Owen Weaves a Blanket
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Crafts
In the winter, Owen likes to pass the time weaving on his loom. He knew that his friend Annicke Mouse had chilly paws, so he decided to weave her a blanket.
First, he got ready. He wound all his yarn into balls. And he wrapped some yarn onto the shuttle.
Then he strung the warp yarn onto the loom. "Warp" is the pieces that go up and down in weaving. He tied a knot in one corner, and wound the warp tightly through all the slots.
It was hard work to pull the yarn tight enough, but Owen says that he can use the improved core strength in his dancing. When he got to the end, he tied another tight knot.
Next, he took a wooden contraption called the heald shaft gear, and lifted it into place in front of the loom frame but behind the threads. He arranged it like this, with one piece of yarn in each slot.
Now Owen was ready to weave. He turned the heald shaft gear a little bit away from him. This made all the even numbered threads stick up higher than the odd numbered threads. He put the shuttle through the space between the threads.
Then, he turned the heald shaft gear a quarter turn back toward him. This made all the odd numbered threads stick up higher than the even numbered threads.
Owen put the shuttle back through the other way, and there were two rows of weft! "Weft" is the pieces that go from side to side in weaving. Owen used a little stick to push the weft threads to the bottom.
He went on weaving, first turning the heald shaft gear toward him, then turning it away from him, then pushing the weft threads tight with his little stick. The woven fabric grew bigger and bigger.
Sometimes Owen changed the weft yarn on the shuttle. This made colorful stripes in Annicke's blanket. Owen says he used a lot of red yarn because Annicke likes red, and it is a very warm and cozy color.
When Owen couldn't fit any more weaving on the loom, he took out the heald shaft gear. But he kept the blanket on the loom for a little while longer. He kept using the shuttle to weave the weft under and over, under and over.
He used a needle and some more yarn to stitch the top and bottom edges of the blanket. He used small, tight stitches so the threads could not unravel once they were cut.
And he used a needle to weave the short tails of thread into the blanket.
Finally, he took off the blanket and cut the loops of warp thread into a fringe.
Here he is giving the blanket to Annicke.
She loves it!
You can use any similar loom to do weaving projects at home. If you want a loom just like Owen's, we sell them in the "Toys and Games" section of our site.