Weaving Rugs

I have taken a stab at weaving rugs several times.  Peggy and I ran across some wonderful thick yarn at the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival years ago that I fell in love with.  I found out where I could have it spun and sent wool along with llama and alpaca fiber up to Going to the Sun Fiber Mill in Kalispell, Montana to have some made for me.  I even owned the perfect rug loom at one point - a 60" Cranbrook countermarche loom.

 

The Cranbrook loom didn't last long.  I realized early on that it was not the loom for me and found it a great home with a new weaver who loves it.  The yarn lasted much longer.  My first rug went to Peggy.  She had it and used it and loved it until the dogs threw up on it one too many times and cleaning it again was not possible.  My second batch of rugs went to my children and grandchildren.  The heavier ones to be rugs and the lighter ones to be doll beds.

 

My most recent batch of rugs were woven using yarn from two sources.  The first was core spun yarn we had spun in Montana and then dyed here.  It was mostly wool with a bit of mohair. 

The second source was some core spun yarn we acquired from our friends Karla and Joe Herre from Seguin, TX.  This yarn was all alpaca in natural colors - much too beautiful to dye.

My issue with weaving rugs has always been what to do with the warp yarn at either end of the rug.  If you leave it long enough you can tie it into fringe.  Somehow I don't ever leave enough of it to work as fringe.  Or you can weave it back in to the body of the rug so you have a clean edge.  This also requires a long length of yarn and the time to needle weave each strand.  I don't have either the length of yarn or the time.  No big surprise then that I haven't mastered either technique.  This last batch of rugs has been sitting folded up on the credenza in my dining room waiting patiently for me to finish the ends.  It's been months now.  Now that I think about it, it may be over a year.  I think I had to move them out of the way for Christmas last year.