This Christmas my husband gifted me perhaps the greatest present you could ever buy a fiber artist: an Ashford rigid heddle loom! I took a couple of weaving courses in college and have really been missing the art form over the past few years.

While I am knowledgable in weaving on a floor loom, the rigid heddle is a new venture for me. Things that I’m loving about it so far:

1. It’s so light! I can move it wherever I want.
2. It doesn’t take up a lot of space. Slide it right under the bed if you want!
3. Warping it is a breeze. Less than an hour? Yes, please.
4. It allows me to use a wide variety of yarns. Suddenly yarn scraps have a purpose again!

Hands down, an awesome option for beginner weavers as well as those who may not have the room to dedicate to a floor loom or the money to invest in one.

My new loom is the 32” model which is amazing because it allows for me to create patterns up to that width but also as narrow as I would like. This means I can make blankets as well as scarves!

Because the rigid heddle loom is new to me, I’ve been using the last six weeks as a learning period – experimenting with different yarn weights, colors and patterns.

So far, one of my favorite designs is buffalo check. This trendy pattern is honestly the simplest you could create on the rigid heddle loom and, when created with contrasting colors, yields striking results.

Pattern

Warp: 4 red, 4 blue (8 ends)

Weave: 4 red, 4 blue

I followed this pattern using Caron Simply Soft yarn in red and navy to create this super cozy scarf.

Seriously, so simple! I’m curious, what are your favorite buffalo check colors?

Stay tuned for more pattern exploration updates and don’t forget to follow along with my weaving adventures on Instagram.