The Busy Person’s Guide to Weaving

I’m at the point in my life as a parent where most of my evenings are dictated by various extracurricular activities. Between swim team, scouts, and gymnastics, I feel like I’m always on the go. It can be a struggle to find time for my weaving, but I’ve developed a few strategies to help me keep making while I’m out and about.

Keep It Small

As much as I’d love to bring my rigid-heddle loom to my kids’ events, mine is just too big. So when I weave on the go, I stick to my pin loom or travel inkle loom. Travel-sized tapestry looms would also be good choices for taking on the go. Just make sure that whatever you’re doing doesn’t require a lot of yarn—I find a put-up or two is enough for me to have fun weaving without things getting tangled.

Keep It Simple

When I’m at my kids’ evening events, as much as I like to work on my weaving, I also like to keep an eye on my kiddos and chat with my fellow parents. When I think about what type of project I should bring, it’s one that I can do without much thought. If it’s tablet weaving, it’s a threaded-in design with a simple repeat. If it’s pin-loom weaving, it’s plain weave. For this reason, I often like to bring spinning projects. So much of spinning is muscle memory. I can easily hold a conversation, watch my kid do some flips, and keep my yarn (mostly) consistent.

An extra-small inkle loom is perfect for bandweaving on the go. Photo by Christina Garton

Keep It in a Bag

There’s nothing more frustrating than getting to wherever we’re going and realizing I forgot either my whole project at home or a key component (yarn, shuttle, etc.). So now I make sure to keep whatever weaving (or spinning) thing I’m working on in a designated bag with all the necessary supplies. This might be a pin loom with yarns, needles, and fork; my travel inkle loom with extra weft, small scissors, and my favorite shuttle; or my drop spindle and some roving. I hang the bag by the front door; that way, when it’s time to run, I can grab the bag and be ready to do some handwork as soon as I’m in parental spectator mode. Also—and this is vital—if I have to remove the project from the bag, I immediately replace it with another one so future me doesn’t forget and end up at the pool without a project in hand.

At home, I still try to make time for more complicated and larger projects—but I usually have to save those for weekends, which are also often chock-full of activities. Finding ways to work in small projects has allowed me to keep weaving even when I’m at my busiest. So whether you have small kids, large kids, or just a busy schedule of your own, I hope you find ways to keep weaving on the go!

Happy weaving,

Christina