Weaving loom and woven mat

Something I found really inspiring in Peru was the variety of brightly coloured woven textiles that were available in the markets, and that I saw the local people wearing. When I visited Taquile Island in Lake Titicaca I saw the women there weaving, and I bought a woven bag.

Inspired by Peru's woven textiles I decided to have a go at weaving myself.

First I needed a weaving loom. Rather than buying one, I made my own from a little picture frame I'd got for next to nothing at the charity shop! 

I hammered small nails 1/2cm apart along two sides of the frame.

I took some thin cord and wound it around the nails, back and forward. I also tied a piece of elastic around beside the nails to make sure the cord didn't slip off as I was weaving.

I placed a small ruler under each alternate thread, so that I could lift them up, making it easy to weave in one direction (when going in the other direction I needed to go over and under each individual strand).

To pull the wool through, I used this little tool called a knook - it's a crochet hook with a hole in the end, that my mum had got free with a magazine. I threaded the wool through the hole, and used the hook end to weave with.

I chose three bright colours of wool: teal, purple and yellow; and used them fairly randomly in the design.

After I was finished, I took it off the loom, finished off any loose threads, and sewed a length of pompom trim along each side.