# Fingerweaving!!!



## rabbitgeek (Mar 22, 2008)

I've had a major distraction since last Friday.

My new BFF, Kurt aka loominaria, had a Cricket rigid heddle loom in need of a new home. He contacted me because we're in the same town. When I get to his place he gives me a box with the Cricket with all the heddles, a bag of cotton yarns in assorted colors, and a few books.

Now you're thinking I am going be distracted by the Cricket? Noooooo!

There is a book on tapestry weaving (cool!) and two books on finger weaving/handweaving (awsome!).

So I've been spending all my free time reading about fingerweaving and trying it out.










Basic Book of Fingerweaving by Esther Warner Dendel 
and A Manual of Fingerweaving by Robert Austin 
show a craft that is best described as weaving without a loom.










Here I am using a technique called Peruvian flat weaving to create a flat belt. You can hang your work on any handy peg or nail, or Dendel suggests using a clipboard for small practice pieces.










Here is some more of the first piece. I have another piece in progress that has more colors in it. There are more techniques in the books.










Here is another strap in progress. If these colors look familiar to you, I am using cotton yarn from my scrap bag which has bits and pieces from recently woven pieces.

I like fingerweaving!

If anyone has more info on this fingerweaving craft, please let me know!

Have a good day!

http://francosfiberadventure.blogspot.com/


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## Old Swampgirl (Sep 28, 2008)

Thanks. Looks like something I might be able to do. What do you use the straps for?


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## glidergurl03 (Feb 28, 2005)

I bet those would work nice felted into bag straps....hmmm...


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## rabbitgeek (Mar 22, 2008)

The first piece will be sewn up and stuffed for use as a dog toy for our chihuahua.

The second piece is planned as a belt, but could be used as a strap for a bag. I think that felted wool straps sounds good too.

I'm planning to weave some wider pieces for use as bags.

Have a good day!


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## weever (Oct 1, 2006)

I learned fingerweaving years ago (pre-sheep) from a native American demonstrator at a local museum. We spent quite a long time together while my children fidgeted...

She told me it works better with wool, as wool "grabs". I loved the many varied designs. Haven't done much with it, because the wool yarns I tried it with were itchy. Now that we have our own sheep (and plenty of non-itchy yarn), I should try it again. Very portable. 

Thanks for reminding me--and good job!


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## rabbitgeek (Mar 22, 2008)

Weever, 

Check your library for those books
Basic Book of Fingerweaving by Esther Warner Dendel 
and A Manual of Fingerweaving by Robert Austin 

and
Finger Weaving: Indian Braiding by Alta R Turner 

That might help you remember. 

Have a good day!


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

You might enjoy http://moas.atlantia.sca.org/wsnlinks/index.php?action=displaycat&catid=39

It's a page with many links to all sorts of textile arts...generally from before 1600ad. Weaving of different types, spinning, felting, spang...loads of stuff. Some discussion forums.


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## rabbitgeek (Mar 22, 2008)

Wow! Somebody put a lot of time into that web site!

There should be a warning label about the addicting nature of this activity.

Thanks for the link!
Have a good day!


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## rabbitgeek (Mar 22, 2008)

I have moved from the clipboard to a chair. The top of the weaving is held by a string that goes over the chair and is tied off to the front of the chair. The dowel at the top seemed like a good idea, but it did not work as planned. Because each strand has a loop around the dowel, it is spaced out as if plain weave. This needs to be closely spaced for warp faced weave.

Next time I will tie off bunches of yarn to the stick instead of wrapping a single turn on each yarn end.

The first part is plain weave at top, but becomes more warp faced as it goes down away from the dowel. This is supposed to be like two flat weave belts side by side. The selvedges should interlock at the sides. At first I made the mistake of interweaving the warps from the left side across the right side, and vice versa.

Then I read the directions again and saw that I should have been interlocking the two inner warps before weaving from center to the outside. Also need to get tension even on each side, it takes some practice. I stopped trying to flip the piece. I was having a tough time remembering what direction I was working on.

I've been unweaving and reweaving rows as needed.

It's getting better.

One thing to watch for is when I grab the bundle, a warp string can get pushed to the side and out of line. Then it is like a float. Or worse it pops up two stands over and creates another error. So keeping close track of the warps in the bundle is important.

Have a good day!


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