What better way to learn weaving than making a woven potholder at summer camp!? You take simple tools– a square weaving frame and crochet hook –and a bag of colorful cotton or wool “loopers.” After a short time learning the basic idea, you’ll be weaving.
And the technique is easy too! First you select colors of loopers and stretch them across the frame to form the “warp” of the project. In this photo the warp is the different colored vertical strands. Then you weave another looper, alternating over and under each strand of the warp to form the weft. Adding one (in this example, white) looper at a time, and alternating which strands go over and under, a dense colorful pattern begins to form. As you add more and more loopers, you’ll probably need a long crochet hook or other wire hook to pull the last couple of loopers into place.
This is real weaving. Sure it’s a simple example, but that’s good when you are just beginning to learn. The next step is varying the colors and weaving pattern of the strands. There are even different shaped frames to make things even more interesting. We also like starting with these potholder weaving projects because they don’t take too long to finish.
With the basic concept of weaving understood and practiced, campers can move on to one of the tabletop looms or even the wide floor-standing looms for their next, larger and more complicated, weaving projects. Down at Curosty, the fiber arts activity cabin at camp, Rockbrook girls are learning to weave!
