Inspiration

10 Tips to improve your weaving today

Learning to weave is a real journey and it takes time. There is no magic potion or secret ingredient to becoming a better weaver. It takes persistence, time and dedication.

I’ve written a post addressing these facts already – 5 Steps to Successful Weaving, but today I want to give you some short and simple tips that you can do today to improve your weaving.

*This post contains affiliate links

Let’s launch right in!

Don’t run before you walk.

It’s easy to look too far ahead in your enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is great, in fact, it’s essential, but don’t let it blind you. Start at the level you’re at and work your way up. If you choose something too difficult for your weaving level, you may be setting yourself up for frustration.

2. Don’t choose the best yarn for your first project

The temptation of a gorgeous yarn with a big price tag is real. A beautiful yarn can be the perfect inspiration for a new project. But not as a beginner. And not until you’re confident that the picture you have in your head of your next project is likely to turn out how you want it to. Once again, the frustration will kick in if all doesn’t go as smoothly as you hoped. You have the extra pressure of the yarn price tag hanging over you. Keep the fabulous yarn for when you’re ready.

3. Begin with yarns that have some elasticity

It just makes beginner weaving life so much easier. A yarn with some elasticity (a woollen knitting yarn is perfect) will stretch just enough and is so forgiving that you should not have real issues with tension. Rigid yarns eg. cotton is much harder to tension on a rigid heddle loom. Wool, on the other hand, works with you, rather than you feeling like you’re working with (or for) it.

4. Start with thicker yarns – knitting yarns are perfect.

A thicker yarn (I recommend a light worsted/dk/ Aussie 8 ply) is great to begin with for a couple of reasons. The thickness is usually the perfect match for your standard 7.5 – 8 dent heddle/reed that came with your loom. So, no need to purchase extra sized heddle/reeds right away. It also weaves up much faster, and I think it’s important to make your first few projects very achievable and not be a massive time commitment. This will make you feel better about tackling the next project.

5. Commit regular time intervals to learning by doing

If your loom sits in a cupboard or your garage, guess what? You’re not going to learn how to weave. You’re not going to improve. And you will probably feel bad about it. If you are a busy person (let’s face it, who isn’t?!) then you may even find it beneficial to plan and schedule your weaving time so that it’s enough of a priority that you will weave regularly. I’m of the opinion that it is more beneficial to your learning journey to weave little and often than a big chunk of time occasionally. You’re training your brain to do new things, so consistency is important! Also, if you can have a dedicated space or at least not have to completely pack up everything after every weave session, that will be a great help and motivator.

6. Expect little – you might surprise yourself.

Hope for the best, but don’t place unrealistic expectations on yourself. Learning new skills takes time and patience, there is no way around that. Yes, some will learn quickly and some will take longer and that’s completely normal. If you haven’t seen my Slow Learning video, you should check it out:

7. Record your project information

You’re not being your own best weaving friend if you don’t take the time to record information from your projects to refer back to. You may think you will remember all the details, but chances are you won’t. I learned early on to write things down before, during and after my project. It is so worse the time. It helps you to not repeat annoying mistakes but also allows you to repeat the things that were desirable. My Weaver’s Toolkit downloadable e-booklet is a great help for recording purposes, it includes warping and weaving calculations sheets plus a project record sheet.

8. Sample.

It took me a while to become a true sampling convert. I do it often now. It’s a guaranteed way to know that your project will turn out well. You have to invest a little yarn and time, but it is very satisfying beginning a project with that kind of confidence.

9. Find the right resources for you.

If you need help, find help. The kind of help will be different depending on your needs. You may find weaving books really helpful, (check out my Amazon shop for my favourites) you may want to access some online lessons, or you may be lucky enough to either live near to face to face classes or know someone who weaves already.

10. There is almost always a fix

If you mess up, it’s not the end of the world! Most mistakes can be rectified. You may need to find extra resources when you encounter a problem but that is a positive part of your learning process. I always say that if I hadn’t made so many mistakes I wouldn’t have learned as much as I have. Make sure you’re subscribed to my Youtube channel where I have many, many videos that can help you out of a tricky situation.

11. Do not use sticky yarns if you are a beginner. I repeat, Do not use sticky yarns if you are a beginner!

I know, I said “10 tips” and this is number 11. But I must make this point, it’s that important.

Please! Just don’t do it!! You wouldn’t believe the number of emails I get from students stuck (pun intended) in their project because of a sticky yarn that won’t let them get a clear shed and causes all kinds of angst and hair tearing activity. Even bad language, so I’ve heard.

So, just don’t do it. No fluffy, sticky yarns (just forget all about that mohair for now). Save the stickies for later (if you really want to – I just generally prefer to avoid them!) and plan the project carefully.

If you need more information on choosing appropriate yarns, check out these other articles I’ve written on the topic:

Choosing and Using Yarns in Weaving…

3 Yarns Beginner Weavers should NEVER use!…

What is Superwash Woollen Yarn?…

I hope these tips are useful to you! If you have any questions, please leave me a comment, I love to hear from you.

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

How to show off a multi coloured warp

by Kelly 8 Comments

A frequently asked question is “how do I best show off my warp?” and it’s usually asked in relation to having bright colours, lots of colours or a gradient in the warp.

If you have spent a lot of time on your warp to arrange the colours just the way you want to, you certainly don’t want to obscure all that beauty by weaving with an inappropriate weft.

In the planning stages of your warp, you will want to think a lot about how your warp colours will look side by side. There are several ways to visualise this. You can use colouring pencils to just draw and colour in bands of colour next to each other on a blank piece of paper to see if they look pleasing to you.

You can also grab some short lengths of the intended colours in the yarn you are using and twist them together a couple of times. They will twirl around each other and give you an idea of how they will behave side by side.

You can also do a wrapping as I have here, which gives a great visual representation of colours and thicknesses of stripes. I teach you how to do this in my members only Gaining Confidence with Colour class.

It is best that you also plan which weft you will use, but it can be hard to know how different colours and yarns will look on the loom. I highly recommend that you take the time and a little extra yarn to warp up a sampler, which will take all of the guess work out of the project.

In this article, I am sharing some of my samples from my new members only Options for Showing Warp Colours class. The class goes into plenty of detail with yarns used, weaving structures and demonstrations that will give you lots of ideas for your next colourful warp.

All my samples, excepting one, were woven with woollen yarn but not all in the same thickness. My first sample was a white wool. I particularly wanted to show you how a white weft has the effect of toning bright colours right down. That can be desirable in some circumstances, and not in others. It’s best to know these things before you begin your project to avoid disappointment!

I’ll readily admit that this sample makes me cringe, but perhaps for another weaver it might be just to their taste. Once again, sampling is invaluable in helping to reveal your own personal likes and dislikes. So, while this balanced plain weave sample doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest, that doesn’t mean that I’m against all white wefts!

For my second Wash Your Hands Towel I also used a white weft, but look at the difference! In this case, due to the arrangement of colours in the weft and a lovely pick up pattern, white really makes this towel pop in a way that I love.

The second sample is the opposite of the first in that it uses black as the weft. I didn’t have any black in the same weight as the warp, so I used a lighter weight. I had to be careful to beat gently to avoid obscuring the warp altogether. I don’t often use much black in my weaving, as it tends to be so dominant. It can be perfect when pairing with another solid, contrasting colour and an interesting pattern, but for plain weave, once again, I’m not a fan.

I don’t mind the way the black has little pops of the warp colour, but I do feel that it just wants to take over all those colours I spent time carefully warping!

The third sample was a plain weave in dark grey. Dark grey is my preferred option for when I want my warp colours to shine. It seems to harmonise and compliment rather than dominate.

Now on to my favourite option – grey with pick up. This is a total win win situation in my opinion. You have the non obtrusive grey and the openness of the pick up to allow that warp to shine. I find this the most complimentary combination of weft and warp.

Before I go, I want to show you some of my favourite projects woven with colourful, gradient warps and grey weft in pick up patterns, just to inspire you!

This one is my favourite. It took me a long time to dye that rainbow gradient warp!

Note the reversibility of the design – one side shows weft floats while the other shows warp floats. Pretty cool huh?

I hope this post has helped you to think about ways that you might use wefts to make your warp a stand out. If topics like this are interesting and useful to you, I’m sure you will love my Online Weaving School. There are single classes or memberships available for purchase.

If you are interested to know more about pick up sticks, you will find this article very useful.

As always, if you have any questions or if you enjoyed reading this, please leave me a comment, I love to read them!

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

Online Weaving School 3 year anniversary giveaway!

by Kelly

It’s hard to believe that 3 years have passed since I began my Online Weaving School. Many of you have been with me for all of that time and longer, but if you’re new here, I’d like to tell you a little about my teaching journey.

*This post contains affiliate links

I’ve always been a creative person but making things with my hands became more important to me when I found myself an at home Mum with 4 children. The urge to relax and create became very strong and somewhat vital. I needed that quiet, meditative time away from my regular daily duties.

I started with embroidery after my mother in law gifted me with some vintage supplies. Then I got a sewing machine and started sewing clothes for my kids. From there I started making dolls. This began my relationship with Etsy, where I sold my dolls. Then bear making, quilting, knitting, spinning, dyeing and weaving. Many of these were learned books, some from just teaching myself and some (especially knitting) from Youtube. Youtube was just becoming a thing at that time. When I came to weaving, I found it the perfect culmination of so many of the arts and skills I had already been practicing for years. When I found weaving, I felt like I had come home.

After I had been weaving for some time and felt very confident at my rigid heddle loom, I felt that I really wanted to share some of the wonderful things I had learned. I was almost bursting with excitement and passion but I didn’t know any other weavers at all.

So I made a video and uploaded it to Youtube. I didn’t know anything about how to teach or how to use Youtube. My son helped me to film and edit to make the video passable. I expected nothing, I didn’t even think about whether anyone would be interested. I just thought it might help someone and I wanted to share.

As it turns out, that video is still helping weavers, 5 years later! People loved the video and asked for more. I made more. And I loved it. It was so rewarding to know that I could help others and share this passion for weaving.

After a while, my Youtube hobby was starting to cost a lot of money in materials and the meagre income from Youtube ads didn’t even begin to cover the expense. I was a stay at home Mum, homeschooling her children and relying on my husband to earn enough income to keep us fed and clothed.

So, using a Youtube paid channel, I started to (gasp! how could I even dare to!) charge for classes. This was a big mind shift for me. People wanted to pay me in exchange for classes!! I still ran my free channel, but the paid channel was a huge blessing. Now at least I could cover my expenses, even if I still wasn’t really earning anything extra. When the Youtube paid channels ceased to exist, I had a fairly sizeable following of enthusiastic weavers. And they still wanted more! So, I found Teachable and set up my tiny Online Weaving School and community.

3 years later, that “tiny” weaving school has grown to over 4000 registered users and 750 paid memberships and is still growing! I am still pinching myself. Thanks to the constant support from my wonderful and loyal students, I now provide the income for my family of 6. This is something I never would have dreamed could happen and I have learned so much. I would go so far as to say that having my weaving school has transformed me as a person – or perhaps better to say, it has formed me into the person I was meant to be.

Aside from all of the obvious benefits the success of the school has brought me are the less obvious blessings. The beautiful friendships and relationships I’ve encountered with weavers all over the world. The ability to help others not just to learn to weave, but to share other difficult life burdens. It is amazing to be in a position where you feel you can truly make a difference to the lives of others!

If you already know or follow me, then you will be aware of my recent free project, The Wash Your Hands Towels. I designed these towels in the time of uncertainty while the world was suffering from the effects (and still is) of the coronavirus pandemic. This has been a hugely popular project and seemed to come at just the right time for many weavers at home under lockdown. I’ve seen lots of different versions completed in a big variety of colours, it’s been wonderful to see.

So, I thought a very appropriate way to celebrate this 3 year milestone would be to give away a Wash Your Hands Towels Kit. This kit will be a one off, as I don’t have plans to make kits available for sale.

Included in the kit is all the beautiful Australian cotton yarn you need to make two towels plus a paper printed PDF. You use the PDF in conjunction with the video tutorial. If you wish to know what you need to complete this rigid heddle project, read this post that has all the details.

This giveaway is open to all, wherever you happen to be in the world. Entries are open until the end of this month of May 2020.

To enter the giveaway, please leave me a comment here (only comments on this blog post will be considered entries) and tell me why you would like to win.

Make sure you are on my email list to keep up to date with the giveaway and for the winner announcement.

I look forward to reading all your comments and drawing a winner!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER – VEENA RAGHAVEN!

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

Life after lockdown – How to plan and prioritise with a daily practice planner

by Kelly 7 Comments

Some parts of the world are beginning to emerge from the COVID 19 pandemic crisis by tentatively lifting restrictions on lockdown and stay at home orders.

*Disclaimer – I am not a medical doctor or psychologist. I’m just a person living life and making observations. If you are concerned about any aspect of your mental health, please seek help from medical professionals.

Here in Australia, the government is moving ahead with plans to reinstate some freedoms we enjoyed before we all learned the term “coronavirus”.

As an online creator who has the privilege of being in touch with people from all different backgrounds from all over the world, I have unexpectedly learned a lot over this lockdown period. Mostly about my fellow humans.

I’ve seen a huge surge of people who, temporarily released from the obligations of a “normal” life, have found wonderful ways to fill the gaps and use their time productively. Weaving, baking bread, making and doing in a way that we have not previously seen. I wrote about this at the beginning of the pandemic, sharing how much I was enjoying a return to simpler times.

My Online Weaving School has seen one if it’s biggest months, with so many new members joining and eager to learn. In a time of great uncertainty, by business is going ahead in leaps and bounds.

In some ways, it seems lock down is just what the doctor ordered for so many people. Even for those who switched from a workplace to working at home, they have found that they have so much extra time without having to commute to and from work and expending energy to do so.

It has been really wonderful for me to watch so many people joyfully finding the time to do what they would rather be doing, or discovering new learning opportunities and diving right in. How inspiring!

But, something concerns me about all this new found fervour.

What happens when everything goes back to normal?

How are people going to reconcile their former lives with their current (perhaps much preferred?) lives? People still have to work for a living, how will they find the time to continue pursuing the things they truly want to do?

Now is a great time to ponder such questions and to begin planning. Setting aside some time to make plans is going to make you feel a whole lot better about your future. There is something about having goals written down on paper that can soothe anxiety and empower you to feel in control of your life.

I’ve put together a very basic but rather pretty Daily Practice Planner that has helped me to gather and organise my thoughts in a really manageable way.

Here is what the blank planner looks like. I’ll take you through some of my own planning as an example. I don’t want you to copy what I’ve written, but to use it as a guide. You should write down what is most relevant to you and your own life.

Let’s start with column one – Important Daily Practices. Generally these are things that you are already doing, but if there are practices you would like to incorporate into each day, write them down as well. Print out as many sheets as you need to accomodate your daily practices or import the file into Adobe Acrobat where you can edit PDFs.

My first important daily practice is “Faith and Spirituality”. Under “What it looks like currently“. I’ve written the basics of what this topic looks like for me in my everyday life. When you write down what your topic currently looks like, be honest, don’t try to sugar coat it. No one has to see this list, it’s for your benefit only.

Working across, I fill in the next column “How I wish it looked ideally“. This is like the best case scenario column. If you could have that daily practice exactly how you want to, what would it be? Write it in and don’t worry if it seems too perfect or not achievable.

Now for the last column. This is the back down to earth column. It’s a recognition that nothing is perfect and your “ideal” may not be the most realistic thing for you. It’s validating the fact that you have higher ideals and it’s going to help you to move towards “better” not “perfect”. It is also to prove to yourself that you are not a victim of your circumstances. Yes, most people have to work for a living and yes, that can take a lot of time and yes, you may wish you could just do what you want to do instead. But this column shows you that you can make positive changes to fill that necessary cup of self investment.

So, for my last column, instead of writing down “attend daily Mass”, which I know is not really achievable for me due to time, work and family demands, I have written what I know can be achievable for me – “go to 1 additional Mass per week”. I can make that work, I can pick the day of the week to make it happen and I’m not tied in to commitment if I can’t do it every single week. It’s a good place to start. Likewise, with the 1 page per day of the bible. It’s about making a habit and keeping it but making it as easy as possible so that I will actually do it. These things are stepping stones that may eventually equate to bigger and better goals, but for now it’s more important to just make a start.

Here is my first page completed and I will likely print out at least one more page. You can do as many as you like, but don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to make too many changes at once or overthinking it.

Print your PDF here:

Daily-Practice-Planner.png Download

So, what do you think, would this be a beneficial activity for you? Plans can and do change, but taking a few minutes to fill out your own chart could be just what you need.

Leave me a comment if you complete a sheet and let me know how it helped you, I would love to hear all about it!

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

When your life is on hold

by Kelly 32 Comments

Where to start when writing a post like this? It’s not like I’ve ever experienced anything like this before. But that’s the thing that really unites all of humanity at the moment. We’re all in this together and none of us are immune from the possible and real effects of the coronavirus.

Many of us are isolated in our homes, some working from home, others facing the uncertainty of job insecurity. No social meet ups. No extended family meet ups. No popping out to the shops to pick up some milk. It’s a completely different lifestyle to what most of us are accustomed to.

I know that there is some concern about the impact all of this could have on mental health if the isolation has to continue for some time. We don’t know at the moment when it will be safe to resume former activities, we don’t know if we will contract the virus, and if we do, we don’t know how bad it will be. There is so much we just can’t predict or plan for.

In many ways, it feels like life is completely on hold. No planning ahead, no getting ready to go back to work or school or social activities. For now, we just have to BE.

People have been talking about the state of JUST BEING for a long time. Of being present in the moment in whatever we’re doing. To think, be grateful, live slow. In the busy, noisy world of today, that goal can feel unrealistic and unobtainable.

Enter quarantine. And self isolating. And social distancing. Enter 2020 and COVID 19.

What if we completely turned this pandemic thing on it’s head and focused on the positives of what it means for us right now?

How many times, as you were rushing off to work in the morning or dragging yourself home at the end of the day, have you wished that you had more time? Have you thought to yourself “if only I had an extra day, I could take the time to learn to…… (fill in the blank)”. Or when you’ve been absolutely run off your feet and wondered why? Why am I doing this? Is this what I was meant for? Then why am I so unhappy?

That hobby that you’ve “always wanted” to get started with. “Maybe when I retire!” you may have joked. Or “I’ll do it once the kids have all left home and I have some time to myself”.

How about now? In this time of major uncertainty, perhaps you feel a bit lost. But maybe it’s time to search and find. Maybe it’s time to discover what God is leading you to – what talents are waiting to be revealed, perhaps even find out what you should really be doing and who you really are.

I’m finding that it’s wonderful time, not just for discovery, but re-discovery as well. I am taking more pleasure and satisfaction in my daily tasks as a homemaker. Baking bread is not just something that I do an have done for a long time anymore, now it’s an important skill that provides my family with food.

Preserving vegetables is something I can take pride in, knowing that my family will have healthy fermented vegetables to eat even if we can’t leave our home to go to the shops.

Our garden has become a major focus as we aim to grow as much of our own food as we can. It’s something that the whole family can work at and reap the rewards and benefits at harvest time. It gives us time out in the fresh air and sunshine too.

I have been thinking for some time how I would like to make soap again, it’s been so long. Now, it happens that you can no longer buy soap, you can however buy ingredients to make soap.

I’ve been writing on this blog since 2008 and if you look back on past posts, many of them are related to simple and frugal living. It’s something I’ve been both striving for and living out for a long time, and something that just makes sense to me. It’s serving us pretty well at the moment!

If you’re interested in reading some of my “posts from the past” related to simple living, I’ll list some here:

The Simple Life

Back to Basics, Frugality revisited

Honey and Oat soap

Cheese and Bacon Scrolls

I have a lot of recipes, all of them are simple and frugal. You can search the “recipes” tab on my blog or type in “bread” or “recipe” in the search bar and you’ll be inundated with posts! I need to do an updated bread blog post, as I make bread in a different, very easy and intuitive way these days.

If you’re looking to learn how to weave, start with my Youtube channel. I promise it will keep you busy for many, many hours!

This has become quite a rambling post, but I guess what I really want to say is: What are you going to do this with this time? How are you going to be different? Are you the person you want to be? The person you were made to be?

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. What will you do with it?

Van Gogh inspired freestyle tapestry!

by Kelly 5 Comments

It’s hard to know what to say about the present world situation. Strange. Unprecedented. Uncertain. At times, scary.

Many people throughout the world are in isolation or quarantine – some self imposed, others enforced. Countries in lockdown.

My mind can’t help thinking that it all feels very much like a suspense movie or novel. But no, this is the reality of 2020 and coronavirus for all of us. Strange times indeed!

Beyond the feeling of bewilderment though, is one of hope and unique opportunity. We may be isolated in our homes, but we live in the age of the internet, where it easy to stay connected to others and share burdens. Many people have more time than they usually would, to explore interests and hobbies. My Youtube channel and Online Weaving School are great places to be right now!

With that in mind, I have a new Youtube project that is long, slow and relaxing. We could all use a bit of that right now!

The project is inspired by the wonderful Van Gogh painting, The Starry Night. I have long admired this art work for it’s colours, movement and mood. I thought it would translate really well to a tapestry, not as a replica but as inspiration.

I thought this would be a great, calming project because it is adaptable, doesn’t require much planning, is relaxing and free flowing. Oh, and the idea is to use stash yarns so you don’t need to go out to buy more!

All the materials plus the warp calculations are provided in this printable PDF-

Van-Gogh-inspired-tapestry Download

Some of my stash yarns included wool, cotton, silk, acrylic and handspun, tencel and metallic. Weights included 8/2, lace weight, fingering, light worsted/dk and aran. My favourite weight ended up being the fingering.

The video/s are mostly in real time, something I have not done before. It means long videos, but I was figuring some people might appreciate sitting and weaving with me at this time – step by step and no hurry. And I know how some of you love to know all the details.

Begin with video one, which explains my aims for the tapestry and shows you the yarns I used:

Some additional resources that are relevant and helpful are:

My first freestyle tapestry series for Youtube –

You may be interested in my online course, Tapestry on a Rigid Heddle Loom to learn traditional tapestry techniques.

Then there is my review of the Mirrix Big Sister Tapestry Loom –

And my Tapestry Necklace project –

I’ve been keeping a secret…

by Kelly 86 Comments

Things are about to change in a big way in our household. It’s all very exciting and scary. Let me give you some background information to explain!

The past year has been just little too crazy. Running my business, homeschooling the kids, driving hours every week to get kids to lessons, activities and jobs, trying to ensure that everyone stays healthy with nutritious food, meeting the mental, physical and spiritual needs of 4 young people, maintaining a happy marriage, nurturing my faith and pretending that my house doesn’t look like a disaster zone are just some of the things I’ve been trying to juggle. More often than not, those juggling balls have been dropped.

So often people ask me how I “do it all” and I always reply that I don’t! I can’t – no one can. I have a family who I also consider my team. We work together to get things done, and still there is more than we can handle.

I’ll admit that I’ve been really stressed this past year and that my old, unwelcome “friend”, anxiety has been popping up more often than I care to mention.

On top of all this has been the problem of my husband’s back injury. Without going into too much detail out of respect for him and for the organisations he has worked for, he sustained an injury at work almost 15 years ago. He has a collapsed and oozing disc in his lower back. He has continued to work in his job to support us, but it has become increasingly difficult to do so. In recent years, it has become a bit of a jumble of specialist’s appointments, employer negotiations, daily pain medications, more doctor’s appointments and more referrals. The specialists want to avoid surgery, as it would mean full fusion, a 12 month recovery period, and no guarantee of success.

It has always been a dream of mine that my husband and I could work on a business together. I have been given the gift of being self employed and not having to rely on a job for income, and I wanted that for him too. We had planned to wait and hope that my business income would grow to such an extent that it would replace his work income. We’re not there yet. But it has become unfeasible for him to continue working when he is in constant and often severe pain.

That brings me to our decision! He is coming home. He will remain on casual status at his current job, but he is only obligated to work one shift a month. All of the things that I’ve talked about have been the catalyst for the change, and we feel that God is leading us in this direction, in fact, we feel that there is no other choice to make at this time. It’s not how I hoped or planned, but life rarely is that way.

So, what does this all mean for us?

It means that we can now be a real team. That I can get help with all of the things I need help with. That we will be working together for the benefit of our family. Reduced stress. More time to work on making the business bigger and better. More time to work on our neglected home and fix those things that have needed fixing for I don’t know how long! Particularly for my husband, who has worked so hard for so long, more time to spend fishing, which is his lifetime passion. Yes, it’s going to be a big financial change and challenge, but I think the benefits will outweigh the negatives. And I’m really excited about the possibilities that it will open up for my weaving school.

My husband is pretty camera shy, but who knows, maybe you will see a little more of him in my videos from now on.

Once again, I am so grateful to all of you wonderful people out there who choose to support me and my family by purchasing classes, memberships and patterns and watching my Youtube channel. Without you none of this is possible.

Onward and upward!

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

High Hopes

by Kelly 14 Comments

I read a quote recently that really impressed me. I don’t make New year’s resolutions, but the end of the year is a perfect time for a bit of reflection. Homeschooling has finished for the year and I try to take a break from making classes and just be peaceful and restful. With this gear change comes thoughts of what I did well during the year and what I could have done better.

The quote was “Have high hopes and low expectations“.

At first glance, it may seem a little defeatist. But something that 43 years on this earth has taught me is that life is a roller coaster. Many wonderful things happen and there are many, often bitter disappointments.

I don’t think it’s life that needs to change though. I think it’s the way we look at it that needs altering. If we expect that everything will be always rosy, we are kind of like spoiled little brats who never experienced a hardship.

Have you ever visited an impoverished country or area? Do the people go about with gloomy faces? Are they angry at life… or at God? No, they have something that many of us in our wealthier society have lost and forgotten.

They have little.

When you have so little, you appreciate what you do have. And you are grateful for anything extra that comes your way. Your life is simple. You have clothing, shelter and food for today – then you have everything you need and you are thankful. You have hopes that life may improve, but you are content to live simply.

So, I’m making this quote my motto for 2020.

My hopes are high. I hope this year that all of my family are happy and have good health. I hope that my business grows and that I can make my Online Weaving School even better. I hope I get lots of time to weave and learn. I hope that my husband’s back injury may improve. I hope that we can meet all of our financial responsibilities. I hope that we can finally make our move to the country. I hope that we have a great homeschooling year. I hope that my understanding of my faith will increase. I hope that I can love and serve God better than ever before.

And I will try to expect nothing.

There is a big difference between hoping for the best and expecting the best. One makes us joyful – the other miserable. One is a freedom, the other a slavery to our own thoughts and desires.

So tell me friends, is this something that you struggle with too? (oh yes, this is a huge struggle for me!) Share your hopes in the comments below!

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

What running a creative, online business is really like.

by Kelly 156 Comments

I’m well aware that as an online weaving teacher, designer and encourager, I have a lot of people’s dream job.

I design my own classes and projects, I make my own hours around my family commitments and I work from my own home.

It could be easy for those on the outside looking in to think “she is so lucky” or “I wish I could do that”. And honestly, I consider myself so blessed to be able to do this. But there is definitely more than one downside to being an online entrepreneur.

Tracy from Knit, Spin Weave wrote a blog post recently that was quite candid about the reality of owning a creative business. It struck a chord with me.

Being a part of the online world can have it’s ups and downs. People will type things that they would not dare to say to your face (depending on their level of rudeness I guess!) It has been suggested that I am somehow a greedy person lacking charity because I choose to earn money from my business rather than doing it just as a hobby. I guess that person (and yes, unfortunately it was someone well known in online weaving circles) never too the time to browse through my completely free blog and Youtube channel. Or signed up for my email list for extra free information, patterns and inspiration. I think I have published more free content to the internet than paid content. I guess that person has no idea how much time I spend every single day at my computer responding to questions and helping weavers with advice. That is not paid either, but I feel it’s an essential part of what I do.

Is there something wrong with wanting to earn money doing what you love? I certainly didn’t make any money for a long time and now earn a modest income. Out of that modest income, I of course pay taxes, materials for projects, online selling fees, I could go on and on. I pay well over $1000USD a year for online course hosting, the same for this website, $79USD per month for email hosting. The costs of actually running a business can be huge, thousands of dollars every year, even without a bricks and mortar shop.

There are times, many times where you simply do not make any money. But still, the bills must be met. And the work must continue. Yes, unlike a wage job, you have to continue to put in the work, whether or not you are being paid for it.

As a business owner, I do everything. I don’t have help with the business, apart from my wonderful sounding board husband and my son who occasionally does closed captions for me when he has time. I’m in that very tricky position of the business growing but still not earning enough to hire out help occasionally – every penny goes back into the business and into raising my family.

I did not start out intending to make money from weaving. It was, and is my passion and above all I wanted (and still do want to) share my passion with others and ignite the same passion for them. My Online Weaving School only grew out of a demand from weavers who had seen my Youtube videos – I had no idea about online courses. Over the past 3 years I’ve seen the potential grow from a hobby to a business. This has allowed me to continue to stay home with my family, homeschool our kids and contribute to our income, which has been an amazing blessing and as a stay at home Mum, was something I prayed about for years and years.

A hobby that is all of a sudden taking over every waking hour can not continue to be a free hobby. It would not be fair to my family if I spent so much time on a hobby that did not otherwise contribute to all of us.

Anyone who has seen my online classes or has purchased a pattern could not claim that I overcharge. I purposefully keep my prices as reasonable as I can. I want weaving to be accessible to anyone who wants to learn, that is why I continue to upload to Youtube even though I don’t need to anymore and the revenue that I earn from ads on Youtube is a very, very small portion of my income.

Perhaps it’s the wrong time of year to be writing this kind of post, but I do feel very reflective as the new year approaches. Perhaps it’s wrong of me to share this kind of information with those who follow me for my lessons and tutorials. It’s certainly something I don’t normally talk about, but I want people to know that this is not all easy and fun. Not just for my sake, but for the sake of other business owners in similar situations.

The internet can be so deceptive. I do love Instagram and social media but there are times I just want it all to go away. Social media can be a monster that never rests, there is always someone doing better than you, looking better than you, having more than you. Increasing the anxiety of those who use it. But don’t be fooled. Things are not always as they seem.

If there is only one point that you take away from this lengthy and disjointed post, I hope that it will be this:

Be kind. Don’t judge. Be patient with others. You can’t see behind the scenes and you can’t assume to take everything at face value. People are complicated, life is complicated! We all have to do our best to love one another, even though it’s possibly the hardest thing we are asked to do.

You know what? I think I need to go and weave something wonderful. I’ve been thinking about Krokbragd again…

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

My completed Clothtober project!

by Kelly 20 Comments

I’m so excited to be finished! A little overdue perhaps, but isn’t the nature of slow cloth?

I went through quite a few of the weaving details like yarns and weave structure in last week’s post, so please check that out if you’re interested (and read of my nightmare-ish warp!)

*This post contains an affiliate link

I’m happy to say that the actual weaving was fairly plain sailing and enjoyable with the simple 1&2, 2&3, 3&4, 4&1 order of treadling.

So, once removed from the loom I had a lovely long length of delightful cloth without serious errors (I’m happy to say that the double threading error referred to in the last post does not even show in the finished garment!)

I made a lovely big vat of indigo and tested it with the neck facing pieces I had cut out of a light commercial cotton. The colour was even better than expected, so I felt very good about submitting my long piece of cloth to the vat.

Have you ever dyed with indigo? It is a wonderful, peaceful and relaxing process. While I was standing at my laundry sink, I had the door next to me wide open and a blackbird hopped right up beside me. He didn’t even notice I was there! I thought to myself “perhaps this is the very best way to live. Quietly, slowly, making beautiful things”. It certainly struck me as a beautiful moment in time.

I took my cloth outside (indigo is very messy!) to let the magic happen. As oxygen hits the cloth, it turns from a glorious green to a wonderful blue. The blue is much darker when wet, so I took that into account. I wanted a dark blue. So, I went back to the vat for a total of 3 dippings. On the last dip, I left the cloth sitting in the vat for at least half an hour.

I absolutely love the colour in this shot. I would have preferred that it stay this dark and rich as it dried, but alas that was not the case. I still think it came out a beautiful colour anyway. That is another of the charms of indigo, even if you obtain a very light colour it is bound to be a really beautiful blue – I don’t think an indigo vat can produce anything ugly!

As an aside, I have just begun work on my Journey to Japan course. One of the focuses of the course will be learning to dye with indigo, so if that interests you, be on the lookout for that.

The next step once my fabric was dry was to cut out the pattern. I’m not scared of cutting my handwoven fabric as it all turns out well as long as you take the right precautions. For this project I cut the pieces as I would for commercial fabric but got them quickly to the serger without disturbing the fabric too much, and it was fine. If you’re worried about cutting your handwovens, you may want to check out this video:

There was a hitch with cutting out the pattern though. The fabric had shrunk more than I calculated for. My front and back pattern pieces didn’t fit the folded fabric! Aaaaagh!!

These are the things that feel horrible at the time, but later I am really grateful for. Why? Because I learn! Not only do I learn what to do by thinking about all the possibilities, I also learn that I might be more capable than I thought, which is a great confidence booster! So, I ended up with some odd little shapes and pieces that I tacked on here and there to make up for the lack of width. And it worked!

I now have a comfortable, special garment that fits really well. Unfortunately we are coming into warmer weather here in Australia, so I won’t get much wear out of it this year, but I expect it to last many, many years. If the indigo fades at all, I’ll do as the Japanese do and re-dip it. Only I know the work that went into making this, but that makes it all the more rewarding.

The little voice in me says that the neckline is too wide and so are my hips. But I told the little voice to shut up please, I want to bask in the joy of having woven, dyed and sewn a garment from scratch just for me.

I don’t know if any of you decided to make your own garment for Clothtober, but I’m thinking I need to make this an annual thing, even if it’s just to push myself to do something just for me again.

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!