Small loom..

We made a small loom to practice on.  It's portable. Since we'd be gone most of the past month and I didn't want to wait to begin learning to weave, we made it to haul it along.  This is the beginning of the first project.

Beginning.  The loom is just a frame with nails set every 1/4".  I wrapped the wool warp yarn back and forth from nail to nail without leaving a crossover in the center for the different shed.  Instead, I just wove the shed stick under every other warp, then added the stick for the pull shed.  Because of the size of the piece, it was quick and painless.

You can see the  nail heads better here...

THEN- the pressure from the warp yarns split the wood.  The nails so close together weakened the soft fir of the frame!  I about freaked clear out.

After calming down, I decided to pick up each warp and attach it to a wooden slat, then reattach the slat to the frame.

This is how it looked after the repairs.  Works just as well and I can keep going.  I've got stripes figured out, patterns have been more challenging.  I'll write more about them when I'm sure I have it worked out!