Circular Weaving

Can anybody guess what is this?

Circular weaving has caught my attention! I found this link of a book called Weaver’s Craft by L. E. Simpson and it got me really interested and curios about it. And of course I had to try it right away! I combined some of my handspun yarn with commercial novelty yarn and some silk fabric that I cut into strips. The results where really stunning and with exciting possibilities of combining colors and textures. Now what can I do with a woven circle? How about using it for a hat! It is actually just perfect for that. I crocheted the brim, just because I like the look of the crocheted fabric. Of course it can be made with knitting needles. But I like the texture of the crocheted fabric. I’ve been searching online to find out if other fiber artists are using this concept to make  it into wearable arts, but I haven’t found anything. I love weaving, and I have a couple of weaving looms, but most of the time I just don’t have the time and the energy to set the looms. This type of weaving only requires a piece of cardboard that I cut into a circle. The next thing I did was to make and odd number of small grooves around the perimeter of the circle at intervals of about 1/2  cm.

This is my “state of the art loom”! The warp was set treading the yarn on the grooves starting at one given point and then going always clockwise, from one side to the opposite side. Am I making sense? I forgot to take pictures of what it looks like in the back of the circle.

What makes me laugh is how little time it took me to set the warp. And If I don’t like the color, I can just undo the whole thing and start with a new color.

Then the fun comes with  choosing the  yarns for the project and with the weaving itself. This is perfect for using up all those scraps that I don’t know what to do with, but at the same time I don’t want to trow them in the garbage. They are just too precious to do that!

This circle is almost done. I have to make sure to add chunkier yarns at the end, because the gaps between the warp are more separated that in the center.

This is my first hat with the crocheted brim. This is kind of addictive, because more ideas and color combinations keep coming to me!

I made this hat using some of my handspun llama.

I think this is a goofy hat. Did I mention this is addictive? I’m very excited at the different possibilities and I’m thinking about putting it into my Etsy shop for sale. I would like to know if anybody has tried this or if you do please feel welcome to send pictures to post them here.

“Don’t stand by the water and long for fish, go home and weave a net”

Chinese proverb