Although this was one of the first few experiments I made in handwoven clothing construction, and it definitely shows its beginner bones, it’s one of my favorite projects.
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This is design 12 in the treasure-trove that is SOARI, a volume chock-full of styles created and woven by a women’s collective in Japan.
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I haven’t proven to be much of a natural at getting a good feel for selvedges, so it’s been important that I take the path to Carnegie Hall approach to learning. (Practice, practice, practice!)
But I like a little variety in my projects, so when I determined that I’d make a batch of mufflers, I decided that I wanted to experiment with texture and differing thicknesses of yarns. I bought a variable reed for my Cricket.
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I had a hard time learning to make even selvedges, and started with cotton threads. I still don’t feel very confident about selvedges, but realized early on that the only way to learn how they feel, and how to produce them well, was to practice, practice, practice.
Wool, and wool-like, fibers, are a lot more forgiving, but practicing with the far more unyielding cotton was invaluable!
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I’ve written about this pattern before, but this time I’ve made a version a little closer to the original. This one works much better than the previous one, thanks in part to the softer fabric, which drapes much more nicely than the first version.
I love that it’s a fast, easy and rewarding one for beginning weavers. It’s also amusingly versatile to wear, since it makes up into a vest-like wrap, a shawl, and a sort-of-a-poncho.
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This is a portion of the first piece I wove on my own. It’s a great example of the way in which a very simple, beginning-weaver project, can turn into more than the sum of its origins!
The fibers are just craft store crochet yarns, woven in alternating stripes, on what was then my brand-new Cricket loom.
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This is a rather fun garment which lends itself to all kinds of yarns — and can be woven on a 10 inch/25 cm loom. I wove it on my Cricket, which is wider, but (more or less) kept the dimensions of the Schacht pattern, which is called, amusingly, but not succinctly, It Was A Vest at Times It was a Wrap at Times. (Whew!)
I wove with an 8 dent reed, using a 100% wool Turkish yarn called Poems from Wisdom Poems Yarns, in colorway Arles 601 for the weft — and my well-loved Harrisville Highland in Iris for the warp. I’m not sure I love the way the variegation of the Poems worked in this case, but, no matter, the colors are wonderful.
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Plain weave isn’t usually very exciting by itself, but learning to do it well is an essential for rigid heddle learners. A clever way to make beginner projects more interesting is to choose a variegated yarn in colors you love.
This cowl wasn’t the first thing I wove on my Cricket, but it might have been, as it’s so simple to make that anyone can do it. It’s just a rectangle of cloth, but I love how the variegated yarn makes it look so much spiffier than a solid color plain weave!
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My 15 inch/38 cm Cricket loom came in a compact box, unfinished, and in pieces.
However daunting this appears, assembly was, in fact, pretty straightforward, and the instructions clear.
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When I first started weaving on my little loom, I was vexed because there was no good place for me to set tools where they would be accessible. Then I saw the Wolf Trap on the Schacht website and knew I had the answer. The problem was that Schacht doesn’t make a similar apron/sling for the Cricket. Naturally, I made my own.
Here’s what my finished sling looks like on my 15-inch Cricket loom:
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Several years ago I saw a Cricket loom on a stand in a store. “I’ll never do that” I said to Mr. W. “It looks too fussy, too complicated.” I sew; sewing is as simple as one wishes — or as uncomplicated. I thought of it as “my craft”, and, at least at the time, figured it was enough. All those parallel threads on the loom made me twitchy.
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