Q: What's brown and sticky?

A: A stick, of course! (sorry - that is one of my favourite jokes!)

My sister came across stitch and bitch sessions recently (one is just starting in Towcester - if any one wants the details let me know). She was shocked by the title and then intrigued, but reticent to join in as she is not really a knitter, although became quite fluent in finger knitting. So I told her about weaving sticks.

Stick weaving (see picture below) is a very simple and highly portable way of weaving. All that is needed is an odd number of sticks ( as many as can be comfortably held in the palm of one hand ) with a hole in the end of each one. The weaver would thread each stick, as they would a needle, with a desired length of wool, and knot each thread in place to make the warp. The weaver would then tie the loose ends of the threads together. Next, taking a ball of thread they would tie the end around one stick and begin to weave over and under the warp. The work was then pushed off the sticks onto the warp threads. When the work was completed the weaver would carefully cut the threads going through the sticks and tie them off securely. For more details see: http://www.history.uk.com/clothing

Above is a picture of a choker that I made a couple of years ago on weaving sticks. I have had many nice comments about it, and have been very pleased with the way it can be used to mix a number of fibres. And here is a picture of the weaving sticks with some weaving on them...

It's very simple, good fun, and most of all quick!

Straps, bracelets, chokers and belts are all easily made, and sections of weaving can be sewn together to make larger or more complicated shapes.