Also known as a bandvev. These hand-carved Norwegian looms were used to weave narrow bands. Often carved by a suitor and given to a young woman, it was a useful and decorative object. I found this one at an antique store, first assuming it was a replica. It’s a bit too fragile to use, but it’s neat, isn’t it?
Photos of other band looms from a Norwegian digital museum.
A blogger who weaves bands on a grindvev.
I finished this one the day before Christmas Eve, just in time to wash it, dry it over a radiator, and trim and tie the fringes. Woven on the Emilia using an 8 dent heddle and a simple 3/1 lace pickup pattern, I used slubby, handspun alpaca. The result was a pretty, incredibly soft and warm scarf. I only snapped these two pictures before waving goodbye.
I warped, wove, washed, and wore this scarf during a blizzard warning! It was two hours on the loom total, hand-washed and dried overnight on the radiator. When I wore it shoveling out from the 10”+ of snow the next morning, I was quite happy with it tied snugly around my neck. (And even happier when my neighbor drove up on his tractor and plowed our driveway!)
I used an 8 dent heddle and white acrylic for the warp, Rizotti (color: Marry) for the weft. The weft yarn is a blend of wool, mohair, nylon, and acrylic, and I found I hardly needed to beat it. It's very, very light and fluffy. I had a notion to make this a ruffle scarf by tugging a center warp thread and gathering the scarf in a little bit, but once I started, I didn't hold the opposite end and whoops! I pulled an entire thread out of the scarf. After scratching my head and laughing a little, I realized I kind of liked the look, so I pulled out two more warp threads on purpose.
The slubby texture led to some bumpy selvedges, and I just didn’t care. The one color change I messed up (you can see the color go from gray to white all of a sudden) didn’t bother me. It was a scarf woven during a blizzard! I mean, really!
These two weekend splurges, I mean totally necessary purchases, were crafted by area weavers. Susan Johnson of Avalanche Looms (blog | shop) wove the gorgeous wrist warmers (no two alike!). The sock-baby-doll-in-a-nest (braided of vintage fabric) is made by Joanne Adragna Shird. Super adorable, must-haves for the season.