Tadpole Knitting Loom & Card Weaving

I got a new knitting loom called the Tadpole. It's made of wood with metal pegs. I like the look and feel of it and it's portable. I took it with me on a roadtrip and started a new lilac scarf. The directions say to use a crochet hook to bind off but the kit doesn't come with one. It does come with a bamboo tool with a slightly bent metal tip for lifting the loops over the peg. Before you start I recommend getting a hook around size B. While you are at it put a yarn needle and some small scissors in the kit as well. I've made baby booties with it. I had hoped to make socks, but it seems the company sells other more expensive looms for that.  I bet I can invent some though.

On another note, some of my friends have been doing card weaving. I'm tempted to get a better set of cards than the ones I made a few years ago out of needlepoint canvas. There are some nice ones on Etsy. Not that I need another labor intensive, low paying activity. I'm just a sucker for things like that though.

Weaving With My Portable Loom

On a whim I cruised through the children's section of the library and picked up a craft book.  (See photo). In the book I found directions for making a super easy loom.  I've been weaving almost daily ever since. I'm having so much fun. And I love that it's portable so I can take it to the park or an archery gathering or to the beach and weave.

My friend Barbara took this photo of me weaving.

Small Weaving

I've been trying to figure out some weaving on a square loom I got that was originally sold to make potholders with stretchy fabric loops. After I did this part I added some tassels and hung it on a dowel. I'm not quite finished with it. I want to add some seashells or driftwood or something to it next.

Weaving on a Board Loom

As I scour the web trying to figure out why my weaving isn't going so well, I came across this cool weaving blog and when I have time I'm going to go back and read more of it.

I'm using my new loom from the Threadbanger tutorial only the sides are pulling in something awful and I'm trying to find the cure for that. Anyone have a hint? I'm weaving too tight, but when I try to do it looser it doesn't look right either. I'm using yarn instead of fabric so maybe that is the problem. Or maybe my longwise yarn is too loose.

I am enjoying it even with the mistakes though so I will keep at it.

I like primitive crafts and rustic weaving. I know those of you will computer generated weaving gizmos are probably scoffing at me, but this loom will fit in well with my paleoplanet.net group who like to do things in a primitive way. It's crude, but that's part of the charm.