Weaving.2

Last weekend I learned how to use a needle loom. This is more commonly known as stick weaving. (I learned from an inherited kit, not from the above tutorial, but I've included it for your perusal.) I instructed Sarah to become a master of the art, because she needs things to do. And now I wish I were doing it. It's faster than tablet weaving, though the designs inherit in the method are much more simplistic. In fact I'm not sure how to change color, so I would just make things all one color.

Interesting: A lot of people believe that, while it's possible to knit a piece of fabric into a tube, it is impossible to weave a piece of fabric into a tube. Not so! With stick weaving, woven tubes can be done! (Take that, self-righteous knitters!)

This is mostly used for making belts (or anything else that's long and narrow). Width is easier to obtain than with tablet weaving, so sewing strips together yields usable sizes of fabric. I'm envisioning, now, a rug woven from scraps of fabric cut into long strips.

The other plus: As well as being remarkably easy and somewhat fast, it's also extremely portable. So you know how knitters are always like, "You can knit anywhere, while you're waiting for stuff, on car rides when you're not driving, at church, while watching movies, etc," well now I can do that, if I want, with stick weaving.

(Okay okay I don't hate knitters. They're just so vocal about it. I feel rather outnumbered sometimes. And in the knitters' numbers, there are the belligerent few who seem to insist that knitting is the Art Among Arts, the Holy Fiber Craft, the Device of the Goddesses Themselves. And, well, I just don't think that's true.)