I remember the first time I saw a fiber-producing animal. It was at the petting zoo in Greensboro, North Carolina, where my grandparents took me to feed the ducks. I don’t know exactly how old I was, somewhere between preschool and school. In one pen off to the side was a llama and I was …
The fell is formed where the last laid weft pick is pressed into place. The fell line advances as the weaving advances. Crooked fell lines are the bane of rigid-heddle weavers. The rigid-heddle reed isn’t fixed in a straight line as the reed is on other loom types. Because of this, we rely on our …
I’m often asked about the best ways to measure your work as you weave. Although I’ve covered various methods in my books, patterns and classes, I have yet to write about this subject on the Yarnworker blog. Here is a round-up of my favorite ways to keep track of where I am. Markers When I first …
The more I teach, the more I learn. A few years ago, I wrote a post about how to create more space on your cloth beam. Since that time, I’d thought more about the issue and have a much simpler way to work this maneuver to create space on your cloth beam. This method is …
During the latest weave-along, we have been exploring warp-faced colorwork to weave bands on a rigid-heddle loom. This has led to all sorts of exploratory questions about tape and box looms, many of which utilize a rigid-heddle style reed as the shedding device. Every weaving culture has some sort of band technique that expresses their …
One of my favorite things to do when visiting my mom in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia is to go to the local thrift store. Tucked in a corner is a section where the staff and volunteers sift through the donations and pick out special items to set aside for silent auction. I’m grateful that …
It happens, you warped up and things are just not going according to the plan in your mind’s eye, so you want to take the warp off the loom and save it. From time to time, I have weavers reach out to me asking what to do in these situations. There are a couple of …
Yarnworker is turning eight. This blog post summed up why I wrapped my weaving enthusiasm around the name Yarnworker. While I didn’t know what specific form this space would take when I started Yarnworker.com, I did know that I wanted a place to express my love of working with yarn within the weaververse as it …
Four years ago, a chance meeting at a trade show led to a partnership that has been both rewarding and fun. It is hard to put into words the satisfaction of having an idea and working with a perfect partner to make it happen. Angela Smith of Purl & Loop, who was most of the …
Stripes are the backbone of woven design—the workhorse of colorwork. When warp and weft stripes meet, beautiful things happen. Perhaps the three most common terms used to describe woven colorwork are stripe, check, and plaid. In general, I try to be precise with my language while trying to avoid some of the traps of being …
