March 17, 2014

Opalyn:



My new peg loom with several feet of weaving completed.

While attending various fiber festivals, I have discovered several types of looms that interest me. Triangle looms and peg looms both fascinate me and I decided to look on eBay to see what is available. I found the 16-peg loom at the left and made a quick purchase so that I could explore this weaving style. Below is an empty peg loom giving a good view of the warp holes in the weft pegs.

An empty peg loom showing the warp holes and weft pegs.

I started by selecting a thin-diameter weaving thread for the warp and a lofty yarn for the weft.

One peg with warp thread and weft yarn.

Warping this loom is similar to threading needles for sewing. Each peg is threaded with one warp thread through the warp hole near the bottom of the peg then the thread is pulled to its center. Continue threading each peg until the loom is warped.

One peg threaded with the warp thread.

Keeping the threads organized and untangled will help things go smoothly.

Close up of threaded pegs.

Keep threding the needles.

All sixteen pegs threaded and ready to weave.

Now it is time to pick up the warp yarn. I chose a thick, soft yarn as I wanted to make a scarf. I started at the right side of the loom. Leaving several inches unwoven, just start weaving the yarn in front of one peg and behind the next all the way across. Take a full turn around the end peg on the left and start working your way back across the loom.

Getting started.

But wait, we've got to weave in the end, so go back to the right side and weave the tail "between" the first and second rows.

Back weave the tail.

Continue weaving the warp yarn going in front of one peg and behind the next and taking a full turn around the end pegs.

Keep weaving.

Weave the yarn in front of one peg and behind the next.

Keep going until the pegs are getting full.

Here is where we transfer the fabric from the pegs to the warp thread. Start at either end and pull each peg (one at a time) up through the warp plus enough warp thread so you can replace the peg in its hole.

Start removing the pegs, one at a time, pulling the warp thread through the woven fabric.

As you work your way across the loom, make sure that the fabric is on the same side of the loom as the warp threads.

Continue removing pegs and pulling warp thread through the weft.

At this point, I weave a bit more before removing the last pegs. This will help keep the weaving even and not leave a gap.

As you near the last pegs, weave a bit.

Once the fabric is on the warp, start weaving again. Repeat this process of loading the pegs and transferring the weft from the pegs to the warp.

Continue weaving and moving the fabric down onto the warp.

One of the neat features is that you decide the density of the fabric as you slide the weft down onto the warp.

A section of fabric.

Continue weaving until you have reached your desired length. I ran out of yarn and so my scarf length was nearly decided except that I needed to decide on the density. I could squish everything together, making a dense fabric and a scarf of barely 2 feet in length or I could stretch things out and have a scarf nearly 5 foot long.

To finish everything off I decided to knot the warp threads together across the scarf and leave about 8 inches of warp thread to dangle or maybe I'll tie more knots and have a really decorative edge.