Where there's a will, there's a weave

There is a yarn in my stash which has been begging to be woven since it was spun in July. It is a "wolf yarn" created using a bouclé draw, which is a technique I'd been wanting to try since reading about it in Judith MacKenzie's, Intentional Spinner. The fiber batt wasn't screaming to be made into anything else, so wolf yarn it became.

It's one of those crazy textured yarns. A kind I've never enjoyed working with. Sure, it looks fun… until you screw up and need to rip it back. That's where weaving comes in. It shows off the yarn without the interlocking, fuzzed-together impossible-to-detangle loops, which would be part and parcel of trying to knit or crochet with it. Problem is, no loom.

Darren said he would like for me to buy one (I'm leaning toward this one), but with his impending knee surgery, it seems the height of fiscal irresponsibility. So, for the last few weeks, I've been scouring my brain — and the internet — trying to come up with a feasible DIY solution.

Today, inspiration struck. Using nothing but a cupboard door, flaps from a diaper box, a couple pencils and some crochet cotton, the loom has been assembled. Using the short flaps, I made a set of two peg boards and taped them to the inside of the cupboard, one on the bottom and one on the top. The cupboard has a child safety lock on it, so everything is sort of clamped in place. Once it was warped, I folded some packing tape over the boards. They are pretty flimsy and need all the help they can get.

Pencils and crochet thread create two harnesses, which lift the threads for the shuttle to pass under. The shuttle is made from the two long flaps of the diaper box.

Right now, the diaper box loom seems to be functioning. After a few passes, it is clear the warp could be tighter and the harness threads should be a tad longer. I also need to rig up some sort of brake to keep them from sliding down into my work area. Another challenge will be keeping the kids out of it.

It seems the fabric is going to be pretty loose. That's purely a guess as I have no experience and no way of knowing. If that is the case, a light felting is always an option. I guess we will see how it turns out. For a free loom, I'll take whatever I can produce.

Now that's done; dishes and laundry faithfully await.

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