The secret guild

Now I don't know about you lot, but my image of a guild is either one of a bunch of blue-rinsed old biddies munching on custard creams and knitting nasty acrylic layettes or a deadly assasin's group meeting under cover of darkness, all sporting one rolled trouser leg.

How wrong could I be?

Last Tuesday I sought out The Ulster Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers for their monthly meeting at the Ulster Folk Museum.
I was met with warmth and smiles by about 25 women of various ages and nationalities. Some had their spinning wheels with them, others brought split braid work, felting or current projects.
Not a custard-cream crumb-encrusted layette, or a rolled trouser was in sight!

I found myself surrounded with a wealth of knowledge covering several generations; a cupboard filled with the guild's small but invaluable library (available to borrow at £1- a month); and enough fibre inspiration to feed my yarn obssession for many years to come.

As young (ehem, I mean late thirties) women, we seem to have cast off the guilds and all that they can offer us and I reckon it's time we did something about this.
A week ago I would never had thought of making a circular loom from a hulahoop and a few screws.

But the guild had been donated one that evening and they lent it to me along with a book explaining how to use it.
So now I can add circular weaving to my long list of fibre-related addictions. I was up until 3am with it that night and have a long list of ideas to try on it.

My first attempts might be a bit ropey, but the resulting anemone form isn't that bad.
And can't help thinking it's a brilliant way to introduce kids to weaving, too. It's cheap, easy and very hard to mess up.

So grab your hula hoops and find your guild. You never know what's waiting for you. Just don't roll your trouser legs up.

Comments

[Isabel]

You've been a busy lady. Burning the candle at both ends - tut tut - but the results are amazing. Love to have a go at the hula hoop weaving. Never could get one to do what it was supposed to anyway.

[Erica]

this might be a silly question, but I don't know a lot about weaving - how do finish it off when you get it off the hoop, assuming you cut the threads around the hoop, you would need to tie them off somehow or it would unravel?

[rockpoolcandy]

Hi Erica,
it's not a silly question at all.

You don't cut the threads off the screws, you just un-hoop them.

Now, I'm no expert here, this was my first attempt, but when I'd unhooped them, I just tied them in a knot and fed them back into the fabric. It didn't unravel. I then gathered the edge to make the anemone shape and with a needle and thread sewed over and over around to create the edge 'lips'.

Now an old book that I also borrowed from the guild often shows designs with the hoop left in. The weaver has either bound around it, macramed it, or left it to show as part of the design. So you can try that if you're at all worried about taking it off.
Good luck. I'd love to see how it turns out. Do let me know,
Inga

[Erica]

thanks for that, I'll try it, (on a smaller scale to start with!)

[B]

Do you happen to know how the hula hoop loom was created? Are there nails drilled in? Also, What book were you referencing?

Thanks.

[rockpoolcandy]

B, all the info you need is on the left-hand side, under HULA HOOP LOOM.

[Helen Milburn]

WOW,your weaving on a hula hoop looks great, i'm looking up images of weaving to show children, then do some weaving with them, using different threads, fabrics etc. looks like the hoops are coming out of the p.e shed

[connie s crowder]

i visited the disney family fun website and started weaving a rug. all went well until i started separating my warps. the white warps i used to stretch over the hoop started showing through. i have reworked the rug over and over using different techniques, but to no avail. PLEASE HELP!! i want to take this project to the children and adults living on a sioux reservation this summer. i will gladly send my phone number if you request it.

REPLY:Hi there, you ask about separating the warps and them showing. I must admit, unless I can actually see what you're doing, it's hard to guess what's going wrong. I don't know if Family Fun copied the idea from my website, or whether they got the idea somewhere else. They don't use screws in their hoop and warp it up the way I do, so that might make a difference.

The only advice I can give you is: When you separate the warps, as long as you keep going in front and behind, then the warps shouldn't show. Make sure you tap the weft down with your fingers tight next to the last round.

I hope that this helps and you get to finish your rug and gift it on. I'm afraid I can't call you as I am based in Northern Ireland, not the USA.
Inga

[laura]

hola
me gustaria me explicaras como montaste el urdirme en el hula,
pues me gustaria hacer uno, desde
España
laura
enlaen@gmail.com