‘I am not interested in weaving’ so said I when I first joined the guild in 2013. I studiously avoided the weaving workshops. I like crochet and I was going to learn to spin to get the yarn I wanted to crochet with and at the same time slow myself down in the amount of crochet I did. Hah! So much for that plan. I wasn’t interested in weaving as it looked tedious and fiddly. It had lots of jargon that meant nothing. The only weaving workshop that I joined in was a tapestry weaving one with Paula Armstrong. I quite like the designs and it appealed to the arty side of me. That said, it was still fiddly. After a while, I realised that I had yarn that wasn’t really suitable for crochet and my spinning had improved to a reasonable consistency, and thought maybe I should try weaving. I ended up with one of the guild rigid heddle looms and produced my first piece of woven material. Nothing to write home about, but I had woven something. I made a scarf, not perfect, but good enough to be recognisable as such. After a little more practice, I decided to buy my own loom and went for a knitters loom that seemed to be popular and had the advantage of folding for storage and travel. I made a case to carry it as my first loom project. For all I was pleased with the end product, I did not like that loom. The heddle wouldn’t stay put and I ended up fighting it rather than enjoying it. After another couple of projects, I gave up and sold it. The guild then had a Saori weaving demonstration. The whole philosophy of Saori appealed to me. That being not getting too caught up in the outcome, but rather enjoying the process. This attitude can be applied to weaving on any loom. Strictly speaking, Saori weaving is on a Saori loom and Saori style weaving is done on any other brand of loom. I tried the loom brought in for the demonstration and decided a floor loom was the way to go. I looked at various other floor looms; some were way too big and none had the ability to thread the heddles away from the loom like the Saori, although some could sley the reed separately. Due to issues with my back, this was an important deciding factor in the type of loom. The fact it folded was also helpful. One of the points that was stressed as a positive was that you could buy pre-wound wars. As it turns out, this is the least helpful aspect and in some ways positively annoying. They are mainly plain black, you can get other random colours, but it is generally better to wind your own. That way you get the warp you want and can dress the loom in such a way that it is less likely the warp threads will get tangled. You can also dress it either from front to back or back to front, whereas with a pre-wound warp it needs to be back to front. My lovely husband gave me some money towards the loom as a birthday present. The first warp was already threaded and sleyed, so off I went with the wefting (yes I know this isn’t a word, but it should be) and created my first piece. The thing I have learnt is that due to the weaving process, there are long gaps between warping up. This means that invariably you forget all the things you learnt from the last time you warped the loom. I now have several notes about the order and ‘don’t forget this’, ‘must do that’. Very gradually I’m getting there. About a year on, I bought a 4 shaft kit for the loom. My theory was that I could do some traditional 4 shaft weaving on it with drafts, as well as the Saori. I’m still slightly unsure about having done this, a I don’t have the patience or eye for detail that traditional weaving seems to require. I’ve taken weaving classes and watched some videos, I’ve tried some techniques and some I like, some not so much. I’m only just beginning to get my head around sett and dpi/epi. Plus unless I’m doing something specific, I tend to use a variety of yarn thicknesses, which kind of makes dpi/epi a little odd. I have bought myself a small rigid heddle for samples and small pieces. I also tried making a cardboard inkle loom. This is what happens when someone (Asela, I’m looking at you!) posts a link to a blog on Facebook and you look in the corner to see just the right size box and know you have some ‘dowel’ type rods the right size. I made the inkle loom and started weaving. The weaving took absolutely ages. It should not have done so. The end piece was approximately 20cm long by 1.5cm wide. I have discovered that I liked making the loom, the sense of achievement of something that worked was good.
I have also discovered that I enjoy the warping more than the wefting, which is why it took so long and where Saori is good as it allows variety and experimentation that relieves any boredom. I also find watching other videos whilst weaving helps. One aspect of Saori that I have only recently tried and am finding could be very interesting is not warping to a particular draft, so long as your warp threads are not crossed and you don’t have too many warp threads going under or over at the same time or for long periods of weaving, you can find some great patterns. I’ve only tried this once, but I find it enjoyable and certainly less stressful than trying to specific in threading the heddles. I will be experimenting with this further. In the meantime, I now have a variety of fabric and no idea how to use it, especially as sewing and I are not the best of friends. There’s a limit to the amount of cushions and wraps I need. Audrey McNeill Comments are closed.
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