Rugs have been made by weavers for thousands of years on all sorts of looms. I have woven many rugs on a rigid-heddle loom and have included projects for them in my books, workshops, and weave-alongs. I hear from time to time the pronouncement, “You can’t make a rug on a rigid-heddle loom.” The reasoning is […]
When Is My Work My Own?
The Yarnworker School patrons and I are spending our summer school session tackling the process of formulating a plan to weave a project that was scheduled to start last week. We placed pause on this activity to recognize a moment in a long reckoning with race, justice, and inequality in America. At a time when […]
Geeking Out: Knots
Tying onto the front apron rod is often a pain point for new weavers. All knots take some getting used to. The type of apron rod you have and what you are trying to accomplish can often dictate which knot you favor. Here is a round up of the three most popular knots weavers use to […]
Keep Calm and Weave On: Weaving Resources for Extraordinary Times
As we are curtailing our travel and staying home more, we may be looking for something to keep our hands busy and our nerves calm while we are facing the unknown consequences of Covid-19. As a weaver, I work out my anxieties at the loom. Cost can be a barrier to learning to weave, we […]
Help, I Warped My Loom Backwards and Other Things That Can Go Wrong
Warping backwards happens. I once merrily warped a loom backwards while doing a demonstration for my colleagues. We often discover this error when we are getting ready to wind onto the beam and realize we are heading towards the wrong one. Sometimes, if it just isn’t your day, you may also discover that your warp […]
Geeking Out: Take-Up, Shrinkage, and Elasticity
The subject of take-up and shrinkage has come up a number of times lately, specifically in relation to yarn substitution. My general thoughts on yarn substitution can be found here. Take-up is how much the yarn rebounds after it is removed from the tension on the loom, and shrinkage is how much it shrinks after […]
Thanks For Spending Some Time On The Yarnworker Cloud
During this season of reflection and celebration, I want to take a moment to say thanks for being here. Three years and a dozen weave-alongs later, we have our virtual little school house in the sky. Instead of building it brick-by-brick, we have constructed it in bits and bytes. It still feels very physical to […]
Color Value
During the last Biennial Yarnworker Survey, a number of weavers noted they needed support with the basics, those fundamental skills that we rely on no matter what we are weaving—yarn selection, project planning and adaptation, basic warping, and weaving techniques. The idea for the Fall 2019 weave-along popped in my head as a fun way […]
Geeking Out: Shuttles
Shuttles do just what their name implies. They shuttle the weft back and forth as you weave your cloth. Here are some ways to think about selecting a shuttle for your rigid-heddle weaving. Stick Shuttles Stick shuttles come with most rigid-heddle looms and are available in a wide variety of sizes. I like to pick […]
Geeking Out: Warping Choices
My teaching philosophy is pretty much summed up this way: If it works, then do it. If it stops working, try something else. When it comes to warping, there are so many ways to get the job done—from the super speedy direct method that uses a peg, to the somewhat less speedy and versatile indirect method where […]