Loom I've Inherited: What Kind?

Recently I was given this loom from my beloved grandmother's estate. She ordered it in 1978, and never ever used it. I was wondering what kind it was, what easy projects I could start learning on it with, and also what fibers would be best to get started with.

Many thanks!

It's a rigid heddle loom. Looks like a nice size, especially (but not only, by any means) for a beginning weaver. Nice! I'm not really a weaver(yet), but I've been looking into them, and there are several weavers in one of my fiber arts guilds. You might look into local guilds, for someone who can teach/ mentor/ coach you, more hands-on, than we can, here. But, there are many weavers on YouTube, craftsy, instructables.com, and more.

I'm not sure how big it is, but it looks like coasters, scarves, mug rugs, and such would fit, but then there's also the thought that you can bind smaller woven items together, to make bigger things, too. Congratulations on your new loom,  and I'm terribly sorry about your loss.

This is a fun little loom.  Rigid heddle meets frame loom.  Very good for learning to weave and tapestry weaving.

Mugrugs or coasters are a great place to start.

That looks like a Beka rigid heddle loom. They are surprisingly versatile! There’s a great video on warping a rigid heddle loom here— It’s not the same brand as your loom, but the basic process is still the same and she does a nice job of explaining.

While I love weaving with wool now, it’s not the fiber I’d recommend starting with. Wool can be quite stretchy, and that makes getting an even tension on your warp quite difficult. Linen can also be a challenge for a new weaver, as it can stick to itself quite readily and breaks easily if the humidity is low (there’s ways to deal with that, of course, but let’s start easy, yeah?)  Start with cotton, as it’s not stretchy and is quite smooth and durable.

Ravelry.com has a couple of great forums for weaving, including one just for rigid heddle weaving. I’ve found the people there very helpful!