Weaving Yarn

As part of a month-long craft unit that included basketry, hypertufa, and quilting projects, I taught my students how to weave yarn. Some loved it, some hated it, but it is a project that doesn't require sight, and provides the crucial fine motor skill practice often neglected in my blind students. The materials are simple:  yarn, a large plastic needle, and a piece of cardboard with slits or notches at the top and bottom.  Thread the loom by going up one to one notch and down through the next one, both on the front of the loom, rather than wasting yarn by wrapping it the whole length on the back. Then just stitch the vertical strings with an under-over-under-over pattern, going from left to right and then back across from right to left. I combined some of the smaller pieces together to make a collaborate textile piece that I am in the process of framing. Textiles are a part of our every day life. It's worth pausing to learn how they are made.