We will be making a forest home for a forest gnome. After we create the house base, we will be adding windows, doors, and landscaping.

Every loom provides a frame that helps the weaver stretch the warp out. This can be as minimal as a couple small sticks (as in a backstrap loom) or a large edifice that takes up an entire room. The warp is the length-wise yarn that is attached to the loom.
The most simple loom would require the weaver to weave the weft (that's the yarn that goes back and forth) over and under each warp yarn. This method is fairly time consuming and weavers have devised many shortcuts for separating the warp threads so that the weft yarn can be quickly interlaced. The open space between the warp yarns is called 'the shed,' (think of it as looking a bit like the profile of a shed roof). A shed is usually created by a shed stick turned on edge or a series of heddles that the warp threads pass though and let the weaver manipulate groups of warp yarns all at the same time.

A shed can be created by lifting certain warp threads (called a rising shed), by lowering certain warp threads (called a falling or sinking shed), or by simultaneously raising and lowering warp threads. One of the key differences between looms is the type of shed they create and how they created it.

All Schacht Looms & Wheels are currently 10% off until the end of the month!

The Wolf looms are ultra portable and solid. All Schacht looms have the EASIEST tie-up system. Widths range from 18" to 45" with 4-8 shafts.

All Harrisville Looms & Yarns are currently 10% off until the end of the month!

Quiet, small, & portable. Fantastic for lightweight projects. Loom waste is super minimal!

Countermarch looms are very popular in the Scandinavian countries and most of the new countermarch looms you can buy today are built in Europe.

Countermarch looms work by simultaneously pulling some shafts up and some shafts down. Unlike the counterbalance, each shaft is controlled individually. This means that you can tie up a countermarch loom any way you like and it will still work beautifully. Rather than balancing shafts against each other, countermarch looms have two sets of lamms that lift and lower the shafts. It can sometimes be tricky to tell apart some countermarch looms and a jack loom with upper jacks, but just look at the shed and see if it opens up and down (countermarch loom) rather than only lifting some warp threads (jack loom). You can read more on Glimakra USA's website

All Glimakra Looms & Yarns are currently 10% off until the end of the month!

Quiet, versatile, and built like tanks. These are classic looms that will never go out of style. The overhead beater and countermarch action makes this one of the most ergonomic looms. Easy on the knees & shoulders.

The rigid heddle loom is in a bit of a special category as you only thread every other warp yarn through a heddle (the other goes through a slot hole) that is ALSO your reed. When you physically pull the shaft/reed up, those half of the warp threads go up. When you push the shaft down, those same threads go down. This creates an interesting effect where your heddle-hole warp threads are doing all the work. As long as you are not weaving with a very stiff material like linen, the yarns work themselves out to remain balanced. In order to get fancy sheds with the rigid heddle loom, you need to use pick up sticks and/or extra shafts/reeds.

Rigid heddle looms really shine for quick weaving (I've seen Liz Gipson dress a loom for a scarf in 18 minutes!), versatile pick up that is more impractical on a floor loom (the pick up stick goes behind the shafts), and extreme portability.

Sincerely, Suzie, Staff and Buddy (the shop puppy) Eugene Textile Center 2750 Roosevelt Blvd., Eugene, Oregon 541-688-1565 www.eugenetextilecenter.com