Last summer I did a little weaving—even though I was more than a thousand miles away from my looms at the time. Here’s how that happened.
Now and then I come across pictures online of yarn woven on sticks, rocks, and even wishbones. The wishbone weaver, Kaci Smith, has an Instagram account packed full of ideas that inspired me to try weaving something of my own off the loom.
So when I packed my suitcase, I found space for a few yarn scraps and a tapestry needle. I knew I’d be able to find sticks and rocks where I was traveling (and I was perfectly happy to take a pass on the wishbone idea right then).
One afternoon I headed under some trees near the cabin and found forked sticks of various sizes and shapes. I added a few small, flat rocks that I’d come across on a walk to my new collection. And then I chose a stick, picked up my needle and some yarn, and started weaving.
I wrapped warp yarn from one leg of my stick to the other and back again, looping it twice around each side to keep this scaffolding in place. Then I wove vertical stripes of weft yarn in and out along the warp, changing colors at whim. Instead of weaving in the loose ends (Hey! I was on vacation!), I started on another stick, this time using mostly horizontal blocks of color.
A couple of non-weaver family members wandered over, chose sticks from the pile, picked out yarn, and started weaving, too. (While there were no children in our group, this would keep the right kind of child occupied for a good while—and it might plant the weaving bug early.)
I tried a rock next, and learned that keeping yarn wrapped around a smooth oval object is a challenge. I finished that weaving, but left it at the cabin because it was too fragile to move.
My stick weavings came home with me, though. Now they sit on my desk and remind me of my family and those summer days—and also that a bit of weaving is a good way to spend time no matter where I am.
Want to weave a stick? This article from Easy Weaving with Little Looms describes the process.