Following the example of the spinning group we are setting a weaving related challenge for
January. This is not restricted to those who join in the monthly zoom. It’s open to
everyone to join in and have fun! You won’t need to get any fancy equipment, in fact (and
I’ve just thought of this!) part of the challenge could be not to spend anything. As with the
spinning and dyeing challenges, bring anything you make to the March meeting for show
and tell, and if you are willing, loan an item to the Guild for display at the summer shows. If
you find it easier to have a theme, we suggest: trees
Things you might like to try to challenge yourself:
• Off-loom weaving – make a weaving round a tile, card, box, or go multi-dimensional
on a piece of twisted hazel
• Incorporate found materials – grass, sticks, shells, plastic bags etc
• Use a fibre or yarn you haven’t used before
• Use a kind of loom you haven’t used before
• Try a new pattern or technique

With yarn spun from a piece of fleece, Norah wove around this seedhead

Weaving Interest Group 28 January 2023

This month was a show and tell of things made, started or planned as a result of the January challenge. Several people had tried or planned off-loom weaving: Sarah had an old PE hoop and was planning to weave a hanging; Linda was experimenting with weaving on twisted hazel, and had made a frame of spindle wood, with the intention of weaving a tapestry; Isobel had woven round a couple of stones, but hadn’t enjoyed the process, though the results were attractive; Susan was considering this too, but we all felt she might be better using her stone as inspiration as it seemed a pity to cover it! Ruth had been to a weekend course in passementerie, and showed us a fringe woven using some of the techniques she had learned. Angela had woven a piece with supplementary warps which she then used to gather it up for shibori dyeing. She had also woven a 4-shaft pattern and colour and weave sampler, and was planning a black and white scarf using some of the patterns. Isobel had also been weaving with multiple threads of thin cotton – this gives lots of opportunity for colour blending, but the threads tended to be a little unruly! Henriette had incorporated beads into a weaving, using a thin supplementary weft to carry the beads. She had also tried tablet weaving, producing an impressive band which included lettering. Hilma was trying a simple weaving on card, and had also completed a weaving experimenting with stripes based on the Fibonacci sequence, and a weaving recreating the structure of a piece she had been given. Beside all of this my own scant inch of monks belt on the inkle loom looks a bit pathetic!