Sunday, November 06, 2022

Vintage toy loom

At the weaving guild meeting this past week, one of our newer members brought in a toy loom she found at a thrift shop. She offered it up to anyone who wanted to fool with it, and it was just so darn cute, I had to take it home.


After performing a little research, I've come to the conclusion that it is a vintage toy loom made by a Swedish company called Brio, now defunct apparently. It's either that or a very good copy of one.


Later models have a bright red rigid heddle, but this one uses eye heddles. I don't think they are all there, so they may need a modern replacement.


I don't know how to warp a loom like this, but I'm sure I can figure something out, courtesy of our local library. Anyway, something new to fiddle with.

Knitting: Working on the crown of the pink 'Graham' slouchy hat.
Spinning: I switched to fine spinning Romney, with its longer staple, but 14:1 was still too tight a twist, so I dropped to 11:1. I think this will work better. Ready to ply.

Weaving guild meeting was about card, or tablet, weaving, all demo, no hands-on (we meet in rather cramped quarters). I think I would like the results from card weaving better than inkle weaving, as the fabric is denser and more sturdy. Right now I can't do much of either, pending shoulder surgery.

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