A New Adventure

 I'm a quilter at heart, and I expect I always will be. But OMG, I've found a new hobby!

Over the summer, I visited my sister and we went to a small fair in her neighborhood.  I saw a weaving demonstration there, and I was entralled. How did she do that?  The weaver had created a sampler that was 2" squares, and every square was a different pattern. I could understand every row (or set of rows) being different, but how did she get the pattern to change ACROSS the row?  My engineering brain latched onto it immediately!  

I chatted with the weaver for a while, and got a general understanding of how it works, but now I wanted to know how to create those designs.  I went home still thinking about it, and not being a very patient person, I found myself trolling Kijiji for looms within a week.  And trolling, and thinking, and missing out...  And then I found one. And my wonderful sister was kind enough to deliver from Prince Edward County all the way to Ottawa.

I of course had to load something up right away.  This was a complete mess - I lost my cross so the threads were a complete mess, but I did my best to turn it into something I could play on.  I broke about 3 warp threads, and learned a whole of what not to do :)

 

 

But I pushed through, played with some different treadle patterns, and got my first "piece" off the loom. then I tossed the rest of the warp threads (all 2 1/2 yards) that were irretrievably tangled.  The weft is some chunky yarn I had on hand - my original plan was to weave all my yarn stash into "something".

 

That's still an option, but...  I needed a few odds and ends (and a few more, and some more) for the loom as it came with no accessories at all.  So, when I ordered my shuttles I added some weaving yarn to the package. I thought I could make some Christmas placemats. For NEXT Christmas, because I'm not completely crazy.  So, the fancy cotton arrived, I found a neat "starter" project from a book that included all the details about how to calculate number of threads, and length, and everything.  Added a bit - because why make 4 placemats when you could make 6.  And, more carefully the time, warped my loom.

And here is some practice with more scrap yarn.

 

 

After which I jumped right in, and voila!  Placemat number 1.  I learned that you can actually unload a piece off the loom, and retie the warp to continue the next project.  A friend - the weaver from way up top and also the previous owner of my loom - suggested taking the opportunity to wash & dry this piece, because I was unhappy with the density (very loose) on the loom. It tightened up nicely, so now I go onward!

And here is the start of placemat #3. A different weaving pattern, because it's important to keep things interesting :)