How to Assemble a Cricket Rigid-Heddle Loom

Back in July, my friend Liisa posted on Facebook that she wanted to sell her barely used 10″ Cricket loom. At the time, I was diving deep into an ongoing fascination with weaving, and it was, coincidentally, my birthday. So I replied immediately that I’d buy it. Lucky for me, she was going to be in my neighbourhood that very day, so my gratification was damn near instant.

The next day, I pulled out all the pieces, which Liisa had repacked meticulously into original packaging, and set out to assemble the loom.

This was my first encounter with a rigid-heddle loom. Or, really, any loom except for those amazing massive floor looms you see in museums or weaving studios, so my knowledge of how they work was nonexistent.

Schacht, the company that makes the loom, has detailed instructions for putting it together, except for the instructions at the end. At the end, after all the screws are screwed in and handles inserted, the instructions effectively do a wild hand-wave while they mumble some incomprehensible nonsense, and then you’re told you’re all set and it’s time to warp your first warp.

So I set the mostly assembled loom aside and planned to work some Google action the next day.

Which turned into the next day.

Which turned into the very end of September.

Which is when I finally inserted into the Google something like, “What in hell are apron rods for and how do you attach them to a Cricket rigid-heddle loom.”

And what the Google returned to me was a five-minute video that explains in clear detail how to assemble the entire loom, no arm-waving or mumbling involved.

The video was produced by WEBS, a yarn store that has been dear to me for a decade and that I wish ever more longingly weren’t so far away, for they have saved me from crushing confusion.

If you, too, are flummoxed by how to attach the apron rods to your Cricket loom, I hope this helps you as much as it helped me:

Now that I have all that sorted, I look forward to actually weaving. Weaving! I’ve already started watching Angela Tong’s Rigid Heddle Weaving Craftsy class (which for whatever reason I can’t seem to link to), and I’ve got a copy of Liz Gipson’s brilliant book by my side. (And speaking of Spinzilla, I’ll soon have a whack of totally wonky yarn I’ll need to use for something.)

Do you weave on a rigid heddle loom? Got any favourite tips or patterns?