How to make your own backstrap loom for a few dollars

A little background. A backstrap loom is a weaving loom where the tension on the warp threads is maintained by a strap that goes around your waist, while the other end of the warp threads are fixed to a stationary point... a tree, doorknob, table leg, or other sturdy item. The shed (the space between the up and down threads that you weave between) is formed by a rigid heddle device made up of slots and holes... warp threads move freely through the slots, but are moved up and down when in the holes. You manipulate them by moving this heddle up or down, depending on which row you are on.

So I give you: The $2 backstrap loom

What you'll need: One piece of inkjet printable shrink film
(one brand name is ShrinkyDink, but there are others), sharp pointed scissors or exacto knife, scrap yarn or stout cord for the strap, an unsharpened pencil or dowel about the size of a pencil, a single-hole paper punch (standard size) and my schematic image (shown below)



Following the directions on your shrink film packaging, print the above picture on an 8.5x11 sheet, using the entire sheet of shrink film for the one image (check your printer settings carefully, use print preview, and if possible print on paper first to make sure it will come out correctly). Cut the two large rectangular pieces apart... this will create two heddles.



Believe me, it is easier to mess one up than you think! The main rectangle shape does bleed over, but this is normal.



Cut out the oval slots first while leaving the main rectangle whole... this is why pointed scissors were essential. Poke through carefully! This is when I put a tear in mine that eventually became the snapping point.



Once the oval slots are cut out, it will be easier to get to the holes with a paper punch... but be careful, as the film can still tear. MAKE SURE you leave solid parts on either side of the punched hole! If you get too close to the edge, when it shrinks that part will break, and the hole will not work properly. I know it's a tight fit, but center it as best you can.




Once you have all slots cut out and holes punched (don't worry too much about neatness, the next step will smooth out a lot of rough edges) it's time to shrink! Follow the directions on the package, but pay attention to any tips they give for even shrinkage. My brand recommended lower temps for a longer time. However, every brand I've seen still only takes a few minutes even at the lowest settings. (I placed mine on a sheet pan lined with a scrap of tinfoil for baking)

Remove item from the oven when done BUT DO NOT TOUCH IT until completely cool. My first one I skewed the slots into snake-like shapes by picking it up too soon. Let it cool completely.




Mine shrunk to about a third of its original size... you won't be using bulky yarn for your warp on this little guy... the holes get pretty tiny. But it's a good, cheap alternative if you want to make purse straps from fingering weight, or give the kids a vacation project.

Warping and weaving with this little gadget is a whole other post. However, with a few YouTube videos and my own cussing and fighting with it, I managed to muddle my way through a few inches without any weaving training.



This was done with some leftover Knitpicks cotton/something yarn. The shrinky heddle was definitely hard on the warp threads if you used it for beating down the woven weft threads... so I switched to using my finger instead. There would probably be less wear on a wool or synthetic blend. Also,

I had intended to show this item's construction on a video, but it took way longer than my time limit just to cut out the parts. Even with editing, it was a long, long vid. And then to top it off, about ten minutes after I snapped the progress picture above, I tried to use it to beat down the weft thread, and broke it at a weak point where I tore the plastic film before shrinking.

So the end result of this experiment? If you've got a pack of shrinky film, and want to try weaving to see if you like it, this is a good way to get started. As for me, I'm ordering my loom later today... but no stand. That $110 can be saved till next payday.

Not stirring that up...

While it would be very tempting to say things like "Just because I drink tea and live in Texas doesn't mean I attended a tea party." I'm not going to go political in this blog post... much. That's as close as I'll get. However it does remind me of Tim Curry's character in Clue: "My wife and I had friends who were... socialists! Well, we all make mistakes."


If you ask me, if the industry in this country is going to continue to urge the American public to spend beyond its means via commercials and its attitudes, then we're going to need socialized medicine and other programs to help them out when the crapola hits the fan.

See what I did there? Went political anyway. Done now.

I'm in the midst of an experiment. I know I said I was ordering a rigid-heddle weaving loom for my birthday gift tomorrow, but I keep looking at the shopping cart total and thinking that it's an awful lot of money. It's not like last year with my purchase of my spinning wheel... which I have not regretted for a single instant. No, I know I will LOVE weaving. My problem is with the fact that while the loom itself is a specialized piece of equipment that is not easily duplicated, I am balking at the expense of making it fully functional. An extra heddle is $45! The *stand* to make it freestanding (basically seven sticks held together by bolts) is $110 fricken dollars! For sticks! So if I want any extras, my $250 loom becomes a $700 purchase. That's an extra heddle in the other two available sizes, the stand, extra shuttle (another stick), and two cheap cones of yarn. And two cheap instruction books from Amazon. I can't spend that.

So the experiment is fashioning my own backstrap loom. Pictures and how-to may follow. It depends on how it turns out later today.

The Majesty of Space Bags

In our tiny apartment, I've been getting that crazed, overcrowded feeling that makes me cranky. In an effort to reorganize better, I started taking my roving inventory out of the clear plastic Rubbermaid tubs and packing them into Space Bags... those storage system bags you see on TV that you suck all the air out of? Such total life savers! They were made for items whose bulk is mostly made of air. My entire inventory is now the size of a travel garment bag. Very awesome. And testing shows that the roving bounces right back once open, even after prolonged storage.

I think my whole personal stash is going to go this route too.

I have finally finished Clue #1 of the Mystic Rose knit-along shawl. Kept going straight into Clue #2. It seems essentially the same as one, just wider. I've made a crap-ton of mistakes that I will NOT rip back to fix, however I may make another one at a later time in a different yarn. Not right away though. I've discovered that I NEED a mindless, no-chart-needed knitting project to go with my complex ones, otherwise my brain tries to shut itself down.

I have not gotten much further on the Silk Roses roving I am spinning. I did a little of it yesterday, but since I've been trying to catch up on the shawl, I have not been spinning much since I started it. I do want to get it spun up before I order my loom for my birthday. That's going to happen sometime later this week.

Two rovings were posted to my shop last week, along with some new stitch markers. I have a couple more sets of stitch markers coming too... the coordinated sets of Czech fire-polished glass beads make for some lovely sets.

Limited Edition? KMA!

I have officially decided that the economy has made everyone crazy. Stable, reliable companies have started flaking on customer service, making irrational statements, or making insane business decisions.

Ignoring some of the crazy things computer gaming companies have said and done in the past couple months (Sony? Wise up!) let's focus on the world of fiber, yarn, and other homey type items for a moment, because that's what this blog is (supposedly) focused on.

In the past month, I have seen a huge rise in companies offering "limited edition" yarns and patterns. This past week, Knit Picks announced that their Palette sock yarn samplers (which have been so hugely popular they are almost never in stock) are going to be discontinued. Wha?! Doing the math for a moment, if you wanted to buy all three sets with enough to make a pair of socks in every color, you'd have to spend $210. I don't know many people that have that money laying around. My goal was to do just this, though, but one color set at a time. That's $70, which is a huge chunk of change all on its own. Knit Picks is also the company who created one of those adorable Sock Monkey patterns, also wildly popular, as a limited edition. I think it was avalable for all of a week before it sold out. And don't GET me started on the whole Wollemeise situation... that's a blog unto itself.

Now yesterday I get an email from DVO, an electronic cookbook company. I only use their organizing software, but they offer 100's of titles with pre-formatted recipes. Famous names like Betty Crocker, Taste of Home, etc. They're discontinuing their "Buy all our titles now!" package, because supposedly they lose too much money every time they sell it. BUT WAIT! We'll sell it to you for the next two days, then it's GONE! Hurry! Drop $400 in our wallet! Please!

I find that their cries of "Oh, it hurts us" less credible when they urge you to buy it... and then send you reminders every day.

Look, people... and by people, I mean companies... if customers want to give you money for something, and you make a profit with it, LET THEM. This "Limited Edition" nonsense may give you a short monetary boost, but it will hurt you in the long run. My husband's pay schedule has changed to less frequent but larger payments. Since I rely on sales for my own income, I'm pretty much at the whim of the market. I may not HAVE the money by the time your super-duper item's deadline occurs. I will probably have bought all these items eventually (well, not the cookbook package... I have too many titles already) but I am NOT going to make myself crazy trying to SCRAPE UP $210 for yarn on YOUR schedule!

All it looks like is that companies are afraid the money is going to run out, and they want to grab as much of it as they can before it dries up. Stop acting desperate.

I realize these are last-ditch efforts companies are taking before they have to start firing people or cutting pay, but honestly this kind of economy is where the cream is going to rise to the top. And if you're left standing at the end of all this, but you've put a bad taste in my mouth with your behavior during a crisis, I'm going to stop shopping with you. I've already dropped one supplier for flaking on customer service, care to make it two?

On the horizon

Two colors of roving drying in the drying room today. A new, experimental "one should not dye stuff when they're on the verge of getting sick" colorway, and an old favorite, "Purple Heart". It took forever for my roving supplier to send me out my last order, apparently because they couldn't come up with a full 8oz. of the merino/silk blend I purchased as a treat/experiment for a week.

Naturally I am now afraid to dye it. :/

I am tempted to dye it in "Beth's Roses" so I can spin up some laceweight for the Mystic Roses KAL I joined. The still-slightly ill and procrastinating part of me wonders if I can dye it, spin it (and spin enough of it), and have the yarn *ready* for the start of the knitalong. I'm thinking no.

I do have four undyed hanks of the natural version of Knitpick's Palette yarn. That has more yardage (undyed) than the author used for her shawl, but less than the recommended amount. I *could* also knit it up undyed, and then try the hand-painted post-knit dyeing technique I've seen floating around Ravelry lately. I'd get to set up my large vertical silk-painting steamer. I'd also have to buy dye thickener to keep the colors in place. Ah, decisions decisions.

*eyeroll* As though I've ever finished a shawl I've started yet. *snort*

Bring out yer dead...

I was seriously contemplating going to the emergency room yesterday.

On Friday, little Aquamarine (or Monkey Pants, as she is sometimes affectionately known) came down with a nasty virus. It was a good thing she spoke up when she did, because otherwise its volcanic effects would have ruined the day of about 30 kids on the schoolbus right at the beginning of their half day before Spring Break. Then nobody would have had any fun all week long.

By Saturday afternoon, she was fine, but then I succumbed. I am not rebounding as fast as the mighty mite, however. I have that same icky feeling you get after a round with some really powerful antibiotics. I won't gross you out with the symptoms that made me think I was bound for the emergency room, but lets just say I looked and felt like a horse that had eaten too many green apples, with no relief in sight. It got to the point where I was pacing from one end of the house to the other, hoping for results.

Fortunately Barronius (the hubby-beast) has not succumbed, despite his rather touching attendance to the ill and near-dead in the house this weekend. He must be washing his hands like I warned him to repeatedly. He's a very manly-man in that respect... thinks that no germ would ever dare touch him. I shall hate to be there when something does, because I'm pretty sure his lack of experience will make him a very whiny patient.

Anyhoo... the point of this whole thing is to explain my brief absence, and let y'all know that packages may ship out slowly for a bit. I'm going to be performing a serious decon on everything as soon as the energy levels get back up to par.