September - Stories from the studio and Weaving Tips

A new Season at the loom...

From architecture to weaving

Catherine joined the Table Loom course after coming along to an introductory session. As an architect, she is drawn to the work of weaver Anni Albers, particularly her use of line, colour and shape.

Together, we explored how Catherine could bring that inspiration into her own weaving, beginning with small samples to test the technique. It’s such a rewarding part of the process: seeing an idea take shape in yarn and discovering what happens at the loom.

Three weavers, three very different projects

Our Floor Loom course began with a couple of hours spent talking through ideas, choosing directions and planning warps. Then it was time to start winding!

Karin is returning to weaving after 25 years and is working on a classic herringbone. Carol, who previously completed the Table Loom course with me, has chosen a striped warp. Sarah is exploring a beautiful overshot design, woven entirely in alpaca yarn that she sourced herself.

Each project has its own character, and I’m looking forward to sharing how they develop over the coming weeks.



My turn to be the student!

Somehow, amongst it all, I managed to squeeze in a workshop for myself! I am learning—very slowly!—to knit, and treated myself to a sock-knitting workshop at The Knit Lounge.

It was lovely to spend some time learning something new and enjoying a different kind of yarn project.

A first outing for Workshop in a Box

September also brought Unravel Autumn back to Farnham Maltings, bringing together makers and yarn lovers for a wonderful celebration of yarn, kits and creativity.

It was an exciting moment for me, as I shared my new Workshop in a Box for the first time. At its heart is the comprehensive guide I’ve been writing, taking you through weaving on a frame loom, step by step.

Thank you to everyone who has preordered so far. After so much work behind the scenes, it was lovely to share it with you, and I can’t wait for the November launch!

As the weeks have continued, ideas and sampling have continued to help designs develop.

The beginning of a Weaver’s Year

I also had the pleasure of welcoming Rebecca to The Weaver’s Year. She is looking for a change of direction and has chosen to explore something completely different from her current career.

The course is designed to build confidence over time, helping students weave independently at home and develop their own fabric designs.

We spent our first session exploring sampling, getting to know her loom and working through its set-up. Rebecca went home with a four-metre warp—plenty to get started with!—and a selection of designs to weave and record in her archive box.

I’m looking forward to seeing what she discovers along the way.

It has been a busy and lovely start to the autumn term, with plenty of ideas taking shape at the looms. I’ll share more as the projects progress next month.

For now, let’s turn to something that can raise plenty of questions when choosing yarn for a project: understanding yarn weights.

Rebecca’s Weaving Tip for September: Choosing Yarn and Understanding Yarn Counts

“Can I use my stash of knitting wool for weaving?”

It’s a question that often comes up in the studio. The good news is that you often can! The important thing is deciding where to use it—and finding out how it behaves at the loom.

Choosing yarn for the warp and weft

The warp—the threads running along the length of your cloth—is held under tension while you weave. On a table or floor loom, these threads also experience repeated rubbing as they move through the heddles and reed.

We therefore need a warp yarn that can withstand both tension and wear.

Worsted-spun wool can be a good choice. Its fibres are combed and aligned before spinning, producing a generally smooth, compact yarn. Woollen-spun wool is usually more airy and fluffy, with the fibres arranged less evenly.

But the spinning method alone doesn’t tell us whether a yarn will make a successful warp. Its strength, twist, surface and stretch all play a part.

For the weft—the yarn you pass across the warp—you have more freedom. Softer yarns that struggle as warp may work beautifully here, making this a lovely way to explore your knitting stash.

My advice? Start with a small sample. Notice how the yarn behaves while weaving, then wash and dry the sample as you intend to finish your cloth. This will help you decide whether it suits the project you have in mind.

What do the numbers on the label mean?

If you’re used to knitting, you’ll recognise descriptions such as DK, Aran and fingering. On weaving yarns, you’ll often see a numerical yarn count instead.

There are several systems, but let’s look at the metric count, written as Nm.

The Sheepsoft and Wooltrace yarns I use are labelled 2/9 Nm. Here’s how to read that particular label:

• The 2 tells us that the yarn is made from two strands, or plies, twisted together.
• The 9 tells us the metric count of each individual strand: approximately nine metres per gram.

To work out the length per gram of the finished two-ply yarn, divide nine by two:

9 ÷ 2 = 4.5 metres per gram

That gives approximately 450 metres per 100g of yarn.

A little label-reading tip

You may see other suppliers write the count first and the number of plies second, so we do have to check which system they use.

Within the Nm system, a higher number means more length for the same weight, so generally a finer yarn. A lower number generally means a thicker yarn—provided you’re comparing yarns with the same number of plies.

The numbers are a useful starting point, but they won’t tell you everything about how a yarn feels or how your finished cloth will behave.

That’s where sampling comes in! A little time spent exploring your yarn can help you begin a bigger project with much more confidence.

Rebecca x