Floor loom, got one... now what?

Question

I now own a Floor loom, you know for weaving stuff... It is 45 inches wide, 6 peddle's, 4 headdles or what ever... I checked locally and no weaving/looming clubs.... do have a couple old books that came with it... but looking for some support, info etc..

doing the baby steps thing... you know.. starting simple and go from there...

thanks for the posts.. I will continue to dig and been reading books that came along with the loom that the previous owner had... we started a basic weave today and and learning lots... will check into the contacts...

oh... in the North West.... so Spokane or Seattle is the clossest place... I will snoop around local sewing place and see if someone can help me find a local person.... this is kind of neat to do... even if I am a dude kind of thing... very enjoyable thus far... long way to go though...

Answer 1

ROTFLOL!!! You have a loom and don't have any support, you have a lot of learning to do, weaving is work . However, find yourself a copy of Deb Chandler's book *Learning To Weave* which is about the best, basic weaving book out there and walks you through all the steps needed to learn to weave. I've taken a workshop with her, best money I ever spent when it came to weaving.

Ok, you have a four harness (heddles are the things in the harness frames to run the weaving threads through, btw) with 6 treadles, which is usual. Depending on where you live you may want to search for a weaving guild, or a weaver's studio, rather than a club, or check the pages at Interweave's Handwoven for educational resources. Learning to weave can be done on your own, but it is better to find someone who can teach you. If you live in the Northeast, check out Harrisville Design's workshops. They run several reasonably priced weaving workshops thoughout the year.

Answer 2

You might start here
http://www.glimakrausa.com/choose.html
Basically you have to decide the pattern in advance because that determines how the long threads of the weft will be run through the heddles. In the simplest patterns there are only two groups of threads raised alternately when you push on each of the two peddles.
You will have to lay out all the threads for all the length you are going to work plus extra to allow for grip on the roller(s) between the space where you are working the take up. Each thread will have to go through a heddle in order and be fastened to the roller and eventually all of them will be pulled taut and fastened in front. This is time consuming for any width and helpful devices for controlling the yarn are available.
I would suggest that making something not too wide (8" to 12") and with enough yarn to make a couple on the loom might be a good start.