Not exactly sure why I'm saying "our" except that I love my daughter's new weaving loom. It arrived under the tree at Christmas time and we do love it. It is an Ashford Knitter's loom ,which though made in NZ can be purchased locally, and it is particularly designed to take some of the new knitting yarns. It has a wide eye reed that makes it possible to use the bobbly and funky and furry new yarns. Tess and I had gone to the Spinners and Weavers exhibit at CSIRO last year in April 2010 and really enjoyed it. The ladies were very patient and spent quite a bit of time with Tess talking about weaving and spinning. We both came home and thought we'd like to try that.My mother-in-law has since visited and delivered her old spinning wheel to us. We aren't quite ready to try spinning. We'll start with the weaving and see how we get on.
Aside from the loom, we also got a book specific to this loom with patterns in it, and one of these super lovely 4 season yarn and sack clubs, and on Christmas day Dad was pressed into service and set up the loom. On our first run through we used some old wool that was hanging around the house. She's pretty diligent my daughter and that first scarf came off the loom within a few days - even with all the Christmas stuff going on.
Then she got Dad to set it up again and this time we used the beautiful blue wool that came in our sack club. Unfortunately, we had some company from the kitten. I mean wool, moving wool, bits going back and forth - excitement, tantalising excitement for a kitten. Still, he had to be moved and he thought about it for a millisecond and then tried to get back in by climbing up the screen. Hmm.
No - stay out. So here's one happy girl about half way through the setting up process. While the weaving is really straightforward, the setting up is a bit technical (sheepish - hence the Dad).
Sorry this photo is a bit blurry but this is the small person pretending to be an annoying kitten but it does give you some sense of the process. The loom can be folded up and stored in a tote bag when its not being used. But it is dead simple to use in front of the television and quite a bit of progress has been made on this blue scarf. As mentioned in previous posts, Tess is the kind of crafter who just gets going. She's not fussy and fiddly, like I am. I'm like my Dad and she's like my Mum. Funny isn't it, how genes express themselves. It's good we work together. I add a bit of methodical steadiness and she adds the flair.
