I reveived my first RH loom, a 24" Kramski Harp, yesterday. I know a little bit about weaving, a lot about fiber and nothing about RH looms except what I have read over the last several days. I got a catalog in the mail from Knitpicks, gave it a flip through and the picture of the loom beside the spinning wheel spoke to me. I have had a Kromski wheel for years. I don't spin on it much anymore having grown bored with kntting my own yarn. I watched a few weaving videos and ordered the loom right away.
I then watched more videos, ordered a book, downloaded another and read everything I could get my hands on (without spending too much more money), while I waited for my loom. When it arrived yesterday I was pretty confident I would be a weaving fool quickly. It want together easily, that is of course not taking into account that I put together nearly evey piece backwards. There were little feet sticking up that should have been on the bottom, that sort of thing. The screws to the pawls seemed way to big and when I got done I had four tiny screws left over in a nice brass. I still have no clue where they go. Once it was all together I put together the stand, same experirence, feet backwards and the like. It would have been rather quick except my mind wasn't right. My loom gave the option to string the braided strings in one peice or to cut them equal lengths and melt them. I had an experience in the past replacing my drive band on my spinning wheel that required flame. I was ready to take those puppies on. I only had to redo one of them and started no fires.
Then came the warping. I decided to go easy (chicken out) for the first time and use the warp peg. Now I had two clamps with my loom. I wished I had three. I also have not a single long table in my house that has a thin enough edge for the clams (oops). Undetered I decided I didn't need any stinking table and clamped the loom onto the one small table with a narrow edge I did have and the warp peg onto my desk across the room. Do not try this at home. It worked fine until the single clamp on the loom slipped (no suprise there) and halfway through all fell to the fllor. I could only save half the yarn (due to a loss of patience). I got it to work eventually, I will be warping on the back of the loom in the future or buying a new diningroom set. Eventually I started weaving with all the purple yarns I could find.
Thanks to all the posters here and online who have sent me in the right direction! It wasn't pretty, but I am weaving! When I figure out putting up a picture it will be in my account here.