Weaving?

Dressed loom from the work side.

Back in the summer, I bought a loom. I'd been looking at weaving for awhile. Getting into weaving is a little difficult, because looms are expensive and there are a lot of loom manufacturers. (The same could be said of buying a spinning wheel.) I ended up with an Ashford table loom. This is a rather nice little loom, in that it folds and can be slid under a bed or stacked along the back wall of a closet. This also means it can be easily transported to workshops. And the 24-inch/60cm width is just right for a folding card table.

Dressed loom from the back side.

The loom sat in my home from mid-summer to mid-autumn. In November, I decided that it needed to at least be put together. So I did that. After another two or three weeks, I bought some Kauni yarn, put a warp on the loom, and wove.

Sampler

This is just a basic sampler. I used a straight threading (i.e. shafts 1-2-3-4 in order left to right front to back). As you are looking at it from left to right: tabby, 2/2 twill, 1/3 twill, 3/1 twill, Swiss twill, zig zag twill, basket weave, rib weave, 1/3 & 3/1 hopsack, and double-faced twill. The different lengths on the fringes indicate the differences in loom waste. As you can see, I can work the front of the loom with very little waste. Even the back isn't bad. If you find the right spot, you can make a shallow but passable shed and have less than 12 inches of waste.

I bought two colors of yarn. One is white throughout. The other is a brown that is rather reddish. I didn't realize until I had warped the loom that the pinkish brown and white together made it look like bacon! So I guess this is my bacon weaving sampler.