Question Time: Weavers Are Gear-Loving Geeks

As one said to me after a recent talk, "I loved it. It was so nerdy." That's me.

The ever-curious Jackson Houser asks, So, as I was sewing up the finger of a work glove (you know, because I could, not because I had to) using a ring thimble on my thumb that I improvised out of a plastic bottle cap and duct tape, I thought that maybe there are some specialized implements that weavers use that those of us in the non-textilefacic community would be unaware of. Perhaps one of the first tasks of a weaver is to make some device that makes future weaving easier or more accurate, like a wood carver might make custom handles for his gouges and rasps. Do you use anything like that?

The smaller of the two Charter Oaks weaving rooms, formerly a high school kitchen. The triangles on the wall are looms usually used for making shawls.

Weavers love, love, love gear, including both specially designed tools and hacks, starting with their looms. I have four looms for weaving cloth and two for weaving bands. Check out this post by Daryl Lancaster, a well-known weaver and teacher, who has 64 looms in her studio and names them for Star Trek characters. (My looms do not have names.)