warp speed!
Last week it was my turn to play teacher at HML HQ and pass on my weaving 'expertise' to my craft compadre Ramona. Finally my many, many years behind the loom paid off and I got to talk about dents, reeds, sheds and shuttles with someone who was actually interested in it!! It's weird having been a practitioner of what was for so long such an uncool and mostly unknown craft to now see Instagram full of hipster craft kids whipping out tabby looms and getting busy. But its not surprising because weaving is really REALLY awesome.
But I digress - possibly the best thing about teaching is having the chance to set up alongside and go over the most basic steps in chronological order - relearning how and why you do things rather than skipping to the short cuts you invariably make once you get proficient at something. Adding to the fun is the fact that Ramona is both an enthusiastic crafter and super quick study - so it didn't take long to get her warped up and ready to weave on her new rigid heddle loom.
I think it's fair to say she is seriously hooked on this weaving business. I would even go so far as to say that Ramona is a complete natural and is now outdoing me - she's already warped up number two and is well underway to whipping up a family's worth of Christmas scarves.
I have to say I totally enjoyed playing around on my table loom without the more complicated considerations of multi shaft patterning so much that although I haven't washed and blocked my piece yet I too have warped up another sampling loom and started designing my Winter '14 product range. Yes people you read right - I did actually say product range. Hold onto your hats.
In the meantime, speaking of Instagramming crafters, I've also finally finished my mega tapestry which I have to say I am pretty damn chuffed with. Its so great to finally have time to make stuff just at the time when there's a growing community of fellow fibre junkies to share it with. And did I mention that we're COMPLETELY addicted. BECK
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