This post may contain affiliate links.
Zoom Loom from Schacht
MSRP: $39
One of my recent purchases at the Knit and Crochet Show in Indianapolis was a Zoom Loom. The Zoom Loom is what’s referred to as a pin loom. You use it for weaving small squares. They have instructions for 8 different projects using the Zoom Loom on their website. I tried mine out last night and made two squares. One was in Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton (the reddish coral color), and the other was in some green fingering weight wool I had laying around.
My two squares.
Yarn Weight: The loom pins seem to be sized to work best with a DK weight yarn. The fingering weight I used resulted in a very open, lacy piece. The worsted weight cotton gave a nice dense finish, but it was much harder to work (1 hr and 30 min as opposed to about 25 min for the fingering weight). There are several reasons why the worsted weight square could have been harder to work: the thicker yarn, the inelasticity of cotton, or perhaps, since it was my first time, I wound the warp to tight.
See my fingers through the green square? It’s because the fingering weight yarn resulted in a very open weave.
There is a notch to hold the yarn tail out of your way as you work, but my yarn tail kept falling out of it anyways. The inner edge of the Zoom Loom points downwards which does make it easy to hold as you work.
So What Now? It really does not take that much yarn to make a square on the Zoom Loom. It’s definitely a good way to use up leftover skeins. I think once you get the hang of it, it won’t take long to make a square. I can easily see myself popping out a set of coasters or seaming squares together for a washcloth or potholder. I’m not sure I’ll make a scarf or shawl’s worth of squares, but you never know.
Have you tried the Zoom Loom? What has your experience been like?
