My Ashford Knitters Loom arrived yesterday! I've been thinking about learning to weave, and I figured I should treat myself after the crummy August I've had so far. Knowledge of yarn and knitting probably gave me an edge, because it didn't take very long to get the hang of it. I was very pleased to see that yardage goes MUCH further on a loom than it does on a pair of needles, because one 50 gram ball of chunky yarn made a whole scarf with some left over.

I didn't want to waste a ball of good yarn in case I messed up, so I chose some itchy old handspun and cheapo nylon thread for the first attempt. It came out okay except for the stiffness--I packed the rows down way too much. (It's funny to me that beginner weavers make the same mistakes as beginner knitters. "RRRR! It's not tight enough!!") The first one (the green one) took about 2 hours to complete, and I felt confident enough to immediately "cast on" (warp on?) for another one. I finally got to use the yarn I bought in New York 2 years ago! The main ecru yarn is 100% cashmere, the pink is 50/50 cashmere and silk, and then I added a little strand of tweed every few rows. I love it!

Adam was skeptical but interested to learn how the loom worked. After initially scoffing, he admitted he thinks it's neat. After all, weaving is a man's game.