Beginners weaving is full of surprises such as this bag by Kathy. Her first weaving. She decided to turn it into this bag and needle felted some decorative bits on it. Just lovely. An astonishingly fine piece of work for a beginner. We warped up the loom together – she had  beginners weaving pack as a birthday present – and I showed her how to weave tabby and do a few ‘off-piste’  things like pick-up sticks and adding in locks, fabric strips, bits of leather etc, and how to avoid common problems. She produced some perfect weaving, edges all exactly the same  – even on both sides. Most weavers have a good side and bad side but, Kathy didn’t show this trait. Neither was there any pulling in at the sides as the work progressed – another common problem for beginners. A very satisfying first weaving – for both of us. It was off the loom in no time and the next thing I hear is she is trying a ‘more creative’ project. This was great joy to my ears as she was very nervous about ‘going off-piste’ as I call it. Helping and inspiring people to get started with spinning and weaving is source of  enormous satisfaction in my life. From now on, if something doesn’t bring joy into my life, I’m not doing it! So now I’m going to dye some silk ready for my workshop at Knuston on Wednesday…