Kromski Presto Rigid Heddle Loom - 10" & 16"

The Kromski Presto is a rigid heddle loom for people who do not have room for a loom. It sits on a table you already own, and when you are done the beams and braces pull out, the heddle blocks rotate, and it lies flat enough for a shelf. Kromski build it in Poland from European alder, unfinished unless you choose Harbor Blue.

Is this your loom?

Buy it if storage is the real constraint. Most small looms fold into a wedge. This one comes apart and goes properly flat, into a drawer, a closet gap or a suitcase.

Look at the Harp Forte instead if you want to leave a half-woven project on the loom, or warp long. Kromski state it folds with the project in place and make no such claim for the Presto, and its built-in warping board means your warp length is not set by where you can clamp a peg.

Look elsewhere if you want to weave fine. A single Presto reed stops at 12 dent, which puts lace weight, light fingering and the fine weaving cottons outside what this loom will sett.

10 inch or 16 inch?

Loom width is width in the reed. What comes off is narrower, because the selvedges draw in and the cloth shrinks when you wash it. Plan on losing around 15%, nearer 10% in cotton and up to 20% in an elastic yarn.

• 10 in (25 cm) finishes near 9 in. A scarf, a cowl, mug rugs, a bag strap, and the quickest way to sample a handspun at sett. Not a towel or a placemat.
• 16 in (40 cm) finishes near 14 in. All of the above, plus a kitchen towel, a table runner, placemats, and a baby blanket woven as two panels and joined.

Take the 16 unless you weave on your lap or are buying for a child. If you can get to Spokane, sit at both. Reach across the reed decides it and a photograph will not.

Specs, and what each is for

• One 8 dent reed included. Dent count is warp ends per inch, so it sets your sett and caps yarn thickness. Kromski's rule is that the warp moves through the slots and holes without constriction on every beat, so a yarn too fat for the slot abrades itself on each pass. A fat yarn in a fine reed does not work at all.
• The dent ladder, and it is width specific. We stock all four in both widths: 5 dent for bulky and thick handspun, 8 dent for worsted, 10 dent for DK and sport, 12 dent for fingering and sock. A 10 in loom takes 10 in reeds only, so check the width before the dent.
• Two heddle blocks, each cut for two reeds. The manual carries Kromski's notice that the block now takes two reeds, so a current Presto holds a second one, opening pick-up and double-faced work. The Weaver's Choice reed mixes yarn weights across one warp.

In the box, and warping it

The loom, the 8 dent reed, two stick shuttles, a pick-up stick, a warping peg and two clamps, warp helper loops, a two-ended threading hook, and a skein of yarn with scarf instructions. The shuttles, stick, peg and clamps are what most looms make you buy separately.

You warp directly off the peg. Kromski's booklet sets it 80 in (200 cm) from the back dowel rod, so clear that plus the depth of the loom, on a table you can clamp at both ends. The apron strings go over the outside of the metal beam. This is what owners get wrong. First, take the rubber bands off the dowel rod and try to lift it over the black bar. If it will not come cleanly, your strings run under the beam and the shed will fight you all project.

Unfinished alder, or Harbor Blue

The unfinished loom arrives as raw alder to seal yourself. Finish the parts while they are flat and apart, and leave the reed alone. Alder carries darker reddish-brown flecks, so your loom will not match the photograph exactly, and that is the wood rather than a fault. Harbor Blue arrives finished. A fitted bag and a floor stand are made for it in each width.