The Triangle Loom

Sorry for another pictureless post, but I just want to say this.

1. That line in the ads for trilooms that says "Weave an entire 7-foot shawl in less than a day!" is total bunk when you're a beginner. Maybe if you take "a day" meaning 24 hours, but certainly not in an afternoon or evening. I wove half a shawl Saturday night, then off and on throughout the day Sunday in between laundry, lunch, a trip to the store, dinner, and the Oscars I wove another 1/4 of a shawl. The going gets slower the closer you get to the middle because there is a lot more actual weaving going on. That takes a while if you want to get through it with no skipped strands etc. 

2. Get yourself one of those big plastic hair picks right away. I killed my fingernails and fingertips on Saturday night working without one because I was too lazy to go to the store and in too much of a hurry to get started.

3. Weaving on a big triloom is a full body workout. If you're not used to standing in pretty much one place for a long time and reaching around a lot you'll need to stop once in a while to do some knee bends and stretches.

4. Don't use a yarn that pills fairly easily. There is a good amount of dragging going on, and it can get kind of icky looking there in the middle. I'm using this TLC acrylic crap yarn and I've already had to defuzz the center part twice just so I can keep dragging threads through there without them getting tangled up on pills. (damn junkie threads)

5. If you use a varigated yarn it plaids itself and you only have to switch off when you run out of one skein and start another. This is really good since it's a total pain to try to get the knot lined up on the very edge so it won't show in the finished product.

6. Don't turn your back on the cats. They think the loom is a giant jungle gym you built especially for them.

 

Pictures tonight. Stay tuned.