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Feel free to use which ever pattern you’d like to try first to learn. I do recommend having extra yarn on hand, just in case. A great pattern to start with is the Fearless Infinity Scarf because there is only one color yarn change. Or if you want to practice changing color but only want to work with two colors, Sunrise from the Glen Scarf is for you! And if you’re unsure how to change colors, take a look at my post How to Change Color Yarn On your Continuous Strand Loom.
Step 1:
First get your loom in the right direction. As with all Stone Mountain Looms, the ‘markings’ always go to the left hand side on the stand. (Unless you’re left handed, then you can reverse this and put the marks to the right and start in the top right hand corner). Make a slip knot and slip it over the nail on the top left hand corner of the loom. If you’re unsure about how to make a slip knot, here is a tutorial.
Step 2:
Bring your working yarn (the strand attached to the ball of yarn) from your slip knot to the first mark on the bottom of your loom. Continue taking your yarn up to the next mark on the loom. Continue to zig zag to each mark until you reach the top right hand side of the loom.
*I like to wrap my first strand of yarn around the corner nail and the next nail on the bottom of the loom. This just makes it easier to weave later and will not mess up your nail count. -Ashli
Step 3:
Bring your yarn counter-clockwise around the corner nail. Follow your yarn down and go clockwise around the nail to the right of your first strand. Take your yarn up to go counter-clockwise around the nail to the right of your first strand. Continue this pattern to your slipknot.
Step 4:
Now that you’re back on the left hand side of the loom, bring your yarn clockwise under the second nail. Bring the yarn UNDER your first strand with the slipknot to the second nail on the top row.
Step 5:
Pull some slack on your working yarn. This will get more important the more your weave because it will make pulling the yarn through your work a lot easier later.
**This is where this shape loom gets a little tricky. Instead of just weaving normal like you would on a different shape loom, the rectangle requires you ‘twist’ your yarn as you work. I will explain this, with pictures, as we go.
Step 6:
Time for your first twist. Grab your magic wand (afghan crochet hook) weave under, over and hook your yarn attached to the last nail you placed it over. Carefully pull the yarn through your work, sliding your working yarn up so the ‘loose’ yarn, not attached to a nail, goes over top of your yarn attached to the last nail. (Reference Picture above)
Step 7:
Take the yarn attached to the last nail, make sure you have your weave, and place the yarn counter-clockwise around the next available nail to the left of your work on the bottom of the loom.
Woot! One twist down! That wasn’t so bad? Right? Trust me, with a little practice the twist will become second nature. Once it clicked for me, I had a lot of fun with the twist. Are you ready for the next twist?
Step 8:
(Reference Picture above)
Now we are going to bring the yarn up to the next zig zag on the loom. I find this twist is easier to do before I pull my yarn through my work. Working from the left side of your work, go under, over. Bring your loose, not attached to any nail yarn and bring it over top of your yarn attached to the last nail. Hook the yarn attached to the nail on your magic wand and slide through your work. Hook your yarn attached to the last nail clockwise over the next available nail to the left of the zig zag.
That’s it. Those are the two ‘twists’ you have to master to weave on the rectangle loom. An easy way to check to make sure you did your twist correct is to put a finger under each zig zag ‘V’. If all the yarn is over, under you’re doing the twist correct. If you see two over’s or two under’s you’ve twisted wrong. This can be fixed by working backwards, pulling out your work, until you reach your mistake.
Step 9:
Repeat steps 7-8.
Step 10:
Repeat step 7.
Step 11:
This is where your loom gets easy. Have you been wondering what we are going to do with that loose yarn traveling across your loom? We are going to take care of that right now. It’s time to ‘place’ your yarn since you’ve already woven it. Bring your yarn connected to the last nail and bring it up to the left hand corner. Go counter-clockwise over the next available nail.
Step 12:
After you’ve placed your yarn on the left side of the loom, you’ll notice the yarn is already woven. Grabbing the yarn on the right side of the first zig zag, slide it into place and wrap the yarn counter-clockwise around the next available nail to the left.
Step 13:
Follow your yarn down to the next zig zag. Don’t forget your weave. Bring the weave down into place, grab the yarn on the left side of the weave, wrap it clockwise around the next available nail to the left of your work.
Step 14:
Repeat steps 12-13 until you reach the left side of the loom.
Step 15:
Now you’re ready to weave again. Repeat steps 4-14 until you’re loom is full and you have one more nail left on the left side of the loom.
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Step 16:
Pulling two strand of yarn through your work is very difficult at this point and you only have one more strand to weave, so instead of struggling with two strands we recommend you ‘measure’ your last strand. (See picture) By measure, bring your yarn without weaving, over your work to the last nails in your zig zag pattern until you reach the right hand side. Leave enough room for fringe and cut your yarn. Now weave this last strand through your work. Since there is only one strand you do not have to worry about any twist.
Step 17:
Tie off your last strand. Pull your slip knot off the first nail on the left side of your loom and tie off. You can add fringe to your work, or you can simply pull your work off the loom.
*There is no need to ‘bind-off’ your loom. Your edges are all interwoven and will not unweave when you remove your work from the loom.
Congratulations! You’re done!
*I hope these instructions were easy to follow and did not overwhelm you. As I’ve mentioned before, this is my favorite shape because the twist makes it a lot of fun to weave. And, I love love love scarves. I’m a little bias here. I hope you had fun!
~Ashli
