Back in the 70's I watched a woman at the Olmsted County Historical Society weaving on a Norwegian cradle loom, I was intrigued by it. I told my sister about it and my interest in weaving: in 1982 she had found a cradle loom, rosemaled it and gave it to me for Christmas. For 25 years as only a sister can ask she would ask "How are you coming on the weaving, still using it for a magazine rack?" I had lost the ladies address and I did not have a clue what to do. In November of 2007 I found a class in Zumbrota at the Crossings at Carnegie on Scandinavian weaving. I took the class and then another with a ridgid heddle loom and then another in tapestry weaving. Well, starting with one little cradle loom my collection has grown to a ridged heddle loom, two tapestry looms and a four harness loom.
What satisfaction do I get out of weaving?
- It is powered by me
- I work at my own speed
- It gives me time to think
- I enjoy finding the material - the colors
- The feel of the material as you are warping the loom
- The feel of the material as the shuttle slides through the warp
- The feel of the fabric as the finished product comes off the loom
- There is however an exception when you find you have made a mistake and the only way to rectify it is to pull it out all the way back to the mistake.
- In the end when you hold it up in some cases it is a work of art - good job well done
Weaving like life is a test of faith that you will finish with a good product - you gather the material - you travel at your own speed, sometimes a little to fast and hectic - there are some mistakes that you need to sort out - and then comes a period when the product if finished and like weaving my hope is one can say good job well done.
