Wearing Weaving, Why Not ?~!

My First Attempts at Floor Loom Weaving

The Richmond Art Center offers floor loom weaving classes at a fairly reasonable rate. I wanted to learn how these amazing machines operate and so took their Tuesday night class for two consecutive terms.

The first term I learned how different treadling patterns look and what happens when you use cloth strips and driftwood. OK, that's cool.

The first steps in getting the warp threads onto the loom.

Driftwood from Yosemite and fabric strips add interest.

The treadles raise and lower the warp threads.

Second Term and Another Idea

Last Autumn (2013) I took my second term of loom weaving.
By then I wanted to use more tactile portion of my senses, and so purchased bamboo and silk yarn in a 70% bamboo, 30% silk mixture. Unbelievably satiny; I'm sure there are softer yarns in the world, I just haven't met them yet. The silken feel is as yet unmatched in my limited experience. I made a wall hanging ten inches wide and about five feet long with a very loose weave.

The loosely woven piece before I squashed it down.

The two pieces I made at Richmond Art Center during 2013.

The yarn wanted me to wear it, not just look at it !~! Or so it seemed to say as it hung on the wall next to the first term's piece beside the head of my bed. So, I began to tighten up the weft by sliding the threads down toward the bottom of the hanging. It took a couple weeks to get it all down to a close weave with a great long fringe on the one end. I have worn it numerous times; right now it's so hot and muggy that I am wearing a sleeveless shirt-nearly unheard of here, but the scarf feels so good. It is heavier than any other scarf I have bought or made over the years and I am finding that as I get older I like the feel of weightiness in my blankets and my clothes.

It worked out better than I could have anticipated.
I am so pleased with the colors and the feel of the yarn I may have to do something similar
with the larger of my two lap looms; it could be the loom's maiden project.