Throughout Project 9, which is all about weaving, I’ve been referring to numerous books to give me more techniques and weaving possibilities. The course manual has quite a lot of good information but I thought it worthwhile to pick up more tips in other places as well.
The Woven Bag by Noreen Crone Findlay is quite interesting as it concentrates on small looms and introduces the beginner to numerous different types including wrapped & interlaced, pinboard, backstrap, frame & peg and potholder – most of which I had never heard of before.
It has a comprehensive section on warping up with step by step instructions and goes on to show weaving in detail and how to manually pick up the warp to make patterns. One of the main differences between the techniques shown in the book and the way I am working on my frame is the continuous warp method used by Noreen.
You can see from the pictures that the looms featured all have teeth or pegs and the warp (and the weft in the case of the potholder loom) is wound around these pegs.
This enables the warp to be removed later with a loop at the end. The weaving can start and finish very close to the ends of the warp and once they are removed from the pegs they can be chain stitched or crocheted into a neat edge.
With the frame I am using the warp wraps around the frame and must be cut later. The only way I can think of to finish it off neatly, and have read about elsewhere, is to weave a few extra rows, cut and knot the warp and then turn the excess weaving to the underside and slip stitch in place trapping the cut warp end within the seam. It could look fine but I wonder about the bulk in the seam. My warp thread is pretty sturdy and thick so I’m not convinced I would get a good finish this way.
I guess if I were weaving a small rug or mat and turned the ends under as described, without trapping the knotted ends under the extra rows, and then backed the piece there wouldn’t be too much of a thickening of the end edges. If anyone reading this has good ideas for ‘hiding’ cut warp ends I would be interested to hear them.
The other thing the book has introduced me to is the way to draw charts to create a design by picking and weaving different warps on each pass. In my next posting I will be using three charts I have drawn to add some textural interest to my tribal theme piece.
Resources:
Noreen Crone-Findlay, The Woven Bag, Krause Publications, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2010
http://www.crone-findlay.com/
tottietalkscrafts.com/
Permission to use photos from Noreen Crone-Findlay.
Tactual Textiles by Claire 
I’m so glad that book has been useful!
You can ignore the side pegs altogether, and just turn around the last warp thread. It takes a little time to get the tension just right but it solves the problem of what to do with the ends. You can weave them in as you weave the next colour or leave a longer end and loop it up around the warp peg so you weave around it along with the last warp thread, for a few rows and then cut it off. Depends on whether your warp threads are roughly the same weight – this method will be really obvious if you go from thick to fine.
I like the idea of the potholder loom and making small pieces and constructing them into something larger. It will have its limitations but the book shows some quite good ideas. It’s a bit like crocheting a whole bunch of motifs or shapes and then assembling them into a blanket or similar.
I wouldn’t mind having a go on one of these small looms. Maybe I should get Philippe to make me one.
Wait and try my rigid heddle loom. It’s more flexible than the potholder loom, though you could use it that way and a lot easier on theneck and back.
I had quite good results with weaving the cut warp ends into the back of the piece, but they were fairly fine yarns so I could thread them onto a tapestry needle and bury them in the weft.
I’ve looked at yours Penny and it seems like you have used many more warp wraps and of a thinner yarn than I’m using and you have turned them to the back very well. Your pictoral piece is very. very nice.
I’m probably going to leave mine just tied off. I’ll see what they look like when I get to the end.