't really know what I was going to make but I had the vague notion of making a cushion (something small and easy) and I saw this lovely olivey coloured yarn which looked like it would match the artwork in my lounge room. So I got that and a few other skeins and a funky little hook thing to help me thread the reed (no doubt it has a name but I have no idea what it's called).

So I cut off all the weaving that was on the loom, salvaging the linen warp just in case I want to use it one day. There is a really cool way you can make a chain out of long warp threads which keeps it neat and tangle free which I saw here (it's part 5, about half way through).

Once that was done I sat down to try and work out a pattern. I wanted to use the whole width of the reed just to see how wide a piece I can weave on my loom and so I counted the holes and slots - 240 threads in total. Then I thought, you know what? I really don't want to have to count 240 holes every time I start a new piece of weaving, so I grabbed a sharpie and numbered every tenth slot. I felt pretty clever.

Slots numbered on the reed

I was so keen to get started at this point, but I had no idea what sort of pattern I wanted to make. I did a quick google search but didn't really come up with anything. So I just opened an excel spreadsheet and made the columns really narrow and selected big chunks and coloured them in the colours I had chosen. I ended up with this.

Cushion weft pattern

I still don't quite know what colour/pattern I'll do the weft it, but who cares at this point? START WEAVING!!!

I had already found a great youtube guide showing how to warp up a rigid heddle loom

It's done by Ashford which is a NZ company that actually makes looms. I feel like they should know what they're talking about. So I grabbed the first skein of yarn and off I went!

Now those of you who know what you're doing will probably read that and go "oh no, she didn't did she?" It seems a little foolish in retrospect I'll admit. I just assumed that a skein of yarn would work the same way as a ball. I even held it over my arm so it wouldn't get tangled! Yet this is the mess I ended up with (actually this is after about two hours of untangling, and just before I had enough and went to bed bitterly disappointed).

Tangles

To make matters worse, my cats found it during the night, so the next day when I continued untangling I ended up with 5 little balls of yarn and two medium balls of yarn *sigh* which I then had to wind into a ball by hand using this dummies guide.

Eventually I got it sorted and was able to finally start warping.

Half way through warping the green, using the knobs
on the back of a dining room chair as a warping peg

Green warp complete

The gaps are where the grey threads are going to go. But the grey yarn is also a skein, not a ball. I'd like to think I am not foolish enough to make the same mistake twice. I posted on facebook about the *cough* incident... and a friend from the Blue Mountains (Hi Kylie!) told me that I need a 'swift' and a 'nostepinne'.

The Swift can be a lampshade (loosened, so that it spins) or a friendly pair of arms, or else google "makeshift swift" and see what you have that can stand in. A nostepinne is easier, it's really just a glorified stick. As long as it's smooth enough not to catch on the yarn. cardboard rolls from inside paper towels or similar work well, or a piece of dowel. Google/youtube for technique. Mine tend to turn out egg-shaped, it doesn't have to make a spherical ball or a cylindrical cake to work. Have fun, take your time, and don't pull on tangles

Hah! Too late about the tangles.

*Google google google*

Most makeshift swifts seem to use a lazy susan as the base. No good for me because I don't have one.

*Google google google*

Ah hah!

I must have stumbled upon the most ingenious idea here involving a wine bottle and some old wire coathangers!

A fellow blogger's ingenious makeshift swift

I was willing then and there to sacrifice a bottle of wine to the cause, but my husband reminded me that I probably want to be sober for ball winding. Slightly disappointed but acknowledging his wisdom, I found a glass water bottle in the kitchen. I also only had three wire coathangers in the whole house (all the rest are plastic or wooden) but I was getting desperate so I was determined to make it work anyway.

Makeshift yarn swift

It works pretty well. I imagine four would work much better as it would stretch the loop out tight rather than have it sagging between each hanger. I had to change the shape of mine too because it kept slipping off.***

And for a nostepinne I borrowed a utensil from my daughters wooden kitchen set

Makeshift nostepinne

I probably should have looked up a youtube video of how to wind a ball properly, but I didn't.

My first yarn ball!

I am however prodigiously proud of it! Next time I'll try and make it a bit neater though.

So then I was able to finish warping the grey sections. I bought some brown paper from officeworks to roll it on (apparently this is important to keep the tension right?), still following Kate from Ashfords instructions (see video above).

Warping complete (finally)

So now I am ready to go, except I need to wind my other two skeins of yarn into balls. And I want to do this about as much as I want to attach the silk facing on my kirtle :D




*** Afterwards, I found this picture which uses two dining chairs to hold the skein while you wind. Probably would have been easier in the end. And now I have this giant coathanger device hanging around my lounge room because I have nowhere to put it.