Balanced

I am so thrilled with my first woven scarf and I’m planning to start another one soon — in shades of purple and blue. I want to try to achieve a more even selvedge and a more balanced fabric. While I still have a lot to learn, I love that the process of weaving yields a wearable object fairly quickly! If you’re intrigued and you’ve been considering giving weaving a try, I highly recommend it. While an in-person class is ideal, Craftsy now has a Rigid Heddle Weaving class that looks really comprehensive and complete. She uses both the 10″ Cricket Loom (which is what I learned with — this loom costs less than a set of Addi Clicks) and also a larger 24″ loom. If you’re like me, however, and you prefer to read extensively about a new skill before trying it, the best weaving books to get are:

Weaving Made Easy: 17 Projects Using a Simple Loom and
The Weaver’s Idea Book: Creative Cloth on a Rigid Heddle Loom

(My local library had both books in circulation — yours might too!)

If you like to read about the history of your favorite fiber arts, weaving is one of the most ancient of skills. It’s part of many diverse cultures — look for it in your own ancestral beginnings.

Of course, I had all the reasons that you do for not starting yet ANOTHER hobby, but in the end, I just said “yes” to myself. I said “yes” to trying it because I felt that there was something about weaving that I needed. I’m still in that process of discovery, but I know enough to want to keep doing it. And a rigid heddle loom is definitely in my future.

Perhaps these Georgia O’Keefe quotes will give you the inspiration to say “yes” to yourself too:

I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life — and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.

I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.