Day 16 – Weaving

Well as much as I wanted to be able to show you a finished project today, it’s not going to happen.  I’ll definitely finish and upload the photos, but not today.

I started early this morning by making my weaving loom.  I used an old wood cutting board that was slated for the recycle bin and some small finish nails.  I drew two lines on either end of the board and made hash marks every 1/2″ along both lines.  On each hash mark I hammered in a nail.  There were 24 in all.

After the loom was complete, I wrapped string around the nails to create the warp.  This tutorial over at A Beautiful Mess was excellent and within a 1/2 hour I was ready to weave.

Then I washed all three of my dogs, did the dishes, the laundry, showered, had coffee and a chat with my mom, paid some bills and finally started weaving.  I’m feeling the need to justify the fact that I didn’t finish this today, but it really did take longer than I thought it would.

I started by tying 15″ pieces of white yarn onto the bottom pegs for tassels.  I then used scrap yarn in white and a variety of green shades (I think I have St. Patrick’s Day on the brain) and started at the left side.  I cut a piece of white yarn about 4′ long, thread it onto one of the big plastic darning needles and wove (weaved?) away.  When I got to the end of the white I cut a piece of one of the green yarns (4′ long), and picked up where the white left off.  I continued this until I had used all the greens, then I started over with the white.  The other tutorial I consulted showed how to make shapes within the weaving, but I was just happy to be actually weaving that I decided to just do a piece with alternating colors.  Maybe next time I’ll try shapes.

Weaving is a lot of fun, but it sure is physical.  I didn’t expect that.  After each color change I took a brief break just to work out the kinks in my neck.  You’re moving your arms all the time which pulls on your shoulders and subsequently your neck.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m willing to ‘suffer’ for my craft, I was just surprised at the physical toll.

Many years ago, my mom and I visited Hampton Court Palace in England – the home of Henry VIII.  On our tour, we viewed the floor to ceiling tapestries that draped the walls and were told that each tapestry was made using up to 30 weavers over 8-16 months depending on the intricacy.  Let’s hope mine doesn’t take that long. 😉

Here’s my work in progress:

Until tomorrow,

Never mind about the woven collar.  I don’t want you to spend that much time doing something that could take you away from walks, belly rubs, playing ball, feeding me.  You get the idea.