Meet the Weaver
My hand has thrown a shuttle thousands of times and it never gets old. I started out as a knitter back in the late 80’s, and it just grew from there. I love all things in the fiber arts. Knitting led to spinning and dyeing. That led to weaving so I could “use up my yarn stash.” We were a military family stationed in Germany for many years. I started out on a large rigid-heddle loom because I thought I couldn’t have a floor loom with all of the back and forth moving across the Atlantic. I wish I could go back and tell that young woman how wrong she was. The Swedish looms break down into a pile of boards and string, and there were plenty of them around me in Germany, but I just didn’t know it then. The internet was a toddler, so I didn’t have access to a lot of information. There’s so much to learn. I think I could live to be 200 years old and still not learn everything I want to about weaving. Something so simple, string and sticks, has so much potential. I love every bit of the long process, from planning and ordering threads, to dressing the loom and throwing the shuttle in it’s rhythmic back and forth lullaby. The coordination between hands throwing the shuttle and feet stepping on treadles is much like playing a piano. Instead of music, you’re rewarded with cloth. It amazes me every time that special cloth comes off the loom at the end of a project. Like a good book, I’m almost always sad to see the end. Every piece of cloth, be it a cotton tea towel or a silk scarf, is a piece of my heart.
I started to sell my weaving when I realized I couldn’t afford to weave at the rate I wanted to without giving some of it up. If you purchase my handwoven cloth, you are supporting an artist and I appreciate it more than you could ever know. I hope you’ll enjoy wearing or using the item as much as I enjoyed weaving it.
What I promise: My handwoven cloth is the highest quality and is woven with love and care. I use the highest quality threads I can find. I learned early on that using inferior threads and yarn just isn’t worth it. It takes many hours to create a piece of cloth, and I want the best for my time and my customers. That said, it needs to be understood that it is woven by hand, not a machine. There are little imperfections now and then, but that is the beauty of something crafted by hand.
If you are interested in reading about my equipment, I did a blog post that you can read by clicking here
c.1987 Toika Liisa from Finland Schacht Baby Wolf in cherry from Boulder, CO Glimakra Standard from Sweden Louet Ericka from Holland Glimakra Band Loom from Sweden Large Glimakra Warping Mill from Sweden