Something New – Weaving!

I’ve been wanting to try weaving for awhile, due in part to a friend’s interest; she wants to create tapestries.  However, I’m most interested in making rugs.

This isn’t an entirely new interest.  I grew up with rag scatter rugs my grandmother made.  Later, I received 3 of them as wedding presents from my cousin, and I really like them.  Fourteen years later they’re still in great shape, but I’d like to be able to make more of them.

Last week I received an email that Puffy Mondaes was holding a table loom class this weekend, so I signed up, not knowing what, exactly, a table loom is, but knowing it wasn’t a Cricket loom, which is a small loom, so, while affordable, I can’t make a rug on it.

I thought we’d be making something different than a scarf, but that’s exactly what we started on, using a huck lace pattern.  This is a specific weaving structure, much like a log cabin quilt block is a specific quilt block.  The pattern is very much like a counted cross stitch pattern, but this was black and white, and read from right to left for the warp threading and up and down for the weaving pattern.  Reading those little black dots will make your eyes cross!

I had fun and met some great new gals.  None of us finished our project, though, so we have to find time to go back to work on it in order to get our projects off the frames.  I’m not sure when I'll have the time, though, as I have a customer quilt to work on and some 2” charms to cut up for the Curious Quilter’s postage stamp quilt swap, so now I have another WIP.

I learned a lot and now I’m better able to do some research for getting a loom of my own, should I decide to go down that road.  Oh, yeah, like I need another hobby!