Sweet Leaf Notebook: A Few of My Favorite Weaving Hacks

Monday, December 28, 2020

A Few of My Favorite Weaving Hacks

Most of these appeared in the various weaving FaceBook groups I belong to. Thank you to everyone who shared these ideas. I don't know who you are anymore, but I am grateful for the hacks. They've made my weaving life much happier and productive.

1) Online videos and classes for weaving.
This has been a total game changer for me. I acquired my first little table loom in 2007 (or so). I took a class in a local yarn / knitting / weaving store (now closed). But for several years after that, I still needed a teacher/mentor present to help me warp the thing. Books are fine, but if you can't remember what's what, or the movement required, it isn't so helpful. By the time the online classes came along (Craftsy and Tom Kniesley), I felt like I had a -guide-at-my-side, and for the first time in my life, I warped my Kessenich floor loom by myself a few years ago. Who-hooh!

Beginning Weaving with Tom Knisely $40 on Longthread Media
Weave a Good Rug with Tom Knisley $40 on Longthread Media
Floor Loom Weaving with Janet Dawson $40 on Craftsy

Craftsy is currently having a YEAR-END CLEARANCE: 65% OFF WHEN YOU SPEND $40 OR MORE! USE CODE BYE2020 AT CHECKOUT

2) Beads to help keep track of treadle sequences. Another game-changer for me.

I posted a video about this.
See the previous blog post about it:
Brilliant Bead Markers Hold your Place in a Pattern Repeat

3) Cheap tarp clips from Lowe's and empty spice jars serve as a weighted temple.

4) Ribbon with inches marked out help me keep track of how much cloth I've woven. I've also used adding machine tape -- These can be found cheap at the thrift stores now. If you have the right kind of tape measure, that could work, too. But the ones I have from sewing are too thick to put a pin through. The ribbon works well because I can measure out a certain length, which is helpful when you have a target to shoot for ... Works great for rugs or scarves, etc.

And yes, I already have about 12 inches woven on the "new" green circles scarf. It's coming along nicely!

5) Old film canisters are great for weighing down a repaired warp thread. You can add or subtract weight--like pennies--as needed. If you can't find the old film canisters, bead bottles also work well. I've also used spice jars, too. But the glass can be heavy to start with. You could even use old prescription bottles.

6) iWeave It App for the iPad. This is helpful for many tasks related to weaving -- from figuring how much yardage you need for yarn, to designing a weaving, to threading to treadling. I bought the add-ons for even more useful tools.

7) My warping mill was another game-changer. I absolutely hated running a warp on the too large warping board that came with my loom. It hurt my back. The tension was never right. I didn't really have a good place to hang it to use it, nor to store it. Then my husband made me a warping mill -- It was a joy to use, ran so smoothly. The kinesiology of using it was smoother -- more like a dance -- gentle transition from up to down and then back up, not side to side as on the warping board. And the tension problems were over. Thanks to DH for building this for me. ;-)

8) A simple counting app for my phone helps me keep track of how many warp strings I've run. My husband also engineered a simple little holder for my phone at the top of my warping mill. Every time I'm at the top of the mill, I can easily touch the screen to register a new line or two.

9) Tom Knisley's method of running a warp in color blocks also took a lot of hassle out of the whole process for me. I could run as many lines of a particular color as needed, without stopping to start a new color for only one or two threads. Don't worry, it all straightens out in the end. The reed combs it all out and keeps it orderly. It's pretty amazing how it all works out!