LouLou & Toulia: review

I have had the opportunity to purchase various brands of yarns and accessories from my local craft store (Golden Dragon) and up-and-coming studio at MOX Singapore, Craft Atelier. For more specialty yarns (e.g. variegated hand-dyed natural goodies), I will go online. Here are some of my rampant purchases from the past two months. *gulps*

GOLDEN DRAGON
This has been one of my go-to store for sewing, needle felting and other craft needs for the past decade, and I was so stoked to finally be able to have reason to browse and purchase some super gorgeous yarns from their wall of yarns. I have yet to find another store stocking such a vast range of delectable yarns in Singapore.

Their audience for yarns is the crochet and knitting group, not much for weaving. However, I find some of their cotton yarns work for warp as well but could get pricey. They also stock macrame cords, basket weaving supplies, raffia and loop rug hooking kits.

As you can see from my purchase below, they stock popular Japanese brand, Hamanaka, and also others like Sirdar, Sublime and other Italian and international branded yarns. They however do not stock kid mohair x silk yarns. :( Lots of wool, cotton, acrylic, polyester, cupro and silk, though, which is more than enough for weaving.

CRAFT ATELIER
Not really an all-out yarn shop (though there is also a wall of yarn here that shouldn't disappoint), but more a studio setting with a variety of floor, table, rigid heddle, inkle and frame looms. They also have a Hello Hydrangea frame loom in residence. On top of teaching weaving, they also teach yarn spinning, yarn blending, knitting and crocheting. Their store has a wide selection of looms and also lets you experience weaving on their looms for a fee. They are the Singapore retailer for Louet, Schacht and Saori looms.

They do sell warp yarns for both tapestry frame looms and fine warp yarns for floor and rigid heddle looms. I got my cone of 20/2 cotton thread from them.

GIST YARN

This is the shop I visited after knowing Allyson Rousseau's works. I've gotten two cones of 8/8 Brassard unmercerised cotton thread and a few 8/4 cotton threads for warp. They also stock useful accessories like wave shuttles by Ashford and 3-in-1 magic sticks by Schacht. After I got myself a Schacht Rigid Heddle Flip loom from a local shop Craft Atelier, I've also ordered a variable dent reed and other cones of alpaca, tencel and Ito yarns to experiment with.

The shop owner, Sarah's service is perfection and she is very helpful and quick to respond to questions. I have never been disappointed with my orders.

MISS BABS
I wanted to get a Schacht Lilli loom and this store turned up in my Google search stocking some beautifully coloured yarns with intriguing colour mixes like Wild Iris as well.

I was looking for DK/worsted sized yarns that were affordable but they had more fine yarns instead. I was also very excited to own some vibrant coloured pinks (as shown on their website) and ordered a Mini Trio of pinks together with a lovely sky blue, candy pink and vibrant violet.

However, I was most disappointed by the mini trio pinks. On the site, the pinks looked vibrant and healthy, but what I received was dull and lifeless. Thankfully, the Pink Positive Yowza skein on the left did not disappoint (which was strange). Why is it some colours are accurate while others aren't? The violet appeared darker in my photo above, but in reality, was quite close to the original vibrant violet. So was the blue, named Chirp.

They included a free sample of another yarn which had colours that I find unappealing, and also some knitting rings. Overall, I wouldn't buy from them again unless I need superwash Merino textured yarns. I find these tend to keep their shape very well even after I rya knot them to trim off as tufts, which is not the effect I'm after.

WOOL AND CO.

I was searching for shops that stocked Rowan's Finest yarn in 065 Love as I was knotting up a beautiful deep red heart with the single skein I found from Golden Dragon. The store told me they only had that one skein left and wasn't sure if they will restock (but after a few weeks I returned to the shop to find 2 more! Which I quickly picked up since it's a discontinued range)...

It is in this store I found the colourful Malabrigo yarns and also how they offer free US shipping with any amount ordered and free yarn winding service. Super sweet folks!

From them, I ordered mostly Rios sized yarns and one Rasta. The Rasta and one of the Rios will be the main yarns for a new project where I hope to weave colours of the underwater. The mint green and aqua blue will be accents for the surface of the water. Can't wait to see what happens on the loom, but I can only work on it after the current waterfall piece I'm weaving on the Funem Studio XXL loom is finished. (Or I buy another large loom...)

Hi everyone, I've been wanting to share more information on the various types of frame looms out in the market so people who are new to weaving can understand their differences and how to get the weaving outcomes they want.

I may not explain all the basic terms enough assuming everyone knows the basic terms like warp and weft, so do feel free to Google them up or ask me in the comments section.

First up are these two styles of frame looms most popular around here:
The notched frame loom with heddle bar on the left commonly sold by Kaliko Co. and Funem Studio and the simpler loom with raddle segments/plastic teeth with pick up stick sold by Schacht Spindle and Louet.

THE NOTCHED LOOM
The notched loom was my first loom and I got a lap-sized one to try and here are some of its parts explained.

Adjustable Tension
This loom has screws on the top and bottom notched bars to allow for adjustment of the warp tension which I find very useful over time, as the longer you leave your piece on the loom, the warp threads will slacken from the constant stretching. You can easily tighten or loosen your warp threads before, during and after your weaving!
Adjustable Length
Another useful thing to note about these screws is, with the help of some table clamps, one is able to take one side of the notched bar as long as you want on a table and do an extended length of work longer than the loom itself. You can also work on this like a rigid heddle loom. See how Kalico Co did it!
Heddle Bar
Another useful point is the heddle bar (that angled piece of wood with notches in the middle). It helps you separate the 'over' and 'under' warp threads for super easy tabby weaving. This item would relate much to the Rigid Heddle Loom's reeds, which are also much like the heddle bar, allowing easy separation of the alternate rows of warp threads for efficient weaving.

These looms are usually limited to a wide 7 epi/threads per inch, which is suitable for thicker weft yarns like worsted, rovings, bulky etc. If you want to weave with finer yarn, you may need to bundle up a few strands to form a thicker weft.

This is the tutorial I referred to on how to warp this type of loom. And it's a high density warp which I find keeps my weavings intact. I usually weave non shaggy pieces and tapestries on this loom as the gaps between the warp threads are larger.

THE SIMPLE LOOM
The simple loom was something I got after watching Allyson Rousseau's tutorials on the way she weaves and how she achieves tufted shapes. She showed how she made her looms using nails and canvas stretcher bars, which I also tried, but was not satisfied by my own imperfections (inaccurate spacing of nails, nails falling out etc.).

These looms allow for warping up to 11/12 epi, making the warp threads closer to each other and allowing for weaving with finer yarns and you can also preserve the warp ends to use as ready-made fringe. I initially didn't want to use this loom because it felt like a lot of work to weave tabby stitches without the help of a heddle bar. Below are some of its parts explained.

Pick up Stick
You can choose to weave without this tool, as it acts like half of a heddle bar. It lets you pick up one alternate row of warp threads when standing only. When you weave the opposite direction, the shed stick needs to be flattened.
Raddle Segments/Plastic Teeth
These allow for two different setts. You can use either a 6 or a 12 epi on the Schacht Lilli loom. I have not experienced slackening of my warp threads on my Louet Extra Large Lisa loom so perhaps that's why there was no need for any adjustment mechanisms?

TYPES OF WARPING
Even within these two types of looms, there are various ways to warp your loom for either a low or high density warp, see how A Pretty Fix explains it.

As I weave more projects, I have found that each loom has its advantages over another based on the final piece you want to achieve. I'm still not that clear on how different they can be but will hope to find out as I weave some more. :)