Making a Scarf Loom

It is almost Thanksgiving and what am I thinking about?  Well a sane person would be thinking about making Christmas presents.  But me?  Well if you have been reading this blog for any time at all, you know I am not sane.  I have been making a scarf loom.  I first saw this on Pinterest, you can find the link about it here.  I have had the idea swirling around in my head since I ran across it several weeks ago.  And since I am not in Ohio where I had planned to be this weekend, I decided to whip this baby up.  

I visited my local Home Depot, bought my supplies and for under $25, I now have a scarf loom.   Many of you probably have these supplies at home, we are not fixer upper type of people so we did not.  I do not trust my husband with tools and frankly I don't much trust myself either.  I bought a 1' x 6'  pine board, some sandpaper and some nails and got to work.  

The link has lots of great information that I won't repeat here.  I sanded my wood down to make sure there were not any rough areas to catch my yarn.    I went over the whole board with a nice olive oil to get all the dust off of it and condition the wood.  Don't tell my husband but I used his good  oil.

I measured 2 inches up the board, drew a line and measured 1/4 increments along the line starting 1 inch in from the side.  Repeat on the other end.  It doesn't have to be perfect as you can see from the above photo.

If you decide to do this little project, be sure the nails you use do not have a big head on them, it will be much easier to remove scarf from the loom if you can slip it off the top of the nail.

After your loom is put together it is time to set it all up.  The warp is the thread/yarn that goes lengthwise, the weft is the thread/yarn that goes horizontally.   To make the warp, I made a slip knot and attached it to the nail and the moved to the corresponding nail at the opposite end of the board, attach here with a slip knot, being careful to pull the yarn taunt.   Be sure you leave longer tails for the warp because you can use these later for fringe.  The scarf will be narrower than the measurements of your nails so keep that in mind and plan for a wider scarf than you intended.

A tip that is provided in the link is to place a dowel in the over under weaving pattern so after you go one direction you  have an easy return.  You just thread your yarn right through the openings near the dowel and it is almost like returning for free, no weaving involved.  I used a big knitting needle and it worked perfectly.

I used a long needle that was threaded with my weft yarn to make it easier to make it across the loom moving over and under as indicated by the row.  I threaded a couple of yards of yarn at a time and pulled it through  You can make a shuttle with cardboard or a wooden paint stirrer if you would rather do it that way.

 Another hint is to make the first several inches of your scarf with yarn you are not going to use, The scarf will be wider near the nails and will narrow a bit to the size it will be for the rest of the scarf in  an inch or two.   As you can see I did not do this, so mine will be wider at the end, or I can just pull some of it off until I get to the the area where the size is more uniform.  You can stop making the scarf when you have the desired length, you do not have to weave all the way to the end.  Just remove it when you are ready, tie the warp ends together and make fringe.

Be sure if you have help making the loom that you do not bore your help so much that they take a nap. 

That is it, an easy peasy scarf loom.  My problem is that I knew I did not have a lot of time to make a whole scarf, but I knew I had to make this loom, you know how that goes.  I have put the scarf loom away for now.  When I get it out again after all the Christmas stuff has been made I plan on using all different types of yarn, different textures and colors to make something fun.  I think it might be a great way to use up scraps, and when not in use it can easily be propped up against the wall in a closet. Think of the fun you can have making scarves, a table runner or even a series of woven trivets or coasters.

 Okay back to these cup cozies, oh and the two scarves I have planned, and maybe a shawl.  I had better get busy.

I almost forgot to thank you all for visiting my sister to wish her a Happy Birthday, she loved all of your messages.  And one more thing, special thanks to all of you for your well wishes for my son.  He is not healing as well as they would like him to be so he is scheduled for and MRI on Monday.  The worrying never stops does it?