Weave (and Spin) for Good!

Have you had weaving jotted on your mental to-do list for awhile and haven’t quite figured out a way to get started? Consider the rigid-heddle loom as a way to get started. The perfect weaving tool for spinners, this loom is a breeze to set up, and the molded plastic rigid heddle is easy on your handspun yarns. Weaving is faster than knitting and crochet—you work row by row, not stitch by stitch! Visit the learn to weave page of Spin-Off’s sister publication Handwoven for a wealth of ideas on how to get started.

Scarves make the perfect first project. They are like giant samplers you can wear. To get started, grab a copy of <a href="https://shop.longthreadmedia.com/products/weaving-made-easy-revised-updated" target="blank">Weaving Made Easy or peruse _Handwoven’s Scarf of the Month free pattern series—many of which are designed for the rigid-heddle loom.

If it is hands-on learning experience you are looking for, there are still a couple of spaces left in Joan Sheridan’s 2009 SOAR workshop, "Spin to Weave: An Introduction to the Rigid Heddle". It is hard to imagine a better environment in which to learn to weave.

Still looking for a good motivator to learn to weave? Why not weave for charity. Now is a good time to start planning for Spinning and Weaving Week, October 4–10. Spin-Off and Handwoven have teamed up for this year’s celebration. Our community of Loveland, Colorado, is known for its bronze statuary. During Spinning and Weaving Week, the local arts council has given us permission to drape these statues in scarves that are either handwoven or made from handspun. With help from our local guild, the Northern Colorado Weavers Guild, we are sizing up the personalities of each sculpture and dressing it accordingly. The project will benefit our local homeless prevention programs. Pictured here is Gunnel Oresjo at the guild’s annual luncheon with a scarf she wove for the event.

It’s time to cross weaving off your to-do list and get busy planning your Spinning and Weaving Week event! Make 2009 the year to love, laugh, and learn to weave!

• Liz Gipson (Managing Editor, Handwoven)