Last week I ordered and received a Harrisburg Potholder Pro, because I needed bigger potholders than what we've been using, which were too small for our aging hands. If you saw my previous post, you read what happened when I tried to weave one on my Martha Stewart plastic loom with cotton yarn. It was big enough, but very flimsy, and the little pegs kept coming out while I was trying to weave. So I gave in and ordered this metal one.
It makes an 8" x 8" potholder, which is plenty big enough. The loom came with enough cotton loops to make two potholders, a metal hook for pulling the loops through, and a metal crochet hook.
I know it looks rectangle here, but it's just the angle I made the photo from. It's square. I'm a little rusty, and I didn't get the first rows pushed down enough, which caused me problems getting the last five or six rows pulled through, especially the last three. The warp was so tight I had to really work to get the hook through, let alone pull a loop back through. I had to poke the last loop through using the crochet hook. My arm and hand were sore and hurting by the time I got them through, not to mention the fingers on my other hand were sore from trying to hold the loom by those little flat metal pegs.
Nevertheless, I got all 27 loops of the weft pulled through all 27 loops of the warp. Then I thought getting it off the loom would be easy, and it was, using a slip stitch, on three sides, but when I started the last side all of the loops came off the pegs and in handling them the warp loops came undone and slipped back through the last weft loop. I didn't have too much of a problem with that, until about half way across, the last loop got twisted. I didn't notice it until a few loops later, and had to go back, untangle, figure out, and re-hook the last several stitches about four times before I could live with it. The one corner still doesn't look exactly right, but I got er done and we're already using it! Hubby loves it!
I don't plan on selling or gifting these, so a wonky corner is ok for us!
I thought I might make one, just to try it out, and let hubby do the other while he's watching TV, but last night I picked it up and started the second one while I was watching TV and he was on his computer. This time I made sure I pulled the first weft loops down good and tight so maybe the last loops won't be so difficult to get through. I also ran a wooden dowel over and under the top warp loops before I began to hold them up, making it easier to pull the weft loops through. It's kind of an expensive potholder, but way better than the bought ones, and besides that, they're fun to make, especially if you don't have other things you want to create, which is why I'm hoping hubby will enjoy making them. I ordered an extra bag of loops, so we will see!
The second one went much better and easier, except for the last edge when I was taking it off the loom, when the whole edge came off the pegs and half of the loops came undone two or three rows down again. I had to unhook and re-hook the loops at least four times before I got them all woven again, and I still didn't get the corner loop right, so I took some embroidery thread and re-enforced the fourth corners on both potholders, because I didn't trust them to stay put. The dowel at the top really helped, plus I pulled every row of the weft loops tight after I pulled them through, and the metal pegs didn't make my fingers sore from holding the loom while I wove this time. I didn't make a picture after it was off the loom, but it looks very much like the first one.
These are also good to set hot stuff on, or they can be stitched together to make place mats, rugs, pouches, etc., kind of like crocheted granny squares!
The potholder adventure continues, as well as all the other projects that I have started...
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