A DIY Weaving Blanket

A blanket is an easy project for a beginning weaver.

A blanket is a great first project for a beginning weaver. It allows you to use heavy yarns, which are easy to thread and which also weave up quickly. Weaving the blanket teaches you almost everything you need to know about the basics of weaving, and your first blanket creates a useful and lasting addition to your home that you will use for years. For any starter, this is a great intro into more complex projects.

Things You'll Need

• Jaggerspun 3/8 Maine line worsted wool, 1 pound, in natural
• Jaggerspun 3/8 Maine line worsted wool, 1 pound, in navy
• Loom
• Shuttles
• Warping board

Instructions

1. Wind your warp on the warping board, two ends at a time. Your sett for this project is 12 ends per inch, so if your loom is 40 inches wide, you will need 480 ends. Wind a warp at least 3 yards long for one blanket. Wind the first 3 inches, or 36 ends, in natural. Make a cross at one end of the warp. Wind a border as follows: four ends blue, eight ends natural, eight ends blue, eight ends natural. Repeat this pattern two more times and then end with four ends of natural.

2. Wind the middle section of the blanket warp plain, in natural, for 312 ends or 26 inches. Then wind another border like the first one, followed by 3 inches of natural. Tie off the cross and tie the warp off at one yarn intervals. Take the warp off the warping board and bring it to the loom.

3. Pre-sley the warp in the reed, in order to use the reed as a spacer to wind the warp onto the back beam. Using a 12 dent reed, pull four ends through every fourth dent in the reed. Set the reed in the beater. Wind the warp onto the back beam, having an assistant tension the warp in front of the beater as you wind on.

4. Thread the loom to a straight twill. This means you put the first thread of every group of four through a heddle on the fourth shaft. The next thread goes through a heddle on the third shaft, the next on the second shaft, and the last one on the first shaft, for a threading that is written "4-3-2-1." Sley the reed to its final sett of 12 ends per inch: one thread per dent in the reed. Tie the front of the warp to the apron rod of the loom and tighten the tension on the warp.

5. Wind a bobbin with the natural color wool. Put the bobbin in a shuttle. Now, depress the treadles to create a twill weave. The first treadle to your right is tied to harnesses four and three; the second treadle to three and two; the third to two and one; and the final one to one and four. You will depress the treadles in that order from right to left. Each time you open the shed, insert the weft from the shuttle into the shed. Change the shed and beat the shot in with the reed. Put another shot through, change, and beat.

6. Continue weaving in this manner until the blanket is about 6 feet long. Cut it off the loom about 8 or 9 inches from the woven edge (the fell) so that you will have some fringe. Cut it off the cloth beam. Braid the fringe. Full the blanket to make it thicker and warmer by washing it in hot water in the washing machine and then drying it on low in the dryer.

References

• "The Weaving, Spinning, and Dyeing Book"; Rachel Brown; 1983