Let the Weaving Begin!

Creative minds have always been known to 

survive any kind of bad training.

~ Anna Freud

I decided to start with my rug, so that I can practice the techniques that I'm learning from my Craftsy class and, hopefully, get all the kinks worked out before weaving gifts for my friends.  Pepper was anxious - insistent, in fact - to help me at each step along the way...  ;)

There are three, related things that I'm trying to re-learn and do correctly.  The first is "throwing" the shuttle  through the "shed" (the opening between the 2 layers of warp threads) - rather than passing it from one hand to the other.  My loom is narrow - only 22 inches - so I can get away with (and usually do) reaching inside and passing it through.  Obviously that won't work with a wider loom, so I want to learn how to do it correctly.  

The second is having the weft thread at an angle before beating it into place:  

The purpose of the angle is to give the thread a little more length than appears necessary.  That extra length is used up, because the weft's path isn't straight across - it goes down and under some warp threads and then up and over other warp threads - that up and down and up and down path requires the extra length.  

Finally, I am trying to learn how to make nice, even edges, without fiddling with each weft thread with my hands.  I'm certainly not perfect, but thanks to my video lessons, my edges are definitely improving!  :)  

Look at how beautifully the pink and yellow/orange look together!  And it looks like the width of this rug is staying pretty constant too - unlike the first rug, that our foster teen and I did together (here)...  

The weaving is my favorite part and, in comparison to all that loom preparation, it goes so quickly!  I can't wait to dive into all the color combinations that my friends chose!  :)