I found my pin loom in a rummage sale. I was drawn to the packaging, and at that time I had never heard of them or even seen one before, but I picked it up because I thought it would be a fun way to swatch yarns for rigid heddle weaving. In the last few years, there has been a revival of interest in fun little weaving projects like these, so this week I swatched a few of Berroco’s popular yarns on my Weave-It pin loom.
The first yarn that came to mind to swatch was Berroco’s Millefiori—a worsted weight blend of 50% Wool and 50% Acrylic in a silky single ply with a long-color repeat that comes in vibrant jewel tones.
Because Millefiori has a soft gentle twist it would not be well suited to a rigid heddle loom—all of the abrasion of the reed moving back and forth over the warp would likely cause breakage. But on the pin loom it works perfectly—I can imagine a lot of these sewn together as a blanket.
Next I tried Berroco Folio Color—another long repeat striping yarn. Folio is a super soft blend of 65% Alpaca and 35% Rayon / Viscose, and earlier this season we introduced the Folio Color line. I used shade #4592 Falmouth to make this swatch and as you can see, these squares don’t take a lot of the yarn—only 3 colors from the ball are showing in this square. The result is a fabric with a lovely classic tweed look to it. It would be really interesting to many of these and arrange the squares in a gradient pattern.
The 3rd swatch that I made was using Berroco’s Artisan—a nice round 2-ply with 80% Merino and 20% Silk. It is a rustic looking worsted weight that looks velvety when woven. The semi-solid dip dye almost creates a houndstooth pattern, like Ikat. I would love to see this yarn woven into scarves and stoles on a rigid heddle loom.
Have you tried weaving, or are you a weaver? What have you made with your loom?
You’ve been reading my [weaving] mind!
I’ve done some “small loom” weaving with Ultra Alpaca … Oh, the bliss! Gently felted it creates an amazing fabric.
I’ve some thoughts on rigid heddle weaving, too, but that’s probably for another blog …
Rigid heddle can be so much fun too! I love all the variations of fabric patterns you can create.
That looks amazing, I remember doing something like that at school however the end result was no way like your beautiful swatches!
I’m not sure I could have done this in school at all—I probably would have ended up tied to the pin loom!
I fell in love with pin loom weaving. I made a personal challenge to see what I could make with the little squares. You can see my Christmas set here:
http://www.yarnovations.com/christmas-pin-loom-project-set/
Those are some great ideas!! Thank you for sharing.
a little treasure find.
I have never heard of this but I would love to give it A go!!!!!
The only weaving I’ve done was with a “loom” I made from cardboard. It turned out quite well, but the “loom” didn’t last very long! I’d love to make a purse from red and purple yarn for my red hat events. Would need a loom that would last, though.
willow & maple
I “d like to try this loom – it looks intriguing. Any color of yarn would please me.