I Can Haz Loom!

I finally got my loom!

It's a Harrisville Designs 4 shaft loom, about 30" wide and maybe 48" tall? I love it!



I took that picture yesterday, before I had messed with it at all. My friend Jen agreed to come over Friday and help me get yarn and warp it for a project. I picked out a kitchen towel set to weave, and it turned out that my reed was too widely spaced (6 dents / inch), so either I need to pick a new project with thicker yarns, or get a new reed. I'll see if Weaving Works has reeds that will fit this loom; if not, I'll start with a different project.

Today, in preparation for Friday, I took some time to at least straighten out the straps and pulleys and make sure everything was strung correctly. The pulleys at the top that hold each harness were threaded incorrectly and strung over each other and prevented things from returning to a normal static position, but I think I fixed most of that. Jen may have to help me fine-tune some stuff, though.

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I carded these batts over the weekend. Aren't they fun? Just a mix of what I had lying around - a lot of SoySilk in those batts, for sure (mostly it is the shiny peach colored fiber).


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I broke down and ordered some stuff off Etsy. I found this seller called Shunklies off of someone else's blog (can't remember where, sorry!!), and they had a delightful kettle dyed roving that just really spoke to me. I also picked up 100 g of scoured Norwegian fleece for a song.

Here's the fleece:



Here's the roving! Isn't it neat? It's called "Humbug". I just checked, and there isn't any listed right now. It's combed Shetland.


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Finally, some knitting progress. This is to be Daniel's sweater. Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Hand to Hand" sweater, using Cascade 220 superwash, size 10 Addi Turbo needle. I'm making the 38" chest sized sweater, and modified the cable up the arms. Instead of hers, I am using the "Nautical Twisted Rope" cable pattern from a Barbara Walker Treasury (can't remember which one, either!). The picture doesn't show it, but I am actually very pleased with the 220's stitch definition. If you're not familiar with this sweater pattern, the way it works is you start at one cuff, knit up and around to the collar, leave a hole for the head, and knit down to the other cuff. Then you pick up stitches below the torso portion of what you just knit, and knit straight down, in the round.