My Love Affair with Weaving
Fiber artists can be found around the world, using all kinds of fibers from wool to silk to bamboo and hemp, just to name a few. The styles of items produced are as varied as the artists themselves, from elaborate fabric designs, baskets to complex hand knotted rugs. It is an ancient skill that was very useful for clothing, coverings for tents, ship sails and more.
My first experience with weaving came in the form of a Christmas gift from my parents—a Lionel Porter Science kit of a loom modeled by those used in the industrial revolution. So I put the loom together and wove runners and small rugs for my dolls.
I really did not get back into weaving again until my husband and I were doing archaeology in Tennessee and we were gifted a large barn frame loom that was literally stored in a barn.
That began my love affair with weaving that ultimately resulted in six looms. We recently downsized and I am down to one floor loom, a table loom and a journey loom. Still weaving and spinning after all these years, my upstairs loom room looks like a yarn store!