7/15 - Made two more looms today, 10.5” and 12” square pin looms. Those are the measurements at the pins, the loom frame measurements are 12” and 12.75” respectively. Alternating black and white paneling nails placed every 1/4”. 43 pins per side on the 10.5” loom. 49 pins per side on the 12” loom.

Made 1st plaid washcloth on the 10.5 inch loom by alternating dark blue and denim colors every 11 pins. Started with dark blue. Final color change was only 10 pins. Starting with 11 pins down 1 side meant that first color block was actually 22 strands.

Already the weaving is more even. I am learning that looser is better. Edges are wavy loose and center is drawn in when removed from the loom. Wetting and shaping improves this but the overall size is reduced, even though the cotton yarn I’m using has been frogged from other projects and so, in theory, should be as shrunken as it’s going to get.

2nd washcloth I started with the denim color and 6 pins, which meant the color block was 12 strands wide. Then I alternated dark blue and denim 11 pins each. That left me with 4 pins left in the left corner. Since there were so few left, I mistakenly thought to just add them to the last color block for a total of 15 pins, but what I should have done was switch colors because, again, at the corner it would have ended with 8 strands of light blue. Instead it goes: 6 pins light blue (12 strands), 11 pins dark (11 strands), 11 pins light (11 strands), 15 pins dark (30 strands).

I’ll remember for next time.

7/16 - used 12” loom to make two more dishcloths, solid green and green and yellow plaid. The 12” loom makes the perfect sized dishcloth. Finally got the plaid right on the green and yellow plaid by, as approaching the last corner, counting the pins on both sides of the corner to determine where to do the final color change. In this case, it was 6 pins, including the corner pin.

2/6/2019 - Top picture shows dishcloths completed over the summer through September. Clockwise from top right: 2 plaids on 10.5 inch loom in blue jeans and dark denim; 1 done on 12 inch loom using continuous strand plain weave ☆ in forest green and blue jeans; 1 done on 12 inch loom using continuous strand diagonal twill pattern in dark denim; 1 in forest green, 1 in dark denim, and another done in forest green - all 3 done using continuous strand weave on the bias on the 12 inch loom.

☆ = warping instructions here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9nU3VIcHY3g, slipknot spanned first top and bottom pins like in bias weaving, also instead of leaving a long tail and cutting the warp and with a separate thread doing under/over that covers two rows, I measured out the weft by wrapping around the pins a certain number of times then cutting the thread (don’t remember how many times, but it wasn’t enough anyway so I joined more yarn which then ran out, so I changed colors, which explains the color change). I then went over/under all the way across, wrapped around the outside of the pin and the next row was opposite - over/under - all the way across, wrap around the outside of the pin, over/under, etc., etc. It was kind of a pain because the weft thread was sooooper long in the beginning and had to be pulled all the way across to the other side every single row. As you work your way up the square, the weft thread gets shorter and shorter, but still. Whew. The results are worth it, though. It’s a much tighter, more even weave and a more dense cloth.