Weaving

Since it's winter, and therefore cold the basement is freezing. Even with a space heater it's cold. My toes are roasting but my fingers are numb when I am downstairs. In an effort to stay warm I've been staying upstairs (in other words; I've been lazy, and slacking on sewing.) After seeing lots of inspiring weavings online (this is my very favorite) I wanted to give it a try. I didn't want to spend $50-$100 on a loom only to find out I didn't like weaving, so I went the cheap route; a piece of MDF with a bunch of nails whacked into it. So far my experiment is turning out well and I wanted to share a tip that will save time when weaving. 

To weave you pull the thread/yarn through the tight vertical strands and alternate each strand.

Do this all the way to the end, and pull the yarn through, but not too tight.

Then I used a tongue depressor (a ruler would work too) to push the yarn tightly against the ones you've already woven. Notice how to tongue depressor is placed between every other strand.

Once the thread is pushed against the main weaving, you can flip the tongue depressor to separate the vertical strands.

Now simply push your needle through to the other side. This saves quite a bit of time, since you're not weaving the needle back and forth.

A few minutes after taking these pictures I broke this needle, apparently it couldn't take the bending back and forth. Good thing I had three more on hand. Weaving has been a great way to keep warm by staying upstairs, it's also giving me something to do with my hands, aside from chew my nails with nerves, while we watch the Olympics. I'm totally into the figure skating and the slope side events.

Let's hope there is a finished product soon.

Lauren