Hankering for Yarn

Small looms I love-Band looms -1

by Noreen on January 21st, 2008

I think I must have had a lot of lifetimes weaving on narrow looms.

I just have this thing about looms that weave narrow bands.

I love love love them. Perhaps it’s because I like to design with modules…. I don’t know…….. anyhow, my love of weaving narrow bands and strips has made me gravitate towards the family of band, tape and inkle looms.

I recently wrote about the Vesterheim Museum Cradle loom.

It’s a beautifully made loom, and is wonderful to weave on.

I have 2 quibbles with it, though…

See that curve at the right hand upper side? Well, it gets in the way of smooth weaving. I may gather up my courage some day and reduce that decorative bit to make it more functional. Don’t get me wrong… it is a lovely loom, but that ‘bump’ does slow things down and I constantly knock my wrist on it.

My other quibble with this loom is that it doesn’t come with a heddle.

Now, the instructions tell you how to make a string heddle:

Which I quite like on frame looms, but I am not particularly pleased about it for the cradle loom.

Luckily, googling reveals that there are a couple of places you can get small rigid heddles that fit the loom quite nicely:

rigid heddle

and:

Harrisville looms rigid heddle 7inch size

and, the Woolery offers several sizes of narrow rigid heddles. Yay!

Woolery rigid heddles 

If you are into historical re-enactment, then I think you’ll be pleased with this loom. Actually, anyone who likes weaving narrow bands will love it.

Thumbs up on the Vesterheim Cradle loom!

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POSTED IN: small loom weaving, weaving and handweaving and looms