Weaving: First Impressions

For years I've thought I'd like to learn to weave one day, but the idea of setting up the loom inherited from my maternal grandmother (an heirloom?) has felt overwhelming. Then I've been eyeing the simpler and more portable looms I've seen people mention online, not quite sure what the differences are to the more traditional types of looms, and what one can make with them. At the beginning of this year I finally made the decision that now is the time. I'd been starting to feel somehow bored or unchallenged by knitting, and felt I was ready to learn a new craft.

I learned that there is a Finnish reseller to Ashford Knitters Looms, so I placed an order on one. Having read about other people's experiences, I knew I'd need more reeds than the default one that comes with the loom, so immediately I also placed an order for a set of extra reeds. I couldn't find a Finnish reseller for the accessories, so I randomly picked a German online store. It took about a week for both of those orders to arrive, time which I spent looking for information that would come in handy once I finally had the loom.

Having read tips for newbies and following the instructions that came with the loom, setting it up for my first weave wasn't too difficult, although I felt some details were glossed over in the official instructions. Since the extra reeds arrived slightly later than the loom, I used the 7.5 dpi reed and some sport weight yarn for my first warping. I was able to get a relatively good tension while solo warping. My first weaving turned out a bit better than I'd expected, and it was a good learning experience. My picks per inch didn't exactly turn consistent, but I learned how to control it. The selvedges turned out a bit neater than I expected from a first weaving project, but particularly the right side has some irregularities. The scarf also turned out way too short to be practical, but since I didn't really expect to get anything useful out of my first weaving, it's OK. I'm now looking forward to trying out various things with this loom, and I'm also excited about being able to make a dent into my stash by weaving, although I've read warnings that eventually weaving just makes you buy more, different types of yarn, so the stashbusting this loom is marketed for may turn against itself.