I hope you are all happy and well, and able to make the most of this opportunity for some special time together. You are all in my thoughts and I miss seeing you and enjoying the wonderful handwork that you do. While some of you may already be making things at home others may be finding the lack of resources or inspiration to be standing in the way of doing something. I would like to share with you a simple project to help fire your creativity and resourcefulness, and keep those fingers nimble and great ideas flowing. So, may I introduce to you.. Stick Weaving If you have never tried stick weaving before you will find it is relatively easy to find materials around home or in your local area when out walking or biking. Remember that Mother Earth is such a great provider for natural resources which are ideal to use for this project if you are a little lean on woollen or cotton yarn at home.
You can try the simple natural way .. or the trickier way if you have the resources ..
Materials (what you will need)
• A branch shaped in a V shape (any size will do)
• Woollen or cotton yarn in various colours (maybe kitchen string or garden twine)
• Wool sewing needle (only if you have one otherwise fingers are great until you get near the last
edge of weaving and then tweezers can be useful to squeeze into a small space)
• Scissors
How to Do Stick Weaving
1. Find a stick When you are outside at home or on your next walk or bike ride find a sturdy Y-shaped stick that won’t bend or break when you’re weaving on it.
2. Tie on your yarn or string Begin with an arm’s length piece of yarn. Tie one end of the yarn to a branch, close to the bottom of the Y.
3. String your loom – this is making the warp (strings that go one way) Take the yarn across to the opposite branch, and wrap it around the branch a couple of times before working back across the V. Leave a gap the thickness of your Peter Pointer finger between each. When you reach the top of the stick, tie off your yarn and trim leaving a ‘Mouse’ tail the length of your Pinkie.
4. Weaving Starting close to a branch, at either the top or bottom of the V loom, weave in and out of the threads running across the loom. As you work, use your fingers like a comb to push your weaving over and close up any gaps.
5. Changing Colours To change to a new yarn colour, simply tie a new colour on with a double knotty, and trim leaving ‘Mouse’ tails to weave in later.
6. Finishing To finish your project, cut your yarn, and weave it into the back of your design.
So, you are ready to go. This is just a starter for you and I know you will come up with some great ideas of your own. Your project can be as large or small as you wish to make it, so get creative – have fun with it!
Finally, remember that you have only 1-2 hours of Handwork each week and so the amount of work you do at home should reflect this. It is up to you when and how much you do but you may wish to do some of it on the days you would normally have handwork just to keep a little of your school week rhythm going. If it is something you enjoy and it makes you feel good then by all means do as much as you like!
I would love to hear how you are doing and see some photos if you can manage this.
Please feel free to send me something at janiceb@ch.steiner.school.nz and I will get back to you on handwork days.
Take care and make the most of this time.
Happy weaving!!
Arohanui
Janice
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