I'm On A Weaving Adventure

Tell me - How could anything look bad if you're using "Fancy Fur" in it?...lol

For a couple or so weeks now I've been reading up on and researching the craft of Weaving. I can't even remember what sparked my interest in it. It was probably reading about it in some one's blog. I love trying and conquering new things.

But, I've been having the worst time wrapping my brain completely around the concept (how it all works and how all the looms work). I mean I know how to weave pot holders like we all did as kids, but I was having trouble understanding what I call "real weaving". I think it's the terminology that's throwing me since it's all so new to me. And, it doesn't help when you purchase a cheap ($10) child's frame loom with rough places and a piece missing.

The piece missing was the shaft bar/shed stick that makes a shed for the shuttle/weft with the yarn on it to go through. I impressed myself with that last sentence...lol It seems like depending on what resource you read there are different names for the same thing or maybe I still just don't get it. I thought the wood, paint stir stick I bought awhile back at Wal-Mart should work as a shed stick and it does. YAY! The kit said to warp the frame with the provided yarn, but since it's a cheapy frame loom with rough places on it the yarn kept snagging so I decided to use some Poly Twine that I also bought awhile back at Wal-Mart as warping, and I think it's working well.

The book that I seemed to understand the best was "Foundations of Weaving" published WAY back in 1975 (the year my daughter was born) by Mike Halsey and Lore Youngmark. It's really basic and easy to understand. Even though some of the other books I checked out from the library were on beginning weaving, they still seemed to be above my head. Maybe now they wouldn't be so much.

It certainly is very relaxing. I think it would be really cool to own one of those floor looms and really know how to work it, but that's not going to be happening in this lifetime of mine...Maybe - Maybe a table loom one day though. It's funny, I just remembered the other day that I think my mom talked about her grandmother or maybe a great aunt or someone in her family weaving on a floor loom and watching her in amazement as she slid the shuffle through the shed back and forth at a high rate of speed.