Weaving (Not the Hugo Kind)

I start every hobby/craft I’ve acquired in recent times* with the words “Well, its nice to look at, but its too ______” (expensive, time consuming,  not my thing, etc).  Fast forward to a few months later, and I find myself peering at articles, or looking at tools, and before I know it…boom! I’m buying some fiber and a spindle, or a used spinning wheel, or something.

For the past year or so its been weaving that’s been in the back of my head. I kind of thought you needed a fancy loom – and those guys are expensive.  About three months ago, I was at my parents house, and going through some old books. One of them, an old art textbook called “ArtTalk” which is from the 90s or so, and probably stolen from my high school, had an article on weaving that made it seem easy – you just needed some household materials. I did some more research, and yes, lots of people start weaving with just cardboard, string and a needle. Hooray!

The book that started the dream of cheap experimentation.

I’m going to play around with it – with the goal of playing, without actually spending any extra cash, and using materials I already have.  One of the things I tend to fall prey to is the “Buy the BEST tools because if you don’t your work will suck” line of thinking. Its something that I really fell hard for when I first got into spinning, and while I love my wheel, I’m trying to move on from tool-snobbery, and embrace entry level playing.

In the meantime, since I have nothing to show except a ton of research I’ve done, I thought I’d share my three favorite sites that have get-started articles:

• This article at Craftystylish by “Sister” Diane (from Craftypod) outlines the method I chose to go with – cardboard, yarn, needle.  She also wrote a book called “Weaving Unloomed” which I’m eager to get – again, provided I enjoy it.
• If there’s anything Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood can’t do, I don’t really want to know. She actually sells peg looms that are something I would think about getting if my goals for playing around weren’t “get started with what you have.”  This article, though, on how to make a book loom is incredible. As I also have books, and Mr. Linus Hates Me has nails and a hammer, this might be my second thing to try.
• Saori Style Vacation Loom – Is a great, slightly more artsy look at the cardboard loom. If you want to look at other types of Saori weaving, and its something I absolutely plan to do because it looks so interesting, you can check out Pam’s other post on the subject. The two actually kind of go together.

Oh, by the way, paper? You’re next.

*Also: Parenthood.

This is day 16 of 30 days of Fiber. To see all posts, visit here.