My Story

The two pieces of my loom represent my family and my personal interests. The top portion of the loom is made of oak my father used when he was designing a stick weaving shuttle for me. The wood has his brand on it where he was testing to see if the tool was hot enough to mark the shuttles he had finished. The bottom of my loom is a chopstick because I have been interested in Asian cultures for many years.

The warp is made from handspun cotton that I spun last year after attending a cotton spinning workshop that my weaving guild hosted. It is not smooth or perfect, but neither am I. The warp represents the people in my life that help me stay strong, the religious beliefs I hold that help me move forward.

The weft is also made from handspun yarn. It changes color as I move from past to present to future. The past is pastel and indicative of childhood. The weave is mainly plain weave. The present is made from strong colors that represent me now: maroons and blues mainly. The weaving is plain weave along with some fun stitches which represent me trying new things and being more sure of myself.

The future is mostly unwoven although there is a ball of undyed yarn ready to accept color and be woven into the piece. My life is changing right now as my children are mainly gone and my role as a wife and mother is morphing into…I’m not sure what yet.

I learned to think differently about the pieces I weave and to see that weaving my story or stories is something that invites me to really think about my life.