A DAY OF WEAVING

Last week I treated myself to a day of one on one tuition with Georgette Meyer, a weaver I met at an art exhibition last November.  She lives about an hour away in a pretty house in the countryside with her studio in a separate building.

I was shown around her studio which houses three looms of varying sizes and an incredible stash of yarns in all colours, piles of finished blankets and mountains of works in progress!

Georgette started me on the smallest loom and explained the basics of weaving with 4 heddles, the parts of the loom used to make different patterns, operated by 4 pedals.  It took me a while to get the hang of using my feet to press down on the different combinations to make the designs.  I had to borrow a pair of thick socks so I could easily slip my feet left and right to change pedals.

I was using a boat shuttle that holds a bobbin of yarn to make the wefts, it's easy to change colours in this way as you just lift out the bobbin and put in a different one when you've used up the previous one.

Georgette was a patient teacher and demonstrated the different patterns then left me to play till I got it right!  We added lots of different textured wools and even a twig from the garden.

I couldn't stop smiling all day and even had a little tear in my eye when the chevrons I'd been working on suddenly came through correctly. The day included a delicious lunch cooked by Louis, Georgette's husband and although I was tired by 5 o'clock I didn't want it to end.

Here we are posing with my day's work, a beautiful wall hanging that just needs the fringe knotting and a twig to hang it from to be complete.

 Here it is, now hanging in the lounge at home.

Of course I had to have a go when I came home and I've had a lot of fun on my frame loom playing with my yarn stash and practising the various weave patterns.  I had picked out these colours after seeing a beautiful dawn sky.

Now I'm wondering what to do with these pretty pieces, I haven't got room to make them all into hangings so maybe I'll cut them up to make into cards for birthdays or Christmas cards.  I've got a box full of these hot colours so I've plenty to keep me busy!