A Weave With Words

A couple of years ago, I spent a morning eating cake and drinking tea whilst learning how to weave on a loom. I picked up the technique relatively quickly and was really pleased with my finished weave. But then the kids and general life took over and so I put it to one side and completely forgot about this new found skill.

I recently found my weaving loom in the back of a cupboard and decided that I would have another go. I sat and watched YouTube videos to remind myself how to do the various different weaving techniques and since then I’ve been spending my evenings weaving away. It’s actually quite relaxing, almost therapeutic!

I then decided to see whether I could add some words to my finished weaves using embroidery thread. I wrote out the words that I wanted to embroider on a piece of paper and set to work embroidering. Well I can tell you that this was far from relaxing and most definitely not therapeutic! I don’t know why but I just found myself in a permanent state of clenched teeth. I now have a new found appreciation for anyone who embroiders by hand.

However, being the determined individual that I am, I persisted and managed to add some words to two different weaves. I tried to come up with some puns so that the words tied in with the weave rather than just stitching on some random, unrelated quotes.

The first of these was: “From tangled mess to small success.” This phrase hints at the weaving process itself, as it begins with a pile of tangled wool and, in most cases, turns into something worthy of hanging on your wall. On reflection, I also feel that it’s quite a nice metaphor for my own writing journey. I started writing in the early weeks after my daughter was born when, quite frankly, I was a mess! And, whilst I wouldn’t necessarily describe myself as a success story, I have definitely come a long way from that emotional new mum scribbling poems down at 2am in the morning!

The second phrase, “weave your way towards the horizon”, ties in with the specific weave that I planned to embroider it to. I had decided that the weave looked somewhat like a path weaving it’s way forwards beneath a sunset. Again, I feel that I may have unintentionally written another metaphor for my journey here. I have always been able to see where I want to get to – my horizon. But so far I have zigzagged in all different directions trying to get there. The path forwards is never a straight one!

I’m not sure how well the embroidery thread works on the weaves, as it doesn’t stand out that much against the wool. I’m wondering whether it’s too delicate and perhaps it would have been better to try and embroider my words using wool. Nevertheless, I plan on making both of the weaves above, along with some of my other word-free weaves, available to buy on my website very soon. I’d love to hear what you think to them. Likewise, if you have any suggestions for anything else you think I should try then I’d love to chat!