low tech weaving - again

cup o' java on a mug rug

Seems like ages since I've posted, but such is life! I should have known better than to vow I was going to work straight through any pattern book of anything, but I get carried away ... it always seems like a fun idea, but then I get side-tracked and other things catch my attention and well ... I'm off on something else before I know what has hit me.

a mug rug still on the "loom"

In this case, it's been a new ukulele! But enough about that... I have had some time to do a bit of crafting and decided to go very low tech (again ... I discovered this a while back) and whip up a few mug rugs for the holiday season.

When I decide to do these I find a piece of cardboard, cut it to the dimensions I need, make a good number of slots in it and away I go!

Depending on the pattern (or lack thereof) these are really a pretty quick projects to whip up. Easy to do when you're watching a movie or tv show.

lots of mug rugs

I'm pretty new to weaving, but this past summer I bought a small hand loom and tried it out (you can see those results here) and I've been fascinated by what one can do with a potholder loom. Hmm... think I'll dig that out next and see what I come up with!

low tech weaving

a shot of my work space with low-tech woven pouches

The potholder loom scarf got me thinking more about weaving. It's not a fiber craft I know lots about, nor is it anything I've ever given much of a try, so I decided to do a bit of research. I had seen various large scale weaving looms.. you know, those big ones with a bench that probably make blanket-sized fabrics and would no doubt take up my whole living room, not to mention cost thousands of dollars. Needless to say, as a rank beginning weaver that's just too much too soon... sooooooooo ... I went low tech! I perused a few websites, looked over a few examples and made myself a couple very low tech little cardboard looms.

close up of pouches

I used some scraps of yarn and produced two little woven pouches. The one on the right was my first creation and measures about  3" x 4". The little white one on the left was the second, measuring just under 2" square. These were fun to do and extremely low tech, which I like! I found what I thought were easy to follow instructions for the cardboard loom here.